Temptation

The enticement of a person to commit sin by offering some seeming advantage. There are four things, says one, in temptation:

1. Deception.

2. Infection.

3. Seduction.

4. Perdition. The sources of temptation, are Satan, the world, and the flesh. We are exposed to them in every state, in every place, and in every time of life. They may be wisely permitted to show us our weakness, to try our faith, to promote our humility, and to learn us to place our dependence on a superior power: yet we must not run into them, but watch and pray; avoid sinful company: consider the love, sufferings, and constancy of Christ, and the awful consequences of falling a victim to them. The following rules have been laid down, by which we may in some measure know when a temptation comes from Satan.

1. When the temptation is unnatural, or contrary to the general bias or temper of our minds.

2. When it is opposite to the present frame of the mind.

3. When the temptation itself is irrational; being contrary to whatever we could imagine our own minds would suggest to us.

4. When a temptation is detested in its first rising and appearance.

5. Lastly, when it is violent.

See SATAN. Brooks, Owen, Gilpin, Capel and Gillespie on Temptation; South’s Seven Sermons on Temptation, in the 6th vol. of his Sermons; Pike and Hayward’s Cases of Conscience; and Bishop Porteus’s Sermons, ser. 3 and 4, vol. 1:

This word is perfectly understood in relation to the act itself as exercised by the devil, or bad men, upon the hearts of the Lord’s people. It invariably means exciting them to sin. But when the word is made use of in respect to the Lord’s exercises of his people, it invariably means the reverse. I beg the reader to turn to the memorable instance of Abraham, and consider the result of that interesting transaction, Gen. 22:throughout; and read also what the apostle James hath said concerning temptation; and I venture to hope, under the Holy Ghost’s teaching, the truth will appear very plain and obvious. (James i. 2 - 15.) In addition to these precious things from Scripture I would beg to subjoin an observation, and from the same authority, that the exercises of the Lord’s people ought not to be considered in the light of probation, as some affect to call the present life, but as so many proofs of divine love. "As many as I love I rebuke and chasten, said Jesus to the church of Laodicea." (Rev. 3: 19.) But this is not as if to see how those whom Jesusloves will improve the trials and temptations by which he is exercising their gifts and graces; for if this were the case it would be to make the event of his grace to depend upon their use or abuse of the mercies given them, and instead of a covenant of his grace, render their final hope dependent upon a covenant of their good works. Not so the grace of God which bringeth salvation. Jesus by his death hath purchased redemption for his people; and God the Father hath engaged to bestow all the blessings of it in hiscovenant. The Lord therefore may, and the Lord will, bring his people as he himself was led up before them into the wilderness of temptation to try their spirits, and to prove his faithfulness: but the issue is not doubtful. The covenant stands firm as the ark did in the waters of Jordan, amidst all the beating waves, until the people are all clean gone over. And that sweet promise which belongs to the covenant, and is a part of it, never hath failed, neither can fail to every one of the people - - "There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not suffer yon to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." (1 Cor. x. 10.)

The word ’tempt,’ or ’temptation,’ occurs sixteen times in the O.T in Mal 3:15 the Hebrew word is Bachan (בחן), to prove or test, as metals are tested in the crucible (see verse 10, where the same Hebrew word is rendered prove in the remaining passages we find Nasah (נסה), literally ’to test by the smell,’ hence ’to put to the proof.’ in all these passages (with one exception, namely, Gen 22:1, where we are told that God tempted or tested Abraham) the word is used with reference to the way in which man has put God’s power or forbearance to the test. Thus in Exo 17:2; Exo 17:7, we are told that Israel ’tempted’ God in the wilderness, and the place was therefore called Massah, a name derived from the word Nasah in Psa 78:41 we read, ’They turned back, and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.’ this limitation was the setting an imaginary boundary to God’s power and goodness, and thus calling Him forth to step over that boundary. The temptations in the wilderness are referred to several times both in the Pentateuch and Psalms, and usually in the same sense in three passages, however, namely, Deu 4:34; Deu 7:19; Deu 29:3, reference is made not to the provocations which God endured when his forbearance was put to the test in the wilderness, but to the mode in which his purpose towards Israel and his power of working wonders were proved and demonstrated by his conduct towards Pharaoh and his people.

The usage of the two words will be more clearly seen if we compare other passages where they occur.

