Temptation as a means of refining truth
Temptation as a means of refining truth. What is temptation? Temptation is a testing of desire, of will, of knowledge. I've witnessed significant discussion concerning testing these days. However, most of these are concerning temptation as a means of producing patience, perseverance or even as a means of being vindicated in the sight of God. I can understand these perspectives, but I think they are a bit one-dimensional. Fortunately, I can see in the Fathers a more humble idea. For them, temptation and the various tests we go through are also means of engendering humility. Of course, humility is closely related to truth.
Temptation can serve to help us realise the truth. Firstly, in our perspectives, we gain a correct understanding of ourselves. When God appears to leave us, we see that within ourselves that we are weak– that our will is damaged, and our understanding is shallow. Through being continually tested, we gain an understanding of ourselves and the world.
We see in the temptation of the Lord (Matthew 4:1-11), the truth revealed of him. "My will is perfect. My knowledge is complete. My desire is without sin. I am without blemish".
Interestingly, some people have said the Lord struggled in his temptation. This is because they associate temptation with the will being pulled in a particular direction and thus undergoing that motion. As a result, they don't understand how someone can remain motionless in the face of temptation (As David says "While the wicked one stood before me I was dumb and humbled myself and refrained from uttering even good words - Ps 39:1-2"). Their understanding is slightly incorrect. Temptation is simply the presenting of a thing in the hopes of inciting the desire. It does not necessarily follow that the person must actually undergo motion in that direction. As an example, try pulling a metal pole buried deep in the ground and see if it moves.
Aquinas writes in Summa Q97:
Properly speaking, to tempt is to test the person tempted. Now we put a person to the test by words or by deeds. By words, that we may find out whether he knows what we ask, or whether he can and will grant it: by deeds, when, by what we do, we probe another's prudence, will or power. Either of these may happen in two ways. First, openly, as when one declares oneself a tempter: thus Samson (Judges 14:12) proposed a riddle to the Philistines in order to tempt them. On the second place it may be done with cunning and by stealth, as the Pharisees tempted Christ, as we read in Matthew 22:15, sqq. Again this is sometimes done explicitly, as when anyone intends, by word or deed, to put some person to the test; and sometimes implicitly, when, to wit, though he does not intend to test a person, yet that which he does or says can seemingly have no other purpose than putting him to a test.
It doesn't follow that in testing a person, that they must necessarily fail the test or that their will must necessarily be defective or imperfect. When James says "When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed", he means the assent to temptation and the corresponding action.
Saint Job prophesised:
Yet He knows the way I have taken; when He has tested me, I will come forth as gold. - Job 23:10
I think there is a fair chance this is a prophecy. The temptation of Christ revealed the truth of him– of his perfection and purity – Like fire that reveals the steadfastness of gold. The crucifixion and resurrection of Christ revealed the perfection, inner purity and innate royalty of humanity. Not to say that Christ was not perfect since birth, but that by taking on our passible aspects, he perfected the attributes and nature of humanity and restored to us our destiny.
The verse can also be taken to indicate the situation of St Job himself, who was revealed in his temptations to be without sin. It also indicates that through the various temptations, trials and weaknesses we face, we are continually refined and purified into gold. The best thing is to never sin, and achieve righteousness. The second best is to get up after sinning and pursue righteousness.
Temptation as a means of refining the truth can also be understood as taking the opportunity of temptation, of an objective test, to refine and bring out the truth and through this gain a better understanding of truth. What does this mean?
Temptation gives us an opportunity to overcome the temptation by means of the truth and by seeking the truth. The Lord overcame his temptations by means of reciting the truth and elucidating principle. God is truth and to turn to truth is to turn to God. Saint Peter also rebuked Simon the Magician.
Why is this? Well, how does temptation work? Temptation is the presentation of an apparent good and an apparent means of attaining that good. Apparent good means it can be either a real good or just something that appears apparently good to us. An apparent mean means that the good may be a real good but the way we are presented to attain that good may really be correct or may just appear to be correct. It is by this that the desire is elicited.
Therefore, someone who understands whether a good is truly good or just apparently so, or if a way is correct or just apparently so, would overcome this temptation without conflict. Their desire would not be elicited. And they would do this through truth, and the power of truth is knowing what is true and false.
Through continually comparing what is true with what is potentially true or false and with what is false, one gains a stronger sense and understanding of what is true.
It's ok to have temptations. It's ok to even fail temptation. Many greater than us have failed temptation. Even some of the greatest saints have failed. Besides, you cannot overcome temptation without the help of God so you cannot rely overly on yourself. Of course, that's not to say having faith in God and trying your best is not the way to go.
What I'm saying is – It's ok to have temptations. It's ok to even fail temptation. But what is not ok is not to learn from temptations. By "learn", I don't mean to immediately improve and do better in the next temptation. What I mean by "not to learn" is not to use the temptation as a learning experience, a field to practice insight, to comprehend truth by comparing true and false and to gain true knowledge and understanding.
Someone said, "Our failures are more precious than our successes". Honestly, I don't agree but you might as well use them.
On another note, I heard the Fathers say God sometimes hides our good deeds from us so that we may avoid being deluded by pride and sometimes hides our sins so that we may avoid falling into despair. The work of demons is contrary...they present to us our good deeds to fill us with pride and our sins to cast us into despair.
I think keeping to truth is the way to avoid all obstructions in the path of life. God is truth.
Many errors arise from not understanding truth. For example, pride comes from a false understanding of our goodness and the source of our goodness. The Lord said "No one is good – except God alone". We simply participate in his goodness. This means if I achieve something good, how can I call it my own goodness? How can I say "This is my own accomplishment"? The Lord said "Render onto Caesar the things of Caesar's, and to God the things of God". The kings of old after a harvest would set aside a portion of the firstfruits as a sacrifice to God. This is an understanding of where things proceed and come from. Therefore, in our own sacrifices and renderings, how much more do we owe God for our own good actions and virtues?
Despair also arises from a misunderstanding of the truth. What is despair? Despair is to be without hope. It is a false understanding of reality that says "There is no way forward for me". But if there is no way forward for you, that means that God has abandoned you. And that can certainly not be the case.
As long as people exist, God always loves them. Even before we existed, God loved us. The love of God is more than a constant thing, it's very difficult to describe. Even though we are weak without God, this is also our good fortune. That we can be strong with him. We should never despair. If we cannot handle the issue, God will surely handle it for us.
Despair can also arise because people misunderstand why people sin. The human nature and will fundamentally seek what is good, but knowledge is incomplete, incorrect and damaged. This understanding enables us to have compassion on others and compassion on ourselves. Every human is fundamentally good.
And our goodness is from God.
Thank you for reading my article. I apologise for not writing so frequently...
I think most likely, I will writing more frequently. I initially wanted this page to be more...sophisticated... but I think I will mostly just use it as a place to share my thoughts.
If I make any mistakes, please forgive me. I won't presume to teach anyone and I won't expect this to be some perfect text. I am only 21 anyways.
