Temptation to sin can seem overwhelming at times.

And Christians are not exempt from the constant onslaught of temptation. That might lead us to ask: Is it really possible to overcome temptation in any meaningful sense? How can we triumph over temptation, in our individual lives? With Satan, the world, and our own flesh against us, with enemies so subtle armed with strategies so sophisticated, how can we defeat them? Aren’t we sometimes confronted with temptations that are so effective, we frankly have no hope of overcoming them? And isn’t our own heart so deceitful and desperately wicked that it leaves us perpetually poorly defended? Fundamentally, isn’t it folly for us to dream of practical victory over our sin?

Take it a step further. With the steady stream of pastors and church leaders who have fallen into gross, disqualifying, scandalous sin, many Christians are asking if the church itself and her leaders in particular are being subjected to some level of assault for which they are no match. Indeed, several of the fallen televangelists have blamed demonic forces beyond their control for their personal moral collapse. Popular Christian fiction portrays the church as engaged in a fearsome satanic battle, orchestrated by a formidable conspiracy of visible and invisible evil forces that want to mow us down. And we know from Scripture that we are engaged in spiritual warfare with demons we cannot see (Ephesians 6:12). If all the forces of hell are arrayed against us, are we any match for that? Or are we really just victims of overwhelming temptation that we do not have the resources to deal with?

Scripture clearly answers that question. In fact, it answers all of those questions in one verse: “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, so that you will be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13).

That verse is surely one of the most welcome and comforting promises in all of Scripture. No temptation can be so overpowering that we are left helpless to resist. Satan is not so powerful; demons are not so effective; the evil conspiracy is not so cleverly devised; the flesh is not so weak; the human heart is not so deceitful—none of that is such that we are left helpless victims to temptation.

This verse contains principles that will help us understand how we can triumph over specific temptations through understanding more about the means by which they work, their nature, and their extent. We will cover the nature and extent of temptation in future posts. For now, let’s look at temptation’s means.

The Means of Temptation

First Corinthians 10:13 tells us plainly the means by which temptation works: “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man.” It wants to overtake us, to ambush us when we are not prepared, and thus dominate us. It seeks control of us.

The word for “temptation” in the Greek text is peirasmos. It can be translated “test” or “temptation.” Tests and temptations are two sides of the same thing. Life is full of trials, and each of them is a potential temptation.

An illustration might be helpful to show how this is so. A friend once told me about his new job with a very important company. After he had been on the job only a little while, one night after everyone else had left the office, he noticed that someone had left a large sum of money on his desk. He immediately took the money, put it in his briefcase and thought, “I’m going to have to return this.” He wrapped it up and the next morning walked into the boss’s office, put the money on the boss’s desk, and said, “Someone left this money on my desk, and I don’t know who it was or who will be missing it, but I wanted to turn it in as soon as I could so that no one would be distressed by its absence.”

His boss looked him in the face and said, “I put the money there. It was a test. You passed.”

Life offers us similar tests. Depending on how we respond, they can become temptations.

If my friend had taken the money home and counted it, desired it, and thought through his options, he might have said to himself, “Hmm, nobody will know,” and begun to battle in his heart whether to turn it in or keep it for himself. Then the test would have become a temptation. When the heart is solicited to do evil, that is a temptation.

Life is full of tests that have the potential to become temptations. For example, when you are in the midst of a financial setback and you say, “I’m going to trust God to meet my needs. I will cut back, live frugally, budget carefully, and be faithful to my obligations. I will live on less and trust the Lord to provide my needs”—you pass the test. But if you say, “I can take money from the till, and no one will know. I can save money by cheating on my income tax. And I can cut expenses by not paying what I owe”—you have moved from a test into a temptation because your heart is being solicited to evil.

Or the test might be some personal disappointment. Perhaps you had expectations of someone who did not fulfill your hopes. You can either accept your circumstances with a trusting heart, and love that person in spite of your disappointment—or you can begin to feel animosity and bitterness in your heart. The moment those evil thoughts petition your heart, your test becomes a temptation.

Or you might face the test of illness, injury, or unexpected disaster. Perhaps someone you love dies. Or your plans are thwarted. Or you fail to accomplish something you had dreamed of for a long time. Maybe you will face a problem with no obvious solution. Or perhaps a friend will urge you to do something you know is wrong. These are the kinds of tests that make up life. And when they begin to entreat us to respond with evil, they become temptations.

James gives a very lucid explanation of how trials turn into temptations. He writes, “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2–4). Later, he adds, “Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him” (v. 12).

In other words, God has a beneficent purpose in allowing us to go through trials. The trials perfect us, mold us to Christ’s image, give us endurance, and bring us to the point of spiritual completeness. Peter said something similar: “After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you” (1 Peter 5:10).

God sends us tests but not temptations. James also said, “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). God Himself is never responsible for the solicitation to do evil.

Then how does it happen? James 1 tells us: “Each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death” (vv. 14–15). It is our own lust that produces the solicitation to do evil. God gives only good gifts: “Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow” (vv. 16–17). God is perfect, unchanging, and invariable. He is not responsible for our temptations, though He sends trials to test us.

Victory, then, begins with an understanding of how temptation comes. It comes when we respond wrongly to tests. It comes when we are drawn away by our own lusts. That plants the seeds for sin, and when sin bears fruit, that fruit is death. So we need to learn to respond correctly to tests, and recognizing the means of temptation is the first step in that process.

We will look at more features of temptation in the days ahead.

(Adapted from The Vanishing Conscience)