Is it God’s fault when we sin? Your first response may be, “Of course not.” But then you may consider further and think, “Well…maybe.” After all, He did put the forbidden tree in the garden, right? Furthermore, if He is as powerful as we say He is, it seems like He would be able to stop us from sinning. Then there is a surprising phrase in what we commonly call “The Lord’s Prayer,” which is actually a model prayer Jesus gave His disciples.
And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one . . . (Matthew 6:13)
What? We are supposed to ask God not to lead us into temptation? Does that mean that He does tempt us? If so, not only can we blame Him for our sin, but we can jettison any idea of Him being a loving God. It sure does not seem loving to tempt us to sin then punish us when we do it. That would be like telling our kids that a room in the house is off limits, then putting their dinner plate in that room. To eat, they would have to disobey. No respectable parent would do such a thing.
To further the confusion, we find what seems to be conflicting statement in the book of James.
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God;” for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. (James 1:13)
So, God does not tempt us, but we are supposed to ask Him not to tempt us. I’m confused. Does He tempt us or not?
Well, let’s try to unravel the confusion by making three simple observations.
First, we should note that Matthew 6:13 does not explicitly say that God leads us into temptation; it says to ask Him not to. That does not completely solve the mystery, however, because Jesus obviously put that in the model prayer for a reason.
Second, we should consider the verse in its entirety. Rather than separating the phrases “lead us not into temptation” and “deliver us from the evil one,” we should view them as a unit. The request is for God to keep us from evil. It’s like pleading, “God, please don’t put me in that situation again. I can’t seem to get it right!”
Third, and most importantly, there are different kinds of temptation.
Type of temptation #1: Enticement to sin
This is what usually comes to mind when we think of temptation. It is the desire to do something when we know we should do otherwise. Returning to our verse in James, we see that we cannot blame this kind of temptation on God.
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God;” for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. (James 1:13)
So, what causes the temptation to do wrong? James continues…
But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. (James 1:14)
Temptation to sin comes from within ourselves—the desires of our flesh. When we sin, it is our fault. We cannot blame it on anyone else.
Type of temptation #2: Testing
While God does not tempt us to sin, He does put us through tests. A prime example occurred in the Garden of Eden. God put the forbidden tree in the Garden not as an invitation to fail, but an opportunity to succeed.
Teachers do not give their students tests because they want them to fail. The BMV does not require driving tests to prove that sixteen-year-olds cannot drive. Doctors do not perform examinations in hopes of finding terminal disease. Tests are given to provide a person the chance to succeed and to reveal areas that need improvement. Sure, a test makes failure possible, but that is not its purpose. Failure is not the fault of the test-giver, but the test-taker.
Peter wrote to Christians who had experienced great testing and informed them that it had a purpose:
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, (1 Peter 1:6-7)
Testing not only makes us stronger, but when we make it through times of testing, God receives glory.
God does not tempt us to sin, but He does allow (and even send) testing opportunities that can result in sin. However, when we fail, it is not His fault. That is why Jesus said we should pray for God not to lead us into temptation.
To clarify why we should ask God not to lead us into temptation (Matthew 6:13) when He does not tempt us to sin (James 1:13), consider a football running back who gets flattened and fumbles the ball every time it gets handed to him.
Question: Why is the running back failing each time?
Answer: Because he is too weak and his opponent is too strong.
Whose fault, then, is the failed play? It is the fault of the running back. We could say that the coach is to blame because he keeps calling the ill-fated plays, but the truth is that the coach is also putting his player in the position to do something incredible.
After repeated failed attempts, the frustrated player might approach to the coach and beg, “Coach, please don’t put me in that position again—deliver me from getting another fumble!” He recognizes that the strength of his opponent is too much for his weaknesses and wants to be spared so he can go back to work on his skills more.
The coach may then make the decision to run a different play until the running back can develop more skill. In this scenario, he would be “not leading the player into temptation” (not allowing him to get leveled by his opponent).
That is exactly what Jesus meant in His model prayer. We realize our own weaknesses and ask to not be put in a position that is too difficult for us to handle. That does not mean that we should ask for an easy life, but for God to grant us a reprieve in which we can become stronger so we can stand against the enemy.
So, temptation is not always a bad thing. We need to see it for what it is: not an opportunity to fail, but an opportunity to succeed.
