John 8:3-9 “Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, (4) they said to Him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. (5) Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?" (6) This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. (7) So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first." (8) And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. (9) Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.”
Another method that God uses to influence the wills of unbelievers is by allowing their conscience to convict them to do that which is right. In the above quoted passage of scripture we see the Lord Jesus using that method. In this account the men who accused the woman of adultery had two motives, both of which were evil. Their main motive was to set a trap for the Lord to publically override the law given to Moses, for they were convinced that Jesus would not allow them to stone the woman. And so they intended to use that anticipated response from the Lord as a pretext to condemn Him for rejecting the Law of Moses. Their second motive was to stone the woman, even though they had set her up and were thus complicit in her sin. Nevertheless our Lord knew their intentions, and so His reply to their accusations confounded them, for they never expected Him to say what He said and they were at a loss as to how to deal with the Lord’s statement. Our Lord knew all along that the consciences of these men would convict them of their wrongdoing, and so He just bided His time and let their consciences influence their wills, which ultimately resulted in them deciding to give up their chosen course of action. This account reveals another of the very many ways that the Lord uses to influence man’s will.
James 1:13 “Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.”
We have seen thus far that God uses the minds and consciences of unbelievers to influence them to act in accordance with His will. There are two parts of man however that God does not use to influence the wills of unbelievers, which are their spirits and their bodies. So why is that? The answer lies in the condition of the spirits and bodies of unbelievers, for both of those parts of unbelievers are only motivated by evil. The spirits of the unbelievers are motivated by evil because they have the nature of their father, the devil (John 8:44). The bodies of the unbelievers are motivated by evil because as we have already established, their bodies are contaminated with the sin virus. Therefore because these two parts of the unbeliever can only be motivated by evil, God does not use them for His purposes. In the above quoted passage of scripture the Holy Spirit teaches us that God cannot be tempted by evil and neither does He tempt anyone Himself. The implication is that because God cannot be tempted by evil neither does He tempt anyone with evil. To tempt someone with evil is to influence them to commit sin as an act of their free will. And so because the spirit and the body of unbelievers will only respond to influences to commit sin, God does not use those parts of unbelievers to influence their wills, for God does not become complicit in sin.
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments