23The Danger of Overconfidence (10:1-13)

For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, that we should not crave evil things, as they also craved. And do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.” Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it. (10:1-13)

In chapter 8 Paul sets forth the principle that, although Christians are free to do whatever Scripture does not forbid as being morally wrong, if we love as God calls us to love, we will limit our liberty for the sake of weaker believers. In chapter 9 he illustrates this limitation from his own life and ministry. To keep from giving them reason to think he was preaching for the money, he accepted no wages from those to whom he was ministering. He also modified and adapted his life-style in whatever ways were scripturally permissible in order to witness more effectively.

The second half of chapter 8 and all of chapter 9 illustrate how using our freedom affects others. Chapter 10 illustrates how our use of freedom affects our own lives. In verses 1-13 Paul shows how misuse of liberty can disqualify us from effective service to Christ.

One of the surest ways to fall into temptation and sin is to become overconfident. Many of the Corinthian believers thought, and perhaps had said in the letter to Paul (7:1), that they felt perfectly secure in their Christian lives, that they had arrived. Paul surely had that attitude in mind in the sarcastic rebuke of 4:8-14. They were saved, baptized, well taught, lacking in no gift, and presumably mature. They thought they were strong enough to freely associate with pagans in their ceremonies and social activities and not be affected morally or spiritually, as long as they did not participate in outright idolatry or immorality.

Paul tells them they were self-deceived. Abusing their liberty not only harmed weaker believers whose consciences were offended but also endangered their own spiritual lives. They could not live long on the far edge of freedom without falling into temptation and then into sin. The mature, loving Christian does not try to stretch his liberty to the extreme, to see how close to evil he can come without being harmed.

When a Christian becomes so confident of his strength that he thinks he can handle any situation, he is overconfident and in great danger of falling. The warning is summarized in verse 12: “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” The danger is not of falling from salvation but of falling from holiness and from usefulness in service. It is a serious danger and one the Lord does not take lightly.

Ancient Israel provided Paul with sobering illustrations of the pitfalls of overconfident living. Using incidents from their forty-year wandering between Egypt and Canaan, Paul discusses the assets of liberty (vv. 1-4), the abuse of liberty (vv. 5-10), and the application of liberty (vv. 11-13).

THE ASSETS OF LIBERTY

For refers back to the disqualification for service of which Paul had just spoken (9:27) and introduces the examples that follow I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, prepares his readers for new insights into old and familiar stories. It is an urgent statement, pleading with his readers to remember what happened to Israel in the wilderness. He is partly reminding and partly giving new teaching.

All Hebrews were the physical descendants of Abraham. But to truly be God’s children they also had to be his spiritual descendants. “For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel… That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants” (Rom. 9:6, 8). Abraham was father of all the faithful (Rom. 4:11; Gal. 3:29), and in this sense Paul’s reference to our fathers could be addressed to Gentile as well as Jewish Christians, for they were spiritual descendants of all who believed.

In verses 1-4 Paul emphasizes the oneness of Israel as a corporate community and the commonness of their experiences under Moses’ leadership. All is used five times in those four verses to indicate that oneness in experience and blessing.

Three basic areas of blessing are mentioned: liberation from Egypt, baptism into Moses, and spiritual sustenance.

LIBERATION FROM EGYPT

After a few years of favored treatment because of Joseph, Israel spent 400 years as slaves in Egypt. They were under total subjection to a foreign and pagan people, who abused, maligned, and severely overworked them. After the ten plagues He sent against the Egyptians, God miraculously delivered Israel. He opened the Red Sea for them to pass through the sea on dry land and then closed the waters on their pursuers. He guided them by “a pillar of cloud by day” and “a pillar of fire by night” (Ex. 13:21). As the Lord’s supreme deliverance of His chosen people from bondage to freedom, the Exodus became the touchstone of Jewish religion and remains that today.

