Does God test/tempt people?

[tonychanyt]

The Evolving Concept of Testing/Tempting

English Standard Version, Malachi 3:

10 Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test [H974, G1980], says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.

BDAG G1980 ἐπισκέπτομαι:
① to make a careful inspection, look at, examine, inspect

Strong's Hebrew: 974. בָּחַן (bachan) — 29 Occurrences

Brown-Driver-Briggs:

1. examine, scrutinize, try
2. prove, test, try.

While Swete's Septuagint used G1980 ἐπισκέψασθε for H974, meaning to examine, ABP used G1994 επιστρέψατε, meaning to return. Instead of 'examine this', ABP said return on this'.

There is another Hebrew word for the idea of testing that is a bit more ambiguous. Ge 22:

1 Some time later God tested [H5254, G3985] Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied.

In the NT, the writer of the Book of Hebrews alluded to Ge 22:1 in He 11:

By faith Abraham, when he was tested [G3985], offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,

Deuteronomy 13:

3 You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing [H5254, G3985] you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul.

H5254 nasah appears 36 times.

Brown-Driver-Briggs:

1. test
2. attempt, assay, try to do a thing
3. test, try, prove, tempt [but not in the modern sense of the word: see De 6:16; Ps 453, 483]

This Hebrew word did not carry the full English sense of "temptation". It meant testing or trying. There was no Hebrew word that unambiguously meant to tempt in the modern English sense.

Now, let's look at the Greek word G3985 in the NT. Mt 4:

1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted [G3985] by the devil.

Strong's Greek: 3985. πειράζω (peirazó) — 39 Occurrences in the NT

The devil didn't just H5254-test Jesus but G3985-tempted him in the negative sense of entrapment.

There was a different Greek word for to test. 1Th 5:

20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good.

Strong's Greek: 1381. δοκιμάζω (dokimazo) — 22 Occurrences

BDAG:
① to make a critical examination of someth. to determine genuineness, put to the test, examine

As Satan went rogue, the negative concept of temptation emerged from G3985. James 1:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials [G3986] of various kinds, 3 because you know that the testing [G1383] of your faith produces perseverance.

G1381 (noun G1383) carried the positive nuance of H5254-test, while G3985 carried the negative nuance of H5254. Thus, the concept of H5254 was split into two different Greek lexemes.

13 Let no one say when he is tempted [G3985 πειραζόμενος], “I am being tempted [H3985 πειράζομαι] by God,” for God cannot be tempted [G551 ἀπείραστός adjective] with evil, and he himself tempts [G3985 πειράζει] no one.

BDAG πειράζω:
① to make an effort to do someth., try, attempt at times in a context indicating futility
② to endeavor to discover the nature or character of someth. by testing, try, make trial of, put to the test
ⓑ of God or Christ, who put people to the test, in a favorable sense (Abraham, as Gen 22:1). Also of painful trials sent by God (Ex 20:20; Dt 8:2 v.l.; Judg 2:22; Wsd 3:5; 11:9; Jdth 8:25f) 1 Cor 10:13; Hb 2:18ab; 4:15
③ to attempt to entrap through a process of inquiry, test.
④ to entice to improper behavior, tempt

G3985 contained both the OT positive sense of testing and the NT negative sense. There was a shift of nuance in the OT to the NT. The concepts of testing and tempting evolved from the Hebrew Bible to the New Testament, reflecting both linguistic and theological developments. In the Hebrew Bible, testing was primarily about proving or refining, while in the New Testament, the Greek language introduced the additional nuance of enticement to sin, particularly in the context of Satan's actions. This distinction helps us understand God's purposes in testing His people while recognizing the reality of temptation as a tool of the enemy.

Does God test/tempt people?

God tests people in the ancient Hebrew sense of the word H5254. God does not tempt people in the NT sense of the word G3985 to entrap. Satan does. In the beginning, Satan was given the job of testing people. He gradually changed from the testing to tempting to downright entrapment.