Bachan is found in the following passages:--Gen 42:15-16, ’Here by ye shall be proved . that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you.’ 1Ch 29:17, ’Thou triest the heart.’ Job 23:10, ’When he hath tried me, I shall come fort has gold.’ Psa 7:9, ’The righteous God trieth the hearts and reins;’ so Jer 11:20. Psa 11:4-5, ’H is eyelids try the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous.’ Psa 17:3, ’Thou hast proved mine heart.’ Psa 81:7, ’I proved thee at the waters of Meribah.’ Psa 139:23, ’Try me, and know my thoughts.’ Pro 17:3, ’The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold; but the Lord trieth the hearts.’ Isa 28:16, ’Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone;’ the LXX, as quoted in the N.T., adopts the word elect (ἐκλεκτός) in this passage. Jer 17:10, ’I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways;’ see also chap.20:12. Eze 21:13, ’It is a trial.’ Zec 13:9, ’I will try them as gold is tried.’ Mal 3:10, ’Prove me now herewith’ --an idea taken up in the fifteenth verse, where the same word is used in the words, ’They that tempt God are even delivered.’

Nasah occurs in Exo 15:25, ’There he proved them;’ Exo 16:4; Exo 20:20; Deu 8:2; Deu 8:16; Deu 13:3; Jdg 2:22; Jdg 3:1; Jdg 3:4; 2Ch 32:31 in Deu 4:34 it is rendered ’assay’ as well as ’temptation;’ and in Deu 28:56, it is rendered ’adventure’ in the A. V in Jdg 6:39 Gide on says, ’Let me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece.’ 1Sa 17:39, David girded on his armour and he assayed [It would have been better to put ’he essayed.’] to go (lit. he was on the verge of starting), but he put the armour off again, ’ for he had not proved it.’

1Ki 10:1, the Queen of Sheba came to Solom on ’to prove him with hard words.’ Compare 2Ch 9:1.

It is also used in Job 4:2 (’assay’); Job 9:23 (’trial’); Ecc 2:1; Ecc 7:23; also in Dan 1:12; Dan 1:14, where it is rendered ’prove.’

The two words occur together in Psa 26:2, ’Examine (bachan) me, O Lord, and prove (nasah) me;’ and in Psa 95:9, ’When your fathers tempted (nasah) me, proved (bachan) me, and saw my work.’

A consideration of these passages leads to the conclusion that the various evils and struggles and difficulties which are prompted from within, or which befall man from without, are ordered by God as part of the great system of probation or testing to which every child of Adam is being subjected. The agency of the Evil One is permitted for the purpose of bringing a man into that sort of contact with evil which will serve to test his real principles.

The LXX translates Bachan by ἐτάζω, ἐξετάζω, φαίνομαι, φανερὸς γίνομαι, μανθάνω, κρίνω, διακρίνω, δοκιμάζω (the most usual word), δικαιόω (Eze 21:13), ἐπιστρέφω, ἀνθίστημι, and ἐκλεκτὸς (Pro 17:3 and Isa 28:6).

Nasah is always translated by πειράζω, or one of its compounds.

Temptation in the NT

The word ἐτάζωdoes not occur in the N.T., but ἐξετάζω is used three times to represent accurate, scrutinising search (Mat 2:8; Mat 10:11; Joh 21:12); φαίνομαι is used to indicate the result of such scrutiny in 2Co 13:7; and so φανερὸς γίνεσθαι is found in the sense of being brought to the test in Luk 8:17, ’There is nothing hidden which shall not be made manifest;’ 1Co 3:13, ’H is work shall be made manifest;’ see also 1Co 11:19; 1Co 14:25; 1Jn 3:10.

There is some difficulty in giving a consistent rendering to διακρίνω in the N.T. It often answers, both in sense as well as etymology, to the word discern, as in Mat 16:3, ’Ye can discern the face of the heavens ;’ 1Co 11:31, ’If we discerned ourselves (i.e. our own motives) we should not be judged of the Lord.’ in other passages the word is used in a causative sense, as when we read, ’Who maketh thee to differ,’ in 1Co 4:7; so perhaps we should understand 1Co 11:29, ’Not making a distinction between ordinary food and that which represents the body of Christ.’

In Jud 1:9 we read of Michael contending (διακρινόμενος) with Satan; but in the twenty-second verse, where the same part of the verb occurs, it has been rendered, ’ on some have compassion, making a difference;’ might it not be rendered ’contending with them,’ in accordance with the previous passage? [But the text is uncertain. See R. V.] The verb has this sense also in Act 11:2, where we read that they after circumcision contended with Peter.

In the passive voice the word has come to signify doubting, i.e. the subjection of the mind and will to fluctuations and contending impulses. Thus we read in Mat 21:21, ’If ye have faith and doubt not;’ so Mar 11:23; Act 10:20; Rom 4:20 (where the A. V. reads, ’He staggered not at the promise’); Rom 14:23; Jas 1:6; Jas 2:4.

