Tempt
Vine's Expository Dictionary of NT Words [1]
signifies (1) "to try, attempt, assay" (see TRY); (2) "to test, try, prove," in a good sense, said of Christ and of believers, Hebrews 2:18 , where the context shows that the temptation was the cause of suffering to Him, and only suffering, not a drawing away to sin, so that believers have the sympathy of Christ as their High Priest in the suffering which sin occasions to those who are in the enjoyment of communion with God; so in the similar passage in Hebrews 4:15; in all the temptations which Christ endured, there was nothing within Him that answered to sin. There was no sinful infirmity in Him. While He was truly man, and His Divine nature was not in any way inconsistent with His Manhood, there was nothing in Him such as is produced in us by the sinful nature which belongs to us; in Hebrews 11:37 , of the testing of OT saints; in 1 Corinthians 10:13 , where the meaning has a wide scope, the verb is used of "testing" as permitted by God, and of the believer as one who should be in the realization of his own helplessness and his dependence upon God (see Prove , TRY); in a bad sense, "to tempt" (a) of attempts to ensnare Christ in His speech, e.g., Matthew 16:1; 19:3; 22:18,35 , and parallel passages; John 8:6; (b) of temptations to sin, e.g., Galatians 6:1 , where one who would restore an erring brother is not to act as his judge, but as being one with him in liability to sin, with the possibility of finding himself in similar circumstances, James 1:13,14 (see note below); of temptations mentioned as coming from the Devil, Matthew 4:1; and parallel passages; 1 Corinthians 7:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:5 (see TEMPTER); (c) of trying or challenging God, Acts 15:10; 1 Corinthians 10:9 (2nd part); Hebrews 3:9; the Holy Spirit, Acts 5:9 : cp. No. 2.
James 1:13-15 Hebrews 11:17 1 Corinthians 10:9 James 1:14 Mark 7:20-23
an intensive form of the foregoing, is used in much the same way as No. 1 (2) (c), in Christ's quotation from Deuteronomy 6:16 , in reply to the Devil, Matthew 4:7; Luke 4:12; so in 1 Corinthians 10:9 , RV, "the Lord" (AV, "Christ"); of the lawyer who "tempted" Christ, Luke 10:25 . In the Sept., Deuteronomy 6:16; 8:2,16; Psalm 78:18 . Cp. dokimazo (see PROVE).
"untempted, untried" (a, negative, and A, No. 1), occurs in James 1:13 , with eimi, "to be," "cannot be tempted," "untemptable" (Mayor).
American Tract Society Bible Dictionary [2]
To make trial of, Luke 10:25 , and usually to present inducements to sin. Satan is the great tempter, seeking thus most effectually to destroy men's souls, 1 Chronicles 21:1 Job 1:1-2:13 Matthew 4:1 1 Thessalonians 3:5 . Men are also led into sin by their own evil inclinations and by other men, James 1:14-15 . God, being holy and desirous of men's holiness, does not thus tempt them, James 1:13; but he makes trial of them, to prove, exercise, and establish their graces, Genesis 22:1 James 1:2-3 . Christ stands ready to support his people under any possible temptation, 1 Corinthians 10:13 Hebrews 2:18 4:15 2 Peter 2:19 . Yet they are not to rush into temptation unbidden, Luke 11:4 . Men tempt God by presumptuously experimenting on his providence or his grace, or by distrusting him, Exodus 17:2,7 Isaiah 7:12 Matthew 4:7 Acts 5:9 15:10 . Sore afflictions are often called temptations or trials, as they are frequently the occasion of sin, Matthew 6:13 Luke 8:13 22:28 James 1:12 1 Peter 1:6,7 .
Christ, at the outset of his public ministry, was violently assailed by the tempter, who thus displayed his effrontery and his blindness, hoping perhaps that the human soul of the Redeemer would be left unaided by his divinity, Matthew 4:1-25 . The temptations are to be understood as real transactions, and not as visions. The tempter was baffled, and left him for a season, to meet a like rebuff on every future assault, Luke 4:13 22:53 John 14:30 . The Savior triumphed, and paradise was regained.
King James Dictionary [3]
TEMPT, L. tento teneo Gr. the primary sense is to strain, urge, press.
1. To incite or solicit to an evil act to entice to something wrong by presenting arguments that are plausible or convincing, or by the offer of some pleasure or apparent advantage as the inducement.
