"Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God;’ for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He himself does not tempt anyone." James 1:13

God cannot be tempted to sin, nor can He sin for sin is the violation of His divine will. In order to be tempted, Jesus had to empty Himself of His divinity and become a man, -"although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be held onto, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men." (Phil.2)

 And, -"For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." (Heb.4)

Critics sometimes find fault with God because of His judgments against nations and people. In His righteous anger He rained fire and brimstone down upon the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Shortly after the Church began He killed Ananias and Sapphira for practicing deception. Some have pointed to God’s command for Abram to kill his son Isaac as an immoral act and have denounced Him for it even though He prevented Abram from carrying out the sacrifice.

But God is not a man, He is the author and Creator of life. God declares, -"All souls are Mine."Righteous Job understood this well when he lost all of his children in one disaster saying, -"God gives and God takes away." In that case it really wasn’t God who took the lives of Job’s children, but was Satan.

 However, we must also realize that it was God who gave Satan permission to attack Job. The life we have in the flesh is temporary and all life belongs to and returns back to God. Contrary to what most Christians believe, man does not possess and immortal soul - in fact, the Bible says that God’s gift is eternal life. Only those in Christ who have received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit are endowed with everlasting life.

God can kill and take life but He cannot commit the sin of murder. Murder is taking a life that is not yours to take.

 If you make something with your own hands and allow your neighbor to keep it until you come for it, you are not acting unjustly when you come to take it. When God commanded Abram to sacrifice his son Isaac, He was only telling him to give back a life that belonged to Him. Isaac’s life did not belong to him but to God - it is God’s right to call that life back to Him at the time of His choosing.

God was not tempting Abram, He was testing him. Had God allowed Abram to sacrifice Isaac no sin would have been committed. In His infinite mercy God spared Isaac, but in His infinite grace did not spare His own Son Jesus, the true Promised Seed which was given for the forgiveness of sins.