4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,
“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God
and him only shall you serve.’”
11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
Section Overview
With the temptation of Jesus, we step outside the normal framework of history. No mere mortal witnessed the event. Still, the episode coheres perfectly with Matthew’s narrative, which always assumes that Jesus is a real man and hence susceptible to weakness, need, and temptation. When he goes without sleep, he gets tired (Matt. 8:24); when without food, hungry (4:2); when without water, thirsty (John 19:28). Having fasted, he longs to eat. The Spirit leads Jesus into the wilderness “to be tempted by the devil” (Matt. 4:1), and the Tempter genuinely tests him, beginning with food.
Section Outline
II. The Preparation and Early Ministry in Galilee (3:1–4:25) . . .
B. The Temptation of Jesus (4:1–11)
The baptism of Jesus leads to his temptation, which includes three elements. In each case the Devil invites Jesus to take something that seems good: food when Jesus is hungry (4:2–3), assurance of the Father’s care (vv. 5–6), and possession of the kingdoms of the world (vv. 8–9). On each occasion Jesus refuses, citing Scripture as he does so. It is not certain that much should be made of the order of the temptations, since Luke arranges them differently. But the second temptation advances from the first in one way: it begins with Satan’s quoting Scripture (v. 6), as he thereby attempts to use Jesus’ methods against him. The third temptation ends decisively. After Jesus resists Satan again, Jesus commands, “Be gone”—and he goes (vv. 10–11).
Response
Matthew 4:1–11 calls forth several responses. First, like many passages, the temptation shows the moral beauty of Christ. It also shows the beauty of his wisdom, knowledge, and devotion to God and his Word. Each of these elicits faith and love and stirs us to follow him.
The temptations are instructive in many ways. Notice first that the movement from the Spirit’s empowerment in 3:16 to the temptations of 4:1–11 is logical, for in the world of mankind, every gift brings temptation. The gift of beauty tempts to vanity; the gift of strength tempts to domination. The gift of intellect tempts to manipulation; the gift of wealth tempts to indulgence. The gift of humor tempts to mockery. Every gift brings temptation. The gift equips the recipient to serve others but tempts him to please himself.
This is the progression: gifting, then temptation, then ministry. The gift gives the strength; the temptation probes its direction.70 Testing reveals character (James 1:2–4), even for Jesus. For that reason, the Spirit leads the Son into his tests. He proves himself by resisting sin, and then his ministry begins. Because resistance to temptation qualifies the gifted for service, disciples must take it seriously. Western culture does the opposite. Temptation is a joke, a cartoon character whispering wickedness into someone’s ear. Or it is Oscar Wilde, laughing, “I can resist anything but temptation.” Or temptation is imagined as a direct call to mischief—beer for an alcoholic. But temptation normally comes in forty shades of gray, not flaming red. Temptations offer something intrinsically good: food, wealth, sex, security, power, even knowledge. Temptation offers good or beneficial things but proposes them at the wrong time, when the one tempted has no right (at the moment, at least) to it. The sin lies in taking a good thing in the wrong way. Sexual sin is a case in point. Sex is intrinsically good. Adultery is sex with the wrong person (another’s spouse) or at the wrong time (before marriage vows). Similarly, power is good, but it tempts leaders to shift from guidance to control or domination.
Jesus’ temptations represent the fundamental types of enticement to sin. The first is the pleasures of eye and flesh. The second is the desire to know as God knows. The third is the desire for power. The triad of physical pleasure, knowledge, and power correspond to several faculties: the senses, the mind, and the will. The test of Jesus’ will includes both the desire for power and the test of allegiance.
Jesus’ first temptation shows that it can also be sinful to take food. It is wrong to steal food or play the glutton.71 But food is tempting because it is desirable and meets a need. There must be an attraction, or temptation cannot truly occur. No one can be tempted to eat gravel or spiders. Either this held for Jesus too or he never genuinely faced temptation. But Scripture says that Christ “in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15).
The next temptation is mental: the desire for knowledge. Since knowledge and expertise bring employment and power in the West, readers may doubt that the desire to know can be sinful. The sinful desire to know—now, by any means—is easily overlooked. But there is an evil desire to know. Morbid curiosity drives a thirst to know another’s secrets. There is even a malign desire to know God’s secrets, for he is his own counselor (Deut. 29:29; Job 38–42). Limited knowledge fits humanity; perfect knowledge fits God. Someone once said, “All decisions are made on insufficient evidence.” When facing decisions, men gather evidence and seek wisdom, then entrust their decisions to God (cf. 1 Pet. 2:23), who knows as we do not. Disciples do not always need to know—even Jesus chose to trust the Father when he did not know everything about his immediate future (Matt. 26:37–42). As Paul says, “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Cor. 5:7). Students, pastors, and sundry professionals can exhibit an acute desire to know, seeking the prestige born of expertise, insight, and wisdom.
Human knowledge is necessarily partial (1 Cor. 13:12). The faithful disciple accepts this and lives by faith rather than by sight (2 Cor. 5:7). Kierkegaard remarked that life is lived forward but understood backward. Humans must act before they know everything. In his humanity, Jesus practiced this. When he declined to turn stones to bread, he did not necessarily know when his fast might end. The desire for knowledge becomes sinful if it creates anger over normal creaturely ignorance, if it broods over catastrophes allegedly caused by ignorance, if it makes us say “I must know” or spurs an illicit quest for knowledge.
Jesus failed no test. He never seized food selfishly, never grasped at knowledge, never heeded Satan’s voice. He passed the tests humans fail. His success qualifies him to be our Redeemer, and his methods—trust in the Father, self-denial, and right application of Scripture—qualify him to be our Teacher.