Luke 4:1

IV.

(1-13) Being full of the Holy Ghost.—See Notes on Mat_4:1-11. The words used by St. Luke describe the same fact as those used by St. Matthew and St. Mark, and agree with the Spirit given “not by measure” of Joh_3:34

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Ch. Luk_4:1-13. The Temptation

1. being full of the Holy Ghost] Omit ‘being.’ St Luke often calls special attention to the work of the Spirit, Luk_3:22, Luk_4:14; Act_6:3; Act_7:55; Act_11:24. The expression alludes to the outpouring of the Spirit upon Jesus at His baptism, Joh_3:34. The narrative should be compared with Mat_4:1-11; Mar_1:12-13. St John, who narrates mainly what he had himself seen, omits the temptation.

returned] Rather, went away.

was led] A divine impulse led him to face the hour of peril alone. St Mark uses the more intense expression, “immediately the Spirit driveth Him forth.” He only devotes two verses (Mar_1:12-13) to the Temptation, but adds the graphic touch that “He was with the wild beasts” (comp. Psa_91:13), and implies the continuous ministration of angels (diekonoun) to Him.

by the Spirit] Rather, in the Spirit, comp. Luk_2:27. The phrase emphasizes the “full of the Holy Ghost,” and has the same meaning as “in the power of the Spirit,” Luk_4:14,

“Thou Spirit, who ledd’st this glorious eremite

Into the desert, his victorious field

Against the spiritual foe, and brought’st Him thence

By proof the undoubted Son of God.”

Milton, Par. Reg. i.

into the wilderness] Rather, in. He was ‘in the Spirit’ during the whole period. The scene of the temptation is supposed to be the mountain near Jericho, thence called Quarantania. The tradition is not ancient, but the site is very probable, being rocky, bleak, and repellent—

“A pathless desert, dusk with horrid shades.”

Milton.

Scripture everywhere recognises the need of solitude and meditation on the eve of great work for God (Exo_24:2; 1Ki_19:4; Gal_1:17), and this would be necessary to the human nature of our Lord also.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

On the temptation of Jesus, see the notes at Mat 4:1-11.

Luk 4:2

Being forty days tempted - That is, through forty days he was “tried” in various ways by the devil. The temptations, however, which are recorded by Matthew and Luke did not take place until the forty days were finished. See Mat 4:2-3.

He did eat nothing - He was sustained by the power of God during this season of extraordinary fasting.

Luk 4:13

Departed for a season - For a time. From this it appears that our Saviour was “afterward” subjected to temptations by Satan, but no “particular” temptations are recorded after this. From Joh 14:30, it seems that the devil tried or tempted him in the agony in Gethsemane. Compare the notes at Heb 12:4. It is more than probable, also, that Satan did much to excite the Pharisees and Sadducees to endeavor to “entangle him,” and the priests and rulers to oppose him; yet out of all his temptations God delivered him; and so he will make a way to escape for “all” that are tempted, and will not suffer them to be tempted above that which they are able to bear, 1Co 10:13.

Luk 4:14

In the power of the Spirit - By the “influence” or direction of the Spirit.

A fame - A report. See Mat 4:24.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Luk_4:1

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness

The temptation of Christ

How is the temptation of Christ to be understood?

As a history, a parable, a myth, or an undesigned, though not accidental, compound of the three? Let us begin--

1. With what ought to be a self-evident proposition. As Jesus was a moral being, whose nature had to develop under the limitations necessary to humanity, we must conceive Him as a subject of moral probation. He could not escape exposure to its perils. But again--

2. We must here conceive the temptable as the tempted. In the person and life of Jesus there was no seeming, A real humanity cannot escape with a fictitious temptation. Though our narrative may be termed by pre-eminence The Temptation, it was not simply then, but always, that Jesus was tempted. The devil left Him only for a season; returned personified now as Peter, now as Judas, and again as the Jews; met Him amid the solitude and agony of Gethsemane, in the clamour, mockery, and desertion of the cross. But--

3. How could Jesus be tempted in all things, like as we are, yet without sin? Is not temptation evil? We must consider--

I. HOW THE TEMPTED COULD DE THE SINLESS CHRIST. And--

1. What is temptation? Seduction to evil. It stands distinguished from trial thus: trial tests, seeks to discover the mans moral qualities or character; temptation persuades to evil, deludes, that it may ruin. God tries; Satan tempts.

