Temptation: "God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able" (1Cor 10:13)

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I was recently talking to a friend about temptation.

This is a troubling quote from the Bible:

“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.” (1Cor 10:13, KJV)

In other words, we are not tempted beyond our will.

Why then do people ever sin, if we all have the will to resist every temptation?

Particularly if we love God and try not to sin?

(I have one answer to this, but it could be completely wrong and I’d like to hear what you have to say first!)
 
katholicos said:
I was recently talking to a friend about temptation.

This is a troubling quote from the Bible:

“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.” (1Cor 10:13, KJV)

In other words, we are not tempted beyond our will.

Why then do people ever sin, if we all have the will to resist every temptation?

Particularly if we love God and try not to sin?

(I have one answer to this, but it could be completely wrong and I’d like to hear what you have to say first!)
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In a word, concupiscence - the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We all have serious chinks in our armour against sin.
 
So when the Bible says we are not “tempted above that ye are able”, what precisely is the “ability” being referred to?
 
When we are presented with a temptation, we are also offered *actual grace *to resist it. Because we have free will, we are able to choose between the temptation and the grace. The grace is always sufficient to overcome the temptation, but we must choose to use it.

Betsy
 
LilyM said:
In a word, concupiscence - the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.
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baltobetsy:
Because we have free will, we are able to choose between the temptation and the grace.
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Do these two explanations not contradict each other? If “the flesh is weak”, does that not deny free will in some way?

Thanks for your answers!
 
we are not tempted beyond our strength, not our will. We do have free will, we do have actual grace, we do have a moment when we are given the grace to either resist the evil act or to do the good action. Concupiscence is the consequence of original sin which disorders our will to choose the wrong action. We have the ability to act or not to act, the choice is ours. The excuse of being compelled beyond our will denies free will (unless we are victims of a psychological disorder which really does hamper our free will).
 
Thanks. Could you explain a bit more what you mean when you talk of “disordering” the will?
 
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