Today, I'm thinking about temptation. Specifically, the mechanics of temptation. I often hear folks speak of temptation as if the Satan were inside their mind/heart, urging them in this or that direction. When I think about "temptation" and how an agent like Satan might be involved with it, I have a lot of questions. So, this post has more to do with my questions than working through any opinion I might want to share with you. After posing my questions, if you have any thoughts on the matter, I'd be happy to hear them. First, let me turn to that text that most informs my questions about temptation: Romans 7.15-23: "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. ...
A "restless" theologian in service to the church of Jesus Christ