1 Corinthians 10:13 There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful… I. THERE HATH NO TEMPTATION TAKEN YOU BUT SUCH AS IS COMMON TO MAN. Our translators were not satisfied with this rendering, so they gave "moderate" in the margin, which is further still from the meaning of the original, which signifies "such as is suited to man's nature and circumstances, and what every man may reasonably expect." Consider — 1. Your body. How many are the evils to which it is liable! Now considering that all pain implies temptation, how numberless must the temptations be which beset every man while he dwells in the body! 2. The present state of the soul. How weak is the understanding! How liable are the wisest to form false judgments! 3. The situation of even those who fear God. They dwell amidst the ruins of a disordered world, among men that know not God, with sin remaining if not reigning, and exposed to the assaults of evil spirits. "The servant is not above his Master"; and if Christ was tempted can we expect exemption? II. GOD IS FAITHFUL, WHO WILL NOT SUFFER US TO BE TEMPTED ABOVE THAT WE ARE ABLE. "He knoweth whereof we are made; He remembereth that we are but dust," and His justice could not punish us for not resisting a temptation disproportionate to our strength. Not only His mercy but His faithfulness is pledged, for the whole tenor of His promises is "As thy days, so shall thy strength be." Our great Physician observes every symptom of our distress that it may not rise above our strength. III. HE WILL WITH THE TEMPTATION MAKE A WAY TO ESCAPE, i.e., a way out. 1. By removing the occasion of it. "I was walking," says one, "over Dover cliffs with the lady I was to marry in a few days, when her foot slipped, and I saw her dashed in pieces on the beach. I cried, 'This evil admits of no remedy. I must now go mourning all my days. It is impossible I should ever find another so fitted for me in every way.' I added in an agony, 'This is just such an affliction as God Himself cannot redress!' And just as I uttered these words I awoke: for it was a dream!" Just so can God remove any temptation; making it like a dream when one waketh. 2. By delivering in the temptation — suffering the occasion to remain, but removing its bitterness so that it shall not be a temptation at all, but a ground of thanksgiving. Thus the Marquis de Renty, when asked while suffering from a violent attack of rheumatism, "Sir, are you in much pain?" answered, "My pains are extreme: but through the mercy of God I give myself up, not to them, but to Him." (J. Wesley, M.A.) Parallel Verses KJV: There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. |
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