Verse 13
God is never the source of temptation. He does not try to get us to sin, even though some people blame God for their sins. He Himself is not even subject to temptation because He is totally separate from sin and not susceptible to evil. [Note: Mayor, p. 53. See also his extended discussion of this subject on pp. 195-97.] The only sense in which God is responsible for sin is that He permits other things to tempt us, namely, the world, the flesh, and the devil (cf. Job 1-2). James did not mention this here.
Jesus taught His disciples to pray, "Lead us not into temptation" (Matthew 6:13; Luke 11:4). Jesus used a figure of speech (i.e., litotes) in which He expressed a positive idea by negating the contrary. Other examples of litotes are "not a few" meaning many, and "no rare occurrence" meaning a frequent occurence. James did not imply that God does lead us into temptation. His point was that He can help us stay away from it. Essentially Jesus meant we should ask God to allow us to experience as little temptation as possible (cf. Mark 14:38). James was not contradicting Jesus’ teaching.
"We all know only too many people who have ceased to walk with God under the pressure of trouble or tragedy . . ." [Note: Motyer, p. 50.]
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