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NASB | James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | James 1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God" [for temptation does not originate from God, but from our own flaws]; for God cannot be tempted by [what is] evil, and He Himself tempts no one. |
Bible Question (short): Is His humanity a reasonable explanation |
Question (full): Yes, I have heard the explanation that Christ was tempted in His humanity but not in His divinity. I find that explanation to be somewhat unsatisfying though. Yes, Jesus was and is fully human and fully divine. Those two natures were somehow brought into a single union; by this I mean that Jesus is and was one individual being. But by saying that Jesus was tempted as a human though not in His divinity, are we not then suggesting that there is a "division" between Jesus the Son of God and Jesus the Son of Man; that they are somehow two different entities? That certainly seems, to me at least, to be where that explanation leads, and that is not good place to go. Does the Commentary Critical to which you refer offer this explanation for Jas. 1.13? I don't know of this commentary so I can't check myself. I agree with you that there is a difference between being tempted and falling to that temptation. But that difference really doesn't come into play in understanding this verse, although it is certainly part of the context of the verse (cf. vv. 14-15). This verse, or at least the part I am asking about, says quite directly (in the modern English translations) that God cannot be tempted, not just that He cannot fall to temptation. The problem comes around though because we know (Mt. 4.1 and He. 4.15) that Jesus the eternal Son of God was tempted. What are we not understanding that makes this seem like a contradiction? |