The word δοκιμάζειν is also used of the process of scrutiny whereby a man is brought to the test. It is sometimes used as a substitute for διακρίνειν, as in Luk 12:56, which may be compared with Mat 16:3, quoted above. So the man says of his yoke of oxen, ’I go to prove them,’ Luk 14:19; Rom 2:18, ’Thou discernest what is excellent.’ Compare Rom 12:2, ’That you may make proof of what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God;’ 1Co 3:13, ’The fire shall test every man’s work;’ 1Co 11:28, ’Let a man scrutinise himself;’ compare the thirty-first verse, where διακρίνω is used. Compare also 2Co 8:8; 2Co 8:22; 2Co 13:5; Gal 6:4; Eph 5:10; Php 1:10; 1Ti 3:10; 1Jn 4:1.

Sometimes the verb signifies that the scrutiny has been satisfactory; it is then rendered to approve. So we read in 1Th 2:4, ’We have been approved of God.’ Compare Rom 1:28, ’They did not approve of the retaining God in their knowledge.’ in this verse the Apostle carries on the idea contained in the verb δοκιμάζωa little further, for he proceeds, ’Wherefore God gave them up to a reprobate mind’ (ἀδόκιμον νου̂ν) They rejected Him, so He rejected them. The word ἀδόκιμος has usually been rendered reprobate, as in 2Co 13:5, where we have the same connection of words as in the passage last quoted, ’Prove (δοκιμάζετε) your own selves . unless ye be reprobate’ (ἀδόκιμοι) in one place, however, and that a very remarkable one, our translators have preferred to render ἀδόκιμος by ’castaway,’ namely, in 1Co 9:27, where St. Paul says, ’I bring my body into subjection, lest, whilst I have preached to others, I myself should be unable to pass the scrutiny (of the last day).’

St. James and St. Peter concur in using the expression ’the trial of your faith.’ Here the word is δοκίμιον (Jas 1:3; 1Pe 1:7), and the idea suggested is that the faith which a Christian professes has to be submitted to the test of affliction and temptation, just as gold is put into a crucible and passed through the fire.

The word δόκιμος is used several times by St. Paul, and signifies the condition of him who has stood the test and is approved. See 2Ti 2:15, and compare Jas 1:12, ’When he is tried,’ i.e. approved in accordance with these passages, we can understand Rom 5:4, where we read that ’Patience worketh experience’ (δοκίμην). this doubtless means that as tribulation is the occasion whereby endurance or patience is developed, so this endurance becomes a test or proof that our faith is living and true.

When we turn from these various Greek words which stand for the Hebrew word Bachanto πειράζειν, which always represents the word Nasah, we notice a marked difference of sense. The scrutiny or testing process which we have been considering is exercised by men, aided by the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, in this life, and will be brought to bear up on the hearts and lives of all men by God hereafter. But πειρασμός is almost always represented in the N.T. as the work of the devil or of those who are following his guidance. Thus Christ during his earthly ministry ’suffered, being tempted,’ and those temptations, which were of various kinds, were thrown in his path sometimes by Satan himself, and sometimes by the Pharisees and others, who sought to entangle Him in an offence against God or man in the Acts we read of Anani as and Sapphira tempting the Spirit of God (Act 5:9), and of Peter asking the brethren why they tempted God by imposing the law of Moses on the Gentile converts (15:10) in Jas 1:13-14, we have the whole history of temptation, so far as the operations of the human heart are concerned. Satan’s operations are implied, but not directly stated. A man is said to be led away when he is baited (δελεαζόμενος) by his own passions. But who is it that uses these things as a bait? Not God. Let no man say, in this sense, I am tempted of God. Not man; for he cannot bait the hook with which he himself is to be beguiled and destroyed. It must, then, be the Evil One, who makes use of the inclinations of the heart as a means of dragging him to ruin.

When we ask God not to lead us into temptation, we mean, Lead us not into that position, and put us not into those circumstances, in which we should be in danger of falling an easy prey to the assaults of Satan in connection with this prayer, we have the promise that with every temptation in which God permits us to be placed, He provides a way of escape that we may be able to go through without falling. He allows the way in, and He makes the way out (τὴν ἔκβασιν), 1Co 10:13.

One or two passages only in which the verb occurs are to be interpreted differently in 2Co 13:5, ’tempt yourselves’ means put yourself to the test, as we see from the context, which shows that the word is used as a parallel to the verb δοκιμάζειν in this sense we must understand the use of the word in Heb 11:17, where the writer refers to the temptation of Abraham in the matter of the offering of Isaac. God put Abraham’s faith and obedience to the test, whilst Satan tempted him to disobey.

A state of mental conflict between heavenly and infernal influences

Alertness And Prayer Preventing Temptation

Mat_26:41; Mar_14:38; Luk_22:40; Luk_22:46.

GOD Limiting Temptation

1Co_10:13.

GOD Not Tempting Anyone

Jam_1:13.

Jesus Christ Being Tempted

Mat_4:1; Luk_22:22-28; Heb_2:9-18; Heb_4:14-15.

Not Tempting The LORD

Deu_6:16; Mat_4:7; 1Co_10:9.

