Bible Contradiction: Does God Tempt Us?

Claim:

The Bible appears to contradict itself on whether God tempts people. James 1:13 tells us that God tempts no one. However, some translations, like the KJV, translate Genesis 22:1 as saying God “tempted” Abraham.

The Issue

Does God tempt us? Depending on what translation of the Bible you read, you might seem to get two different perspectives on this. For instance, in the King James Version of the Bible, we read this:

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.

James 1:13 (KJV)

However, in Genesis 22 we read this:

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

Genesis 22:1 (KJV)

This presents us with a contradiction: In the King James Version of the Bible, the book of James seems to say that God does not tempt people, yet in Genesis we explicitly read that God tempts Abraham. How do we explain these two verses?

Temptation VS Testing

To understand this contradiction, we need to start by recognizing two different ideas that we find in Scripture. In modern-day English, we generally use two different words to describe these ideas: temptation and testing.

Temptation describes the process of our desires being led to sin. Desires, such as the desire for food, romance, or self-preservation aren’t sinful in and of themselves. In fact, God created us with these desires! However, if we let these desires consume us, they lead us to sin. James describes this process:

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

James 1:14-15 (ESV)

Testing refers to using difficulty to prove the genuineness of something. There are various examples of this in Scripture, such as Jesus testing whether Phillip trusts Him:

Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.

John 6:5-6 (ESV)

We will dive deeper into examples of both tempting and testing in the Bible, but first we need to understand something about the original Hebrew/Greek of these texts.

Two Meanings, One Word

While the idea of testing and temptation are two separate ideas, the same Greek word is used to describe both of them in the New Testament. This Greek word is peirasmos.

If it sounds odd that one word can be translated with two different definitions, remember that this happens often in language, even in modern English.

Consider the sentence, “turn right, then you will be on the right road.”

The word right is used twice in the above sentence, but it carries two different meanings. The first use of right is referring to a direction (taking a “right hand” turn), however, the second use of right refers to being “correct”. One English word, right, can have two different translations. We can tell which definition of the word should be used by its context.

This is the same approach we will take with peirasmos. We will explore some examples from Scripture where the context shows this word to mean tempt, then we will conversely show verses where peirasmos is translated as test.

Peirasmos Meaning Tempt

The following three verses are examples of peirasmos being used to describe temptation, or the process of desire leading towards sin.

As mentioned above, James 1:14-15 most clearly lays out this process:

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

James 1:14-15 (ESV)

In Matthew 4, we read about Jesus being led into the wilderness, where He encounters Satan. Satan then seeks to use Jesus’ human desires to cause Him to sin.

The Apostle Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6, that Believers should be content with food and clothing, because the desire for riches leads to destruction:

But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

1 Timothy 6:8-9 (ESV)

The context of these verses show peirasmos being used to describe human desire being led to sin.

Peirasmos Meaning Testing

The following verses give examples of peirasmos referring to testing or proving.

In Matthew 22, the one of the pharisees asks Jesus a question in order to test Him:

But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.

Matthew 22:34-35 (ESV)

In John, we read that Jesus tests Philip by asking him where they can find bread to feed a massive crowd. It is clear that Jesus is not tempting Philip to sin, which demonstrates another clear example of peirasmos being used to mean something more than “enticing towards evil”.

Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a larsge crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.

John 6:5-6 (ESV)

1 Peter tells us that peirasmos leads to “tested genuineness” of our faith that is “more precious than gold”.

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:6-7 (ESV)

Understanding Peirasmos in the Bible

By now it should be clear that, in Scripture, peirasmos can refer to both testing and temptation. With this established, we can understand why these two ideas are captured with one word, testing and temptation are somewhat related.

When our faith is being tested, there is an element of temptation. In order for me to turn to God, I must also have the option to turn away from Him.

However, the difference between these two ideas lies in what the end goal is.

Temptation is always done with the intention of leading my desires to sin. Testing is always done with the intention to prove the genuineness of my faith.

This helps us to understand what is taking place in certain King James verses. Similar to how one Greek word can describe both testing and tempting, in Old English, the word tempt can similarly be translated to both of these ideas.

To avoid this confusion, more modern translations use the words “trial”, “tempt”, and “test”, to help communicate the meaning of these verses more clearly.

We see this when we read Genesis 22:1, this time in the ESV (English Standard Version):

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”

Genesis 22:1 (ESV)

Understanding James 1:13

Now with our understanding of peirasmos and its varying use in Scripture, let’s take another look at James 1:13.

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.

James 1:13 (ESV)

Once again, we find the word peirasmos being translated here. So, which translation of peirasmos is most fitting for James 1:13, testing or temptation?

We have three strong reasons to believe that James is using the negative sense of peirasmos in this verse.

The phrase “with evil” makes it clear this is speaking about luring towards evil, which is temptation.
Verses 14 and 15 following James 1:13 are clearly describing the process of desires being led towards evil, which again is the negative sense of peirasmos, temptation.
Temptation makes logical sense in this verse, of course God can’t be tempted towards evil, it is the opposite of His nature. It wouldn’t make any sense for this verse to be referring to testing here because we have numerous examples of God testing people in Scripture.

It is clear that James 1:13 is referring towards temptation in these verses, the process of our desires being lured to evil.

Does God Tempt Us?

Coming back to our original question: Does God Tempt Us?

No, God does not tempt us towards evil. Temptation is always done with the intent to bring us into sin. God does not desire for us to sin, and does not entice anyone towards sin.

However, God does test us. This is to prove the genuineness of our faith, and by necessity means that we will experience the temptation to turn from God in that moment instead of obeying Him.

We can find comfort and encouragement in God’s promise that He will never allow us to experience more temptation and trials than we can bear.

No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.

1 Corinthians 10:13 (ESV)