James 1:13 says: “God tempts no one.” That is a general universal claim: it attributes no temptation to God at all, without limiting the statement to certain kinds of people or certain conditions of vulnerability. It does not say “God tempts no one who could possibly fall,” nor does it qualify the claim by distinguishing between those who are able or unable to sin.
It just means God would not tempt even Jesus supposing Jesus had no inner faculties to sin and could only feel emotional enticement to sin.
The Church says that Jesus was God and. The New Testament implies that Jesus
consented to the kind of life he would have before he became man and/or started
his ministry. Hebrews 10:7 “Here I am, I have come to do your will” - quoting
Psalm 40:7–8.
This implies his temptations were set up. Walking knowingly into temptation is
seen as a sin even if you have no inner inclination to be evil - but just feel
the external pressure to sin as Jesus supposedly did. The reason is that
courting temptation is itself evil – it is about the principle not any
consequences.
The Gospel accounts (e.g., in Gospel of Matthew and Gospel of Luke) show Jesus
being led into temptation, while texts like Epistle of James insist God does not
tempt anyone, creating a real tension. Traditional Christian theology resolves
this by distinguishing between God permitting or testing Jesus and Satan
tempting.
If God tests a man who emotionally or physically will not have sex, by offering
an extremely attractive partner that is not a test. It is a joke. It does not
matter what the man feels. So Jesus was not tested.
Notably Jesus’ temptations by Satan were strange and implausible. He was invited
to turn stones into bread but he had evidently food with him or was already
doing that – if he could. Then he was asked to jump from the Temple in public. A
smart Satan would have let him decide how best to show off instead of limiting
to one idea. And then there was the promise that Jesus could have all the
kingdoms if he would worship Satan. There were no temptations to live 500 years,
no sexual temptations and nothing about benefiting his loved ones. Arguably, the
tradition is a confused story from people who held that Jesus did not claim any
supernatural abilities and opposed the very idea. He was centred on God not
wonders.
While it is said that God let Satan make his own decisions about trying to lure
Jesus into sin and this is not a set up it in fact is. A looser set up is still
a set up. And God was luring Satan into sin by letting him face Jesus - and thus
invoking the desire and will to try and get him to do evil.
The theology says that Jesus, though truly tempted externally, lacks any
internal pull toward sin. If God is sovereign, if God is creator of all and
ruler of all, Satan’s role can seem instrumental, so the tension isn’t fully
removed. We have found it is indeed the case that efforts to absolve God and
Jesus of sin backfire – the solutions end up accusing them of sin.
Christians would probably admit that they only have hints as to how Jesus could
be really tempted and relevant to us who are supposedly tempted creatures. That
is not good enough. They end up not knowing for sure if they make sense or not –
at such a foundational level that is not acceptable.