Temptation

Temptation is the solicitation to sin: the appeal to desire, fear, or pride that seeks to draw a person away from trust and obedience toward what is forbidden or false. The first temptation in Scripture is Satan’s approach to Eve in Genesis 3, and its structure establishes the pattern: God’s word is questioned, a rival account of reality is offered, the forbidden thing is presented as desirable, and the appeal is made to the creature’s desire to be something more than what God has made them.

The temptation of Jesus in Matthew 4 and Luke 4 is a direct confrontation between the Son of God and the same adversary who destroyed the first man and woman. The three temptations follow the same basic structure: appeal to bodily desire, appeal to spiritual pride, appeal to the desire for power without the cross. Jesus meets each one with the word of God. Where Adam failed, the second Adam holds firm.

James 1 explains the inner mechanism of temptation: “each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death.” Temptation itself is not sin; yielding to it is. The New Testament assures believers that every temptation comes with a way of escape, because the one who was tempted in all things as we are is their great high priest, interceding for them. The articles below trace this theme through several key passages.