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Podcast
Link Between Temptation And Sin
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Hi, I'm Dave DeWitt and today I want to talk about the link between temptation and sin.
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The point I want to make is that usually for most of us, most of the time, there is no
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disconnect between temptation and sin.
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First of all, there are two examples of temptation apart from sin nature.
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The first is the temptation of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
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They had no sin nature, but they were not able not to sin.
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In other words, they had the capacity to sin, but they also had the ability to not sin.
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But they sinned because they desired what the sin offered.
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The woman saw that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and
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that the tree was desirable to make one wise.
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She took from the fruit and ate and she gave also to her husband with her and he ate.
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The difference between the sin of Eve and the sin of Adam is that the serpent convinced
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Eve eating the fruit was not wrong.
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She was deceived, but Adam apparently ate knowing it was wrong.
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So maybe women tend to be more easily deceived, but men are more likely to sin knowingly.
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At that point, neither Adam nor Eve had a conscience to guide them, but they both had
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a command from God and they both had the capacity to obey or disobey.
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So it was a matter of obedience versus disobedience.
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At any rate, we can conclude that their disobedience was based on their desire to have what was
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sinful to have.
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Desire is the connection between temptation and the sinful acts.
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Eve added her own desire to the temptation offered by Satan.
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External temptation from Satan outside of Eve led to an internal lust or desire, which
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led to a sinful act.
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But remember, Jesus said the desire to sin, lust or desire are the same, is sin is in
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your heart.
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So temptation comes from outside of you.
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But when you desire the temptation, say sexual attraction, materialism or revenge, then you've
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already sinned.
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There is no disconnect between the desire to sin and the sin.
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Now let's look at the second temptation of someone without a sin nature, and that's Christ
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in the wilderness in Matthew 4, 1 to 11.
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The devil tempted Jesus along the lines of physical needs, stones in the bread, authority
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over the angels that catch him, and power over all the kingdoms of the world.
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Luke tells us that when the devil had finished every temptation, he left him until an opportune
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time.
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The author of Hebrews gives us an interesting statement about Christ's temptation.
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Hebrews 2, 18 says, for since he himself was tempted in that which he has suffered, he's
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able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
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For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness, but one who
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has been tempted in all things as we are yet without sin.
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The difference between Jesus and Eve, or you and I, is that Jesus did not desire the disobedience.
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Because Jesus was a deity, the Son of God, he could not desire disobedience.
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His external temptation came from Satan, but the temptation was disconnected from the
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desire for it.
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For us, our sin nature, it's different.
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When we recognize the temptation to commit some sin we desire, sexual temptation, materialism,
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or revenge, then we have already sinned because there is no disconnect between the temptation
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and the desire.
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The external temptation creates or brings out the internal desire for the sin.
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Jesus can sympathize with us because he was offered all sin human temptations.
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But when Jesus was tempted yet without sin, it was also a temptation of someone without
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a sin nature.
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He was the new Adam in the sense that neither Jesus nor Adam before the fall had a sin nature.
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The difference is Jesus was a deity, the Son of God.
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Adam was not.
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That meant Adam had the capacity to desire sin.
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Jesus did not.
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Being God, Jesus had no desire for the sin Satan tempted him with.
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So the temptation was not such that he said, I wish I could do that, but I won't.
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He was tempted in all things as we are in that he was presented with every possible
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path of sin and proved he was perfect by not going down any of those paths.
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But it's not that he wanted to go down those paths because that would mean he had a sin
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nature, which is impossible given his deity.
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God cannot be tempted with evil, James 1.13.
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There are occasions when a similar thing is true with us, namely when we're tempted in
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areas we're not inclined to accept.
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For example, homosexuality, bulimia, and drunkenness are not temptations for me because for me
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they're not desirable.
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I can be tempted with them as a category but cannot have a desire for them.
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Now heterosexual perversion, gluttony are another matter since they deal with sins my
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sin nature desires.
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Augustine made a theologically famous statement on the ability to sin.
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Back in the 400s, Augustine died for 38 AD.
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Augustine concluded four things.
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A. Adam and Eve were able to sin or not sin.
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B. Unsaved people after the fall are not able not to sin.
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C. Saved, regenerated people are able not to sin.
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4. In heaven we are not able to sin.
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There's no question that Augustine was correct about his first two points, but as to his
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fourth point, I would rather say the glorified person in heaven will not sin.
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The way Augustine put it sounds like in heaven we lose our free will, which is consistent
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with his emphasis on sovereignty, but it neglects free will.
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I'd rather say we're like the angels in heaven in that we have the capacity to always
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not sin.
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But that's not my concern here.
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I want to focus on Augustine's third point.
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Is it true that we who are saved, still living on earth with our sin nature, are quote, able
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not to sin, close quote?
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It's been said that even though sin is inevitable, it's also avoidable.
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But is sin really avoidable?
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Let's talk about the escape of 1 Corinthians 10, 13, since that's where most people go
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with this issue.
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It says, no temptation was overtaken you, but such as is common to man, and God is faithful
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who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you're able, but with the temptation
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will provide the way of escape also, so that you'll be able to endure it.
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If this verse is saying that there's always a way to avoid sin, then Augustine is correct.