2. The forms of temptation. It may be either sensuous, imaginative, or rational; perhaps it is never so powerful as when its forces approach the mind together, and at once through the senses, the imagination, and the reason.

3. The sources of temptation. It may proceed either

(1) from self, or

(2) from without self.

If the first, the nature must be bad, but not of necessity radically bad; if the second it may be innocent, but must be capable of sinning. If now the temptation comes from without, three things are possible--it may speak either--

1. To still fluid evil desires and make them crystallize into evil action; or--

2. To innocence, and change it into guilt; or--

3. Supply it with the opportunity of rising into holiness. Illustrations: of

(1) Macbeth; of

(2) Hubert, in King John; of

(3) Isabella, in Measure for Measure, the play that so well expounds its own saying--

Tis one thing to be tempted, Esealus,

Another thing to fall.

Isabella, lovely as pure, most womanly in her unconscious strength, stainless among the stained, loving her doomed brother too well to sin for him, triumphs over his tears and entreaties, the wiles and threats of the Deputy, and emerges from her great temptation chaster, more beautiful in the blossom of her perfect womanhood, than she had been before.

4. We are now in a position to consider the temptation of Christ in relation to His sinlessness. Temptation implies

(1) ability in the tempted to sin or not sin. Jesus had, to speak with the schoolmen, the posse non peccare, not the non posse peccare. Had He possessed the latter, He had been intemptable.

(2) Evil must be presented to the tempted in a manner disguised, plausible, attractive.

(3) The tempter must be sinful, the tempted may be innocent. Our discussion conducts, then, to but one conclusion; temptation was not only possible to the sinlessness, but necessary to the holiness, of Christ.

II. THE PLACE WHERE THE TEMPTATION HAPPENED IS NOT WITHOUT SIGNIFICANCE. Into which wilderness Jesus was led we do not know--whether the wild and lonely solitudes watched by the mountains where Moses and Elijah struggled in prayer and conquered in faith, or the steep rock by the side of the Jordan overlooking the Dead Sea, which later tradition has made the arena of this fell conflict. Enough, the place was a desert, waste, barren, shelterless, overhead the hot sun, underfoot the burning sand or blistering rock. No outbranching trees made a cool restful shade; no spring upbursting with a song of gladness came to relieve the thirst; no flowers bloomed, pleasing the eye with colour, and the nostril with fragrance; all was drear desert. Two things may be here noted--the desolation, and the solitude. The desolation must have deepened the shadows on His spirit, increased the burden that made Him almost faint at the opening of His way. And He was in solitude--alone there, without the comfort of a human presence, the fellowship of a kindred soul. Yet the loneliness was a sublime necessity. In His supreme moments society was impossible to Him. Out of loneliness He issued to begin His work; into loneliness tie passed to end it. The moments that made His work Divinest were His own and His Fathers.

III. BUT MUCH MORE SIGNIFICANT THAN THE SCENE OF THE TEMPTATION IS THE PLACE WHERE IT STANDS IN THE HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND MIND OF JESUS. Just after the baptism and before the ministry; just after the long silence and before the brief yet eternal speech; just after the years of privacy, and before the few but glorious months of publicity. We must study the temptation through the consciousness of Jesus. The temptation and the assumption by Jesus of the Messianic character and office are essentially relented. The one supplies the other with the condition and occasion of its existence. When He was driven into the wilderness three points must have stood out from the tumult of thought and feeling preeminent.

1. The relation of the supernatural to the natural in Himself; or, on the other side, His relation to God as His ideal human Son.