The Exodus did not represent the spiritual salvation of God’s people. Men have always been spiritually saved only by personal faith in God. Many Israelites believed wholly in God while they were in Egypt and no doubt many came to personal faith during the wilderness wanderings. Israel was never saved spiritually as a nation, yet their national deliverance is a symbol of New Covenant salvation given to individuals. The Exodus was God’s calling His chosen people, believing and unbelieving, out of their bondage in Egypt and His deliverance of them into His own land that He had promised to them through Abraham (Gen. 12:7). They were to be His witnessing community to the world. That was the “race” that Israel as a nation was called by God to run (1 Cor. 9:24). It was in that race that the nation misused its freedom and became disqualified, by falling into idolatry, immorality, and rebelliousness. Paul was saying to the self-confident Corinthians, “Don’t let what happened to the nation of Israel happen to you.”

BAPTISM INTO MOSES

Ordinarily baptism refers to the ceremony in which water is used to symbolize cleansing from sin. Many Christians, therefore, interpret and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea as a reference to this ceremony. They take it to mean that the people were sprinkled by rain from the cloud or immersed when passing through the sea. But the pillar of cloud that guided the Israelites by day was the Shekinah cloud, the cloud of God’s presence, which at night turned into a pillar of fire, not a cloud of water. And the sea was parted so that the people could walk through on dry land (Ex. 14:16).

The basic Christian significance for baptism is identification with Christ. As Paul explains later in Romans 6:1-10, water baptism is an outward sign of spiritual union with Christ in His death and resurrection. Water baptism symbolizes the baptism believers have already experienced. When we trust in Jesus Christ we are baptized into Him, identified with Him, made one with Him. “For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Gal. 3:27). It is that idea of spiritual identification, rather than the physical ceremony, that I believe Paul has in mind in the present passage. The Israelites were baptized into Moses in the sense that they identified with him as the Lord’s appointed leader over them. There was solidarity between the people and Moses.

SPIRITUAL SUSTENANCE

The fact that all the Israelites ate the same spiritual food indicates that Paul is not speaking of God’s working in the spirits of individual Israelites. He could not do that because many of them did not believe in Him. Paul is speaking of the source, not the type, of sustenance. It is true that God spiritually strengthened the Israelites who believed in Him. But He provided physical food and drink, through spiritual means, for all of Israel, believers and unbelievers alike. The Lord miraculously provided manna for food (Ex. 16:15) and water for drink (17:6). In this sense they were all spiritually sustained, that is, given provisions from a divine source rather than a natural one.

The source of their spiritual drink was a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ. Even at the time of the Exodus, the Messiah was with Israel providing for them!

The Jews had a popular legend, still known and believed by many in Paul’s day, that the actual rock that Moses struck followed Israel throughout her wilderness travels, providing water wherever they went. I believe the apostle may have been alluding to this legend, saying, “Yes, a rock did follow Israel in the wilderness. But it was not a physical rock that provided merely physical water. It was a spiritual rock, the Messiah (the Hebrew term for Christ) whom you have long awaited, who was with our fathers even then.”

The term Paul uses here for rock is not petros, a large stone or boulder, but petra, a massive rock cliff. God used a boulder to provide water for Israel on one occasion. But the spiritual rock which followed them throughout their journeys was not that small boulder but the great rock of Christ. That supernatural rock protected and sustained His people and would not allow them to perish. Old Testament believers did not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, but even during the Exodus they had the sustaining presence of the preexistent Messiah, the preincarnate Christ, caring for and fulfilling the needs of His people.

The point of all these affirmations is to recount the privileges of Israel, the assets of her deliverance.

THE ABUSES OF LIBERTY

Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us, that we should not crave evil things, as they also craved. And do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.” Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. (10:5-10)

All Israel shared in the common blessings of liberty, baptism, and sustenance in the wilderness. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased. Most of them is an understatement. Of the entire great number of Israelites who left Egypt only two, Joshua and Caleb, were allowed to enter the Promised Land. Even Moses and Aaron were disqualified from entering because the rock at Meribah was struck with Moses’ rod rather than spoken to as God had commanded (Num. 20:8-12, 24).

Because of disobedience all but two Israelites were laid low in the wilderness. Laid low (katastrōnnumi) means literally “to strew or spread over.” The corpses of those with whom God was not pleased were strewn all over the wilderness. All Israel had been graciously blessed, liberated, baptized, and sustained by the Lord in the wilderness, but in that “race,” that test of obedience and service, most of them were “disqualified” (cf. 9:24, 27). They misused and abused their freedom and their blessings. In self-centeredness and self-will they tried to live on the edge of their liberty, and they fell into temptation and then into sin. Overconfidence was their undoing.

