📖 Biblical Definition
Trials are God-permitted testings of the believer’s faith, intended to refine and prove what is genuine. They are not to be confused with sin’s own enticements — which Scripture sharply distinguishes: "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: but every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed" (James 1:13-14). Peter calls trials a fiery refining: "that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth" (1 Peter 1:7). James commands believers to count them all joy (James 1:2); Paul says they produce patience, character, and hope (Romans 5:3-4). Welcome the test.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
TRI'AL, n.
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1. Any effort or attempt to ascertain the goodness, fitness, strength, or other quality of a thing. 2. Examination by a test; experiment. 3. In scripture, the proving of the faith of the saints by suffering, persecution, or affliction.
📖 Key Scripture
James 1:2 — "Count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations."
1 Peter 1:7 — "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold... might be found unto praise and honour."
Romans 5:3 — "Tribulation worketh patience."
1 Peter 4:12 — "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Prosperity preachers tell believers to rebuke trials; Peter tells them not to find trials strange.
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1 Peter 4:12 is one of the verses prosperity preachers cannot accommodate: think it not strange concerning the fiery trial. Trials are not interruptions in the Christian life; they are part of it. The fire is normal, expected, and refining. The believer who treats every difficulty as an attack to be canceled by faith-claims is mis-reading his own Bible.
James adds the harder word: count it all joy. Not because the trial is pleasant, but because it is producing something. Faith tested is faith proven. Gold becomes purer in the furnace. The believer becomes patient, then mature, then hopeful. Romans 5:3-5 walks the chain forward. Trial is the gymnasium God uses to grow saints. Walk into the gym; do not picket the door.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek peirasmos (G3986); Hebrew nasah (H5254).
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G3986 — peirasmos — trial, testing, temptation
G1382 — dokimion — proof; testing
H5254 — nasah — to test, prove, try
Usage
"Trials are not interruptions in the Christian life; they are part of it."
"Prosperity preachers cannot accommodate 1 Peter 4:12; the verse simply rules them out."
"Walk into the gymnasium of the Lord; do not picket the door."