Subject

Temptation

The pull toward sin, and the way of escape promised with it.

Also called: tempted, enticed, the tempter, testing, lead us not into temptation, the pull to sin

This subject covers the pull toward sin, where Scripture says it comes from, and the way of escape promised with it. Turning back after giving in belongs to Repentance. The enemy who brings it belongs to The enemy.

What Temptation covers, and where it stops

On this page, 7 sections

Across the canon
Where Scripture speaks
The whole account
The voices
The words underneath
The complete list
Subjects beside it

12 passages

Where Scripture speaks

The passages this subject stands on, in canon order.

Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Genesis 3:1KJVThe serpent's first temptation, the pattern for every one since

And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.

Deuteronomy 8:2KJVGod tested Israel's heart forty years in the wilderness

Examine me, O Lord, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

Psalms 26:2KJVDavid invites God to examine and try his heart

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

Matthew 4:1KJVThe Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Matthew 6:13KJVJesus teaches the prayer: lead us not into temptation

Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.

Matthew 26:41KJVWatch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation

And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.

Luke 4:13KJVThe devil departs from Jesus until an opportune time

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

1 Corinthians 10:13KJVGod provides a way of escape with every temptation

For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

Hebrews 2:18KJVJesus, having suffered temptation, can help the tempted

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

Hebrews 4:15KJVA High Priest touched with the feeling of our weaknesses

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

James 1:13KJVGod himself tempts no one

Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

James 4:7KJVResist the devil, and he will flee from you

Eve reaches for the forbidden fruit as the serpent whispers — the first temptation, and the pattern every temptation since has followed.
Public domainMichelangeloWikimedia Commons →

Temptation in Scripture, in full

Temptation in Scripture is the pull toward what the flesh, the world, or the devil present as good but that would draw us from God. Jesus was tempted in all points (Hebrews 4:15); he met each temptation with Scripture. The biblical pattern for resisting is neither willpower nor withdrawal but watchfulness, prayer, and — sometimes — flight (Joseph, 2 Timothy 2:22).

5 voices

What teachers have said

“They that will be rich, fall into temptation, and a snare of the devil, and into foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.”

John Chrysostom · Homily on Matthew 74

Written before 407.

“Many do not bear it but are conquered by temptation. What God gives us is not the certainty that we shall bear it but the possibility that we may be made able to bear it.”

Origen of Alexandria · On First Principles 3.2.3

Written before 253.

“Then the devil left him: and behold, angels came and ministered to him. Temptation precedes victory. Angels minister, to demonstrate the dignity of the victor.”

Jerome · Commentary on Matthew

Written before 420.

“But as Satan transfigures himself into an Angel of light, and spreads a snare for the faithful, even from the divine Scriptures, so now he uses its texts, not to instruct but to receive.”

Ambrose of Milan · Catena Aurea by Aquinas

Written before 397.

“Why is this written if we are now so endowed that by the strength of our free will we are able to overcome all temptations merely by bearing them?”

Augustine of Hippo · Letter 179, to Bishop John

Written before 430.

The words underneath

Each card is one Hebrew or Greek word behind temptation. It gives the sense, the count across the canon, and the number in Strong's 1890 concordance.

peirasmos: temptation/testing: testing

Greek · G3986

πειρασμός

Strong's entry: a putting to proof (by experiment (of good), experience (of evil), solicitation, discipline or provocation); by implication, adversity

peirasmós — trial or temptation, the test that can strengthen or ensnare

21 times in the New Testament · peirasmos, in full →

peirazo: to test/tempt: try

Greek · G3985

πειράζω

Strong's entry: to test (objectively), i.e. endeavor, scrutinize, entice, discipline

God proves, the enemy ensnares

37 times in the New Testament · peirazo, in full →

nasah: to test

Hebrew · H5254

נָסָה

Strong's entry: to test; by implication, to attempt

nâçâh — to test, as God tested Abraham and Israel in the wilderness

36 times in the Old Testament · nasah, in full →

bachan: to test

Hebrew · H974

בָּחַן

Strong's entry: to test (especially metals); generally and figuratively, to investigate

bâchan — to test as metal in fire, proving what is genuine

29 times in the Old Testament · bachan, in full →

133 verses

The complete list

The King James text uses the language of temptation in 141 verses. 8 of them are quoted above and the other 133 stand here, book by book. 4 more verses above show temptation without using one of its words, so they are outside that count. Open a book to read the references with a clause of each verse.

Genesis1