‘Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no man.'
There is a play on the meaning of temptation here. James has been speaking about testings and trials, and he may well have heard some blame them on God. And he has indeed made clear that that is partly true, for God allows His people to be tested for their good. But Now he wants to make clear that while God may test men He does not subject them to temptation to sin. Where temptation to sin occurs it is not God Who is doing it.
One reason why that is so is because sin is foreign to God as He is by nature. Thus He cannot be tempted with evil. He is above and beyond it as ‘the Holy One'. Thus temptation to sin would be outside the sphere of His holiness. It is something which He could not conceivably do. But that then brings out another remarkable fact, and that is that in becoming man in Jesus God did subject Himself to temptation. ‘He was tempted in all points as we are, and yet without sin' (Hebrews 4:15, compare also James 2:18). But that does not apply to God as Creator and Sustainer of the Universe.
‘And He Himself tempts no man.' James categorically denies that God tempts men. It would be foreign to what He is. Thus we can never seek to blame our sinfulness on God. It is all of man. Jewish tradition concurs with this conclusion, ‘Do not say, “it is through the Lord that I fell away -- it is He Who caused me to err” (Sir 15:11-12). For if someone did they would be putting the blame in the wrong place.