The LORD Knowing How To Deliver The Godly Out Of Temptations

2Pe_2:9.

The Reward For Tempting The LORD

1Co_10:9.

When People Are Tempted

Jam_1:13-14.

Who Falls Into Temptation

1Ti_6:9.

TEMPTATION (in the Wilderness).—[On the general subject of temptation see preced. article]. The continuousness and variety of our Lord’s temptations have probably been obscured by the circumstance that attention has been concentrated upon one episode in His life which is distinctively known as ‘The Temptation.’ This very significant incident is fully related in Mt. (Mat 4:1-11) and Lk. (Luk 4:1-13), mentioned in Mk. (Mar 1:12-13), and omitted from the Fourth Gospel. St. Mark’s account is of the briefest: ‘And straightway the Spirit urges him forth into the desert. And he was in the desert forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered to him.’* [Note: The ‘desert’ is possibly that known as Quarantania, from the forty days, and since the 12th cent. traditionally accepted as the same, a few miles from Jericho; or it may have been, as Conder thinks, some miles farther south—the dreary desert which extends between the Dead Sea and the Hebron mountains. See his picturesque description, pp. 213 to 214 of his Handbook.] The mention of ‘wild beasts,’ which is peculiar to Mark, is usually supposed to be introduced for the purpose of accentuating the solitariness of Jesus, and His remoteness from all human aid. But Professor Bevan (Trans. of Soc. of Hist. Theol. 1901–2) finds in this mention the key to the whole incident. It seems that in the East, or at any rate in Persia, there is a traditional custom, called ‘the subjugation of the jinn.’ In order to achieve this victory the candidate retires to a desert place, fasts for forty days, and when the jinns appear in the forms of a lion, a tiger, and a dragon, he must hold his ground fearlessly. Doing so, power over the demons is attained. ‘The conclusion,’ says Professor Bevan, ‘which we may draw from these facts is that the story of the Temptation, in its original form, was a description of a practice by means of which it was believed that man could acquire the power of controlling the demons.’ The analogy is interesting. Our Lord in this critical conflict with Satan did ‘bind the strong man,’ and secured that in all future encounters He would conquer. But is there any evidence at all that the Persian custom prevailed among the Jews? Is there any ground for supposing either that our Lord would follow such a custom, or, on the other hand, that there is no foundation for the story of the Temptation in the facts of His career? And is not the simple expression, ἧν μετὰ τῶν θηρίων, inadequate to suggest such a conflict as is supposed?* [Note: Besides, as O. Holtzmann (Life of Jesus, 143) says: ‘In old Israelitish times lions still inhabited the thickets beside the Jordan (Jer 49:19); in the age of Jesus the chief beast of prey in Palestine was, as it still is, the jackal. But Mark’s sole object in making this addition would appear to have been the desire to bring into greater relief Jesus’ complete severance from human society, with the idea of imparting more body to his description.’ Dr. Abbott’s Clue, p. 115, is suggestive in this connexion.]

Order of Temptations.—In Mt. and Lk. the order of the second and third temptations is inverted, while the substance of them remains identical. The order followed by Mt. is generally accepted as correct. There seems to be an ascending scale in the temptations as recorded in the First Gospel, though Plummer (Luk 4:5) says: ‘The reasons given for preferring one order to the other are subjective and unconvincing. Perhaps neither Evangelist professes to give any chronological order.’

Source of the story.—As, according to all the accounts, Jesus was not accompanied by anyone during His temptation, the question naturally arises, How did the knowledge of what took place become public property? To this there can be but one answer: Our Lord informed His disciples of what had taken place. That He should have done so is probable. At first, perhaps, they might not be prepared to understand the incident; but after they had acknowledged Him as Messiah many questions as to His procedure must have arisen in their minds, and to these questions an account of His initial temptations was the best answer.

Character of the incident.—The more clearly the reality of the Temptation is grasped, the less need does there seem for supposing that the tempter took a visible shape, or that any bodily transport to ‘the high mountain’ or ‘the wing of the temple’ took place. It is more difficult to determine whether such bodily transport was thought of by the Evangelists or is implied in their words. In Lk. the ‘high mountain’ is omitted except in so far as reference may be found to it in the word ἀναγαγών. In the Gospel of the Hebrews there occurs a characteristic apocryphal embellishment: ‘Forthwith my Mother the Holy Spirit took me by one of the hairs of my head and carried me away to the high mountain of Tabor.’

Its connexion.—In all the Synoptic Gospels and in the development of our Lord’s life, the Temptation follows upon the Baptism. In His Baptism He had been proclaimed Messiah, called out of private into public life, summoned to take among men a place which could be filled by Himself alone. He was called from the carpenter’s shop to redeem a world. The village youth was to represent in His person the wisdom, the holiness, the love, the authority of the Highest. How could He face this task? By what hitherto untried methods accomplish it? He had no counsellor, example, or guide. None had as yet attempted or even adequately conceived the part He was to play.

