[B-Greek] PEIRASMOS in James 1:13: Follow-up
Jonathan Robie
jonathan.robie at datadirect-technologies.com
Mon Aug 18 10:00:08 EDT 2003
At 09:36 AM 8/18/2003, Carl W. Conrad wrote:
>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.'
But the James passage does not mention the forces of Evil, and indeed
encourages us to recognize that it is our own desires (THS IDIAS EPIQUMIAS)
that are enticing us:
Jam 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God," for God
can't be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one.
Jam 1:14 But each one is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust,
and enticed.
Jam 1:15 Then the lust, when it has conceived, bears sin; and the sin,
when it is full grown, brings forth death.
In fact, the passage basically says, "don't blame your temptation on God,
it is your own desires that are causing you to be tempted." And I don't see
anything in this passage that allows us to respond by saying, "but really
it was some external force that was using my desires". Which is one of the
reasons that it seems that PEIRAZW can refer to the trial we face through
our own desires. In fact, doesn't this verse, in this context, use the word
to say just exactly that?
Jonathan
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