We usually think about temptation as something that comes toward us. We know what it is to feel the pull toward something we should not do. We understand the private battle between what our desires want and what Jesus calls us to choose. We pray for strength, guard our hearts, and look for ways to escape the temptations placed before us.
But Jesus asks us to consider a more unsettling possibility: What if the temptation confronting someone else is coming through us?
“And he said to his disciples, ‘Temptations to sin are sure to come, but woe to the one through whom they come! It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin.’” (Luke 17:1–2 ESV).
Jesus acknowledges that temptations are sure to come. We live in a world where people will be enticed to sin. But the certainty that temptations will come does not excuse the person who brings them.
The words “through whom they come” force us to look beyond the temptations we resist and examine the influence we exert. Each person will answer for his or her own choices, but that does not remove our responsibility when our words, actions, invitations, pressure, or example help move someone toward sin. We cannot simply say, “They made their own decision,” as though that automatically leaves our hands clean.
They may have made the decision, but did we make the decision easier?
Sometimes this is obvious. We may encourage someone to lie, participate in sexual sin, become intoxicated, cheat someone, forsake a responsibility, or join us in something we know is wrong.
But the temptation we place before another person is not always that direct. We may laugh at someone for trying to maintain a godly boundary. We may treat another person’s tender conscience as foolishness. We may pull someone into gossip by sharing just enough information to encourage them to ask for more. We may ask an employee to hide something, adjust something, or remain silent because the truth would cost us. We may use affection, friendship, authority, or fear of rejection to make saying no unusually difficult.
We may even use the language of grace to quiet someone else’s conviction. We may say, “It is not that serious,” “Everyone does it,” “You are being too strict,” or “God knows your heart.”
Those words may sound reassuring, but if we use them to move someone past a conscience that is warning them and toward conduct that dishonors Jesus, we are not helping them understand grace. We are helping them silence conviction.
This warning does not mean that every disagreement over conscience makes one person a stumbling block. Neither does it give us permission to turn our personal preferences into divine law. But if we use our influence to push someone toward what is sinful or to act against a conscience they are trying to keep clean before Christ, we should not call that love.
Paul warned Christians not to use their freedom in a way that encouraged a weaker believer to violate his conscience:
“Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.” (1 Corinthians 8:12 ESV).
When we knowingly wound the conscience of a brother or sister and encourage that person toward sin, we are not merely doing something harmful to them. We are sinning against Christ.
That helps us hear the severity of Jesus’ warning. He describes a terrifying death and says it would be better than facing the consequences of causing one of His little ones to sin. We should not rush past that language, soften it until it becomes comfortable, or explain it in a way that removes its force.
The severity of the warning also reveals how precious His little ones are to Him. What we might dismiss as a joke, an invitation, a private compromise, or harmless pressure may be something Jesus sees as a snare placed in front of someone He loves.
This does not mean we are responsible for every sinful choice another person makes. Jesus is not removing their accountability.
He is adding ours.
We answer for what we deliberately place in another person’s path. We answer when we make disobedience appear harmless, righteousness appear foolish, or compromise appear necessary to keep our friendship, approval, affection, or favor.
That should cause us to examine more than our words. Our example can become a temptation too.
What are younger Christians and our children learning from the difference between what we say publicly and what we practice privately?
What do our friends learn about holiness from what makes us laugh?
What do coworkers learn about honesty from what we ask them to conceal?
What does someone struggling with an old sin learn from the places we invite them to go, the images we send them, or the conversations we begin?
If we recognize that we have been a stumbling block, repentance may require more than privately deciding to stop. We may need to return to someone and say, “I encouraged you toward something that was wrong. I sinned against you, and I sinned against Christ. Please do not follow my example.”
We may need to withdraw an invitation, change a relationship boundary, correct something we normalized, or help someone step away from a sinful situation we helped create.
Our influence can also move in the other direction. The opposite of placing a stumbling block in someone’s path is helping that person stand. We can make obedience more courageous, holiness more desirable, confession safer, and faithfulness less lonely. We can become people through whom encouragement comes.
The gracious Savior and the warning King are not two different versions of Jesus. They are the same Lord. The One who welcomes sinners also warns His disciples that leading His little ones into sin brings His judgment. The fact that He warns us now is mercy, but His mercy does not make the judgment imaginary. We honor His grace when we listen to His warning, repent, and change what we are placing in the paths of others.
As you sit with this teaching today, consider: Is there anyone whose obedience to Jesus you have made more difficult? Have you used your words, example, friendship, authority, or affection to move someone closer to compromise? What do you need to remove, confess, or correct so you can become an encouragement rather than a stumbling block?
If you are willing, share your reflections or questions in the comments so we can learn and walk this journey together.
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