Many of the disqualified Israelites were believers who became unfit for God’s service. They became what Paul elsewhere refers to as vessels of dishonor. They had not cleansed themselves “from youthful lusts” and had not pursued “righteousness, faith, love and peace.” Consequently they did not become vessels that were “sanctified, useful to the Master, prepared for every good work” (2 Tim. 2:21-22). They were scattered about the wilderness as potsherds, pieces of broken vessels that were no longer useful.

The judgments experienced by the disobedient Israelites in the wilderness were examples for us, that we should not crave evil things, as they also craved. Those who “were laid low in the wilderness” had not brought their bodies under control as Paul had done with his (9:27) but had indulged their every desire, lust, and craving. A controlled body is useful to the Lord; an indulged one is not. The Christian who controls his body and his life-style is qualified to serve the Lord; the one who indulges his body and is careless in his life-style is disqualified.

The Israelites had become disqualified because of four major sins: idolatry (v. 7), sexual immorality (v. 8), trying God (v. 9), and complaining (v. 10).

IDOLATRY

Idols were more than familiar to Corinthians, because their entire society was built around them. No religious, social, political, or business function was conducted without some involvement with idol worship or recognition.

Many of the Corinthian Christians, overconfident in their own moral and spiritual strength, had become careless about their participation in activities where false gods were worshiped, consulted, or appealed to. They believed they could be associated with such pagan activities without being spiritually harmed. Some of the believers, or professed believers, in Corinth had slipped back into actual idolatry (5:11). Others were in danger of doing the same thing.

Still using Israel as an example, Paul warned, And do not be idolaters, as some of them were. The Israelites were hardly out of Egypt before they fell into idolatry. There were no pagan priests, temples, or idols to lure them, but they managed to make their own idols and improvise their own ceremonies.

Exodus 32 records the sordid story. After Moses went up on Mt. Sinai to receive the tablets of God’s commandments, the people became impatient at his delay in returning. With little difficulty they persuaded Aaron to make a golden calf. Although the calf was a representation of a popular Egyptian god, the Israelites planned to use it to worship Jehovah. They referred to the calf as the god who had brought them out of Egypt (32:4), and when Aaron built an altar to the idol he declared “a feast to the LORD,” that is to Jehovah, or Yahweh, the covenant name of Israel’s God (3:14-15). Aaron even offered the same sacrifices, the burnt and peace offerings, customarily offered to God. Yet somehow they thought they could use a pagan idol to worship the true God. They had for so long been around the pagan ceremonies of Egypt that it seemed almost natural to add a pagan practice to true worship. Even Aaron, the first high priest of Israel and next in command under Moses, did not resist when approached by the people with their wicked idea. It was he who suggested that they make the calf from jewelry received from the Egyptians.

Quoting Exodus 32:6 Paul continues, The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play. The eating and drinking refer to the excessive feasting that followed the sacrifices. Play is a euphemism for sexual relations. It means sexual play and is the same word translated “caressing” in Gen. 26:8. Some three thousand of the Israelites who had instigated that idolatrous and immoral orgy at Sinai were put to death (Ex. 32:28).

Some of the believers in Corinth had also reverted to their old ways of worship. Idols represent false gods, gods who are really demons, and Paul warns later in chapter 10 that “You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons” (1 Cor. 10:20-21). The right God can only be worshiped in the right way. Those who try to honor God with immoral and pagan practices bring dishonor on Him and judgment on themselves.

When Christians worship anyone or anything besides God, that is idolatry. Worshiping the virgin Mary, saints, icons, or angels is idolatry. No matter how sincerely they are meant to honor to God, such practices are false worship and are strictly forbidden in Scripture. The first commandment God gave Moses was “You shall have no other gods before Me” (Ex. 20:3). There is only one God, and only God is to be worshiped. The injunction of Revelation 22:9, “worship God,” is still the exclusive command. And “My little children, guard yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21) is still the comprehensive prohibition.

All idols, of course, are not physical. They do not have to be made of wood, stone, or metal. Any concept of God that is not biblical is false, and if believed and followed it becomes an idol. Those who follow a man-made god may claim they worship the God of Scripture, just as the Israelites claimed their calf worship was to the Lord. But no false god has anything in common with the God of the Bible.