My lady Gray tempts him to this harsh extremity.
Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed. James 1 .
2. To provoke to incite.
Tempt not the brave and needy to despair.
3. To solicit to draw without the notion of evil.
Still his strength conceal'd,
Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our fall.
4. To try to venture on to attempt.
E'er leave be giv'n to tempt the nether skies.
5. In Scripture, to try to prove to put to trial for proof.
God did tempt Abraham. Genesis 22
Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 6
Webster's Dictionary [4]
(1): ( v. t.) To put to trial; to prove; to test; to try.
(2): ( v. t.) To lead, or endeavor to lead, into evil; to entice to what is wrong; to seduce.
(3): ( v. t.) To endeavor to accomplish or reach; to attempt.
(4): ( v. t.) To endeavor to persuade; to induce; to invite; to incite; to provoke; to instigate.
Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature [5]
is used in the Bible in the Latin sense of prove, as a rendering especially of
בָּחִן, Bachdn, and πειράζω, which both signify to Test or Try. It is applied to various beings in different senses, not always involving an evil purpose wherein the temptation is presented to the mind as an inducement to sin. (See Temptation).
1. God is said to have tempted Abraham by commanding him to offer up his son Isaac ( Genesis 22:1), intending to prove his obedience and faith, to confirm and strengthen him by this trial, and to furnish in his person an example and pattern of perfect obedience for all succeeding ages. God does not tempt or try men in order to ascertain their tempers and dispositions, as if he were ignorant of them, but to exercise their virtue, to purify it, to render it conspicuous to others, to give them an opportunity of receiving favors from his hands. When we read in Scripture that God proved his people, whether they would walk in his law or not ( Exodus 16:4), and that he permitted false prophets to arise among them, who prophesied vain things to try them whether they would seek the Lord with their whole hearts, we should interpret these expressions by that of James ( James 1:13-14), "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. But every man is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed."
2. The devil tempts us to evil of every kind, and lays snares for us, even in our best actions. Satan, having access to the sensorium, lays inducements before the minds of men to solicit them to sin ( 1 Corinthians 7:5; 1 Thessalonians 3:5; James 1:13-14). Hence Satan is called that old serpent, the devil, and "the tempter" ( Revelation 12:9; Matthew 4:3), and the temptation of our first parents to sin is expressly recognized as the work of the devil ( Genesis 3:1-15; John 8:44; 2 Corinthians 11:3; 1 John 3:8). He tempted our Savior in the wilderness, and endeavored to infuse into him sentiments of pride, ambition, and distrust ( Matthew 4:1; Mark 1:13; Luke 4:2). He tempted Ananias and Sapphira to lie to the Holy Ghost ( Acts 5:3). In the prayer that Christ himself has taught us, we pray God "to lead us not into temptation" ( Matthew 6:13); and a little before his death, our Savior exhorted his disciples to "watch and pray, that they might not enter into temptation" (26:41). Paul says," God will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able to bear" ( 1 Corinthians 10:13).
3. Men are said to tempt the Lord when they unseasonably require proofs of the divine presence, power, or goodness. Without doubt, we are allowed to seek the Lord for his assistance, and to pray him to give us what we need; but it is not allowed us to tempi him, nor to expose ourselves to dangers from which we cannot escape unless by miraculous interposition of his omnipotence.. God is not obliged to work miracles in our favor; he requires of us only the performance of such actions as are within the ordinary measures of our strength. The Israelites in the desert repeatedly tempted the Lord, as if they had reason to doubt his presence among them, or his goodness, or his power, after all his appearances in their favor ( Exodus 16:2; Exodus 16:7; Exodus 16:17; Numbers 20:12; Psalms 78:18; Psalms 78:41, etc.).
4. Men tempt or try one another when they would know whether things are really what they seem to be, whether men are such as they are thought or desired to be. The queen of Sheba came to prove the wisdom of Solomon by proposing riddles for him to explain ( 1 Kings 11:1; 2 Chronicles 9:1). Daniel desired of him who had the care of feeding him and his companions to prove them for some days whether abstinence from food of certain kinds would make them leaner ( Daniel 1:12; Daniel 1:14). The scribes and Pharisees often tempted our Savior, and endeavored to decoy him into their snares ( Matthew 16:1; Matthew 19:3; Matthew 22:18).
