Who's to Blame?

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

In reading this passage, I noticed something; the word 'tempted' doesn't have the same meaning throughout the verse. Let's examine this word...

'Let no man say when he is tempted'; here, the word tempted, which comes from the Greek word peirazo, means 'entice'. Yes, there are other meanings as well, such as 'tested, examined proved, tried'. But, we have to understand the context of the passage in order to get the right meaning. In this verse, James warns us not to blame God when we are enticed by our own lustful desires. God does test us, but He does not entice with sin, as we will see in this passage. The verse goes on to say, 'for God cannot be tempted'; here we find a different meaning for the word 'tempted'. This is what intrigued me, the word 'tempted' as it is used here comes from the Greek word apeirastos, which means 'not temptable, not to be tempted'. It is impossible for God to be tempted by sin; it is impossible for God to tempt. That is what this text is saying; you cannot blame God when you are tempted by sinful desires because it is not possible for Him to entice sinners with evil, wickedness, sin. Many who live homosexual lives claim it is genetic; in other words, it is God's fault. He made them the way they are; however, this verse proves them wrong and exposes their foolish thinking. Never could God tempt them with such perverse, forbidden lustful desires; it is not within His nature to do so. Many who live in bondage to alcohol and drugs claim it is genetic; again, not so. Addiction is sin, those who flirt with the dangers of alcohol and drugs risk addiction because of the dangers of the chemicals they put into their bodies. Drugs alter the mind and cause the user a false state of euphoria, the mind becomes addicted to the drug, not because of genetic make-up, but because of the power of the drug.

This meaning of ‘tempted’ is only found here in James 1:13 and clearly states that anyone who tries to lay blame on God for their sins cannot do so; they do not have a case to argue before the One who is too pure, too holy to even look upon sin, let alone use sin to entice poor helpless sinners! From Habbakuk, we read, 'Thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look on iniquity' {Habbakuk 1:13a}. God cannot, will not even look upon evil; how is it we try and lay blame to Him for sin? He is pure, holy, spotless, and unable to entice sinners with sinful ways and desires because it isn't in His nature or His character to do so.

Isn't this the very same tactic used by every sinner since the beginning of time? Go back to Genesis chapter 3...what did Adam and Eve do when they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the garden? They hid, why? Because of their sin of disobedience; when that didn't work, they resorted to 'plan b'. Verse 12, 'the woman thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat'. Adam was essentially blaming God because, after all, God was the one who gave him the woman; so it was God's fault. So God turns to Eve and questions her, and her response? 'The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat'. Notice, they both admitted to eating the fruit, BUT only after they lay blame elsewhere. Thus is the nature of man; sinful, cowardly, wicked and rotten to the very core. Every human being will be held accountable for their own actions, words, thoughts {Romans 14:12}; each will stand before the throne of the Almighty One and each one will give an account on the last day: all will be without excuse.