Churches and philosophies have developed that virtually make gods of success, love, social service, self-image, or simply mankind. Anything that takes our first loyalty and allegiance is an idol. Many people who would not take a second glance at a carved idol will sacrifice health, time, family, moral standards, and anything else required in order to achieve the idol of success or recognition they want. The sin of idolatry, like every other sin, is of the heart. As God told Ezekiel about the elders of Israel, “These men have set up their idols in their hearts, and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity” (Ezek. 14:3).

Christians in churches that practice any form of idolatry—ceremonial, theological, or practical—cannot stay there long without being contaminated. They should not want to stay. They should not want to support and encourage, even indirectly, those who hold to doctrines or practices that are unscriptural and ungodly. In doing so they dishonor God, confirm others in wrongdoing, and endanger their own spiritual well-being.

SEXUAL IMMORALITY

The second major sin was alluded to in the previous verse (play) but is treated explicitly in verse 8. Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. The incident to which Paul refers is recorded in Numbers. While in the wilderness, “the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab. For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods” (25:1-2). Twenty-four thousand Israelites were slain because of that orgy (v. 9). The difference in numbers between the two accounts is probably best explained by taking 23,000 to mean those killed during one day and 24,000 to include others who died later due to the plague.

Idolatry and sexual immorality were closely associated in virtually all ancient religions. They were especially associated in Corinth, whose temple to Aphrodite had a thousand ritual prostitutes. Just as most social occasions involved some form of idolatry, they also usually involved some form of sexual immorality. It is clear from Paul’s warning that the self-confident Corinthian believers were no more immune to immorality than idolatry. Thinking they could live carelessly around corruption without being corrupted, they first were tempted and then gave in to temptation. As the apostle had already told them in this letter (6:18), and probably had told them many times when he was with them in person, immorality is to be fled, not flirted with. Christ gives us freedom so that we may serve him more effectively in righteousness, not so we can see how close we can come to unrighteousness.

Many Christians fall into moral problems simply because they are overconfident in themselves. They enter into and continue relationships that may not be wrong in themselves but which offer strong temptations. And when temptations come they think they can handle it, often finding out too late that they could not. Or they go places and do things that are closely associated with immorality, stopping short of doing anything immoral themselves. But even if a person never commits an immoral act in such situations, his mind is filled with vulgar ideas and images, and his spiritual life and testimony are seriously weakened.

TRYING GOD

The third major sin of which the Corinthians were in danger was that of trying, or tempting, God. Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. Numbers 21 gives the story behind this reference. “And the people spoke against God and Moses, ‘Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this miserable food’” (Num. 21:5). God had provided manna to eat and water to drink, but the people were not satisfied. They wanted more variety and more spice. They complained and complained, questioning God’s goodness and trying His patience. They had no concern for pleasing God, only for His pleasing themselves. They did not use their new freedom to serve Him better but to demand that He serve them better.

Christians sometimes use their freedom to push God to the limit, trying to see how much they can get out of Him and how much they can get by with before Him. Ananias and Sapphira sold some property to raise money for the church in Jerusalem. Keeping part of the proceeds for themselves was within their freedom and was not sinful. But they decided to appear more generous by claiming they gave the entire amount, and their lying hypocrisy pushed the Lord too far. They not only lied to God’s people but to God Himself. In rebuking them Peter asked Ananias, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit?… You have not lied to men, but to God,” and later asked Sapphira, “Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test?” (Acts 5:3-4, 9). Lying to God cost them their lives (vv. 5, 10).

Many of the Corinthians were pushing their liberty to the limits, to see how much of the flesh they could indulge and how much of the world they could enjoy. They were trying God and risking severe discipline. As some Christians today, they probably said, “This is the age of grace. We are free and God is forgiving. We can’t lose our salvation so why not get everything out of life that we can?”

The Israelites found the answer to that question. “And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died” (Num. 21:6). God’s people have always lived under His grace. Every blessing Israel had, including her being called as God’s special people, was by His grace. She had been delivered from Egypt by God’s grace and she was being sustained and protected by His grace. When she put the Lord to the test, however, she discovered that He had limits which He would not let them cross over without punishment. Some of the Corinthians had gone past that limit and become sick or even died (1 Cor. 11:30).

