No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. (1 Cor 10:13)No ... that's not what this text means. What does it mean? Let's look.
The first problem is our English word, "temptation." The Greek here isn't about "enticed to sin." It's about a trial, a testing, a proving. Sometimes God allows "enticement to sin" kinds of "temptations." (See, for instance, 1 Kings 22:23.) (Important note: He doesn't entice anyone to sin (James 1:13-15).) Sometimes He allows hard circumstances to test and prove. (Think of Abraham offering Isaac - Gen 22:1-19.) But the concept in view here is a testing, not an enticement. God will not allow you to be tested beyond what you are able. The second problem is how you are able. It's not your strength, your ability, your fortitude. The ability is based on His provision of a "way of escape." You don't endure it because you hold up so well, but because He takes care of you. Sometimes, like with Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, that's through the fire. We aren't "more than conquerors" around the trials ... it's in them (Rom 8:37). We endure because God is faithful. It's not about what you can face. It's about what you can face with Him.
Our strength comes from dependence, not self-sufficiency. Our confidence comes from His faithfulness, not our ability. All of us will face temptation--trials, enticements, trouble. It can certainly exceed our personal capacity to endure. "But God" ... that marvelous phrase. He is faithful. He provides. He provides a "way of escape," not necessarily a way to avoid (Isa 43:2; Psa 23:4; Rom 5:3-4; James 1:2-4). Paul wrote to the Corinthians about his affliction later ... that it was "beyond our strength" (1 Cor 1:8-9). He didn't nullify this text; he confirmed it. "Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead" (2 Cor 1:9). This isn't a promise of a trouble-free life. It's a promise of God's faithfulness in the midst of our testing.
4 comments:
It makes sense in our Reformed Theology that the strength to overcome testing and trials would only be through Christ who strengthens us. It is simply a part of TULIP. If, in our natural state, we are dead in our sins and trespasses, and our only means of choosing Christ is through the Spirit giving us new life, a new heart, then it makes sense that our only means of passing the tests is through Christ.
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it. (1 Cor 10:13)
If “temptation” as used in 1 Cor. 10:13 is better translated “test” or “trial,” I wonder why the majority of Bible translations don’t print it that way (I saw a very few that do). I have always understood that verse to mean that since God does not want me to sin, He will mercifully provide a way/means for me to resist the temptation and thereby not sin, if I truly wish to do that. Continuing that thought, if I see temptations to sin as tests of my obedience to God, the verse makes full sense with either word. I am also mindful that the context of that verse is in a discussion of testing of “all our fathers” (vv. 1-11), with the admonition to “take heed lest [you] fall” (v. 12)--i.e. fail the test, like many of them did.
The word used in 1 Cor 10:13 is exactly the word James used in James 1:2-4, so if "tempted to sin" was the intent in 1 Cor 10, it should also be in James 1, shouldn't it? I think part of the problem is our use of the word, "trials." Taken in a vacuum, we all know a "trial" is a test, either before a judge or of a product or something. We've come to think of it as a hardship rather than "a test." So we have, for instance, "trials and tribulations" which we use to describe "hard times" without noticing that they are two different words. If "temptation" in 1 Cor 10 is speaking specifically about "enticement to sin," James seems ... very odd. "Count it joy when you're enticed to sin." I would argue (and did in my post) that God uses these "enticement to sin" ideas as well as "tribulations" and such as tests, and these tests are the things He provides relief for rather than simply an escape from the enticement to sin. That is, He DOES offer escape ... from the enticement AND the suffering He uses as tests.
I appreciate this additional commentary from you. I continue to feel that the use of “temptation” (and “tempted”) in that verse might cause confusion to casual readers (i.e. those not aware of the Greek word, as you are), since “enticement to sin” would be a reasonable (and common) understanding of the English word “temptation”--especially combined with the encouragement to utilize God’s “escape” from it. (The incident of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife is often mentioned here, as in “Run, Joseph! Escape the temptation!”) If God intended for me to go through a trial (for some good purpose of His), why would He then simultaneously provide me an escape from it? Isn’t that counterproductive? (Unless “escape” also means something different from the obvious notion of “get away from or out of this situation.”)
In an online commentary that I consulted, I read this for 1 Cor. 10:13:
It is important to note before we start this verse that the Greek word “temptation” has two meanings: 1) to prove or test, or 2) solicitation to evil. We determine its meaning by the context. In verse 13, temptation is used both ways, given the situation a person faces. If we bear under a trial in a godly way, it is a test by God. If we are tempted to sin, it is solicitation to evil.
This would seem to explain why the same word translated “temptation” here is translated “trials” in James 1. In any event, in my mind, “testing” is the best notion for this verse, as it bridges “temptation” as “enticement to sin” and “trial” as “tribulation.” Then, God helps me “pass the test”--according to either (or both) of the meanings of the Greek word.
Post a Comment