2. The relation of God to the supernatural in His person, and the official in His mission; and

3. The nature of the kingdom He had come to found, and the agencies by which it was to live and extend. And these precisely were the issues that emerged in His several temptations. They thus stood rooted in the then consciousness of Christ, and related in the most essential way to His spirit. (A. M.Fairbairn, D. D.)

The temptation of the King

You may expect me to begin with warning you not to think of the temptation as Dante and the men in the Middle Ages thought of it, or as Luther and the men at the time of the Reformation thought of it, or as Milton and the Puritans thought of it. I shall do no such thing. I believe they all thought of it imperfectly; that they impaired the beauty of the clear, sharply-chiselled marble, by colouring born from their own fancy and the fancy of their times. But they have shown with what intense reality this record has come to them in the most terrible moments of their existence. If they have seen it through a mist, it has not created the mist; it has done more than all other lights to dispel the mist. We may learn something from each teacher which the other could not tell us. Their mistakes may warn us of those into which we are likely to fall. If God gives us grace to enter heart and hand into the conflict which He has appointed for us and our time, we shall read this passage of St. Luke more simply than those read it who have gone before us.

1. He was led by the SPIRIT. That is the characteristic of the acts of the Son in all we read from this time onwards. He has been baptized with His Fathers Spirit. He is guided by that Spirit whithersoever He goes. He does not choose for Himself whether He shall be in the city or the wilderness. Here is the secret of His power.

2. The wilderness into which He went, says Renan [Life of Jesus ], was HAUNTED, ACCORDING TO POPULAR BELIEF, BY DEMONS. We surely do not want the authority of a learned man to endorse so very probable a statement. No doubt popular belief filled Jewish deserts, as it fills all deserts, with demons. The curious fact is, that this being the case, the evangelists, who are supposed to have been the victims of all popular beliefs, do not suggest the thought of demons in this desert. They say much of demons elsewhere. That which they speak of here is far more serious and awful.

3. Being forty days tempted of THE DEVIL. The difference is all-important. We are not in the region of dark forms which haunt particular spots. We have been brought into the spiritual region.

4. IN THOSE DAYS HE DID EAT NOTHING, &c.

Another exhaustion of outward circumstances. Hunger may be the tempters instrument quite as much as food. Is there no gospel in the announcement that the anguish of hungry men has been felt by the Son of Man--the King of Men?

5. And the devil said unto Him, IF THOU BE THE SON OF GOD, &c. Now we begin to perceive the principle of the temptation, its real force. A stone may serve as the instrument of solicitation; the natural craving for food may be all that is spoken to; but this is the speech: If Thou be the Son of God. The words at Thy baptism cannot be true, if Thou art not able to exercise this power for the relief of Thy own necessities. He must do something of Himself and for Himself. What is His name worth otherwise?

6. His name is worth this: IT IS WRITTEN, MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, &c., i.e., I claim the words because they are written of man. He can depend upon the Word of God.

7. A KING IDEALLY PERHAPS. But actually is the world His? Is it His Fathers? And the devil taketh Him up into an high mountain, &c. How was He taken to the mountain? Did He see with His eyes or only with His mind? I know these questions occur to us all. They have occurred to me. And I can only find this answer to them: I am reading of a temptation presented by a spirit to a spirit. If Christ saw all those kingdoms with His bodily eye, still it must have been his spirit which took in the prospect. The devil is reported to have said something which seems most plausible. All appearances in that time confirmed his words. The most religious men in times since have thought that he spoke truly. They have said that the kingdoms of this world and all the glory of them are his. I want to know if there is One whom I can trust who declared that they were not his, who would not do him service. I read these word:

8. GET THEE BEHIND ME, SATAN, &c. Did One in human flesh indeed say, Adversary, get thee behind Me. All these things are the Creators, not thine. Then is not this a gospel to us all?