Its necessity.—The burden and glory, the hazard and intricacy and responsibility of His vocation must have stirred in His soul a ferment of emotions. O. Holtzmann may overstate the risk when he says (Life of Jesus, English translation 141): ‘There was a grave danger of His personal life being disturbed by so august a revelation, of its causing Him to plunge headlong into fantastic dreams of the future, and into acts of violence, with the object of realizing His dreams.’ Our Lord was not unprepared for the great vocation; He must often have considered how He could best bring light and life to His fellow-countrymen, but now that He was actually launched on the work, all past thoughts must have seemed insufficient, and He felt that still His decisions were to be made. Solitude was necessary. The Spirit that came upon Him in Baptism compelled Him to contemplate action, and in order that He might finally choose His path and His methods He must turn away from the expectant gaze and eager inquiries of John’s disciples and seek the solitude of the desert.

Its conditions.—The intensity of our Lord’s emotion and the difficulty of decision are conveyed by the Evangelists’ statement that for forty days (i.e. for an unusually long period, ‘forty’ being used as a round number indicative of magnitude)* [Note: ‘It is only by travelling that one becomes aware how universal is the application of the number 40 to the features of Oriental architecture. If there is a famous building with something over a score of columns, or a town with a like number of minarets, it will be styled the hall of 40 columns or the city of 40 towers’ (Arthur Arnold in Academy, 12 March 1881). ‘ “Forty” means “many” ’ (Angus, Bible Handbook).] He forgot to eat. This gives us the measure of His absorption in thought. The temptations indeed are spoken of as if they occurred at the close of the forty days’ fast; naturally, because then only out of the turmoil of thought did these three possible lines of conduct become disengaged and present themselves as now finally rejected. To one who adequately conceives the stupendous task a waiting our Lord and the various methods of accomplishing it which He had often heard discussed, no statement of His absorption in thought or of the strife of contending pleas will seem exaggerated.

Lines on which the Temptation proceeded.—The key to the Temptation is found in the necessity laid upon Jesus of definitely determining the principles and methods of the great work that a waited Him. There were necessarily present to His mind as possible courses the various expectations current among the people. Eventually these presented themselves in three great questions: Am I as Messiah lifted above human needs and trials? What means may I legitimately use to convince the people of my claims? What kind of Messianic kingdom and Messianic King am I to represent? To each of these questions there was an answer present to the mind of the Lord, cherished by most of the people He was now to influence, and with much which superficially commended it, but which He recognized as Satanic.

The absence of the article before υἱός has given rise to the idea that the temptations were not Messianic. Against this it has been pointed out that the predicate is regularly anarthrous. But Middleton (Gr. Article, p. 62) shows that ‘we sometimes find that the predicate of the εἰμί has the Article, where the subject is a personal pronoun or demonstrative, ἐγώ, σύ, οὖτος,’ etc. This rule is borne out by NT usage: see Mat 16:16; Mat 26:63; Mat 27:11, Mar 3:11 etc. For this and other reasons we should expect the Article here, if the meaning were, ‘If thou art the Son of God, or, the Christ.’ The meaning rather is, ‘If thou art God’s Son’ [the emphatic place being given to υἱός, εἰ υἱὸς εἶ τ. θεοῦ], if this relationship to God be the determining element in your life. But this by no means excludes reference to His Messianic dignity, it rather implies it. It was as God’s Son He had been hailed at His baptism proclaiming His Messianic vocation, and fitly, because Divine Sonship was that out of which the Messiahship sprang, and which underlay the whole vocation of Jesus as the Christ.

First temptation.—The first temptation was to use for His own comfort and preservation the powers committed to Him as Messiah. The circumstances in which He found Himself lent immense force to the appeal. He found Himself faint and ready to perish. What a fiasco would His Messianic calling seem if He died here in the wilderness, and how easy apparently the means of relief: ‘Say the word.’ ‘How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds makes ill deeds done!’ Once only in His life can He have suffered more acutely from this same temptation: only when He knew He could command twelve legions of angels to His aid, only when He was taunted, ‘He saved others, himself he cannot save.’ The use He might legitimately make of His powers as God’s Son must once for all be settled: and He settles it by recognizing that having taken human nature He must accept human conditions, and elevate human life not by facing life’s temptations on wholly different terms from the normal, but by accepting the whole human conflict: ‘Man lives—and I, being man, therefore live—not by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’ He accepted absolutely the human condition with its entire dependence on God. Duty was more than food. His life was to be ruled by intimations of God’s will, not by fear of death by starvation. He, like all other men, was in God’s hand.

