Temptation

July 24, 2023

From my teenage years, I could quote it by memory: “There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation always make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it” (1 Corinthians 10:13). It’s a good promise that often felt to me like it came up short. I often failed to resist temptation, wondering where that way of escape was, and afterward in shame knowing I could have held out. 

I think the reason we fail in our battle with temptation is not that there is no way out, but that we fail to take advantage of it: The way out is given to us BEFORE we ever enter into temptation.

This promise is given in 1 Corinthians 10, but in chapter 9 we discover the way out that God offers us. There, Paul speaks of continually exercising self-discipline, lest he having preached to others, should himself be a castaway. In 9:27, he says he disciplines his body, bringing it into submission to the will of God. Before temptation ever arises, he is in training preparing himself like a boxer for the moment he steps into the ring. No fighter would dare step into the ring without having trained as hard as possible. Paul doesn’t dare step into the ring of life’s temptations without having trained and disciplined his body and mind for the inevitable confrontation.

That training is the first bookend to 10:13. The second bookend is in 10:14—“Flee idolatry.” We exercise self-discipline so we can resist, but when the temptation actually comes, there is only one response: RUN! Too often, we try to reason with temptation, to argue with the devil, to find compromise with that which seeks to destroy us. It never works. Training on the front end and fleeing on the back end is the only way to overcome temptation.

The result of all this is found in 10:31–“Do everything to the glory of God.” That is God’s plan for us, and the only proper goal when facing temptation of any sort. If it doesn’t glorify God, it’s not for us. If it does glorify God, we can be confident that it is the right course of action.