[B-Greek] PEIRASMOS in James 1:13: Follow-up

Carl W. Conrad cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Mon Aug 18 09:36:24 EDT 2003


I really have very little to add to what I wrote about PEIRASMOS in James
1:12-15 on Saturday, 03.08.16, but as I noted there that I would have more
to say after reading through Jeffrey Gibson's PDF materials, I do want to
add a final comment on the subject.

First, Jeffrey defines "temptation" thus: '... human temptation is
consistently conceived of as a concrete, objective experience to which one
is subjected by forces outside of oneself. Never is it portrayed as a
thought or a desire which arises from WITHIN the one "tested."'

In his footnote he says, 'The statements in James 1:13-14 (hEKASTOS DE
PEIRAZETAI hUPO THS IDIAS EPIQUMIAS EXELKOMENOS KAI DELEAZOMENOS) and 1 Tim
6:9 (hOI DE BOULOMENOI PLOUTEIN EMPIPTOUSIN EIS PEIRASMON KAI PAGIDA KAI
EPIQUMIAS POLLAS ANOHTOUS KAI BLABERAS, hAITINES BUQIZOUSIN TOUS ANQRWPOUS
EIS OLEQRON KAI APWLEIAN) noting that temptation springs from "lust" and
"desiring riches" respectively are often taken as constituting evidence
against this. But here EPIQUMIA (if not taken ... as a personified power),
and BOULOMENOI PLOUTEIN are actually portrayed here as THAT THROUGH WHICH
the forces of Evil attack man, and are therefore the channel rather than
the source or instigator of temptation.'

I really have no quarrel with this. I even think it is consistent with a
reasonable interpretation of Genesis 3 (but add that this is no forum for
such a discussion); but as I did last Saturday, so again I would call
attention to the comparable account of Paul in Romans 7:7 where he wrote
ALLA THN hAMARTIAN OUK EGNWN EI MH DIA NOMOU; THN TE GAR EPIQUMIAN OUK
HiDEIN EI MH hO NOMOS ELEGEN: OUK EPIQUMHSEIS. 8 AFORMHN DE LABOULSA hH
hAMARTIA DIA THS ENTOLHS KATEIRGASATO EN EMOI PASAN EPIQUMIAN; CWRIS GAR
NOMOU hAMARTIA NEKRA. 9 EGW DE EZWN CWRIS NOMOU POTE, ELQOUSHS DE THS
ENTOLHS hH hAMARTIA ANEZHSEN. 10 EGW DE APEQANON ...

Provided that we retain rigidly Jeffey's distinction that temptation
requires an agent external to oneself, then I guess we shouldn't use the
term "temptation" for PEIRASMOS in James 1:13. But even so, it strikes me
that the PEIRASMOI of which the author of James writes in chapter 1 urging
us to count it "all joy, when you encounter various PEIRASMOI," are sort of
like "Sting" operations of the sort wherein judges are obliged on occasion
to decide whether or not any particular "sting" should not be considered an
"entrapment." Such are our EPIQUMIAI indeed that we may well be inclined to
think of them as if they were external to ourselves.
-- 

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/



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