Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae

Objection 1: It would seem that to tempt is not proper to the devil. For God is said to tempt, according to Gn. 22:1, "God tempted Abraham." Moreover man is tempted by the flesh and the world. Again, man is said to tempt God, and to tempt man. Therefore it is not proper to the devil to tempt.

Objection 2: Further, to tempt is a sign of ignorance. But the demons know what happens among men. Therefore the demons do not tempt.

Objection 3: Further, temptation is the road to sin. Now sin dwells in the will. Since therefore the demons cannot change man's will, as appears from what has been said above (Question 111, Article 2), it seems that it is not in their province to tempt.

On the contrary, It is written (1 Thess. 3:5): "Lest perhaps he that tempteth should have tempted you": to which the gloss adds, "that is, the devil, whose office it is to tempt."

I answer that, To tempt is, properly speaking, to make trial of something. Now we make trial of something in order to know something about it: hence the immediate end of every tempter is knowledge. But sometimes another end, either good or bad, is sought to be acquired through that knowledge; a good end, when, for instance, one desires to know of someone, what sort of a man he is as to knowledge, or virtue, with a view to his promotion; a bad end, when that knowledge is sought with the purpose of deceiving or ruining him.

From this we can gather how various beings are said to tempt in various ways. For man is said to tempt, sometimes indeed merely for the sake of knowing something; and for this reason it is a sin to tempt God; for man, being uncertain as it were, presumes to make an experiment of God's power. Sometimes too he tempts in order to help, sometimes in order to hurt. The devil, however, always tempts in order to hurt by urging man into sin. In this sense it is said to be his proper office to tempt: for thought at times man tempts thus, he does this as minister of the devil. God is said to tempt that He may know, in the same sense as that is said to know which makes others to know. Hence it is written (Dt. 13:3): "The Lord your God trieth you, that it may appear whether you love him."

The flesh and the world are said to tempt as the instruments or matter of temptations; inasmuch as one can know what sort of man someone is, according as he follows or resists the desires of the flesh, and according as he despises worldly advantages and adversity: of which things the devil also makes use in tempting.

Thus the reply to the first objection is clear.

Reply to Objection 2: The demons know what happens outwardly among men; but the inward disposition of man God alone knows, Who is the "weigher of spirits" (Prov. 16:2). It is this disposition that makes man more prone to one vice than to another: hence the devil tempts, in order to explore this inward disposition of man, so that he may tempt him to that vice to which he is most prone.

Reply to Objection 3: Although a demon cannot change the will, yet, as stated above (Question 111, Article 3), he can change the inferior powers of man, in a certain degree: by which powers, though the will cannot be forced, it can nevertheless be inclined.

Articulus 2

Argumentum 1

Ad secundum sic proceditur. Videtur quod tentare non sit proprium diaboli. Dicitur enim deus tentare; secundum illud Gen. XXII, tentavit deus Abraham.

Tentat etiam caro, et mundus. Et etiam homo dicitur tentare deum, et hominem. Ergo non est proprium Daemonis tentare.

Argumentum 2

Praeterea, tentare est ignorantis. Sed Daemones sciunt quid circa homines agatur. Ergo Daemones non tentant.

Argumentum 3

Praeterea, tentatio est via in peccatum. Peccatum autem in voluntate consistit. Cum ergo Daemones non possint voluntatem hominis immutare, ut per supra dicta patet; videtur quod ad eos non pertineat tentare.

Sed Contra

Sed contra est quod dicitur I ad thessal. III, ne forte tentaverit vos is qui tentat; Glossa, idest diabolus, cuius officium est tentare.

Corpus

Respondeo dicendum quod tentare est proprie experimentum sumere de aliquo. Experimentum autem sumitur de aliquo, ut sciatur aliquid circa ipsum, et ideo proximus finis cuiuslibet tentantis est scientia. Sed quandoque ulterius ex scientia quaeritur aliquis alius finis, vel bonus vel malus, bonus quidem, sicut cum aliquis vult scire qualis aliquis sit, vel quantum ad scientiam vel quantum ad virtutem, ut eum promoveat; malus autem, quando hoc scire vult, ut eum decipiat vel subvertat. Et per hunc modum potest accipi quomodo tentare diversis diversimode attribuatur.

Homo enim tentare dicitur, quandoque quidem ut sciat tantum, et propter hoc, tentare deum dicitur esse peccatum; quia homo, quasi incertus, experiri praesumit dei virtutem. Quandoque vero tentat ut iuvet, quandoque vero, ut noceat. Diabolus autem semper tentat ut noceat, in peccatum praecipitando. Et secundum hoc, dicitur proprium officium eius tentare, nam etsi homo aliquando sic tentet, hoc agit inquantum est minister diaboli. Deus autem tentare dicitur ut sciat, eo modo loquendi quo dicitur scire quod facit alios scire.

Unde dicitur Deut. XII, tentat vos dominus deus vester, ut palam fiat utrum diligatis eum.

Caro autem et mundus dicuntur tentare instrumentaliter, seu materialiter, inquantum scilicet potest cognosci qualis sit homo, ex hoc quod sequitur vel repugnat concupiscentiis carnis, et ex hoc quod contemnit prospera mundi et adversa; quibus etiam diabolus utitur ad tentandum.

Ad 1

Et sic patet solutio ad primum.

Ad 2

Ad secundum dicendum quod Daemones sciunt ea quae exterius aguntur circa homines, sed interiorem hominis conditionem solus deus novit, qui est spirituum ponderator, ex qua aliqui sunt magis proni ad unum vitium quam ad aliud. Et ideo diabolus tentat explorando interiorem conditionem hominis, ut de illo vitio tentet, ad quod homo magis pronus est.

Ad 3

Ad tertium dicendum quod Daemon, etsi non possit immutare voluntatem, potest tamen, ut supra dictum est, aliqualiter immutare inferiores hominis vires; ex quibus etsi non cogitur voluntas, tamen inclinatur.