COMPLAINING

The fourth major sin about which Paul warns is complaining. Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. After Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their fellow rebels were destroyed by the Lord (Num. 16:32-35), “all the congregation of the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying, ‘You are the ones who have caused the death of the Lord’s people’” (v. 41). God was so incensed at their complaints about divine justice that He immediately sent a plague that killed 14,700 people. The destroyer was the same angel who had slain the firstborn of the Egyptians before Israel left Egypt (Ex. 12:23), who would kill 70,000 men because of David’s census (2 Sam. 24:15-16), and who, in response to the prayer of Isaiah and Hezekiah, would destroy the entire Assyrian army that was besieging Jerusalem (2 Chron. 32:21).

Murmuring is dissatisfaction with God’s sovereign will for our lives and the lives of others, and is a sin that He does not take lightly, even in view of His grace. When God’s people question or complain, they are challenging His wisdom, His grace, His goodness, His love, and His righteousness. Our need for contentment is not merely for our own well-being, which it is, but for God’s honor and glory. Complaining dishonors our heavenly Father; contentment glorifies Him.

Paul had “learned to be content in whatever circumstances” he was in (Phil. 4:11) and advises the Corinthians to have this same contentment, lest they suffer God’s discipline.

THE APPLICATION OF LIBERTY

Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it. (10:11-13)

The punishments that came upon the disobedient Israelites not only were an example to their fellow Hebrews but also to believers in every age since. More than that they were given for our instruction, for the benefit of Christians, those upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Instruction (nouthesia) is more than ordinary teaching. It means admonition and carries the connotation of warning. It is counsel given to persuade a person to change behavior in light of judgment. The ends of the ages refers to the time of Messiah, the time of redemption, the last days of world history before the messianic kingdom comes.

We are living in a greatly different age from that of the Hebrews in the wilderness under Moses, but we can learn a valuable lesson from their experience. Like them we can forfeit our blessing, reward, and effectiveness in the Lord’s service if, in overconfidence and presumption, we take our liberties too far and fall into disobedience and sin. We will not lose our salvation, but we can easily lose our virtue and usefulness, and become disqualified in the race of the Christian life.

Every believer, especially when he becomes self-confident in his Christian liberty and spiritual maturity, should take heed lest he fall. Paul expresses a timeless principle, articulated in Proverbs as “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling” (16:18). It is easy to substitute confidence in ourselves for confidence in the Lord—accepting His guidance and blessing and then taking credit for the work He does through us. It is also easy to become so enamored of our freedom in Christ that we forget we are His, bought with a price and called to obedience to His Word and to His service.

When I visited Israel several years ago I was shown the place at the Golan Heights where, in 1967, the Israelis penetrated the Syrian defenses and secured that strategic area for themselves. From those heights Syrian guns overlooked most of the Galilee region of northern Israel and were a constant threat. The entire Golan area was closely guarded by the Syrians, except for one spot where the cliffs were so high and sheer that they seemed perfectly safe from attack. One night, however, Israeli bulldozers cut out the cliffs enough to push tanks up to the top. By morning a large contingent of tanks, followed by infantry and supported by fighter planes, completely overran the Syrian positions and secured an area that extended ten miles inland. The spot the Syrians thought to be the safest turned out to be the most vulnerable.

The Bible is filled with examples of the dangers of overconfidence. The book of Esther centers around the plan of a proud and overconfident man who saw his plan backfire. King Ahasuerus of Persia promoted Haman to be his second in command, with instructions for the people to bow before Haman as they would the king. Mordecai, however, would not bow to him, and when the proud and arrogant Haman was told that Mordecai was a Jew, he persuaded Ahasuerus to declare an edict that would give him revenge on all Jews in the land by having them destroyed. Through the intercession of Queen Esther, also a Jew and the niece of Mordecai, the king issued a far different edict, which allowed and even encouraged the Jews to defend themselves—which they did with great success. Haman was hanged on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai, who was given all of Haman’s possessions and the royal honor Haman had expected for himself.

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, taunted Israel with the boast that her God could no more save her than the gods of other lands had saved them. A short time later, “the angel of the Lord went out, and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men arose early in the morning, behold, all of these were dead.” A few days after the defeated king returned to Assyria, he was assassinated by two of his own sons and succeeded on the throne by a third (Isa. 37:36-38).

