Whether to Tempt Is Proper to the Devil?
Objection 1: It would seem that to tempt is not proper to the devil.
For God is said to tempt, according to Gen. 22:1, "God tempted
Abraham." Moreover man is tempted by the flesh and the world. Again,
man is said to tempt God, and to tempt man. Therefore it is not
proper to the devil to tempt.
Obj. 2: Further, to tempt is a sign of ignorance. But the demons know
what happens among men. Therefore the demons do not tempt.
Obj. 3: Further, temptation is the road to sin. Now sin dwells in the
will. Since therefore the demons cannot change man's will, as appears
from what has been said above (Q. 111, A. 2), it seems that it is not
in their province to tempt.
_On the contrary,_ It is written (1 Thess. 3:5): "Lest perhaps he
that tempteth should have tempted you": to which the gloss adds,
"that is, the devil, whose office it is to tempt."
_I answer that,_ To tempt is, properly speaking, to make trial of
something. Now we make trial of something in order to know something
about it: hence the immediate end of every tempter is knowledge. But
sometimes another end, either good or bad, is sought to be acquired
through that knowledge; a good end, when, for instance, one desires
to know of someone, what sort of a man he is as to knowledge, or
virtue, with a view to his promotion; a bad end, when that knowledge
is sought with the purpose of deceiving or ruining him.
From this we can gather how various beings are said to tempt in
various ways. For man is said to tempt, sometimes indeed merely for
the sake of knowing something; and for this reason it is a sin to
tempt God; for man, being uncertain as it were, presumes to make an
experiment of God's power. Sometimes too he tempts in order to help,
sometimes in order to hurt. The devil, however, always tempts in
order to hurt by urging man into sin. In this sense it is said to be
his proper office to tempt: for thought at times man tempts thus, he
does this as minister of the devil. God is said to tempt that He may
know, in the same sense as that is said to know which makes others to
know. Hence it is written (Deut. 13:3): "The Lord your God trieth
you, that it may appear whether you love him."
The flesh and the world are said to tempt as the instruments or
matter of temptations; inasmuch as one can know what sort of man
someone is, according as he follows or resists the desires of the
flesh, and according as he despises worldly advantages and adversity:
of which things the devil also makes use in tempting.
Thus the reply to the first objection is clear.
Reply Obj. 2: The demons know what happens outwardly among men; but
the inward disposition of man God alone knows, Who is the "weigher of
spirits" (Prov. 16:2). It is this disposition that makes man more
prone to one vice than to another: hence the devil tempts, in order
to explore this inward disposition of man, so that he may tempt him
to that vice to which he is most prone.
Reply Obj. 3: Although a demon cannot change the will, yet, as stated
above (Q. 111, A. 3), he can change the inferior powers of man, in a
certain degree: by which powers, though the will cannot be forced, it
can nevertheless be inclined.
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