Christ' (1 Pet. 1:7).  Here, the word `that' means strictly `in order that';

`trial' is to dokimion, `the proof after testing', and the result of the

trial, `praise and honour and glory' at the appearing of the Lord.  It is

utterly impossible to import temptation to sin into 1 Peter 1:6.  It is the

trial of faith that is in view.  If it were needed, the fullest confirmation

of this interpretation is contained in 1 Peter 4:12.

`Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to

try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice,

inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His

glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.  If ye

be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye ... let none of you

suffer as a murderer, or as a thief ...' (1 Pet. 4:12 -15).

This passage is so eloquent in the distinction which it makes between

temptation as a test and temptation to sin that we add no word of our own,

except to say that the `trial' here, which is called `fiery' and is a

partaking of Christ's `sufferings' (not being led away by evil things), is

the translation of the Greek word peirasmos.

The only other reference is that of 2 Peter 2:9,

`The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations'.

The context of this statement speaks of the deliverance of `just Lot',

who escaped the overthrow of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, which

overthrow was an ensample of the fate that awaits the ungodly.  It is clear

by this examination that the epistles of the circumcision use the word

`temptation' consistently, and always in the sense of trial; not in the sense

of enticement to sin.

Before we can come to a Scriptural conclusion, we shall have to

consider the teaching of the apostle Paul in his epistles, the Acts, the

Gospels and the Book of the Revelation.  What we have already seen, however,

is truth, and must ever be in mind when we stress the words of Hebrews 4:15,

`tempted in all points like as we are'.  So far, our studies in the epistles

to the Hebrews and by James and Peter reveal the fact that the character of

`temptation' as there found is the testing and proving of the believer on his

way to perfection, not temptation to sin, whether by Satan or by self.

We turn next to the remaining epistles of Paul to see how far this

presentation of the Truth obtains there, and what other phases are brought

forward.  Adopting what we believe to be the chronological order of the

epistles, we commence with Galatians.  There are two references, one

concerning Paul himself and the other spiritual believers.

`And my temptation (peirasmos) which was in my flesh ye despised not,

nor rejected' (Gal. 4:14).

In verse 13 the apostle speaks of the `infirmity of the flesh' in

connection with his preaching.  A literal rendering of the verse suggests

that the apostle had preached the gospel while he was passing through a

period of sickness or infirmity and that in spite of the fact that this

`temptation' or `trial' (apparently ophthalmia, verse 15) had rendered him

despicable and loathsome in appearance, the Galatians had received him as `an

angel of God,

even as Christ Jesus'.  It is beyond belief that, had this `temptation' in