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Was Jesus Tempted by Evil Desires? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: Well, Jesus was tempted in every way as we are tempted,
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  Speaker 1: and he didn't sin, not once, and our whole salvation
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  Speaker 1: rides on his perfection. But does this mean that Jesus
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  Speaker 1: was tempted by evil desires inside of himself like we are.
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  Speaker 1: It's a sharp question to ask, even if it's an
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  Speaker 1: uncomfortable want to ask. Here it is High Pastor John.
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  Speaker 1: My name is Sophie and I live in Sydney, Australia.
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  Speaker 1: I'm grappling with a question about temptation and sin. In
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  Speaker 1: James one fourteen, it says people are tempted by their
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  Speaker 1: own desires, which lead to sin. This seems to create
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  Speaker 1: a clear distinction between temptation, evil desires, and actual sin. However,
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  Speaker 1: I'm struggling to reconcile this with Hebrews four fifteen, which
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  Speaker 1: states that Jesus was tempted in every way as we are,
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  Speaker 1: but did not sin. If James one fourteen connects temptation
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  Speaker 1: with evil desires within us, how can I understand this?
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  Speaker 1: In light of Hebrews four fifteen. It doesn't seem right
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  Speaker 1: to say that Jesus had evil desires. Yet these passages
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  Speaker 1: seem to contradict each other. How can I fit these
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  Speaker 1: two verses together and understand how Jesus could be tempted
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  Speaker 1: in all the ways that we are and yet remain sinless.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, here are the basic facts from the Bible that
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  Speaker 2: need to be put together in a coherent way. First,
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  Speaker 2: the Greek word translated test and the Greek word translated
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  Speaker 2: tempt are exactly the same word in Greek perosmos, the
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  Speaker 2: noun perozzo the verb. That's the first observation. It's really significant. Second,
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  Speaker 2: God tests us Hebrews eleven seventeen. He tested Abraham. He
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  Speaker 2: tests us, and he invites us to test him by
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  Speaker 2: trusting him. Test me, prove me, and I'll pour out
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  Speaker 2: blessings on you Malachi three ten. Third, but God cannot
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  Speaker 2: be tempted, according to James one thirteen, and he himself
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  Speaker 2: tempts no one. According to that same verse, let no
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  Speaker 2: one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God.
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  Speaker 2: For God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself
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  Speaker 2: tempts no one. Fourth observation. Yet Christ was tempted according
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  Speaker 2: to Matthew four one. Jesus was led up by the
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  Speaker 2: spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil
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  Speaker 2: Hebrews four fifteen. We do not have a high priest
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  Speaker 2: who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one
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  Speaker 2: who in every way was tempted like we are, yet
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  Speaker 2: without sin. Fifth observation. James defines temptation like this James
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  Speaker 2: one fourteen. Each person is tempted when he is lured
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  Speaker 2: and enticed, literally dragged by his own desire. In other words,
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  Speaker 2: legitimate desire, like being hungry to eat bread after you
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  Speaker 2: fasted for forty days. Legitimate desire is not temptation as
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  Speaker 2: James defines it, but becomes temptation when it becomes a
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  Speaker 2: controlling enticement, lure and drags or lures a person into
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  Speaker 2: active sinning. Okay, those are the facts from the Bible
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  Speaker 2: regarding temptation and testing. Now to put all this together coherently,
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  Speaker 2: it is absolutely crucial that we recognize that this definition
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  Speaker 2: of temptation in the Book of James one fourteen is
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  Speaker 2: narrow and may be distinctive to James. It's not the
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  Speaker 2: way most people think about temptation. Most people think of
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  Speaker 2: temptation as an outward invitation to evil, which you can
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  Speaker 2: resist and be innocent. In that sense, Jesus was tempted, Yes,
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  Speaker 2: he was in the wilderness. There was an outward invitation
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  Speaker 2: to sin, and he didn't. But James is defining temptation
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  Speaker 2: much more narrowly than that, more narrowly than outward invitation
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  Speaker 2: to evil that can be resisted. He is saying, you
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  Speaker 2: are not tempted until that outward invitation has become an
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  Speaker 2: internal luring and enticing and dragging of the will into
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  Speaker 2: active sinning. Now here's the reason. The reason James defines
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  Speaker 2: temptation in this narrow way is because he wants to
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  Speaker 2: distinguish between testing that God does sin, and temptation, which
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  Speaker 2: he does not send into our lives, at least not
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  Speaker 2: in the same way. James says in Chapter one, verse thirteen,
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  Speaker 2: let no one say when he is tempted, I am
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  Speaker 2: being tempted by God, or he could say, could translate,
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  Speaker 2: let no one say when he's tested, which is I
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  Speaker 2: am being tempted by God? Which isn't? He would never
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  Speaker 2: say that about testing, namely that I'm not being tested
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  Speaker 2: by God, even though even though it's the same Greek word.