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Notice however, that the one providing the way of escape is the same one providing the
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temptation.
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But James said that God never tempts anyone.
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Here's James 1, 13 to 15.
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Let no one say when he's tempted, I'm being tempted by God, for God cannot be tempted
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by evil and he himself does not tempt anyone.
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But each one is tempted when he's carried away by enticed by his own lust.
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And when lust is as conceived, it gives birth to sin.
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And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.
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So we must conclude temptation is not a good translation of the word peradzo in 1 Corinthians
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10, 13.
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The word for temptation is also the word for test.
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In that case, 1 Corinthians 10 is saying we are not tested beyond what we're able.
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It seems that the idea is not that there is a way to escape sin, but that there's a way
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to endure the trials that life brings our way.
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In the context of 1 Corinthians 10, Paul is saying our life tests do not have to lead
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to sin and rebellion as they did with, for example, the Israelites in the wilderness,
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because God will provide the way for enduring those trials.
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To have a way through those trials to end of our lives.
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This is also the understanding of the Ryrie Study Bible and the Bible Knowledge Commentary.
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Now let's take a look at Jesus' teaching on the subject from the Sermon on the Mount.
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While teaching his disciples, Jesus gave several moral principles that are stated in the form
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of you have heard, but I say to you.
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Another is teaching about anger and lust.
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Matthew 5, 22.
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You've heard that the ancients were told you shall not commit murder and whoever commits
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murder shall be liable to the court.
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I say to you, everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court.
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Whoever says to his brother, you good for nothing, shall be guilty before the Supreme
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Court.
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And whoever says you fool shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.
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If you are aware of being tempted to be angry with someone, then you are already angry with
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them.
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If you were not angry, then you would not know that you were tempted to be angry.
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The only way to separate temptation from the sin of anger is to say that you might become
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angry with someone you're not yet angry with.
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But as soon as you realize a specific temptation to be angry with someone, then it's too late
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to avoid sin.
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You're already angry.
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The temptation and the sin are inseparably connected.
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Now in Matthew 5, 27 and 28, Jesus also said, you've heard that it was said you shall not
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commit adultery, but I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has
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already committed adultery with her in his heart.
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If a man looks at a woman he considers attractive, then he's already looked to lust, since he
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would not be looking if he wasn't lusting.
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Of course, there are ways to admire beauty without lust, but that never happens to a
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normal male when an attractive girl walks past.
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Yeah, I know you can play around with the words and say, well, I was upset with my brother
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but not angry.
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I'm admiring a woman without lusting.
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But if that's true in some situations, it's not always the case.
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It's not usually the case.
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And in the real world, it's hardly ever the case.
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Playing with descriptions is usually just an excuse to justify anger and lust.
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And it's the same with all sin, temptation to sin.
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Temptations to sin are already sin if you're inclined to enjoy the sin.
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Now I want to just mention a few other scriptures on temptation in the New Testament.
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Here's 1 Timothy 6, 9.
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But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires
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which plague men into ruin and destruction.
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Notice the desire to get rich itself constitutes a fall into temptation, which is inseparably
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connected to foolish and harmful desires.
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Here's 2 Peter 2, 9.
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The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation and to keep the unrighteous under
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punishment for the day of judgment.
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Notice those rescued from temptation are contrasted with those punished for the day of judgment.
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The godly are rescued from entering into temptation and those under punishment are not.
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So the rescue from temptation is a rescue from the sin punished in the day of judgment.
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Therefore the temptation itself is sin.
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Here's 1 Thessalonians 3, 5.
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For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your
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faith for fear that the tempter might have tempted you and our labor would be in vain.
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Notice Paul's concerned about their being tempted.
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Why would temptation make Paul's labor in vain if it wasn't sinful?
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Why would he say he was concerned that they had not succumbed to the temptation?
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Apparently the temptation is also sinful.
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Notice James 1, 14 and 15.
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Each one of you is tempted when he's carried away by enticed by his own lust.
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Then when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin and when sin is accomplished, it brings
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forth death.
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Notice James does not say we are sometimes carried away by our lust, same word as desires,
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and we are tempted, but each one who is tempted is at that time carried away by his lust.
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Once conceived, there is no separating lust from sin.
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The death, the consequences, sin, the sinful act, the lust, our desires, and the temptation
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are all inseparably connected.
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So if we are all tempted and our temptation is sin, how can we relate to a holy God?
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Well the reality is we are far more sinful than we think we are.
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However sinful you think you are, you're far more sinful than that.
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David wrote, the Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there
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are any who understand, who seek after God.
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They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt.
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There is no one who does good, not even one.
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That's a Psalm 14 verse 2.
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Our sin is not just external deeds, it reaches into our thoughts and intentions of the heart
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so that when those thoughts and intentions are inclined towards sin, and they continually
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are, then our temptation is our sin.
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Romans 3, 24, and 5 says, being justified freely by grace through the redemption that
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is in Christ Jesus, who God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his
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blood.
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How do we face a holy God?
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The answer is, on our knees in humility through the blood of Christ.
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Well thanks for listening.
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I realize this can be a bit hard to follow.
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The relationship between sin and temptation has been debated since Augustine in the 8400s.
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If you want my paper on the subject, download it from our website relationalconcepts.org.
