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In order to avoid any misunderstanding regarding temptation, James now makes it
quite clear that he does not mean temptation to sin or that such temptation could ever
come from God:
"Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be
tempted with evil, and He Himself tempteth no man: but each man is tempted, when he
is drawn away by his own lust, and enticed" (1: 13, 14, R.V.).
God allows men to be tested, as Abraham and Job, and in fact all His people, and the
purpose behind it is, as we have seen, to develop their faith, thus leading to spiritual
growth. But God never tries men with evil intent, so tempting them to sin. He, by His
very nature, cannot be tempted with evil. He is the thrice holy God, Who `will by no
means clear the guilty' (Exod. 34: 7). He cannot sin or plan that sin shall happen.
Those who believe the terrible and subtle doctrine that God is the author of sin, must find
these verses impossible of interpretation if they are honest.
Deep students of the Word have failed here, in that they believe that God willed sin to
happen so that His great love in redemption could be manifested. The argument is that
man could never have known such love unless he was a sinner needing redemption and
forgiveness. Such a view is completely untrue for, as we have seen, it is an affront to His
holy nature and going right against the revelation of Himself in the holy Scriptures.
Furthermore, it limits Him to one course of action in manifesting His love.
Even failing human beings do not act on this principle. Do loving parents urge their
children to sin so that they may experience the joy of being forgiven? And what would
such parents think if it was asserted that only in this way could they adequately make
their love known to their children?
Furthermore, the Apostle Paul sounds the death knell of such doctrine relating to God
when, in Rom. 3: he writes:
"But if our unrighteousness (sin) commend the righteousness of God, what shall we
say? Is God unrighteous Who taketh vengeance? (or punishes?) . . . . . God forbid: for
then how shall God judge the world?" (Rom. 3: 5, 6).
If Satan and Adam were only doing what God planned they should do, then it would
be impossible for God to judge or condemn them, for they would only be carrying out
His will. The Apostle goes on to say:
"And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let
us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just" (Rom. 3: 8).
If God acted in this way, He would be deliberately causing sin to occur so that good
might eventually come, but the Apostle strongly repudiates such an idea, and those who
hold it will come under God's righteous condemnation (damnation).
Satan is the evil tempter of mankind, not God, and in any case, James points out that it
is man's sinful nature that leads him to transgress: ". . . . . but each man is tempted when