ACC ~ James 1 v13

GOD DOES NOT DIRECTLY TEMPT. CYRIL OF JERUSALEM: If ever we find ourselves afflicted by illness, grief or trouble, let us not blame God, for God cannot be tempted by evil and does not tempt anyone. Each of us is scourged with the ropes of our own sins. SERMON ON THE PARALYTIC 17.

DECEPTIONS FROM THE DEVIL. AUGUSTINE: By temptation in this context, James meant the bad sort by which we are deceived and subjected to the devil. There is another kind of temptation [mentioned in Deuteronomy 13:3] which is really a kind of testing that comes from God. SERMONS 57.9.

EVIL NOT FROM GOD. BEDE: At this point James moves on from those external temptations which God sends to us for the testing of our faith to those internal ones which assault our souls and which are inspired by the devil. He wants to dispel the notion that the God who puts good thoughts into our minds also fills them with evil intentions. No one who has such wicked thoughts in his mind should ever try to claim that they come from God. CONCERNING THE EPISTLE OF ST. JAMES.

GOD TESTS FOR THE GOOD. ANDREAS: Any testing which comes from God is for good, not for evil. … It is quite otherwise with the devil. He tempts in order to kill those whom he has tempted. Furthermore, the devil does not know what is inside us, but God knows and has given everyone his task to accomplish, according to his sovereign will. CATENA.

ABANDONMENT TO OUR OWN STUBBORNNESS. PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: God is said to tempt when he abandons those who stubbornly fall into the snares of temptation. That is how Adam succumbed to the wiles of the tempter when he abandoned the commands of the Creator. SERMONS 70.

Jas