Q&A: God Tempting Man?

Question

Didn't God tempt Adam and Eve by setting the forbidden tree in the midst of the garden and telling them not to partake of its fruit?

Answer

Putting the tree within man's reach was not act of "temptation," at least not in the usual sense of the word. We usually speak of "tempting" as "enticing, luring, seducing, provoking, or attempting to coerce to do wrong, generally with a supposed reward or benefit as the bait." God did just the opposite. He commanded man not to eat of the tree, and he warned that eating from it would bring harm, not good. Certainly God's actions might be considered a "test," but not a temptation.