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  Speaker 2: In James one, verse two, he said, count it all joy,
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  Speaker 2: my brothers, when you meet tests, same word temptation or
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  Speaker 2: test tests of various kinds, for you know that the
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  Speaker 2: testing of your faith produces steadfastness. So he wants to
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  Speaker 2: distinguish testing from God and temptation not from God. But he,
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  Speaker 2: James doesn't have two different words to work with the
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  Speaker 2: same Greek word means test and temptation. So what's he
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  Speaker 2: going to do. He's going to make clear that there
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  Speaker 2: is a good experience of perosmos testing and there's a
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  Speaker 2: bad experience of perosmos temptation. So in verse twelve he says,
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  Speaker 2: blessed is the man who remains steadfast under perosmos testing,
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  Speaker 2: And in verse fourteen, using the very same word, he says,
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  Speaker 2: each person is tempted when he's lured and enticed by
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  Speaker 2: his own desire. So being tested is good, being tempted
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  Speaker 2: as bad the way James is defining them. But they're
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  Speaker 2: the same word as if, as if I said in English,
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  Speaker 2: being tempted is good and being tempted as bad. That's
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  Speaker 2: what he's got to work with. So he's got to
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  Speaker 2: be careful, and we need to read him carefully. Here's
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  Speaker 2: the point in answer to Sophie's question. When Matthew four
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  Speaker 2: and Hebrews four say that Jesus was tempted, it's using
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  Speaker 2: the broad Greek word pirosmos perrodzo in the sense of
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  Speaker 2: being tested by outward enticements which do not become internal
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  Speaker 2: compulsions to sin. That's the way Matthew and Hebrews are
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  Speaker 2: thinking about testing or temptation. But when James says that
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  Speaker 2: God and by implication, Jesus can't be tempted, he doesn't
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  Speaker 2: contradict that because he's defining tempt narrowly in reference to
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  Speaker 2: being sinsly dragged by desire into outward sin. And the
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  Speaker 2: reason he defines it that way is to make clear
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  Speaker 2: that even though the same word is used, God does
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  Speaker 2: test us, but he does not drag us by our
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  Speaker 2: desires into sin. Our sinful heart does not need any
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  Speaker 2: active help from God to feel enticed toward sin and
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  Speaker 2: dragged into sin. On the contrary, we need help from
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  Speaker 2: God to overcome these innate sinful impulses. In fact, we
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  Speaker 2: need a miracle of new birth, which is what James
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  Speaker 2: says some verses later, in verse eighteen of chapter one,
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  Speaker 2: he says, of his own will, God brought us forth
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  Speaker 2: that is caused to be born by the Word of Truth,
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  Speaker 2: that we should be a kind of first fruits of
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  Speaker 2: His creatures, his new creation. In other words, if we're
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  Speaker 2: going to escape from the bondage of sinful temptation the
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  Speaker 2: way James defines it, we must be made new creatures
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  Speaker 2: or be given new birth by God. And James says,
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  Speaker 2: this happens quote by the Word of Truth. So even
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  Speaker 2: though it's a miracle of God, we can pursue it
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  Speaker 2: by listening to the truth of the gospel. And we
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  Speaker 2: have a gospel like that because Jesus was indetested or
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  Speaker 2: tempted outwardly and enticed by the devil, but was never
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  Speaker 2: tempted inwardly by being dragged by his own desires into sin.
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  Speaker 2: He was a perfect sinless sacrifice. And for that we
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  Speaker 2: can be eternally thankful, because until Jesus comes again, or
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  Speaker 2: until we die, we are not only going to be
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  Speaker 2: outwardly enticed by sin, we are going to be inwardly
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  Speaker 2: compromised by sinful desires. To which Paul cried out, who
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  Speaker 2: will deliver us from this body of death? And he answered,
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  Speaker 2: and we answer, Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ,
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  Speaker 2: our Lord.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Amen, what a glorious savior. Christ's perfection tells us
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  Speaker 1: that he actually experienced the full weight of temptation, and
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  Speaker 1: he felt it more deeply than anyone else who ever lived,
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  Speaker 1: because he never gave in. He endured its pressure to
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  Speaker 1: the end, without the so called relief of escape, of
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  Speaker 1: caving into the pressure of sin. Unlike us sinners who
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  Speaker 1: so easily yield to temptation, Christ felt the full force
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  Speaker 1: of evil without ever once compromising. As C. S. Lewis said,
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  Speaker 1: only those who fully resist sin can know how powerful
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  Speaker 1: temptation truly is. This is such an important topic, Sophie,
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  Speaker 1: Thank you for bringing it up today. Is the topic
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  Speaker 1: that we talked about on this very point, in fact
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  Speaker 1: in the past. See the APGA book on pages three
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  Speaker 1: twenty one to three twenty two for more about this
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  Speaker 1: idea that the one who most resists temptation is the
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  Speaker 1: one who feels the pressure of temptation most profound thoughts
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  Speaker 1: from Pastor John in the history of this podcast. Thank
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  Speaker 1: you for listening and thanks for joining us today. If
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  Speaker 1: you have a question to ask Pastor John, find a
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  Speaker 1: link to email us and find our complete episode archive
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  Speaker 1: at the same place. Askpastor John dot com. Well, God
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  Speaker 1: doesn't tempt us, but he does test us. So does
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  Speaker 1: God afflict us from his heart? Does it come from
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  Speaker 1: his heart? This is a really interesting question and it's
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  Speaker 1: actually related to what we just talked about. Tony Ranky
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  Speaker 1: will see you on Monday.