Second temptation.—The second temptation was to establish the Messianic claim by the performance of some astounding feat, such as leaping from the roof of the wing of the temple into the crowded courts below. Once for all our Lord had to settle by what methods His claim could be made good. That which the people so frequently demanded, ‘a sign,’ must have suggested itself as a possible means of convincing them. And it was an easy means, for was it not written in the book He had pondered as His best guide: ‘He shall give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone’ (Psa 91:11 f.)? Were these words not prepared for this Messianic manifestation? Could the people, ever craving for signs, be in any other way led to accept Him as God’s messenger? Might not His whole mission fail, might He not miss the accomplishment of God’s purpose, if He did not condescend to the weakness of His countrymen and grant them a sign? But now, as always, He saw the incongruity and insufficiency of such signs: ‘an evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign, and no sign shall be given to it’ (Mat 12:39 ||). But that which settles the matter in His own mind is the consideration that to attempt the performance of any such feat would be a tempting of God. He rebuts the temptation with the words, ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.’ He perceived that He had no right to expect the protection of God in any course but the highest, in any course which His own conscience told Him was a short cut to His end. To abandon the region of man’s actual needs and work wonders not for their relief and as the revelation of God’s love, but for mere display, was, He felt, to trespass the Father’s intentions. He could not count upon the Father’s countenance and help if He departed in the slightest degree from His own highest ideal. Spiritual ends must be attained by spiritual means, however slow and uncertain these seem.

Third temptation.—The third question which had now once for all to be settled was, What kind of kingdom must the Messiah establish? Shall it be a kingdom of this world, such as many expected and would promptly aid Him to secure? The glory of the kingdoms of the earth had a present lustre all its own. There was in their power and opportunity an appeal to beneficent ambition not easily resisted. What might not be accomplished for the down-trodden, the heavily-taxed, the outcast, the despairing? He had Himself groaned with the rest of His countrymen under the unrighteous exactions of fraudulent publicans; why not win for His people the blessings of freedom? More than once this temptation returned in the attempts of the multitude to make Him a king. But our Lord recognized that for Him to depart from the idea of founding a spiritual kingdom in which God should be acknowledged would be to serve Satan. The craving for earthly dominion was inextricably mixed up with worldly ambitions, and could only be gratified by the use of means alien to the Divine Spirit. He felt such a kingdom to be incompatible with the sole and exclusive service of God—not that all earthly kingdoms are necessarily Satanic, but His calling was to introduce the true reign of God among men. He saw that in order to win earthly dominion He would require to appeal to evil passions and use such means as the sword—in a word, to avail Himself of the aid of evil. This was impossible.

Literature.—The various Commentaries on the Gospels, and the Lives of Christ; Liddon, Bamp. Lect.^{8 [Note: designates the particular edition of the work referred]} p. 512 f.; Expos. Times, iii. [1891] 118 ff., xiv. [1903] 389 ff.; Expositor, i. iii. [1876] 321 ff.; Trench, Studies in the Gospels, 1; W. H. Brookfield, Serm. 252, 262, 275; T. Christlieb, Memoir with Serm. 219, 238, 255; A. B. Davidson, Waiting upon God, 107; H. Wace, Some Central Points of our Lord’s Ministry, 59–132; Th. Zahn, Bread and Salt from the Word of God (1905), 1.

Marcus Dods.

TEMPTATION.—The English words ‘tempt’ and ‘temptation’ are in the OT—with the exception of Mal 3:15, where a synonym bâchan is used,—the tr. [Note: translate or translation.] of various forms of the root nissâh, which is most frequently rendered ‘prove.’ In Gen 22:1 RV [Note: Revised Version.] tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘God did prove Abraham.’ But RV [Note: Revised Version.] retains ‘temptation’ for (a) God’s testing of Pharaoh’s character and disposition (Deu 4:34, RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ‘trials’ or ‘evidences’; cf. Deu 7:19; Deu 29:3); (b) Israel’s distrustful putting of God Himself to the proof (Deu 6:16; cf. Exo 17:2; Exo 17:7, Num 14:22, Psa 78:18; Psa 78:41; Psa 78:56). In Psa 95:8 RV [Note: Revised Version.] rightly keeps ‘Massah’ as a proper name, the reference being to the historic murmuring at Rephidim (Exo 17:1 ff.; cf. Deu 33:8, Psa 81:7).

Driver (ICC [Note: CC International Critical Commentary.] , on Deu 6:15) points out, in a valuable note, that ‘nissâh is a neutral word, and means to test or prove a person, to see whether he will act in a particular way (Exo 16:4, Jdg 2:22; Jdg 3:4), or whether the character he bears is well established (1Ki 10:1). God thus proves a person, or puts him to the test, to see if his fidelity of affection is sincere (Gen 22:1, Exo 20:20, Deu 8:2; Deu 13:3; cf. Psa 26:2); and men test, or prove Jehovah when they act as if doubting whether His promise be true, or whether He is faithful to His revealed character (Exo 17:2; Exo 17:7, Num 14:22, Psa 106:14; cf. Isa 7:12).’

