James 1:13-18
1:13 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone;
14 but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.
15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
16 Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters.
17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.
18 He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.
When people fail, we tend to
others for it.
Some people blame
for temptation (v. 13).
God is not to blame for our
to sin (v. 13).
“Financial difficulty can tempt us to question God’s providence in our lives. The death of a loved one can tempt us to question God’s love for us. The suffering of the righteous poor and the ease of the wicked rich can tempt us to question God’s justice, or even his existence. Thus testing almost always includes temptation, and temptation is itself a test. ‘Persevering under the trial’ (v. 12) demands that we overcome these kinds of temptations.” —Douglas Moo
Our fallen
is to blame for our attraction to sin (vv. 14-15).
Our fallen nature tries to
us about the source of our attraction to evil (v. 16).
God is not to blame for our temptations, but he took the
for our sins.
“‘He himself bore our sins’ in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” —1 Peter 2:24