254 The Red Letter Answers - 7

Does God Ever Tempt Anyone? This is the question that we discover Jesus' answer to in this episode. We discover a new way to understand the Lord's Prayer that really helps in understanding this issue. Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness. We can rest assured that God is to the one who tempts us but it is the devil.

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SHOW NOTES

The Red-Letter Answers.

Jesus’ Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s).

In some bibles Jesus’ words are in red. These are then the Red-Letter answers to FAQ’s.

Why focus on Jesus’ answers? Because Jesus is the Creator and the Maintainer of the Universe.

He is the exact representation of his father (Hebrews 1:1-3), and the only eyewitness who is close to the father’s heart (John 1:18).

7. Does God ever tempt or test anyone?

The idea that God tests or tempts people is common among Christians. It is justified by claiming that overcoming temptation develops character. There are three major reasons for the traditional view that God tempts. The Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil in the garden of Eden,

Abraham asked to sacrifice Isaac and the early English versions of the Lord’s prayer.

1. Abraham ostensibly tempted by God to offer Isaac

This incident was dealt with in the previous Red-Letter podcast 252 and in podcasts 153 and 154.

2. Who placed the tree of temptation in Eden?

This will be dealt with in a future podcast.

3. The poor older translations of the “Lord’s Prayer.”

Matthew 6:13 And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil: For yours is the

kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

This translation of the Lord’s prayer implies God leads us into temptation. James makes this impossible.

James 1:13 NLT And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is

tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else.

There are translations of the Lord’s prayer which do not implicate God in bring temptation to people.

NLT And don’t let us yield to temptation but rescue us from the evil one.

CEV Keep us from being tempted and protect us from evil.

ERV Don’t let us be tempted but save us from the Evil One.

NLV Do not let us be tempted but keep us from sin.

There are also two paraphrases which support this insight.

Phillips Keep us clear of temptation and save us from evil.

MSG Keep us safe from ourselves and the Devil.

We now consider the insights Jesus brought to us about the origin of temptation.Matthew 4:1-11 NLT Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil.

Two observations must be made. Firstly, the temptation came from the devil. Secondly the “to be” in Matthew is “where he was” in Luke 4:2. Luke suggests the right motivation for Jesus going to the wilderness. It was not to be tempted as Matthew has it but for meditation on the consequences of the voice he had heard at his baptism. The devil took advantage of Jesus.

2 For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry.

At his baptism Jesus had been confirmed as the divine son of God (Matthew 3:17). Jesus went to the wilderness to meditate on the implications of this revelation. This was of such importance to Jesus that he was preoccupied with its implications to the point where he did not eat. From this incident we can conclude that sometimes long-term fasting can provide the devil with an opportunity to tempt us.

3 During that time the devil came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these

stones to become loaves of bread.”

The devil questioned the recent affirmation of God to Jesus with his “if.” This conjunction is used in each temptation. It is the root behind the temptation of Eve. Did God say? This is a sinister temptation because God had validated his goodness and compassion by providing bread (manna) in the wilderness. The implication was that Jesus as God could do the same now.

4 But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say,

‘People do not live by bread alone,

but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

While this statement of Jesus is true in general it is specifically true in what the voice from heaven had said to Jesus at his baptism. Bread is a metaphor for physical life. “Word” is a metaphor for the abundant life which Jesus brings (John 10:10). We are in the image of God and our spirit is the driving force in our lives. We need nutrition but it is not the end of why we are here. Our meaning comes from our spiritual insight. Jesus will endure the physical and social suffering because his spiritual vision overrides his physical and social pain. This is often the case with those who make significant advances in science and literature.

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city, Jerusalem, to the highest point of the

Temple, 6 and said, “If you are the Son of God, jump off! For the Scriptures say,

‘He will order his angels to protect you.

And they will hold you up with their hands

so you won’t even hurt your foot on a stone.’”

The devil uses Psalm 91:11-12 and the Jewish Messianic expectation that Messiah would

suddenly appear in the temple courts and no one knew where he came from (John 7:27). One cannot be tempted in a vacuum. Temptation is always linked to some part of our reality.

7 Jesus responded, “The Scriptures also say, ‘You must not test the Lord your God.’”

Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16. This injunction is not well known because people often test God by asking for a sign to discern his will. Gideon asked God to demonstrate his will with moisture and a fleece (Judges 6:36-40).

This dialogue between the devil and Jesus also illustrates how scripture can be used to justify one’s opinion. We test God when we make our decisions contingent on his performance. If you open the door I will follow you. God has already opened the door in Jesus to the whole universe. We will sit on God’s throne with Jesus. We already have the answer it is not necessary to test its veracity.