9. AND HE BROUGHT HIM TO JERUSALEM, AND SET HIM ON A PINNACLE OF THE TEMPLE, &c. I need not discuss the question how He was brought to Jerusalem, how He was set on a pinnacle of the temple. I should say the temptation was the most real that could be. He was actually tempted to try whether God would bear Him up, if He cast Himself down. He was actually tempted by a text of Scripture to give that proof of His Sonship and of His Fathers faithfulness. Whatever were His circumstances, that thought was presented to His spirit by the evil spirit. And so we know that He was tempted like as we are. Every man hears, at some time or other, a voice whispering to him, Go out of the place in which you are put. Do something extraordinary. Do something wrong. See whether God will not help you. Can you not depend upon His promise that He will? Is Scripture false? I accept this story. I believe that voice is the voice of the tempter. And therefore I want to know if the argument from Scripture has been answered, and how we may treat that and like arguments.

10. Hear and consider this: AND JESUS ANSWERING, SAID, THOU SHALT NOT TEMPT THE LORD THY GOD. The Son of God once more claims the right to obey a commandment--the right to trust and to depend. Once more He claims that right for us. We may abide where we are placed, for our Father has placed us there. If He were not the Lord our God we might make experiments on that which He would do for us supposing we broke His law. Because He is we may submit to it and rejoice in it.

11. We are told that THE DEVIL DEPARTED FROM HIM FOR A SEASON. Such seasons of rest, of freedom from doubt, of joyful confidence, are, I suppose, vouchsafed to the soldiers of Christ after periods of terrible conflict, as they were to the chief Captain. But the inward battle was to prepare Him, as well as them, for battles in the world. The enemy in the wilderness must be encountered there. (F. D. Maurice, M. A.)

The temptation of Christ

If we would understand this narrative, and profit by it, we must accept it as the record of a spiritual conflict of the most intense severity. The baptism, with its accompanying sign, brings Jesus for the first time under the full burden of His lifes work, as the Messiah. This is the key to the temptation. The question is, How did Jesus Himself understand His Messiahship at the time of the temptation and afterwards? Evidently, in His view, it involved these two things at least--Power, and suffering. Here, in the wilderness, there is opened out to Him, for the first time, in full perspective, the thorny path of suffering, closed by the ignominious death of the cross; and, along with this, the consciousness of power infinitely vaster than was ever wielded by mortal man either before Him or since. The ideal of Messiahship is set before Him; will He shrink from it, or will He embrace it? Will He try to pare it down to something easier and less exacting, or will He accept and embrace it in all its rugged severity; never employing the superhuman power which is involved in it, to smooth His path, to mitigate a single pang, or to diminish by one atom the load of suffering imposed upon Him? Yes; the ideal of Messiahship, the perfect pattern of Messiahship, how to realize it? how to embody it in noble action, and yet more noble suffering?--that is the question of the wilderness; that is the key to the temptation; that has to be debated and resolved upon there, and then pursued, firmly and fixedly, in spite of all the tempters assaults, until He can say upon the cross, It is finished; Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit. (D. J.Vaughan, M. A.)

Temptation assails even the holiest

Temptation does not cease as we rise in She scale of moral elevation. Even Jesus, the highest, the holiest, the Messiah, was tempted; as truly as the vilest drunkard or profligate amongst ourselves is tempted, though in a very different way. Temptation never ceases, but it alters its form. As we rise in the moral scale by victory over it, it rises also, becomes more refined, takes a subtler and (if we may say so)a nobler form; so that to know what a mans temptations are, is to know what the man himself is. We may be known by our wishes, our hopes, our fears; and we may be known also by our temptations. To fall short of the ideal of the Messiahship was the Messiahs temptation. It was sin in its most refined and subtle form of shortcoming, failure, missing the mark. With Him it was no question of transgression; He was far above that; it was missing the ideal, nothing more, nothing worse, a mere trifle, we might think; yet to Jesus Himself this to us seeming trifle was agony. And is there not an ideal for every one of us? Is it not in us to be something, which we are not yet; to fill our place in the world, however small it be, in a higher, better, nobler way than we have yet learned to fill it? (D. J. Vaughan, M. A. )

