1 Corinthians 10:13
The saying isn’t in the Bible. This is the verse people are thinking of.
No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
What’s happening here
Paul has just recounted Israel’s failures in the wilderness as a warning to the Corinthians: don’t assume you’re safe. Then verse 13: no temptation has taken you but what is common to humanity, and God won’t allow you to be tempted beyond your ability, but will provide the way of escape. The subject is temptation, the pull toward doing wrong. The promise is that you will never be in a situation where sin is the only option. It is not a promise about the size of your burdens. Paul himself says in 2 Corinthians 1:8 that he was burdened beyond his strength, so that he despaired even of life.
How it gets misread
Reworded as a guarantee that suffering is capped at what you can bear. Paul says the opposite about suffering elsewhere, and this verse isn’t about suffering at all.
How to use it
Use it for someone facing a specific temptation: an addiction, an affair, dishonesty at work. For someone crushed by circumstances, reach for Psalm 34:18 or 2 Corinthians 1:8–9 instead, which are honest that the weight can exceed us.
Go deeper
Read it with its neighbors
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