Peter discovered that where he thought he was strongest and most dependable he actually was the weakest. He assured Jesus, “Lord, with You I am ready to go both to prison and to death!” But, as Jesus then predicted, before dawn Peter three times denied even knowing Jesus (Luke 22:33-34, 54-62).

The church at Sardis was proud of her reputation for being spiritually alive, but the Lord warned her that she was really dead and needed to repent (Rev 3:1-2). If she did not He would come upon her like a thief (v. 3)—just as one night enemy soldiers under Cyrus had sneaked into the seemingly impregnable acropolis at Sardis by way of an unguarded footpath. A handful of soldiers crept up the path and opened the gates to the rest of the army. Overconfidence led to carelessness, and carelessness led to defeat.

The self-confident believers at Laodicea thought they were “wealthy” and in “need of nothing,” but were told by the Lord that they were really “wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked” (3:17).

Christians who become self-confident become less dependent on God’s Word and God’s Spirit and become careless in their living. As carelessness increases, openness to temptation increases and resistance to sin decreases. When we feel most secure in ourselves—when we think our spiritual life is the strongest, our doctrine the soundest, and our morals the purest—we should be most on our guard and most dependent on the Lord.

After the strong warning about self-confidence and pride, Paul gives a strong word of encouragement about God’s help when we are tempted (v. 13). First he assures us that none of us has temptations that are unique. Then he assures us that we can also resist and overcome every temptation if we rely on God.

By this time the Corinthians were no doubt wondering how they could possibly avoid all the pitfalls Paul had just described and illustrated. “How do we keep from craving evil things as Israel did (cf. v. 6)? How do we keep from falling into idolatry in our hearts? How can we live righteous lives when the society around us is so wicked? How can we avoid trying the Lord and how can we keep from grumbling?”

Paul’s answer is that a Christian should recognize that victory is always available, because a believer can never get into temptation that he cannot get out of. For one thing, Paul explains, No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man.

The basic meaning of temptation (peirasmos) is simply to test or prove, and has no negative connotation. Whether it becomes a proof of righteousness or an inducement to evil depends on our response. If we resist it in God’s power, it is a test that proves our faithfulness. If we do not resist, it becomes a solicitation to sin. The Bible uses the term in both ways, and I believe that Paul has both meanings in mind here.

When “Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil” (Matt. 4:1) it is clear that both God and Satan participated in the testing. God intended the test to prove His Son’s righteousness, but Satan intended it to induce Jesus to misuse His divine powers and to give His allegiance to Satan. Job was tested in much the same way. God allowed Job to be afflicted in order to prove His servant was an “upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil” (Job 1:8). Satan’s purpose was the opposite: to prove that Job was faithful only because of the blessings and prosperity the Lord had given him and that, if those things were taken away, Job would “surely curse Thee to Thy face” (v. 11).

God’s tests are never a solicitation to evil, and James strongly corrects those who suggest such a thing. “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” (James 1:13). “By evil” is the key to the difference between the two types of temptation. In the wilderness God tested Jesus by righteousness, whereas Satan tested Him by evil. A temptation becomes an inducement to evil only when a person “is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin” (James 1:14-15).

Earlier in his letter James wrote, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials” (1:2). The nouns trials (see also verse 12) and testing (v. 3) are from the same Greek root as the verb tempted in verses 13-14. The context indicates which sense is meant.

God often brings circumstances into our lives to test us. Like Job we usually do not at the time recognize them as tests, certainly not from God. But our response to them proves our faithfulness or unfaithfulness. How we react to financial difficulty, school problems, health trouble, or business setbacks will always test our faith, our reliance on our heavenly Father. If we do not turn to Him, however, the same circumstances can make us bitter, resentful, and angry. Rather than thanking God for the test, as James advises, we may even accuse Him. An opportunity to cheat on our income tax or take unfair advantage in a business deal will either prove our righteousness or prove our weakness. The circumstance or the opportunity is only a test, neither good nor evil in itself. Whether it results in good or evil, spiritual growth or spiritual decline, depends entirely on our response.

