Understanding Tests, Temptation, and Sin (James 1:12-18)

James tells his readers—and us—that there is a blessing, a benefit, to completing the trials we face in life. But we need to be careful how we understand these “tests.” Much like the Pilgrim in Bunyan’s parable, we can understand the journey of life as a path littered with forks, choices and false branches. Completing the journey requires that we follow God’s path and make the right choices along the way. But, we must not think that God has prepared us a journey with traps and tricks designed to test—or worse—mislead us. 

Those familiar with crime dramas, or even with the real criminal justice system, may be familiar with the term: “Entrapment.” Entrapment is a process where the authorities trick someone into committing a crime in order to secure a prosecution. It can be a case where police use coercion or pressure to get someone to do wrong, but it could also be seen as simply setting up a trap to catch unwitting or incautious people. 

Years ago, in the state of Texas, they used to have things called “speed traps.” They have since been outlawed. The point of a speed trap was not to make sure people were being safe in their driving, but to increase revenue through speeding tickets. A speed zone would be set up on a highway, and police would camp out there, catching people who failed to slow down fast enough. 

James tells his readers in verse thirteen that God is not a God of entrapment. He is not a God who creates circumstances designed to entice or trap us into committing sin. In fact, since God is not capable of sin or being tempted, He cannot and will not set us up in that way. God does not tempt us because temptation, and evil, and sin etc., are foreign to God. He is lacking in nothing, nor does He perceive any lacking, so He is unable to be tempted. Our temptation is a result of our sin nature, where we have grasped for something that we want and that we do not and should not have. 

It is the sin nature in our own hearts that leads us astray. As we go along our journey of life in this sin filled world, we encounter situations and circumstances that offer us an alternative to God’s way. It is our own rebellious hearts that entice us down these false paths. The testing, especially regarding our inner motivations—the temptation—does not originate with God, but rather with our lust. Lust is a way we see our sin nature manifested. 

The way James describes this process is vivid. Lust, being entertained, is conceived and gives birth to sin. And sin, once committed, leads to death. Thankfully, we know that it is not a perfect life led without sin that saves us. That is something beyond us. God saves us from our sin and helps us through a life imperiled by sin after our salvation. But it behooves us to be aware of the peril, and to look to God and His wisdom to get through life passing as many tests as we can. 

Interestingly, James tells us that it is not God that imperils us with temptations; but where is Satan in this process? James does not tell us that Satan plays a role. We know from Scripture that Satan can and does tempt people. I think the reason James does not highlight Satan’s role here is that—in most cases perhaps—Satan nor any other demonic actor is in play. We are perfectly capable of entertaining temptation all on our own. Unsaved people are enslaved to sin, and saved people are engaged in a lifelong battle with their sin nature. James wants us to be self-reflexive here. He is not interested in giving us any “out.” In our sin we have no one to blame but ourselves. 

And, just as we who have been saved from sin have been brought forth to salvation through the “word of truth,” it is the word of God that will be our help in all trials and temptations…