Lessons from the temptation

I. THE HOLIEST NATURES ARE NOT EXEMPT FROM TEMPTATION.

II. TIMES OF GLADNESS AND SPIRITUAL ELEVATION MAY BE FOLLOWED IMMEDIATELY BY SEASONS OF CONFLICT AND TRIAL.

III. OUR RELATION TO GOD DOES NOT DEPEND UPON THE CHANGES OF OUR SPIRITUAL EXPERIENCES.

IV. SOLITUDE IS NO SAFEGUARD AGAINST TEMPTATION. (Homiletic Magazine.)

Our Saviours temptation

I. The first reflection which this great fact excites in my mind is, that I HAVE A SAVIOUR WHOSE LIFE IS SOUND TO MINE BY SYMPATHY IN TEMPTATION, as well as in sorrow, and all the kind affections of the heart.

Even His holiness did not escape trial. It attained its perfection through trial. The path of human virtue must always lie through many temptations; and even then it is not left without its great Exemplar and Guide. In the desert I have a Companion, and it is my Master. His example could not instruct me how to overcome temptation, unless He also had struggled with it; for the conquest necessarily supposes the struggle. There is no victory without warfare.

II. I am next led to inquire BY WHAT MEANS OUR SAVIOUR TRIUMPHED OVER HIS TEMPTATION, that so I may learn how to triumph also, in the evil time, over the evil one. I find that He triumphed by the power of religious principle, by the force of piety, by bringing the most holy of all holy thoughts, that of obedience to God, in direct opposition to every solicitation of sense, and every suggestion of self-interest. On every side from which He was assailed, this was His ready and sure defence. Then temptation took another shape. Jesus was placed on a pinnacle of the temple, and was urged to cast Himself down, on the specious plea, perverted from Scripture, that God would send angelic aid to His own Son, to prevent His suffering any harm. Thy duty is obedience, and not display. The trials which God appoints, He will give thee His aid to bear, and His grace will be sufficient for thee; but how canst thou look for His aid in trials which thou hast rashly invited, and the issue of which thou hast dared, not for His glory but for thine own? One earnest, trusting, patient thought of God, would have saved many s man from destruction, who once thought himself quite safe, and was thought so, too, by the world, and yet, in the encounter with temptation, has miserably perished. Why was he not safe? Because he placed his safety in himself, and not in God, and only discovered his mistake when it was too late--perhaps not even then, but went down to ruin darkly. Why does not the thought of God come in the straits of temptation? Because it is not a familiar thought; because we do not make God our friend, and admit Him into the daily counsels of our bosom. (F. W. P. Greenwood.)

From heights to depths

From the Jordan of glorification to the wilderness of temptation. This is the way of God; as with Christ, so with the Christian; and moreover--

1. An old, and yet an ever new way.

2. A hard, and yet a good way.

3. A dark, and yet a light way.

4. A lonesome, and yet a blessed way. (J. J. Van Oosterzee, D. D.)

Christ an example in temptation

For, as commentators on Aristotle observe that his rule many times lies hid and is wrapped up in the example which he gives, so we need scarce any other rules for behaviour when we are tempted, than those which we may find in this story of our Saviours combat with our enemy. And our Saviour may seem to bespeak His brethren, even all Christians, as Abimelech doth his soldiers: What you have seen me do, make haste, and do likewise (Jdg_9:48). (A. Farindon, D. D,)

Temptation renders virtue possible

Take away this combat with our spiritual enemy, and virtue is but a bare naked name, is nothing. If there were no possibility of being evil, we could not be good. What were my faith, if there were no doubt to assault it? What were my hope, if there were no scruple to stagger it? What were my charity, if there were no injuries to dull it? Then goodness is fairest when it shines through a cloud; and it is difficulty which sets the crown upon virtues head. Our Saviour was made glorious by His temptations and sufferings; so must we [be] by ours. (A. Farindon, D. D.)

