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Escaping Temptation

1 Corinthians 10:13; James 1:13-15

Sometimes we wonder about the value of the Old Testament for the Christian life. The apostle Paul provided one answer to that question in 1 Corinthians 10:11a: "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition." To what things was Paul referring? He lists them in verses 7-10—five areas of sin the Israelites willingly engaged in: idolatry, pagan debauchery, sexual immorality, testing God, and grumbling about the provisions of God. And the severe judgment of God on their sin.

With that background, Paul exhorted the Corinthians (and us) not to make the same choices as the Israelites made. He cited what happened to the Israelites—they sinned willingly and God disciplined them—as a form of "admonition" (verse 11a) to the Corinthians. The warning is this: Don't think you are above God's discipline if you engage in sin. Instead, look for, and take, "the way of escape" God provides in every situation where temptation is found (verse 13). Don't think your temptation is unique or special. "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man" (verse 13). There are no "new" temptations in life.

The apostle James expanded on this theme by saying that, if temptation becomes serious, it is because we have allowed it to be. Our own "desires" entice us away from God and desire "gives birth to sin" (James 1:13-15). God doesn't tempt us, but He may allow temptation to enter our lives in order to gives us the opportunity to make choices based on obedience and maturity.

God allowed Jesus to be tempted by Satan in the wilderness and Jesus took the way of escape God provided—a knowledge of God's Word and obedience to it (Matthew 4:1-11; Hebrews 5:8). Temptation is not sin, but yielding to temptation is. There is always a morally acceptable choice to be made if we are willing to find it and take it.

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