Loading…
VRSZ
This sets the art on your cards and whose commentary you read on each verse. You can change it later in settings.
Translation
Loading…
What the Fathers say
Eastern Fathers
Theophylact of Ohrid
If trials are of two kinds, then why does the apostle now place every temptation outside the will of God? But note: he did not say "tempted" in the past tense, but "being tempted" in the present. Whoever through sin and an intemperate life devises temptations for himself and, as if in a constant storm, plunges into dangers — such a person, the apostle says, is tempted not "by God," but by his own desire. …
Oecumenius
Let no one who is tempted say he is tempted by God: for God is not a tempter of evils, and he tempts no man. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away and enticed by his own conscience. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin: but sin, when it is conceived, brings forth death. "Let no one who is tempted say." If there are two kinds of temptations, why does James now reject the cause of all temptation from God? But consider that he does not say: He who was tempted, but he who is tempted. …
Desert Fathers
A brother asked Pambo, 'Why does the enemy prevent me doing good to my neighbour?' He said, 'Do not talk like that, or you will make God a liar. Say, "It is I myself do not want to be kind to others." For God came down to us and said, "I have given you the power of treading upon scorpions and snakes" (Luke 10:19), and so you are beyond the power of the enemy. Why then do you not tread down these evil spirits?'
Western Saints
Augustine of Hippo
By temptation in this context, James meant the bad sort by which we are deceived and subjected to the devil. There is another kind of temptation [mentioned in Deuteronomy 13:3] which is really a kind of testing that comes from God.
Bede
No one, when tempted, should say that they are tempted by God. Hitherto he has spoken about the temptations which we endure externally by the permission of the Lord for the sake of being tested; now he begins to address those which we endure internally, instigated by the devil, or even persuaded by the fragility of our nature. Here he first destroys the error of those who believe that just as good thoughts are inspired by God in us, so also bad ones are thought to be generated in our mind by His instigation. …
Translation