The temptation of Christ in the wilderness

The first thing that strikes us here is that Jesus was not master of His own movements. An unerring voice, which He knew to be from heaven, sent Him into the lonely wilderness--the place where no society or communion could disturb the law of development of t/is character--in order to be tempted in that solitude. He could not have gone thither Himself, aware of the trial before Him, without tempting God. The next thing which arrests our attention and, at first, our wonder, is that He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. What a fearful and solemn glimpse is here given to us of the moral agencies of the universe. Good and evil, infinite good and absolute evil, good and evil in personal substance, with that intense antipathy to one another that souls of the largest grasp and depth must feel, are in restless action around a human soul. And if such parties were concerned in the temptation something of importance must have depended on the result. But in what form, it may be asked, did this tempter place himself in the way of Jesus? Did he keep to his spiritual incorporeal nature, or take a body, and become visible to eyes of flesh? Was the temptation transacted before the mind of Christ, or was its sphere more outward, concerned with bodily phenomena and human language? In the first place, the agency of Satan elsewhere, in the New Testament, is that of a spiritual being, and, so far as I am aware, corporeal form is never ascribed to him. In the second place, suppose the Saviour to be carried to an exceeding high mountain, yet the spherical form of the earth would allow the eye to take in but a very minute portion of the kingdoms of the world and of their glory. We must, then, either dilute the narrative, as many do, by understanding these expressions in a hyperbolical sense of the little tract of country around Palestine, or must resort to a second miracle, in order to conceive of the broad earth spread outward and upward before our Lords eye. What need, then, of the high mountain, and why might not the same sight be obtained without leaving the wilderness? In the third place, it is noteworthy that the narrative makes no mention of the return of Jesus from the temple and from the mountain, just as if, in some sense, He had gone there while He remained in the desert in another. And, in the fourth place, if the temptation was addressed to the bodily senses of the Lord, it loses its insidious character, and becomes easier to be resisted. I am constrained, therefore, to believe that the transaction was a spiritual one, a conflict between light and darkness in the region of the mind, in which a real tempter assailed Christ, not through His eyes and ears, but directly through His feelings, and imagination. After the same manner, the prophets of the Old Testament passed through events in vision, of which they speak as we should speak of realities. Thus Jeremiah must have been in prophetic vision when he took the linen girdle to Euphrates to hide it there and went again in quest of it, as also when he took the cup of wrath from Gods hand and gave it to the nations to drink. So, too, Ezekiel was transported from Chaldea to Jerusalem in that remarkable vision, the narrative of which occupies the chapters of his prophecies from the eighth to the eleventh. Hoses, again, it is commonly believed, narrates only a symbolical vision, where he speaks of himself as marrying an adulteress at the command of God. The martyr Stephen, also full of the Holy Ghost, saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God, not in bodily shape, but in a form presented to the minds eye, and yet expressive of a great reality. If, now, the Scriptures allow us to interpret the events of the temptation in this way, we can see that greater strength is thereby given to the suggestions of Satan than if they had been addressed to the bodily organs. The power over the mind of a highly endowed being through the imagination, may indefinitely exceed that which is exerted through the sight. Multitudes have been seduced by that faculty, which paints absent or distant objects in colours of its own, whom no beauty or pleasantness lying in objects of sight could have led into sin. The world of imagination is more fascinating to their elevated mind than this outward world with all its shows and riches. The phantom, which has something heavenly in it, cheats and betrays them, while they turn aside from the obvious snares of visible things. But we pass on from this point, to a more important and indeed to an essential remark, that the temptations were intended not for Jesus in His nature as a man, but for Jesus in His official station as the Messiah. God was not putting it to the test, whether a certain good man or good prophet would yield to evil or conquer it, but whether Jesus was qualified for His office--whether He would remain true to the spiritual idea of the Messiah, or would fall below it under temptation. Nor was the tempter in this case anxious simply to lead a good man into sin, but he was striking at the root of salvation; his aim was to undermine the principles of the kingdom of heaven. This thought is the key to the story of the temptation. It explains why the temptation occurred when it did, at the commencement of Christs public work, and shows the greatness of the crisis. The question whether Jesus would be made to adopt the worldly idea of the Messiahs kingdom was one of life and death for mankind. And again, had Christ followed the suggestions of the tempter, He could not have taken on Him the work of our salvation. The form of a servant, which He freely assumed, involved subjection to all the physical laws which control our race, and the endurance of all sufferings which the Father should lay upon Him. But if, by His inherent power, He had now relieved His own hunger, He would have escaped from the form of a servant, and even from subjection to the Divine will; and, on the same principle, He never could have been obedient to death--even the death of the cross. But to the sophistry of the tempter Christ had a ready reply. It is written, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, that is, I may not, because entitled to His protection, appeal to it against the laws of His providence, to rescue me from dangers into which I have entered unbidden. As thus viewed, our Lords reply is given in the same spirit with His former one during the first temptation. He subjected Himself freely to physical law, and His Messiahship depended on His self-chosen humiliation. His choice of means, however, for securing His kingdom would in the end amount to a choice between two kingdoms, the one, severely spiritual, introduced by moral and religious forces only, the other becoming worldly by its alliance with the world of outward influence and temporal glory. The instinctive shrinking from harm and difficulty, which belongs to us all, would lead Him to choose the worldly way of doing good, would prejudice His mind in favour of the easier and quicker method. But He held on to His spiritual conception of His office, kept His obedience, and triumphed. Satan approached Christ in the belief that He was capable of taking false views of His office, through which He might be led into sin. Another remark which we desire to make is, that the narrative, as interpreted, shows the subtlety and insinuating character of the temptation. The acts to which Christ was solicited were not sins, so much as misjudgments in regard to the means to be used for gaining the highest and noblest ends. And these misjudgments would consist, not in the use of means plainly and boldly sinful, but of such as involved a departure from the true idea of the Messiahs earthly mission. But it is more important to remark, that the narrative is too refined and too full of a somewhat hidden, but consummate wisdom, to grow out of the imaginings of the early Church. It is no rude picture of assaults which might befall a holy man in solitude, but an intellectual and moral struggle, which put it to the proof whether Christ would be true to the spiritual idea of the Messiah. It involves a conception of the Messiahs kingdom which the early Church did not entertain until some time after the death of our Lord; how then could it be elaborated by crude Galilean disciples of Christ, whose views were full of that earthly mixture which the narrative condemns? (T. D.Woolsey, D. D.)

