Dear Editor,
Sadly, Dr Curl’s response (August en) to my letter (June en) reveals a common mistake.
There is certainly an external facet to temptation, but that is not in view in James 1. Each person is tempted, James says, ‘when he is lured and enticed’ not by an external trigger, but specifically ‘by his own evil desire’. The two verbs are hunting/fishing metaphors: to ‘draw out with a lure’ and to ‘catch with a bait’. We do not all have the same ‘internal velcro’ (as a contemporary theologian has put it), so Satan makes sure the bait is directed to the personal desires that arise from our indwelling sin.
John Owen knew more about the theology of sin than most, and this was his view: indwelling sin is ‘the greatest spring and source of temptations’. Those who describe themselves as ‘same-sex attracted’ (‘SSA’) tend to focus on the unwantedness of the experience rather than the indwelling sin that generates it. Owen (and Scripture) would tell them to put their desires to death (Rom. 8:13, Gal. 5:24, Col. 3:5, etc.), just as we should strive to do with any other indwelling sin. Unfortunately, too many ‘SSA’ brothers and sisters seem to assume this is impossible.
Dr Lloyd-Jones, in his book The Sons of God: Romans 8:5–17, condemned such defeatist attitudes: ‘For a Christian to say “I cannot [mortify sin]” is to deny the Scripture. A man who has the Holy Spirit residing in him must never utter such an expression; it is a denial of the truth concerning himself.’ Dr Curl’s remark about ‘being open to the Spirit’ changing desires is thus very weak; the Bible enjoins us actively to pursue holiness. To be both Biblically faithful and loving, we should urge ‘SSA’ Christians to put their ‘attractions’ to death in the Spirit’s power. If we encourage Christians to make peace with a particular variety of indwelling sin, the evangelical church is on a dangerous pathway, as the Presbyterian Church in America has recently recognised, according to a blog on www.reformation21.org.
Yours sincerely,
Colin Reeves Rugby
