Temptation or Trial?

A friend of mine emailed me asking for my interpretation of 1 Corinthians 10:13 in reference to my statement that I believe the line, "God will not give you more than you can handle" is wrong and unbiblical. I LOVE that she asked me this and LOVE it when iron sharpens iron. Here is my interpretation based on the studies I have done...

Honestly, I think this verse is where the "God is not going to give you more than you can handle" line originally came from.

When you look at the context of this verse by the writer (Paul) and the audience (Corinthians) and the purpose of this part of the letter (in order to dissuade the Corinthians from communion with idolaters, and security in any sinful course, (Paul) sets before them the example of the Jews, the church under the Old Testament - Matthew Henry Commentary) - Paul is telling them that they have privileges now that they have been delivered from Egypt, but is warning them NOT to behave like the examples they have seen. He carried on in the chapter with admonitions and warnings of what not to do and showing the consequence of lusting after evil things.

And then, he goes into 10:13, "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."

The Greek word "temptation" used in this verse three times is Peirasmos (or a form of), but is often non-biblically quoted or mis-interpreted as the word "trial". When I looked up this verse in 18 different translations, including all the major ones, not once is this word ever used as "trial", though the New Revised Standard uses it as "testing".

According to the Strong's Concordance, this word peirasmos is defined as: "to try or test one's faith, virtue, character, by enticement to sin".

As well as: "the trial of man's fidelity, integrity, virtue, constancy: 1) an enticement to sin, temptation, whether arising from the desires or from the outward circumstances and 2) an internal temptation to sin"

I think this verse is used as comfort - that even though temptations will come (because let's face it, sin is fun), that God gives us the strength to endure and stand firm against that temptation when we CHOOSE to trust in Him. When we choose to rely on God, rather than ourselves, God will allow us to bear that temptation (the desire to sin) and to overcome it.

The best way I can describe my position on this verse is through someone suffering an addiction.

I believe this verse could potentially encourage that person that the struggle (temptation) they are going through is common to man, but that God is faithful and if they trust in God and use HIS strength, He will see them through this addiction, through this temptation and through the consequences they have imposed on themselves. God will show them how to overcome this addiction if they CHOOSE to trust in Him.

While I am certainly no Greek scholar, given the context and the word choice of "temptation" in the top 17 translations, this is how I understand this verse! =)