12 Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.
James 1:12-15 (ESV) 中文
Return to trials
Earlier, James introduced the topic of trials. Remember? “Consider it all joy, my brothers and sisters, when you encounter various trials,” (James 1:2). Now that we know there is a purpose in trials, to be made perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (v4), we see there is an eternal reward. When we persevere (remain steadfast) through the test of trials, we are rewarded with the crown of life.
Which comes first?
Some may be wondering, “Which comes first, faith or works?” Or, is James saying that our good work of persevering through trials is what earns eternal life? Lest we mis-interpret James’ comment,we need to know definitively: works proceed from faith, not the other way around. We’ll address this more later.
1 word, 2 meanings
The word used in these passages for trial and temptation is basically the same Greek word. It’s the context that determines the use. For example, verse 12 in ESV is trial, but the KJV uses temptation. The greek πειρασμός (peirasmos) is used in this verse and πειράζω (peirazō) in verses 13-15. So in this verse, it seems to mean both. “It is those who persevere under trials out of love for God, while being severely tempted, whom He will reward with ‘the crown of life’ (cf. Rev. 2:10).” (Constable commentary) But then using temptation clearly fits better for the remaining verses (13-14). So, v12’s use seems to be a nice transition between v2-4 (trials) and v13-15 (temptations).
Devil made me do it
Have you ever seen a shirt or car bumper sticker that said, “The Devil made me do it.” Is it true? For that matter, does God make us do anything? I think not. God gave all mankind a free will. As such, we determine for ourselves what we will do and think. The flip side is, we also need to own up to and accept the consequences.
So what is the role of the Devil? Well, we know that he is the tempter (Matt 4:3), the Devil, Satan. As his name indicates, he tempts. And in Matt 4:3, he specifically tempts Jesus (unsuccessfully – Hebrews 4:15). He, and his evil army of demons, can and do tempt us. But again, they cannot force us, or make us do anything. And as we’ll see, this is not the main source of temptation.
Theology interlude
Then James gives us a crucial theological teaching. In stark contrast to Satan, God does not tempt – in any way. This has to be clearly understood. Nor can God be tempted to do evil. It’s just not possible. So at a minimum, it is not an excuse.
Lifecycle of temptation
And finally James concludes this section with the lifecycle of temptation. It starts with our own evil desire, from the old sinful nature in us. Once the thought is conceived, it’s born as sin. Then sin grows up and leads to death. Notice that the devil is not in this equation. His job is more to “poke the bear”, to plant thoughts and ideas, to dangle the sin in front of us and make it look good.
RЯeflection
- Are you striving to earn the crown of life? Keep working hard, fellow followers of Christ. For more about believer’s Crowns, see this chart. And remember Christ’s call to lay up treasures in Heaven (Matthew 6:19-21).
- Actually, you can also apply the dual meaning (temptation and trial) to 1 Cor 10:13. This is the classic passage on dealing with temptation. Try it yourself and get a whole new blessing from this verse. Replace temptation with trial.
