2300. Temptation of God.—Temptation of God is a word or deed that puts God to the test to discover whether He possesses or will exercise some perfection.
(a) It is a word or deed, such as a prayer whose purpose is to discover whether God is possessed of knowledge, power or goodness, or an act of defiance performed in order to prove that there is no God.
(b) It puts God to the test, that is, the temptation is not seductive (since it is impossible to influence God to sin), but experimental. He who tempts God desires that God give some proof of His attributes.
(c) It is concerned with God, hence there is no temptation of God if one legitimately tests out the character of a human being. God Himself tempted by trial holy men like Abraham, Job, and Tobias in order that their virtue might be manifested and an example given to others. And of spirits St. John says: “Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits if they be of God, because many false prophets are gone out into the world” (I John, iv. 1).
(d) The purpose is to discover, without regard to the ordinary means of instruction and guidance appointed by God, whether God possesses or will exercise an attribute; that is, temptation of God is due to unbelief or to presumption.
2301. Cases Wherein There Is no Temptation of God.—(a) To seek a proof of divine perfections is not temptation of God, if the purpose is only to find new reasons for what one already accepts, or to experience in an affective way what one already admits speculatively. Hence, a theologian may study the attributes of God with a view to further illumination; hence also, one may prove the sweetness of God or the goodness of His will from the spiritual taste or relish for divine things (Psalm xxxiii. 9; Rom., xii. 2).
(b) To seek a sign of God’s will or a manifestation of His perfections is not temptation of God, if this is done, not from curiosity, ostentation or other vain motive, but from some reason of necessity or great utility, as when Gedeon prayed for a sign that the Lord had spoken to him or was with him (Judges, vi. 17, 37), or when Elias called on Jehovah to show His power before the worshippers of Baal (III Kings, xviii. 37). Hence, he does not tempt God who, when ordinary means of direction fail him in some critical affair, asks humbly for a sign of God’s will; or who in a matter of great moment asks for miraculous help if it be pleasing to God to grant it; or who exposes himself to serious danger for some priceless good that cannot otherwise be had, in the trust that God will be with him.
2302. Kinds of Temptation of God.—(a) In relation to its source, temptation of God arises either from unbelief or from presumption. The former, which is temptation of God in the strict sense, exists when one disbelieves or doubts some attribute of God and seeks to put it to the proof, as when the Israelites in the desert called into question the providence and power of Jehovah (Exod., xvii. 7, Psalm lxxvii. 18, 19), or when a person doubting the Real Presence asks for a miraculous sight of Christ in the Eucharist. The latter sin, which is temptation of God in the wide sense, is committed when a believing person asks without a just cause for a miraculous manifestation of God’s will, or powers, or of some other thing, as when a lazy man asks that his work be done in some miraculous way, or a rash man neglects the ordinary care of his health, asking that God supply for his carelessness. But temptation of God is not to be identified with the theological sin of presumption (see 1081).
(b) In relation to its manner, temptation of God is either express or interpretative. It is express when one intends by one’s word or act to put God to the proof in respect to knowledge, power, reliability, or other perfection (as when the Jews demanded that Christ come down from the Cross, if He were the Son of God) or to satisfy a vain curiosity or boldness (as when Herod asked Christ to work some miracles for his amusement). Temptation of God is interpretative when one does not intend to discover God’s perfections or make presumptuous requests, but nevertheless so acts or omits to act that one’s conduct is useful for nothing except temptation of God, as when a believer rashly promises a miracle to convince an unbeliever, a sick man refuses to use any medical care (Ecclus., xxxviii. 4), a lecturer goes entirely unprepared to his lecture, etc. Prayer made without the proper dispositions is a quasi-temptation of God (Ecclus., xviii. 23), because it is disrespectful and presumptuous; but it is not real temptation of God, nor of its nature mortally sinful, the direct end of the act being laziness or some other state of soul unsuitable to prayer.
2303. Causes that Exclude the Interpretative Temptation of God.—There is no interpretative temptation of God strictly speaking if one acts rashly or encounters danger, but does not at all expect miraculous or special intervention from God. This happens as follows: