God is Faithful: An Exegetical Study on 1 Corinthians 10:13 - Part 2

The following exegetical study is Part 2 of 3 in a series that examines the contextual meaning and application of 1 Corinthians 10:13, a beloved verse for those experiencing temptation. Part 1 focuses on the phrase, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.” Part 2 focuses on the phrase, “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.” Part 3 focuses on the phrase, “but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.”

1 CORINTHIANS 10

13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it.

A Note to the Reader: Part 2 assumes the reader understands the historical context of 1 Corinthians and/or has read God is Faithful - Part 1.

Unfolding the Text

The phrase “God is faithful” in 1 Corinthians 10:13 is a repetition of 1 Corinthians 1:9. Examining the immediate context surrounding 1 Corinthians 1:9 helps improve the reader’s grasp of Paul’s usage of the phrase “God is faithful” later in 1 Corinthians 10:13. First Corinthians 1:4-9 reads as follows:

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that was given you in Christ Jesus, that in every way you were enriched in him in all speech and all knowledge—even as the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you—so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (emphasis added).

Here, "God is faithful" expresses God’s reliability and provision. Paul reminds the Corinthians that God provides his people with all they need for sustainment and eternal guiltlessness in Christ. The specific provision in 1:4-9 is that the Corinthians “are lacking no gift.” Ultimately, God's faithfulness will keep the Corinthians holy despite living in a pagan world. Commenting on 1 Corinthians 1:9, Arthur Pink states:

God is faithful in preserving his people . . . The apostle’s confidence in the absolute security of believers was founded not on the strength of their resolutions or ability to persevere, but on the veracity of him that cannot lie. Since God has promised to his Son a certain people for his inheritance, to deliver them from sin and condemnation, and to make them participants of eternal life in glory, it is certain that he will not allow any of them to perish.[1]

Paul uses this same sentiment in the phrase "God is faithful" in 1 Corinthians 10:13, where the context is God’s provision of escape and endurance when facing temptation or trial. Paul explicitly states God’s provision as a display of his faithfulness, writing, “he will also provide the way of escape” (v. 13, emphasis added). Like 1 Corinthians 1:4-9, Paul’s usage of the phrase "God is faithful" sends an encouraging message to his audience that God's faithfulness will keep the Christian Corinthians holy despite living in a pagan world.

Understanding the Text

The message of God’s faithfulness comes near the middle of 1 Corinthians 10:13, which states, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” According to Thayer's Greek Lexicon, the term faithful means: trustworthy or reliable, especially in one’s discharge of their official duties. Simply put, God always fulfills his commitments. 

For Paul, a Jew from the tribe of Benjamin, God’s faithfulness is not a new doctrine. His knowledge of scripture includes passages like Deuteronomy 7:9, which states, "Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations” (emphasis added). Paul knows the vastness of God’s faithfulness from Psalm 36, a psalm of David, which declares, “Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds” (emphasis added). And from the poetic book of Lamentations, Paul knows that God’s continual mercy displays his faithfulness to his people: “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (3:22-23, emphasis added). For Paul, an expert in the law (see Philippians 3:5-7), God’s faithfulness is the bedrock of the saints’ ability to live in a pagan world in a holy manner; a truth he encourages the Corinthians to cling to as they endure temptations and trials. 

“. . . and he will not let you to be tempted beyond your ability . . .”

The pronoun "he" refers to the faithful God of Israel, Yahweh. The plural pronoun "you" refers to "those sanctified in Christ Jesus" (1 Corinthians 1:2). Between these two pronouns exists three words that reinforce the sovereignty and faithfulness of God: “will not let.” The phrase “will not,” immediately following the name of God, enacts a promise. For example, in the Third Commandment, Moses states that “the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain” (Exodus 20:7, emphasis added). Here in 1 Corinthians 10:13, the promise is that God will not let the Corinthians be tempted beyond their ability. This truth encourages the believer to pursue holiness and removes excuses to sin amid temptation. In a word, this promise provides hope for the Corinthians.

The term “let,” which translates in English to the word “allow,” speaks of God’s sovereignty. God’s sovereignty refers to his “absolute rule and authority over all things.”[2]If God is not sovereign, there is no hope for Paul's Corinthian audience, and 1 Corinthians 10:13 is merely a hollow shell of prose. Thankfully, God is in absolute rule and authority over everything, including the nature and extent of the temptations facing the Corinthians. He will not let them experience temptation beyond their ability.

Temptation

The word temptation (including “tempted”) appears three times in 1 Corinthians 10:13. Such a compact repetition deserves the reader's closest attention. The word temptation “can also mean “test” or “trial” in the right context. Here, however, there is no indication that the Corinthians are suffering any unusual trial with the context suggesting that they are tempted to fall into some of Israel’s sinful patterns.”[3] Namely, idolatry and sexual immorality. Commenting on temptation, John Calvin helps the reader understand the difference between a test meant to sanctify and a temptation meant to overtake one in sin, stating,

But the temptations of God and Satan are very different: Satan tempts, that he may destroy, condemn, confound, throw headlong; God, that by proving his people he may make trial of their sincerity, and by exercising their strength confirm it; may mortify, tame, and cauterize their flesh, which, if not curbed in this manner, would wanton and exult above measures. Besides, Satan attacks those who are unarmed and unprepared, that he may destroy them unawares; whereas whatever God sends, he “will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”[4]

One of the most prominent biblical examples of a time when God, in the words of Calvin, makes a trial of a man’s sincerity is in the life of Abraham. In Genesis 17:19, God told Abraham, “Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.” Isaac is a child of promise, a miracle in Abraham’s old age. The Lord not only uses this child to establish his covenant but also to test his father, Abraham. Genesis 22:1 recalls, “After these things God tested Abraham and said to him ‘Abraham!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’” The Lord continues by instructing Abraham to go to the land of Moriah and sacrifice his son, Isaac. For Abraham, His immediate obedience affirms his fear of God, made known by the angel, who said, ‘Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me’” (Genesis 22:11-12).

The line between Divine trial and demonic temptation is that trials from God mean to purge and sanctify the believer, like Abraham and the Christians in Corinth, but demonic temptations intend to harm and defile.

“. . . your ability. . .”

The phrase "beyond your ability" carries a two-fold promise within itself. On the one hand, the Corinthian audience receives comfort knowing that they will not experience a temptation to such a degree that they cannot possibly resist. On the other hand, they should expect temptations within the limits of their ability to resist and overcome, an ability given by the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). The former promise leaves the Corinthians with no excuse for sin. Within this text, “Paul’s words contain an implicit rebuke. If God keeps us from temptations greater than we can withstand, we cannot plead our temptations as an excuse for sinning. Sin is never a necessity for a believer.”[5] Therefore, Paul’s promise functions as encouragement while facing temptation, but it also leaves no excuse for the Corinthian Church to indulge in sinful pagan practices.

In this series' third and final installment, we will examine the phrase, "but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

Notes:

[1] Arthur W. Pink, The Attributes of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1975), 70.

[2] John Macarthur and Richard Mayhue, eds., Biblical Doctrine: A Systematic Summary of Biblical Doctrine (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2017), 937.

[3] Roy E. Ciampa and Brian S. Rosner, The First Letter to the Corinthians: The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Ed. D.A. Carson (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2010), 704.

[4] John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2008), 601.

[5] R.C. Sproul ed., The Reformation Study Bible, (Orlando, FL: Reformation Trust Publishing, 2014), 2211.