08 - Temptation
CHAPTER 8.
- Temptation, its nature.
- Trial.
- The source of temptation.
- The erroneousness of many notions on this subject. THE temptation of Jesus constitutes the most striking of all the series of circumstances in which the word diabolos is introduced. This temptation, to be examined with success, must be preceded by an investigation of the subject of temptation itself: which, being understood, must throw light upon the temptation of Christ, “because he was in all points tempted like as we are,” Hebrews 4:15. The matter, therefore, for the present inquiry will be, “What is temptation?”
Fortunately, the apostle James has given us the source of temptation:- “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: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed: then, when Just bath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death,” James 1:15. To understand what James intends to convey, the word translated “tempt” must be examined. It is peirazo. This word is itself a derived word, being derived from peiro, “to pass through or along.” From this word is derived the noun peira, which means “a passage through.” As an illustration of this meaning of peira, the following is appropriate: “By faith they passed through the Red Sea, as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned,” Hebrews 11:29. The term rendered “assaying” is peira, and the passage correctly translated would be this, “through which the Egyptians, making the passage, were drowned.” The same word occurs in the following passage, “And others had trial of mockings and scourgings”: or, as it ought to be, “others bore peiran, the passing through of mockings and scourgings,” Hebrews 11:36. As, in passing through a passage, there is often danger, peira means “a trial.” From this word peira comes peirao, and from peirao comes peirazo, and the word most frequently rendered “to tempt.” To show that “trial” or “attempting to do” is the primary idea associated with this word, some passages may be quoted in which peirazo or peirao occurs. “Now when they (Paul, Silas, and Timotheus) had gone throughout Phrygia, and the region of Galatia and were forbidden of the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia: but the spirit suffered them not,” Acts 16:7. The word for “assayed “- i.e. “attempted,” “tried,” is peirazo. Again, “And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple e. But Barnabus took him and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord, in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. And he was with them coming in and going out of Jerusalem,” Acts 9:26-28. The word for “assayed” is peirao - that is, “tried.” The primary meaning is still further developed in the following passage where it is applied to a mental examination: “Examine yourselves, whether, be in the faith; prove your ownselves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” 2 Corinthians 13:5. Peirazo is the word for “examine.” The same word occurs in this passage - “And Jesus went up into a mountain, and there he sat with his disciples. And the passover, a feast of the Jews, was nigh. When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, ‘Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?’ And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do,” John 6:3-6. The word for prove is peirazo. The same word occurs in the record of the orator Tertullus’ speech against Paul. “And after five days, Ananias the high priest descended with the elders, and with a certain orator named Tertullus, who informed the governor against Paul. And when he was called forth, Tertullus began to accuse him, saying, Seeing that by thee we enjoy, great quietness, and that very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence, we accept it always, and in all places, most noble Felix, with all thankfulness. Notwithstanding, that I be not further tedious unto thee, I pray thee that thou wouldest hear us of thy clemency a few words. For we have found his man a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition among all the Jews throughout the world, and a ringleader of the sect of Nazarenes: who also hath gone about to profane the temple: whom we took and would have judged according to our law,” Acts 24:1-6. The phrase, “hath gone about,” is peirazo, and means attempted, “who also hath attempted to profane the temple.” The same word occurs in the Hebrews, “By faith Abraham, when he was tried (peirazomenos), offered up Isaac,” Hebrews 11:17. The same word is rendered “tried” in Christ’s address to the church at Ephesus: “I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil; and thou hast tried (peirazo) them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted,” Revelation 2:2; Revelation 2:3. The same word is rendered “try” in the passage to the church in Philadelphia: “Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try (peirazo) them that dwell upon the earth,” Revelation 3:10. The simple meaning of the word peirazo, translated “tempt,” is to try: and there will not be any hesitation in acknowledging, after examining a few passages in which this word is rendered “tempt,” that, if it was always rendered by its simple meaning (try), the force of the word would shine forth more clearly.
Note, in this view, the following passage referring to the Christ: “For verify he took not on [him the work] of angels; but he took on [him] the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in. all things it behoved him to be made like unto [his] brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things [pertaining] to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered, being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted,” Hebrews 2:16-18. The phrase “being tempted,” is peirastheis, that is, “when tried;” and the phrase, “them that are tempted” (peirazomenois), that is, “that are being tried.” So (Hebrews 11:37), “They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented.” Here “were tempted” is the same word peirazo. From the word peirazo comes the word peirasmos. This is translated “temptation.” It means trial. “And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church. And when they were come to him, he said unto them, Ye know, from the first day that I came into Asia, after what manner I have, been with you at all seasons; serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears and temptations, which befell me by the lying in wait of the Jews,” Acts 20:17-19. The word for “temptations” is peirasmon, “trials” - and “trials” “trials” is far more expressive of the circumstances to which Paul refers than is the word “temptations.”
Paul, referring to the infirmity which he had, used this word, “and my temptation which was in my flesh ye despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel,” Galatians 4:14. This was his “trial,” peirasmos; a far better term. In the following passage the word peirasmos occurs twice, and peirazo twice. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is]) faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able: but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it],” 1 Corinthians 10:13. The words “trial” and “tried” would be much clearer. In the following passage “trial” expresses the meaning much better than “temptation.” Explaining the parable of the seed sown, Jesus says, “They on the rock [are they] which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away,” Luke 8:13. Here the word is peirasmos. They admire the love principle of Christianity; they praise it: but when an act occurs in which, to follow out the principle, they will have to sacrifice self, they find the sacrifice a trial. And the apostle James calls upon the brethren, “Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations,” James 1:2. The word is peirasmos: he adds, “Knowing [this], that the trying of your faith worketh patience,” ver. 3. The term for “trying” is not peirazo but peripesete, which means “testing,” not merely “trying.” How, if temptations were evil things, could James invite Christians to “Count it all joy when they fell into divers” of them?
All these passages establish this, that the proper meaning of the word peirasmos is “trial”; of peirazo, “try.” The objection to the words “temptation” and “tempt” would not be so great if custom had not associated with them improper meanings; but what is necessary is, that the words should be translated uniformly throughout.
One would infer from the frequent occurrence in common conversation of the words “tempted,” “temptation,” that the words occurred in almost every page of the Bible, whereas the fact is, that the word “temptation” does no occur more than twenty-one times in the New Testament. And, in all the cases the passages would be much more clear if the word “trial,” as the word is rendered in passages already quoted, were introduced in its place.
Having thus demonstrated that the word peirasmos means “trial,” and that “temptation” is not the meaning, the next step in the inquiry, necessary to make clear to the understanding the trials of the Lord in the wilderness, will be to examine the source of trial.