2. The Gr. word peirasmos is the usual LXX [Note: Septuagint.] rendering of massâh. It is also ‘a neutral word,’ though in the NT it sometimes means enticement to sin (Mat 4:1, 1Co 7:5, Rev 2:10 etc.; cf. ‘the tempter,’ Mat 4:3, 1Th 3:5). In the RV [Note: Revised Version.] it is almost always tr. [Note: translate or translation.] ‘temptation,’ with the occasional marginal alternative ‘trial’ (Jas 1:2), 1Pe 1:6); the exceptions are Act 20:19, Rev 3:10, where ‘trial’ is found in the text. The Amer. RV [Note: Revised Version.] substitutes ‘try’ or ‘make trial of’ (‘trial’) for ‘tempt’ (‘temptation’) ‘wherever enticement to what is wrong is not evidently spoken of’ (see Appendix to RV [Note: Revised Version.] , note vi.); but ‘temptation’ is retained in Mat 6:13 = Luk 11:4, where the range of the petition cannot be thus limited; cf. Jas 1:2.

3. In expounding the prayer ‘Bring us not into temptation,’ and other passages in which the word has a wider meaning than enticement to sin, the difficulty is partially, but only partially, to be ascribed to the narrowing of the significance of the English word since 1611. If, as Driver thinks, ‘to tempt has, in modern English, acquired the sense of provoking or enticing a person in order that he may act in a particular way (= Heb. hissîth),’ there is no doubt that ‘tempt’ is often ‘a misleading rendering.’ Into such temptation the heavenly Father cannot bring His children; our knowledge of His character prevents us from tracing to Him any allurement to evil. The profound argument of St. James (Jas 1:13) is that God is ‘Himself absolutely unsusceptible to evil,’ and therefore He is ‘incapable of tempting others to evil’ (Mayor, Com., in loc.). But the difficulty is not removed when the petition is regarded as meaning ‘bring us not into trial.’ Can a Christian pray to he exempted from the testing without which sheltered innocence cannot become approved virtue? Can he ask that he may never be exposed to those trials upon the endurance of which his blessedness depends (Jas 1:12)? The sufficient answer is that He who was ‘in all points tempted like as we are’ (Heb 4:15) has taught us to pray ‘after this manner.’ His own prayer in Gethsemane (Mat 26:42), and His exhortation to His disciples (Mat 26:41), prove, by example and by precept, that when offered in subjection to the central, all-dominating desire ‘Thy will be done,’ the petition ‘Bring us not into temptation’ is always fitting on the lips of those who know that ‘the flesh is weak.’ Having thus prayed, those who find themselves ringed round (Jas 1:2, peri) by temptations will be strengthened to endure joyfully. Their experience is not joyous, but grievous; nevertheless, Divine wisdom enables them to ‘count it all joy’ as being a part of the discipline which is designed to make them ‘perfect and entire, lacking in nothing.’

On the Temptation of our Lord see Jesus Christ, P. 447^a.

J. G. Tasker.

(Lat. tentare, to try or test).Temptation is here taken to be an incitement to sin whether by persuasion or by the offer of some good or pleasure. It may be merely external, as was the case of Christ’s encounter in the desert after the forty days’ fast; or it may be internal as well, inasmuch as there is a real assault upon a person’s will power. It arises sometimes from the propensity to evil inherent in us as a result of original sin. Sometimes it is directly chargeable to the intervention of the Devil, who can furnish the imagination with its sinful subject-matter and stir up the lower powers of the soul. Not infrequently both causes are at work. Temptation is not in itself sin. No matter how vivid the unholy image may be, no matter how strong the inclination to transgress the law, no matter how vehement the sensation of unlawful satisfaction, as long as there is no consent of the will, there is no sin. The very essence of sin in any grade is that it should be a deliberate act of the human will. Attack is not synonymous with surrender. This, while obvious enough, is important especially for those who are trying to serve God sedulously and yet find themselves beset on all sides by temptations. They are apt to take the fierceness and repetition of the onset as proof that they have fallen. A wise spiritual guide will point out the error of this conclusion and thus administer comfort and courage to these harassed souls.Temptations are to be combated by the avoidance, where possible, of the occasions that give rise to them, by recourse to prayer, and by fostering within oneself a spirit of humble distrust of one’s own powers and of unbounded confidence in God. The resistance which a Christian is bound to offer need not always be direct. Sometimes, particularly when there is question of reiterated evil interior suggestions, it may be useful to employ an indirect method, that is, to simply ignore them and quietly divert the attention into another channel. Temptations as such can never be intended by God. They are permitted by Him to give us an opportunity of practising virtue and self mastery and acquiring merit. The fact of temptation, no matter how large it looms in a person’s life, is not an indication that such an one is under the ban. Indeed those whom God calls to special heights of sanctity are just those who may expect to have to wrestle bravely with temptations more numerous and fearsome than fall to the lot of the average mortal. LEHMKUHL, Theologia moralis (Freiburg, 1887); MÜTZ, Christliche Ascetik (Paderborn, 1907); HENSE, Die Versuchungen (Freiburg, 1884); SCARAMELLI, Directorium asceticum.-----------------------------------JOSEPH F. DELANY Transcribed by Douglas J. Potter Dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIVCopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

