How does one reconcile the teaching of James 1:13-14 that God is not the source of temptation with the request in Matthew 6:13, “And do not lead us into temptation”?
As always, in dealing with alleged Bible descrepencies, context is king.
James 1:13-14 teaches that “Let no one who is tempted say, “I am tempted from God”, which means that God cannot tempt individuals. Here “tempt” is understood as testing someone with the intention to see them fail morally and spiritually. The basis for why God cannot tempt sinners is because of God’s character, being one who is not evil. However, that does not mean the phenomenon of temptation does not exists, because verse 14 identifies the true source of temptation comes from within one’s own sinful desires. While God is never the source of temptation, temptation from the source of our wicked desires does exists. Looking at Matthew 6:13, one must first note that it does not contradict James 1:13 (in order to contradict it, it has to state the opposite of James 1:13, i.e., “God tempts me”). Rather, one sees Matthew 6:13 as a prayer to God for help to ensure that one is not led into a test that we would fail. The rest of Matthew 6:13 helps us further in reconciling the two portion of Scripture, because what this didactic prayer of Jesus means is understood in the following words of Jesus asking God “to rescue us from the evil one.” While the evil one tempts us (he desire to see us fail), God wants us to face the test and come out faithful and obedient to him. The prayer in Matthew 6:13 is not praying that God Himself won’t tempt us, as if it’s a possibility, but it is a prayer concerning protection from another agent of temptation, “the evil one”.
What about Genesis 22:1?
Just for a point of clarity, what do you see as the “temptation” in Genesis 22:1? Do you agree with the definition of temptation offered here? =)
there is a typo here, yo have
‘the rest of matt 16: when you mean matt 6:
Wow thank you Wayne for catching that.
This is helpful too for Christians wrestling with this issue
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[…] James 1:13-14 that God is not the source of temptation with Matthew 6:13, “And do not lead us into… […]
[…] James 1:13-14 that God is not the source of temptation with Matthew 6:13, “And do not lead us into… […]
Excellent point. Thanks for examining this.
Appreciating your answer
[…] James 1:13-14 that God is not the source of temptation with Matthew 6:13, “And do not lead us into… […]
Praise God to see this shared in Malaysia. I myself am from Mexico
I love the answers given in your post
This is a case where the nonbeliever rushed to condemn the Bible without thoroughly analyzing all of the information. Thanks for providing this post defending the Scriptures.
You reconciled this when the skeptics failed
I know Arminians who stumble over this passage
And open theists too
Good answers, knew you would have tackled this
Jack Tea
I know as a Christian I have questions about this one. Addressing this is helpful.
Your answer provides good guidance to how to handle this kind of objection people bring up.
I worry that the truth status of a lot of the skeptics attack is tenuous. It’s hard to tell whether the alleged contradictions are really ‘there’ in the text. It’s something you read and they later realize they are silly from naysayers
Well, the atheist disguises lies against the Bible. Do they even know Christians responses to their attacks??
Every skeptic on social media should have this label warning: Context. We don’t do that here.”
The skeptics first error is thinking the Bible has errors
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