Christs temptation a help to us

For as He hath taught us both by His word and ensample to prepare ourselves to the battle, and bestir ourselves like those who fight under His colours; so, in the next place, there is a kind of influence and virtue derived from His combat, which falls as oil upon us, to supple our joints, and strengthen our sinews, and make each faculty of our souls active and cheerful in this exercise. (A. Farindon, D. D.)

Full of the Holy Ghost

The back strengthened for the load

It was in the prospect of His temptation that the Lord Jesus received this fulness of the Holy Spirit. This presents a new aspect of the bestowment of the Spirit. He was not only filled with the Holy Ghost, but it was in the very crisis of need He was so anointed. The back will be strengthened for the load, the heart nerved for the blow. I fear we all deplorably fail to realize this, and so impoverish ourselves of the Spirit. It was upon the Lord Jesus being thus filled with the Holy Spirit that He was tempted. Comfort ye, comfort ye, my fellow-believers, from that. It is when a child of God is fullest of grace; when he has been declared to be a son, even a beloved son of God; when he has made a public profession of Christianity, that he is most of all exposed to temptation. (A. B. Grosart, D. D.)

Returned from Jordan

Baptism does not exempt from temptation

The temptation of the Lord having followed His baptism, tells us not to trust to baptism for escape from temptation. (A. B. Grosart, D. D.)

