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"apart; asunder". It comes from chorizo, "to put asunder", "to separate", as in
Matt. 19: 6 and Rom. 8: 39. In Hebrews itself we read, concerning the Saviour, that
He was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate (chorizo) from sinners" (Heb. 7: 26).
Dr. John Owen quotes the Syriac Version of Heb. 4: 15 as reading "sin being
excepted". J. N. Darby and Rotherham read "apart from sin".
The positive witness of the epistle to the Hebrews as a whole, and of this expression in
particular, is that the temptation referred to in the words "tempted in all points" refers to
the testings and trials of the pilgrim on his journey through the wilderness of this world,
as he presses on to perfection; it does not refer to, or include, those temptations to sin
which are only possible to those who have within them the effects of the fall.
This feature, however, we must consider in our next article. For the present let us
rejoice that there is no trial that the believer can experience in relation to his
"profession" as a pilgrim and stranger, that His Lord does not fully know, with which
He does not fully sympathize, and for which there is not ample provision.
#2.
pp. 110 - 113
Our examination of the usage of the words "tempt" and "temptation" in the epistle to
the Hebrews left us with no doubt but that the Apostle had in mind the temptations that
beset "pilgrims and strangers" in maintaining their "confession" or "profession", and that
the words "Tempted in all points like as we are" are limited to that aspect of truth. It
would be neither fair nor sound exegesis to suppose that there is no other aspect of this
subject in the Scriptures. In order, therefore, to present the teaching of the Word as
completely as possible, let us consider further aspects of this theme.
As we have commenced with an epistle addressed to the Hebrews, let us continue with
the epistles of The Dispersion, namely, that of James and those of Peter, and see whether
these introduce a different line of teaching from that of the epistle to the Hebrews.
"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptation" (James 1: 2).
It would be strange indeed if the believer who fell into all manner of temptations to do
evil, should count it "all joy", but it is clear that temptation of this kind is far from the
mind of James, for he immediately goes on to say "knowing this, that the trying of your
faith worketh patience" (James 1: 3); and, like the epistle to the Hebrews, associates this
tempting, or trying, with "perfection"--"Let patience have here perfect work" (Jas. 1: 4).
After speaking of a double-minded man, who is unstable in all his ways, and of the
danger of pride, he uses a figure that takes our minds back to the Gospels; "For the sun is
no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth" (James 1: 11), a passage that recalls