by Zipporah

Created on: February 17, 2009

Temptation is not sinful. It is not the same as sin. Our response to the temptation and our beliefs about the temptation determines whether we have or have not sinned. Jesus was tempted, but he did not sin. He did not yield to the enticements or temptations which Satan placed before him. He responded to each temptation with the word of God. Jesus taught that sin is a wilful rejection of light or doing wrong when we know something is right. The Pharisees sinned when they willfully rejected the light which Jesus presented before them. They believed that they did not need the light even though some believed or suspected that Jesus was the light. The Pharisees knew that God expected them to take care of their parents. Rather than take care of their parents, they placed or "said" they placed the money in the temple offering. They attempted to justify their actions.

Some ask the question, "How did Adam and Eve sin?" Adam and Eve sinned when they ate an apple that God had forbidden them to eat. They yielded to the temptation or enticement of Satan. They chose to live independent of God and his wishes. Why did they make the decision to eat the apple and disobey God? Satan placed the temptation or enticement into Eve's mind when he suggested that God had lied to them and hidden certain truths from them. He enticed her to question God and his motives. She chose to believe Satan rather than God. She ate the apple although she believed that God had forbidden her to eat the apple. She gave the apple to Adam and he ate the apple although he knew that God had forbidden his eating the apple. They chose to go against God and God's expressed desire or command.

We are sometimes tempted or enticed to believe or do something we believe is not in accordance with God's wishes. We sin when we yield to that temptation or enticement. James said "no one who wants to do wrong should ever say God is tempting me. Temptation comes from the lure of our own desires. These desires lead to sin."

Sin is believing and doing something that we believe God has told us not to do. The individual who believes or knows what God does not want him to do but chooses to do it sins because he engages in an activity which he believes God has forbidden. Paul emphasized that although God did not forbid the eating of certain meats, the individual who ate those meats even though he believed that God had forbidden him sinned. He sinned because he engaged in behavior which he believed was not in accordance with God's perceived commands. The person who believed that God did not forbid him from eating certain meat did not sin when he ate those meats because he did not act independent of he believed were God's wishes.

Temptation always begins with a desire or enticement which is not sin. Sin comes when we give into enticements or temptations which we believe or know God has forbidden.

Learn more about this author, Zipporah.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.