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Jam_1:14. That “ πειράζεσθαι proceeds not from God,” is the thought of Jam_1:13. Whence comes it then? The answer is given in this verse: “Every man is tempted, when he is drawn out and allured by his own lust.” The words ὑπὸ τῆς ἴδ . ἐπιθυμίας belong not to πειράζεται (Theile, Wiesinger), but to ἐξελκόμενος καὶ δελεαζόμενος (Luther, Baumgarten, Semler, Knapp, Grashof, Hottinger, de Wette, Brückner, Lange, and others), as otherwise these ideas would drag too much, and would receive their closer reference only by supplying something, as ὑπʼ αὐτῆς (Wiesinger). will describe πειράζεσθαι according to its process; he therefore places the idea first, and then gives in what follows how it occurs, consequently the construction πειράζεται … ἐξελκόμενος requires not to be altered into πειραζόμενος … ἐξελκύεται (Schneckenburger).
πειραζόμενος , as is evident from what goes before, is to be supplied to ἔκαστος ; it corresponds to οὐδένα , Jam_1:13. The attribute ἰδίας is emphatic, expressing the contrast to αὐτός in Jam_1:13. It is brought prominently forward because ἐπιθυμία has its ground not in God, but belongs to man.
By ἐπιθυμία is not denoted “innocent sensuousness,” but it occurs here, as everywhere in the N. T. (except where its specific object is named, as in Luk_22:15; Php_1:23; 1Th_2:17), even without the addition of κακή , σαρκική , or some similar adjectives, in sensu malo; yet it is not to be understood as original sin: “the sinful tendency, the same as Paul calls ἁμαρτία in Rom_7:7” (Hofmann, Schriftbew. I. p. 469; Wiesinger); rather ἐπιθυμία here is the same as in Rom_7:7, namely, lust for the forbidden action springing from original sin (which Paul designates as the ἁμαρτία which χωρὶς νόμου is “ νεκρά ,” but by the commandment revives, and πᾶσαν ἐπιθυμίαν κατεργάζεται ). So also Brückner.[71]
James does not here speak of the origin and development of sin in general, but he wishes to mention, in contrast to ἀπὸ Θεοῦ πειράζομαι , by what sinful man is tempted to the definite act of sin, so that he had no occasion to refer to original sin.
With regard to the form of expression, Pott correctly says: ἘΠΙΘΥΜΊΑ , ἉΜΑΡΤΊΑ et ΘΆΝΑΤΟς personarum vim habent; imaginem meretricis suppeditant voces ΣΥΛΛΑΒΕῖΝ , ΤΊΚΤΕΙΝ , ἈΠΟΚΎΕΙΝ , nec non et ἘΞΈΛΚΕΙΝ atque ΔΕΛΕΆΖΕΙΝ . The two words ἘΞΈΛΚΕΙΝ and ΔΕΛΕΆΖΕΙΝ sind verba e re venatoria et piscatoria in rem amatoriam et inde in nostrum tropum translata (Schneckenburger); this at least is valid of ΔΕΛΕΆΖΕΙΝ . The meaning: protrahere in littus (Pott, and also de Wette), does not here lie at the root of the idea ἘΞΈΛΚΕΙΝ ( ἍΠΑΞ ΛΕΓ . in N. T.), for then it would require to be placed after ΔΕΛΕΆΖΕΙΝ (as also Wieseler, Brückner, and Lange observe); Schulthess more correctly explains it: elicere bestias ex tuto ubi latent in locum hamis retibusque expositum; but it is probable that James had not the original figure so definitely before his eyes. Many interpreters (Menochius, Grotius, Laurentius, Pott, Hottinger, Baumgarten, Theile, and others) supply a bono to ἐξέλκ . and ad malum to δελεάζ ., or something similar; yet incorrectly, as the idea is rather that ἘΠΙΘΥΜΊΑ as a harlot entices man, that is, his will, to herself; the ἐξ in ἘΞΈΛΚ . is thus to be explained, that man, enticed by the allurements of ἘΠΙΘΥΜΊΑ , is enticed to forsake his former position (as the place where he remained hitherto concealed); Schneckenburger: statu quasi suo et loco se extrahi et dimoveri ipse patitur. It is incorrect to explain ἘΞΈΛΚΕΙΝ as equivalent to ΠΡΟΣΈΛΚΕΙΝ , or as an intensified form instead of ἝΛΚΕΙΝ .[72] The being taken, captive by ἘΠΙΘΥΜΊΑ is indicated by ΔΕΛΕΑΖΌΜΕΝΟς .[73] δελεάζειν , in the N. T. used here only and in 2Pe_2:2; 2Pe_2:14; 2Pe_2:18, is also among classical writers used figuratively only in sensu malo; comp. particularly, Plato, Tim. lxix. 6: ἡδονὴ μεγίστων κακῶν δέλεαρ ; Plut. de ser. Num. Vind.: τὸ γλυκὺ τῆς ἐπιθυμίας ὥσπερ δέλεαρ ἐξέλκειν ( ἈΝΘΡΏΠΟΥς ).
[71] According to Hofmann’s explanation, the form of expression of James would be diametrically opposed to that of Paul; for what Paul calls ἁμαρτία , would call ἐπιθυμία ; and what Paul calls ἐπιθυμία , would call ἁμαρτία ! And how objectionable is it to say, with Wiesinger: ἐπιθυμία , when stirred up, produces those ἐπιθυμίας σαρκός in Gal_5:16; Gal_5:24, that ἐπιθυμεῖν and that ἐπιθυμία in Rom_7:7-8. It is also incorrect, with Lange, to understand by ἴδια ἐπιθ . “original sin itself in its concrete activity,” or “the folly which the individual encounters externally, over against which the lust belonging to him is objectively placed,” and to determine the same more definitely as the totality of those “glittering, variegated, visionary expectations which seductively met both the Jews and the Jewish Christians, which had sprung from, the matter of the chiliastic, world-lusting, spiritual pride.” James does not here speak of ἑπιθυμία as attacking an individual from outside, but only of that which is within him.
[72] See Athenaeus, i. 3, c. 8: διὰ τὴν ὁμιλίαν τοὺς ἐραστὰς προσελκυσασθαι . Ael. N. An. vi. 31: ὑπὸ τῆς ἡδονῆς ἑλκόμενος .
[73] Lange: “To draw off and to allure—German: Ablocken and Anlocken; the man is first drawn out from his inward self-control and fortress, and then attracted (drawn to) by the allurements of the harlot.”