This excerpt from Spiritual Warfare Q&A explains why God allows temptation and how it serves our spiritual growth. Temptations test our virtue, strengthen our reliance on God, and provide opportunities to humiliate the devil through faithful resistance. By understanding temptation as a means of sanctification, believers can grow in holiness and deepen their union with Christ.
What Is Temptation?
The Catechism defines a temptation as “an attraction, either from outside oneself or from within, to act contrary to right reason and the commandments of God” (CCC 538). As an astute predator, the demon knows our individual weaknesses and vulnerabilities and seeks to lay traps for us on a regular basis. The enemy draws upon habits, inclinations, and the weakness of our fallen human nature. He does so, however, not just to take us out of the battle, but he wants to take out as many other people in our circle as possible.
Why God Allows Temptation
According to Saint Thomas Aquinas, God allows a certain amount of temptation against evil so that we may progress in the spiritual life and grow in holiness. To that end, the demons serve God’s plans by becoming the means of our sanctification. Thus, the Angelic Doctor explains that God allows the devil to tempt us and put us to the test for a threefold end. Our struggle against evil, says Saint Thomas, makes “our merits greater, our virtues purer and higher, and our spiritual progress more rapid.” Similarly, Saint John Chrysostom says that God allows the devil to be “useful” to us because through our “courageous resistance,” we can “turn his evil deeds to [our] advantage.”
Overcoming Temptation and Humiliating the Devil
Father Jordan Aumann explains, moreover, that when we participate with the grace of God and overcome the enemy’s temptations, we actually “humiliate” the devil. Thus, while the demon is the instrument of our salvation, we are the instrument of his punishment. How can this be? Simply stated, the more little battles we win, the more Christ grows in us and His glory emanates from within us. Our willful resistance through prayer and sacrifice punishes the demon. Father Aumann affirms that our spiritual victories over temptation have many positive effects. In addition to glorifying God, our souls grow in purity as we discover the weapons against temptation—the virtues of humility, self-denial, repentance, and a greater dependence upon God’s constant help. In these struggles, moreover, we become more alert to the enemy’s tactics and grow in the holy desire for not only liberation but also true holiness and deeper union with God. When the devil’s punch “lands,” however, even that is to the glory of God because it reveals to us areas of weakness and vulnerability. We pick ourselves up and Charlie Mike—that is—continue the mission toward heaven.
God’s Faithfulness in Trials
This is affirmed by Saint Paul when he writes, “No trial has come to you but what is human. God is faithful and will not let you be tried beyond your strength; but with the trial he will also provide a way out, so that you may be able to bear it” (1 Cor 10:13). While the Latin tentatio means “an attack,” it also implies a trial or proof. The Greek word for “to be tested” here means not just to be tempted but “an attempt, experiment” and therefore “to be proven” in one’s resolutions. In our struggles, then, God is glorified by the conformity of the mind to the truth and the resolution of the will toward the good. Thus, elsewhere Saint Paul affirms that “all things work for good for those who love God” (Rom 8:28), for even our struggles become occasions for growing in merit and holiness. Accordingly, Father Ripperger states, “For demons, no good deed goes unpunished. Therefore, if the person is on the right track with his life and doing the good, the fact that he is under diabolic attack is a witness to the goodness of what he is doing. If what he was doing were evil, the demons would not attack but would encourage it.” Ultimately, as Jesus says, “without me, you can do nothing” ( Jn 15:5), so our struggles reveal our weakness and defects and, therefore, total dependence on Jesus to attain victory.
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This article is taken from a chapter in Spiritual Warfare Q&A by Dan Schneider, PhD which is available from TAN Books.
