No temptation has taken you but such as is according to man's nature; and God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above what ye are able [to bear], but will with the temptation make the issue also, so that [ye] should be able to bear [it].
Paul has just warned the Corinthians: whoever thinks he stands should watch out for a fall. This verse is the comfort attached to that warning, and it raises two questions — what limits a temptation, and what God promises in the escape.
The promise stands against self-reliance. One writer contrasts two kinds of confidence:
The true believer trusts God, and the simpler and more complete that trust the better. Just as truly, he has no confidence in himself, and the deeper his self-distrust the better. It is when we think that we stand that we are in danger of a fall.
That matters for the promise itself. The measure of "your ability" is not set by natural strength:
He is speaking, of course, of a soul in the true condition of conscious helplessness before Him. If we are self-confident, we will find even the smallest temptation too strong for us. But if we are in a right condition — which should be normal for the Christian — God will not let temptation grow too strong for us.
Whatever the Corinthians faced was ordinary human trial. One commentator points out that Christ's own testing went further:
No temptation had come to them beyond what is common to man. Christ was tried beyond it while He lived on earth. He was tested at the start of His service as well as at the end. He was tried in all things as we are, apart from sin — and also beyond what belongs to man, tempted for forty days in the wilderness. We can only overcome in our little trials the way He overcame in His great ones. We depend on God and obey His word, and the Spirit arms that word with power against Satan.
Since God sets the limit, the weight of any trial is a matter of His care, not of accident:
When God puts His children in the school of the cross, He deals with them gently. He does not leave them without a promise: "God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability." He will not lay a giant's burden on a child's back. He will not stretch the strings of the instrument too far, in case they break. If God sees it good to strike with one hand, He will support with the other. Either He will make the faith stronger, or make the yoke lighter.
The English phrase can mislead. Commentators are careful to say the promise is not removal of the trial:
"Way of escape" might make us expect a way out of the temptation altogether. It is not that. It is that God always sees to it that there is a way through, by which we may come out unharmed at the other side. Temptation may be like a long dark tunnel, but the light of day is always visible at the far end.
The same distinction is put in terms of what the tried heart receives while the pressure lasts:
Notice, God does not promise a way of escape from the trial. He promises a way of escape in the trial, for the sorely tried mind and heart. Through this ministry of grace we can bear the trial to the glory of God.
God guarantees both the limit and the escape. So the verse removes every plea of helplessness:
We can never excuse sin in the least and say, "The flesh is in us, and we could not help it." The Christian's principle is this. We should never find the flesh at work anywhere but in the presence of God. There it is always in the presence of grace and of holiness too. This is the true power of our walk.
Others press the point to its furthest edge — the exit God provides may cost everything:
First, no one has to yield to temptation, for God is faithful and will always make a way to escape. Writers have often pointed out that the way of escape may be through death. No one can be forced to give way to temptation, since he can always choose to die rather than yield — "In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood."
- Danger: This verse answers self-confidence. The moment we think we stand is the moment we are near a fall.
- Limit: Nothing that reaches a believer is superhuman. It is the common trial of every human, and Christ went beyond it.
- Measure: God Himself sets the weight. He lays no giant's burden on a child's back. He either strengthens the faith or lightens the yoke.
- Escape: Not a door out of the trial but a way through it — grace to bear it, with light visible at the far end of the tunnel.
- Result: We can never blame sin on circumstance. The escape is always there, even if taking it costs life itself.
Wherefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.
Paul has just recalled Israel's fall in the wilderness, and promised that God makes a way of escape from every temptation. His conclusion is a command — so why flee instead of stand and resist, and what counts as an idol for someone who has never bowed to a statue?
The opening word ties this command to the warning and the comfort just before it. One writer reads verses 12 to 14 as one movement: our self-confidence, God's faithfulness, then the escape He provides.
The Apostle, in searching words, applies these warnings to professing Christians. He warns us against the natural self-confidence of the flesh: "Let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall." We have taken part in the Supper. Let us not think that this makes us safe from falling into the worst sins. But we are reminded that God is our resource. The temptations that come on us are common to man. God never allows a temptation without also making a way of escape, though, sadly, we may neglect that way. "Therefore," says the Apostle, "flee from idolatry." Avoid all that would stir up lust, come between the soul and God, and lead to an outward fall.
The word "flee" sets the measure of the danger.
Chapter 8 asserted the believer's liberty about meats offered to idols. This verse balances the matter by stressing the enormous evil of the idols themselves. We are not simply to avoid idolatry; we are to flee from it, as something utterly hateful.
Not every danger gets the same response. Some things we run from; one enemy we stand against:
There are certain things we are to flee from. "Flee youthful passions" (2 Timothy 2:22). "Flee from idolatry" (1 Corinthians 10:14). "Flee from sexual immorality" (1 Corinthians 6:18). "O man of God, flee these things" (1 Timothy 6:11). But, as far as I know, we are never told to flee from the devil. On the contrary we read: "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7).
They had an argument ready: an idol is nothing, so eating in an idol's temple means nothing. Paul refuses the logic.
To count idolatry impossible for a Christian is to trifle. This the Corinthians were doing. They knew, they said, that the idol was nothing. So it meant nothing to them to eat meat offered to heathen idols. They could even go a step further and sit and eat in the heathen temples. The apostle, on the contrary, holds to the principle that you can share in an evil you do not commit yourself, above all in sacred things. The true wisdom in such cases is to keep completely clear. It is a misuse of knowledge to take part, or even appear to take part, in what is religiously false.
The danger was not in the image itself but in what stood behind it:
The same thing was true in principle of the idol sacrifices of the Gentile world. The idols they revered represented demons; and these demons were only subordinate officers of Satan. By their sacrifices they entered into the communion of demons. Now such a communion as this the child of God is to flee at all costs.
The remedy Paul reaches for is not a longer list of rules:
An idol, though itself a nothing, is a visible expression of the deadliest of evils. Idolatry, the habit of false worship, is the chief snare of the tempter, and we must shun it. Real refuge from its power is found only in the service of the living God. So, to guard his brothers against this ever-present danger, he turns at once to the chief distinctive act of Christian worship. As they consider their position and holiness as partakers of Christ, they may shrink with readier horror from any fellowship with the way of darkness.
Does this command still reach someone who has never bowed to a statue? One writer answers, and defines an idol by what it does in the heart:
It has been asked whether "flee from idolatry" applies to us now. It certainly does; the last warning in 1 John 5:21 is "Keep yourselves from idols." An idol is anything that takes the place of God in the heart... It is because He loves us so much that the Lord is jealous; He cannot bear to see our hearts divided. We share in the Lord's table all through the week; the Supper on the Lord's day is its outward expression. It means we are identified with all the value of Christ's sacrifice before God, and we should refuse everything that is not according to Him.
- Therefore. This command closes a warning. Those who think they stand can fall, and flight is the escape God provides.
- Flee. We do not manage idolatry at a safe distance; we run from it. The devil is the one enemy Scripture tells us to resist instead.
- Demons. The idol itself is nothing. But demons stand behind it, so even seeming to share in false worship is real fellowship with darkness.
- Refuge. Safety is positive, not just negative. Real escape from idolatry's power comes through serving the living God and sharing in Christ.
- Heart. Anything that takes God's place in your heart is an idol. He is jealous because He loves you too much to share your heart.