Quote:
Originally Posted by votivesoul
What does it mean to be tempted? Was it an internal mechanism within Him attempting to draw Him away after His own lusts?
Or was it an external, spiritual attack to get Him to fall, beginning with the 40 day fast in the desert all the way to Calvary?
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James 1:14-16 KJV
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. [15] Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. [16] Do not err, my beloved brethren.
The word lust has a rather lurid spin to it nowadays, but Biblically (and prior to the 20th century) simply meant "desire". If James is correct, then all temptation occurs when the will is enticed by the person's own desires. Without that desire there cannot be a temptation. I can offer you a slap in the face if you'll just empty your bank account and give it to the Clinton Foundation, but is that really tempting to you?
According to James, temptation is the occassion or prior condition that under certain conditions results in sin. Sin is transgression of the law, so the doctrine here is a person's desires entice the will to do something forbidden by God. If the will yields, sin results. If the will does not yield, sin does not result. Thus sin is voluntary, moral character attaches to voluntary acts of the will, and involuntary conditions or experiences (like being tempted) do not impart moral character to the individual in and of themselves.
Jesus being tempted in all points like as we are does not mean that He was tempted with every single temptation every human has or will have experienced. It simply means He experienced temptation just like we all do. He is a fully functioning human being, not a divine being in a mere skin-suit completely removed from temptation. His temptations, to be real and meaningful to us, must have been real, real human temptations, just like we have. And the Scripture speaks of His temptations in such a way as to clearly make them meaningful and relevant to us: He knows what we go through because He's gone through it Himself. And more importantly, He went through it without sin. Therefore, we can too.