Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
13 Let no man, when he is tempted. Here, no doubt, he speaks of another kind of temptation. It is abundantly evident that the external temptations, hitherto mentioned, are sent to us by God. In this way God tempted Abraham, (Genesis 22:1,) and daily tempts us, that is, he tries us as to what are we by laying before us an occasion by which our hearts are made known.
God cannot be the source of sin, whether in your afflictions or in the rod's stroke upon you. The fault is entirely yours, not His. There is nothing in God's nature, no lack of wisdom, power, or holiness, that could tempt Him to evil, and therefore He cannot tempt any man. The carnal mind loves to shift blame onto God, but that is hereditary dishonesty from Adam onward.
AI summary
Commenting on James 1:13-18
Let no man say when he is tempted,.... Here the apostle uses the word "tempted", in another sense than he did before. Before he speaks of temptations, as matter of joy and boasting, here of temptations, which are criminal, and issue in shame and death; the temptations he before makes mention of, being patiently endured, denominate men happy, but here such are designed, which are...