8 Next the devil took him to the peak of a very high mountain and showed him all the

kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 “I will give it all to you,” he said, “if you will

kneel down and worship me.”

This is a Machiavellian temptation. Jesus is in the wilderness thinking through the awful

suffering of rejection, ridicule and physical torture the Messiah must experience and the devil is giving him an easy way out. No rejection, no ridicule, no physical torture and no execution. Temptations are a powerful influence to do wrong. This is the strongest temptation because it involves the future suffering of Jesus. He knows the devil will spare him no future pain if he refuses this offer.

10 “Get out of here, Satan,” Jesus told him. “For the Scriptures say,

‘You must worship the Lord your God and serve only him.’” (Deuteronomy 6:13;)

The pointed response of Jesus indicates the power of the temptation. Jesus will repeat this exclamation when Peter tries to dissuade him from going to Jerusalem for the last time (Matthew 16:23). Jesus will identify Peter with the devil because Peter’s temptation mirrors this third temptation of the devil for Jesus.

11 Then the devil went away, and angels came and took care of Jesus.

Jesus was at the point of death from a lack of food and the exhaustion caused by the temptations. He needed supernatural support to continue his path to the cross. Jesus, by confronting the devil, is revealing the source of temptation.

“ In the Greek text of the gospels, the exact same root word (peirazō) is used for both Satan's temptations in the desert and the religious leaders' trick questions [Matthew 4:1, Matthew 19:3]. By using identical vocabulary, the gospel writers signal that the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes are unwittingly acting as agents of the devil.” (AI)

We now move to the end of Jesus’ earthly life when he is facing his final temptation in his ordeal with the devil. He has gone to the garden of Gethsemane to gather strength for his coming arrest, torture and death. He was again facing the temptation of the third wilderness temptation. Will he do a deal with the devil to escape the impending suffering. It is in this context that Jesus speaks to his disciples.Luke 22:40 And when he was at the place, he said to them, Pray that you enter not into

temptation. Luke 22:46 NLT “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.”

What shall we pray to escape temptation? On this planet temptation has to do with escaping imagined or real suffering by “doing a deal with the devil.” Those who run a marathon must at least prepare for muscle cramps, muscle fatigue, exhaustion and psychological defeat. Those who cross the finish line have had to overcome the above hurdles. They persevere for the joy of succeeding that burns in their consciousness.

It is the same with overcoming temptations. We overcome it by cherishing and focusing on the prize we imagine in our consciousness if we overcome it. Here is a practical prayer that we can pray.

We pray to reinforce our identity in God. We shall remind ourselves that God knows us by name. That we are as precious to him as Jesus is (John 17:23). We shall remind ourselves that Jesus has revealed that God has nothing against us. All is forgiven. We remind ourselves that God has an unquenchable affection for us which prompts him to look forward to our living with him in deepest intimacy, for all eternity. This is the prayer that empowers us to overcome temptation.

Ian Hartley May 2026

Warnings and Instructions to Disciples

Jesus uses the concept of temptation to describe human frailty and the danger of falling away under pressure.

• Luke 8:13 (The Parable of the Sower): "And the ones on the rock are those who, when

they hear the word, receive it with joy... They believe for a while, and in time

of temptation [testing] fall away."

• Luke 22:28: "You are those who have stayed with me in my trials [temptations]."

• Matthew 26:41 / Mark 14:38 (In Gethsemane): "Watch and pray that you may not enter

into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

• Luke 22:40 / Luke 22:46: "Pray that you may not enter into temptation."

Religious Leaders "Testing" (Trapping) Jesus

The word peirazō is frequently used when Pharisees, Sadducees, or lawyers attempt to catch Jesus saying something controversial.

• Matthew 16:1: "...came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from

heaven."

• Matthew 19:3 / Mark 10:2: "And Pharisees came up to him and tested him by asking, 'Is

it lawful to divorce one's wife for any cause?'"

• Matthew 22:18 / Mark 12:15: "But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, 'Why put me to

the test, you hypocrites?'"• Matthew 22:35: "And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him."

• Mark 8:11: "...seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him."

• Luke 11:16: "...while others, to test him, kept seeking from him a sign from heaven."

• John 8:6 (The Woman Caught in Adultery): "This they said to test him, that they might

have some charge to bring against him."

Jesus was tempted and tested but he never tempted anyone in the gospels.

Tempting is performed by others but not by Jesus.

This confirms what James chapter 1 says:

James 1:13-14 NLT And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is

tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong,[a] and he never tempts anyone

else. 14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away.

To be tempted is to be powerfully to do a possible wrong action and to refuse to do so because of one’s moral values.