In the Lord’s Prayer Jesus says that we should ask God not to “lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13). “Evil” is better translated “the evil one,” referring to Satan. In other words we should pray that God will not allow tests to become temptations, in the sense of inducement to evil. The idea is, “Lord, stop us before Satan can turn your test into his temptation.”

Common to man is one word (anthrōpinos) in Greek and simply means “that which is human, characteristic of or belonging to mankind.” In other words, Paul says there is no such thing as a superhuman or supernatural temptation. Temptations are human experiences. The term also carries the idea of usual or typical, as indicated by common. Temptations are never unique experiences to us. We can never have a temptation that has not been experienced by millions of other people. Circumstances differ but basic temptations do not. Even the Son of God was “tempted in all things as we are” (Heb. 4:15), and because of that “He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted” (2:18). And because temptations are common to us all we are able to “confess [our] sins to one another” (James 5:16) and to “bear one another’s burdens” (Gal. 6:2). We are all in the same boat.

Not only are temptations common to men but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. No believer can claim that he was overwhelmed by temptation or that “the devil made me do it.” No one, not even Satan, can make us sin. He cannot even make an unbeliever sin. No temptation is inherently stronger than our spiritual resources. People sin because they willingly sin.

The Christian, however, has his heavenly Father’s help in resisting temptation. God is faithful. He remains true to His own. “From six troubles He will deliver you, even in seven evil will not touch you” (Job 5:19). When our faithfulness is tested we have God’s own faithfulness as our resource. We can be absolutely certain that He will not allow [us] to be tempted beyond what [we] are able. That is God’s response when we pray, “do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13). He will not let us experience any test we are not able to meet.

When the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, He asked them twice whom they had come for, who was designated on their arrest order. After they answered for the second time, “Jesus the Nazarene,” He said, “If therefore you seek Me, let these go their way” (John 18:4-9). John explains that Jesus prevented the disciples from being arrested with Him in order “that the word might be fulfilled which He spoke, ‘Of those whom Thou hast given Me I lost not one’” (v. 9). The disciples were not yet ready for such a test. Had they been arrested, they would have been devastated, and Jesus would not permit it. As best we know from church history, most of those eleven disciples died a martyr’s death. The other, John, was exiled for life on the island of Patmos. All of them went through persecution, imprisonment, and countless hardships for the sake of the gospel. But they did not go though those things until they were ready to handle them.

But with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it. The phrase the way is formed by the definite article and a singular noun. In other words, there is only one way. The way of escape from every temptation, no matter what it is, is the same: it is through. Whether we have a test by God to prove our righteousness or a test by Satan to induce to sin, there is only one way we can pass the test. We escape temptation not by getting out of it but by passing through it. God does not take us out; He sees us through by making us able to endure it.

God’s own Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. It was the Father’s will that the Son be there, and Jesus did not leave until all three temptations were over. He met the temptations head-on. He “escaped” the temptations by enduring them in His Father’s power.

God provides three ways for us to endure temptation: prayer, trust, and focusing on Jesus Christ.

“Keep watching and praying, that you may not come into temptation,” Jesus told His disciples (Mark 14:38). If we do not pray, we can be sure a test will turn into temptation. Our first defense in a test or a trial is to pray, to turn to our heavenly Father and put the matter in His hands.

Second, we must trust. When we pray we must pray believing that the Lord will answer and help us. We also trust that, whatever the origin of the trial, God has allowed it to come for our good, to prove our faithfulness. God has a purpose for everything that comes to His children, and when we are tested or tempted we should gladly endure it in His power—for the sake of His glory and of our spiritual growth.

Third, we should focus on our Lord Jesus Christ. “For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin” (Heb. 12:3-4). Christ endured more than we could ever be called on to endure. He understands our trials and He is able to take us through them.

In John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress Christian and Hopeful fall asleep in a field belonging to giant Despair. The giant finds them and takes them into Doubting Castle, where he puts them in a dark and stinking dungeon, without food or water. On his wife’s advice, the giant first beats them mercilessly and then suggests they commit suicide. After the giant leaves, the two companions discuss what they should do. Finally Christian remembers the key in his pocket. “I have a key in my bosom called Promise, that will, I am persuaded, open any lock in Doubting Castle.” Sure enough, it opened all the doors in the castle and even the gate. “Then they went on, and came to the King’s highway again.”