Tempt

Tempt - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

TEMPT, v.t. [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. Gen 22.

Ye shall not tempt the Lord your God. Deu 6.

Temptation - (Easton's Bible Dictionary)

(1.) Trial; a being put to the test. Thus God "tempted [Gen. 22: 1; R.V., did prove'] Abraham;" and afflictions are said to tempt, i.e., to try, men (James 1:2, 12; comp. Deut. 8:2), putting their faith and patience to the test. (2.) Ordinarily, however, the word means solicitation to that which is evil, and hence Satan is called "the tempter" (Matt. 4:3). Our Lord was in this way tempted in the wilderness. That temptation was not internal, but by a real, active, subtle being. It was not self-sought. It was submitted to as an act of obedience on his part. "Christ was led, driven. An unseen personal force bore him a certain violence is implied in the words" (Matt. 4:1-11).

The scene of the temptation of our Lord is generally supposed to have been the mountain of Quarantania (q.v.), "a high and precipitous wall of rock, 1,200 or 1,500 feet above the plain west of Jordan, near Jericho."

Temptation is common to all (Dan. 12:10; Zech. 13:9; Ps. 66:10; Luke 22:31, 40; Heb. 11:17; James 1:12; 1 Pet. 1:7; 4:12). We read of the temptation of Joseph (Gen. 39), of David (2 Sam. 24; 1 Chr. 21), of Hezekiah (2 Chr. 32:31), of Daniel (Dan. 6), etc. So long as we are in this world we are exposed to temptations, and need ever to be on our watch against them.

Temptation - (Webster's 1828 Dictionary)

TEMPTA'TION, n. The act of tempting; enticement to evil by arguments, by flattery, or by the offer of some real or apparent good.

When the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. Luke 4.

1. Solicitation of the passions; enticements to evil proceeding from the prospect of pleasure or advantage.

2. The state of being tempted or enticed to evil. When by human weakness you are led into temptation, resort to prayer for relief.

3. Trial.

Lead us not into temptation.

4. That which is presented to the mind as an inducement to evil.

Dare to be great without a guilty crown,

View it, and lay the bright temptation down.

5. In colloquial language, an allurement to any thing indifferent, or even good.

temt, tem-ta'-shun (nacah, "to prove" "try," "tempt" maccah, "a trial," "temptation"; peirazo, "to try" "prove" peirasmos "a trial," "proof"): The words have a sinister connotation in present-day usage which has not always attached to them. Originally the words were of neutral content, with the sense of "putting to the proof," the testing of character or quality. Thus, God is "tempted" by Israel's distrust of Him, as if the people were actually challenging Him to show His perfections (Ex 17:2; Ps 78:18; Ac 15:10; Heb 3:9, and often); Abraham is "tempted," being called upon to offer up Isaac (Ge 22:1); and Jesus is "tempted" to a spectacular Messiahship (Mt 4 and parallel passages (see TEMPTATION OF CHRIST)). No evil is implied in the subject of these temptations. Temptation therefore in the Scripture sense has possibilities of holiness as well as of sin. For as all experience witnesses, it is one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall. To be tempted--one may rejoice in that (Jas 1:2), since in temptation, by conquering it, one may achieve a higher and nobler manhood.

"Why comes temptation but for man to meet

And master and make crouch beneath his foot,

And so be pedestaled in triumph?"

Holiness in its best estate is possible only under conditions which make it necessary to meet, resist and triumph over temptation. Thus, Jesus Himself became our Great High Priest in that, being tempted in all points like as we are, He never once yielded, but fought and triumphed (Heb 4:15).

One must not deceive one's self, however, in thinking that, because by the grace of God one may have profit of virtue through temptation as an instrument, all temptation is equally innocent and virtuous. It is noticeable in the case of Jesus that His temptation was under the direction of the Spirit (Mr 1:12); He Himself did not seek it, nor did He fear it. Temptations encountered in this way, the way of duty, the way of the Spirit, alone constitute the true challenge of saintship (Jas 1:12); but it is the mark of an ignoble nature to be perpetually the center of vicious fancies and tempers which are not of God but of the devil (Jas 1:13-15). One may not escape entirely such buffetings of faith, but by any sound nature they are easily disposed of. Not so easily disposed of are the trials (temptations) to faith through adversity, affliction, trouble (Lu 22:28; Ac 20:19; Jas 1:2; 1Pe 1:6); and yet there is no lack of evidence to the consoling fact that God does not suffer His own to be tempted above what they are able to bear (1Co 10:13) and that for every crisis His grace will be sufficient (2Co 12:8,9).

Charles M. Stuart

Definition

To tempt someone is to try to get that person to do something wrong.

• A temptation is something that causes a person to want to do something wrong.
• People are tempted by their own sinful nature and by other people.
• Satan also tempts people to disobey God and to sin against God by doing wrong things.
• Satan tempted Jesus and tried to get him to do something wrong, but Jesus resisted all of Satan’s temptations and never sinned.
• Someone who is “tempting God” is not trying to get him to do something wrong, but rather, is continuing in stubborn disobedience of him to the point that God must respond by punishing him. This is also called “testing God.”

Translation Suggestions

• The term “tempt” can be translated as “try to cause to sin” or “entice” or “cause a desire to sin.”
• Ways to translate “temptations” could include, “things that tempt” or “things that entice someone to sin” or “things that cause desire to do something wrong.”
• To “tempt God” could be translated as to “put God to the test” or to “test God” or to “try God’s patience” or to “cause God to have to punish” or to “stubbornly keep disobeying God.”

(See also: disobey, Satan, sin, test)

Bible References

• 1 Thessalonians 3:4-5
• Hebrews 4:15
• James 1:13
• Luke 4:2
• Luke 11:4
• Matthew 26:41

Examples from the Bible stories

• __25:1 Then Satan came to Jesus and tempted__ him to sin.
• __25:8 Jesus did not give in to Satan’s temptations__, so Satan left him.
• __38:11 Jesus told his disciples to pray that they would not enter into temptation__.

Word Data

• Strong’s: H0974, H4531, H5254, G05510, G15980, G39850, G39860, G39870