In the original languages of the Bible, the words commonly translated ‘temptation’ had a range of meanings. These words were concerned basically with testing. In some cases the purpose of the testing may have been to prove the genuineness or quality of a person or thing. In other cases the purpose may have been to persuade a person to do wrong. In today’s language, ‘temptation’ is usually used in the latter sense, and it is this sense that is the subject of the present article. (For other meanings of the word see TESTING.)

To be expected

God may allow people to meet temptations and trials in order to test their faith, but he will never tempt them to do evil. Rather he wants to deliver them from evil (Mat 6:13; 1Co 10:13; Jas 1:13; 2Pe 2:9). Satan, not God, is the one who tempts people to do wrong (Gen 3:1-6; 1Co 7:5; 2Co 11:3; Eph 4:27; Eph 6:11; 1Pe 5:8-9). Some people blame God when they give in to temptation. The Scriptures point out that the source of their problem lies not with God, but with the sinful desires within their own hearts (Jas 1:13-14).

Sinful human nature creates within people a natural tendency towards sin. This increases the opportunities for temptation and makes them more likely to give in to it (Rom 7:11; Rom 7:14; Rom 7:21; Gal 5:17; Eph 4:22; 1Jn 2:15-16; see FLESH).

But the temptation itself is not necessarily a sin. Jesus’ nature was not corrupted by sin, and his behaviour was never spoiled by sin, yet he met temptation constantly (Luk 4:1; Luk 4:13; cf. Mat 16:23; Mat 22:15; Mar 14:35; Luk 22:28; Joh 6:15; Joh 12:27). In fact, the absence of sin in Jesus was the reason Satan attacked him all the more. Satan had tempted the sinless Adam, and now he tempted the sinless Jesus. But where Adam failed, Jesus triumphed (Mat 4:1-10; cf. Gen 3:1-6).

Israel failed temptation in the wilderness, but Jesus, the true fulfilment of Israel, triumphed over temptation in the wilderness (Mat 4:4; Mat 4:7; Mat 4:10; cf. Deu 6:13; Deu 6:16; Deu 8:3). Jesus suffered the sorts of temptations that are common to human beings in general, but because he was victorious over them, he is able to help his people when they are tempted (Heb 2:18; Heb 4:15).

No excuses

Temptation comes in many forms. Satan has many cunning methods, and people can easily get caught in his trap (2Co 2:11; 1Th 3:5; 1Ti 6:9). But there can be no excuse for giving in to temptation, as some way of escape is always available (1Co 10:13).

Christians should not be over-confident in their own ability to overcome temptation (1Co 10:12). Instead they should be aware of the weakness of sinful human nature, and give it no opportunity to satisfy its desires (Rom 6:12; Rom 13:14).

Although the sin lies in giving in to temptation rather than in the temptation itself, Christians must do all they can to avoid those situations likely to produce temptation (1Co 15:33; 2Ti 2:22). This will require self-discipline as they develop better habits in their behaviour (Col 3:12-13; Gal 5:16), thinking (Rom 8:5; 2Co 10:5; Php 4:8), talking (Eph 5:11-12; Tit 2:8) and praying (Mat 6:13; Mar 14:38). The guiding influence in helping God’s people develop these better habits is the Word of God (Psa 119:11; 2Ti 3:16-17).

The struggle against temptation is more than merely a struggle with the problems of everyday life. It is a battle against the evil powers of Satan (Eph 6:10-12). God has given his Word to his people to equip them for this battle (Mat 4:3-7; Eph 6:16-17), and he has given them the assurance of victory, provided they make the effort to resist the tempter. Each victory strengthens them and enables them to live more confidently and positively in a world still full of temptations (Jas 4:7; 1Pe 5:9-10).

That which moves us to sin. God cannot be tempted (Jas 1:13). But we can be tempted by our lusts (Jas 1:13-15), money (1Ti 6:9), lack of self examination (Gal 6:1), and the boastful pride of life (1Jn 2:16), to name a few. We are commanded to pray to be delivered from temptation (Mat 6:13) for the Lord is capable of delivering us from it (2Pe 2:9).