Ver. 13. Μηδεὶς πειραζόμενος λεγέτω: In view of the specific doc-
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ΙΑΚΩΒΟΥ i
n Matt.v. 14. ἕκαστος δὲ πειράζεται ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας " ἐπιθυμίας ἐξελκόμενος καὶ
28. ο2Ρει.Π. ὃ δελεαζόμενος - 15. Petra ἡ 2
14, 18. Υ̓ p—p Cf. Ps. ἢ νι]. 14. q Cf. Rom. Vv. 12)
10m. s. 2Om. C.
trine which is being combated in these verses, it is probable that the verb πει- ράζω is here used in the restricted sense of temptation to lust, and not in the more general sense (πειρασμοῖς ποικί- λοις) in which πειρασμός is used in i. 2. This view obtains support from the re- peated mention of ἐπιθυμία in vv. 14, 15. The tendency to a sin which was so closely connected with the nature, the lower nature, of man (cf. Rom. vii. 23) would, on this very account, be regarded by many as in the last instance referable to the Creator of man; that this belief was held will be seen from the authorities cited in the Introduction IV., §1. On this view πειραζόμενος refers to tempta- tion of a special kind, ἐπιθυμία; cf. Matt. v. 28, πᾶς ὁ βλέπων γυναῖκα πρὸς τὸ ἐπιθυμῆσαι ...; 1 Pet. ii. 11, ᾿Αγαπητοί, παρακαλῶ ... ἀπέχεσθαι τῶν σαρκικῶν ἐπιθυμιῶν αἵτινες στρα- τεύονται κατὰ τῆς ψυχῆς; iv. 2-3... εἰς τὸ μηκέτι ἀνθρώπων ἐπιθυμίαις ἀλλὰ θελήματι Θεοῦ. . . .--ὅτι: Cf. the par- allel use of 5 in Hebrew.—aqme(- ραστός ἐστι κακῶν: “ Untempt- able of evil’’; see Mayor’s very inter- esting note on ἀπείραστος; the word does not occur elsewhere in N.T., nor in the Septuagint. If the interpretation of this passage given above be correct, the meaning here would seem to be that itis inconceivable that the idea should come into the mind of God to tempt men to lust; the ‘‘ untemptableness.”’_has per- haps a two-fold application :_ God cannot be tempted to do evil Himself, nor can He be tempted with the wish to tempt men. The word in its essence is really ‘an insistence upon one of the fundamental beliefs concerning the Jewish doctrine of God, viz., His attribute of Holiness and ethical purity ; the teaching of many centuries is summed up in the third of the “Thirteen Principles” of Maimon- ides: “1 believe with perfect faith that the Creator, blessed be His name, is not a body, and that He is free from all the accidents of matter, and that He has not any form whatsoever”. The Peshitta rendering of this clause, from which one might have looked for something sug-
ἐπιθυμία συλλαβοῦσα τίκτει ἁμαρτίαν,
δὲ ἁμαρτία ἢ ἀποτελεσθεῖσα ἀποκύει ὃ "θάνατον.
. 3 ἀποκυεῖ WH,
gestive, is very disappointing and en- tirely loses the force of the Greek.—
πειράζει, etc., see Introduction IV., § 1.
Ver. 14. ἕκαστος δὲ πειράζε- ται ὑπὸ τῆς ἰδίας ἐπιθυμίας: according to this the evil originates in man himself, which would be the case more especially with the sin of lust; with regard to temptation to sin of an- other character see 1 Thess. iii.5,... μή πως ἐπείρασεν ὑμᾶς ὁ πειράζων, who is doubtlessly to be identified with Satan. --ἐξελκόμενος καὶ δελεαζόμε- vos: describes the method of the work- ing of ἐπιθυμία, the first effect of which is “to draw the man out of his original repose. the second to allure him to a definite bait” (Mayor). ἐξελκ. is in its original meaning used of fishing, δελεαζ. of hunting, and then of the wiles of the harlot; both the participles might be
‘transferred, from their literal use in appli-
cation to hunting or fishing, to a meta- phorical use of alluring to sensual sin, and thus desire entices the man from his self-restraint as with the wiles of a harlot, a metaphor maintained by the words which follow, ‘ conceived,’ ‘ bear- eth,’ ‘bringeth forth’; cf. 2 Pet. ii. 14, 18, where the same verb is found, and Philo, Quod omn. prob lib., 22, ‘driven by passion or enticed by pleasure’” (Knowling).