James wanted his readers to have no doubt about God"s purposes and methods in dealing with them, His children. The same "Do not be deceived" expression occurs in 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Corinthians 15:33; Galatians 6:7; and 1 John 3:7. God definitely is not the author of temptation. [source][source][source]
When God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac as a human sacrifice ( Genesis 22:2), it only appeared to Abraham that God was tempting him to commit murder. God prevented him from slaying his son ( Genesis 22:12). This was a test of Abraham"s obedience, not a solicitation to sin. [source][source][source]
James clarified God"s purposes and methods in the following two verses (cf. Galatians 4:7). James 1:15 warns against yielding to temptation by reminding us of the judgment of God, and James 1:17 warns us by reminding us of the goodness of God. [source][source][source]
Context Summary
James 1:12-18 - God Rewards, Not Tempts
The word temptation may stand for trial and testing, without implying that there is any necessary impulse toward evil; or it may stand for the direct impulse of the evil one. Here, however, it is used in this latter sense. But of whatever kind the temptation is, whether upward or downward, whether of pain and sorrow at the permission of God, or of direct solicitation to evil at the suggestion of Satan, those who refuse to swerve from their high quest of nobility attain to higher levels of life. In the words of this paragraph, they receive the crown of life "here" and hereafter.
Notice the genealogy of sin, James 1:15. Lust is the parent of sin, and sin when matured is the parent of death. How different to the blackness of this dark picture is the light and glory of our Father's home and realm! All the good things of our lives are from His good hand. He is not fickle and changeable. Even our sin cannot make Him turn away. His sun still shines on the evil and the good, and His rain descends on the just and the unjust. See Matthew 5:45. We are His children; let us be sweet to the taste as the grapes of Eschol! [source]
Chapter Summary: James 1
1James greets the twelve tribes among the nations; 2exhorts to rejoice in trials and temptations; 5to ask patience of God; 13and in our trials not to impute our weakness, or sins, to him, 19but rather to hearken to the word, to meditate on it, and to do thereafter 26Otherwise men may seem, but never be, truly religious
Greek Commentary for James 1:16
Be not deceived [μη πλαναστε] Prohibition with μη mē and the present passive imperative of πλαναω planaō common verb to lead astray. This is the way of sin to deceive and to kill (Romans 7:7-14). The devil is a pastmaster at blinding men‘s eyes about sin (2 Corinthians 4:4; Romans 1:27; Ephesians 4:14; etc.). [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for James 1:16
Galatians 6:7Be not deceived [μὴ πλανᾶσθε] For the phrase see 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Corinthians 15:33; James 1:16. Deceive is a secondary sense; the primary meaning being lead astray. See on Mark 12:24. The connection of the exhortation may be with the entire section from Galatians 6:1(Eadie and Sieffert), but is more probably with Galatians 6:6. The Galatians are not to think that it is a matter of no consequence whether their fellowship be with their Christian teachers who preach the word of truth, or with the Judaising innovators who would bring them under bondage to the law. [source]
Parse: Verb, Present Imperative Middle or Passive, 2nd Person Plural
Root: πλανάω
Sense: to cause to stray, to lead astray, lead aside from the right way.
Greek Commentary for James 1:16
Prohibition with μη mē and the present passive imperative of πλαναω planaō common verb to lead astray. This is the way of sin to deceive and to kill (Romans 7:7-14). The devil is a pastmaster at blinding men‘s eyes about sin (2 Corinthians 4:4; Romans 1:27; Ephesians 4:14; etc.). [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for James 1:16
For the phrase see 1 Corinthians 6:9; 1 Corinthians 15:33; James 1:16. Deceive is a secondary sense; the primary meaning being lead astray. See on Mark 12:24. The connection of the exhortation may be with the entire section from Galatians 6:1(Eadie and Sieffert), but is more probably with Galatians 6:6. The Galatians are not to think that it is a matter of no consequence whether their fellowship be with their Christian teachers who preach the word of truth, or with the Judaising innovators who would bring them under bondage to the law. [source]