Spiritual favour a time of trial

That our entering upon a special service for God or receiving a special favour from God, are two solemn seasons which Satan makes use of for temptation. Though this may seem strange, yet the harshness of such a providence on Gods part, and the boldness of the attempt on Satans part, may be much taken off by the consideration of the reasons hereof.

1. On Satans part. It is no great wonder to see such an undertaking, when we consider his fury and malice. The more we receive from God, and the more we are to do for Him, the more doth he malign us. So much the more as God is good, by so much is his eye evil.

2. There are in such cases as these several advantages, which, through our weakness and imperfection, we are too apt to give him; and for these he lieth at the catch.

(1) Security. We are apt to grow proud, careless, and confident, after or upon such employments and favours; even as men are apt to sleep or surfeit upon a full meal, or to forget themselves when they are advanced to honour. Enjoyments beget confidence; confidence brings forth carelessness; carelessness makes God withdraw, and gives opportunity to Satan to work unseen. And thus, as armies after victory, growing secure, are oft surprised; so are we oft after our spiritual advancements thrown down.

(2) Discouragement and tergiversation is another thing the devil watcheth for. By his assaults he represents the duty difficult, tedious, dangerous, or impossible, on purpose to discourage us, and to make us fall back.

(3) The fall or miscarriage of the saints at such times is of more than ordinary disadvantage, not only to others--for if they can be prevailed with to lay aside their work, or to neglect the improvement of their favours, others are deprived of the benefit and help that might be expected from them--but also to themselves. A prevailing temptation doth more than ordinarily prejudice them at such times.

3. As we have seen the reason of Satans keenness in taking those opportunities, so may we consider the reasons of Gods permission, which are these:--

(1) Temptations at such seasons are permitted for more eminent trial of the upright.

(2) For an increase of diligence, humility, and watchfulness.

(3) For a plentiful furniture of experience. Temptation is the shop of experience. (R. Gilpin.)

Temptation after privilege

After high favours showed to Gods children, come shrewd pinches, as after warm, growing, comfortable weather in the spring come many cold pinching frosts: what a sudden change is this I Is this He, of whom erewhile the Lord said, This is My Son, and doth He now send, and set his slave upon Him to vex and bait Him? (D. Dyke.)

Temptation after baptism

The history of our Lords temptation ought never to be contemplated apart from that of His baptism. We shall miss much of its significance, if we dissociate it, even in thought, from the solemn recognition of the Son by the Father, the salutation of Him from heaven, and the full consciousness of His Divine nature into which He was thus brought. The Church of old did not shrink from calling her Lords baptism His second nativity. In that baptism He received His heavenly armour, and now He goes forth to prove it, and try of what temper it is. Having been baptized with water and the Holy Ghost, He shall now be baptized with the fire of temptation; even as there is another baptism, the baptism of blood, in store for Him: for the gifts of God are not for the Captain of our salvation, any more than for His followers, the pledge of exemption from a conflict, but rather powers with which He is furnished, and, as it were, inaugurated thereunto. With regard to the temptation: it is quite impossible to exaggerate the importance of the victory then gained by the second Adam, or the bearing which it had, and still has, on the work of our redemption. The entire history, moral and spiritual, of the world revolves around two persons, Adam and Christ. To Adam was given a position to maintain; he did not maintain it, and the lot of the world for ages was decided. All is again at issue. Again we are represented by a Champion, by One who is in the place of all, whose standing shall be the standing of many, and whose fall, if that fall had been conceivable, would have been the fall of many, yea of all. Once already Satan had thought to nip the kingdom of heaven in the bud, and had nearly succeeded. If it had not been for a new and unlooked-for interposition of God, for the promise of the Seed of the woman, he would have done it. He will now prove if he cannot more effectually crush it, and for ever; for, should Christ fail, there was none behind, the last stake would have been played--and lost. (Archbishop Trench.)

Washed and not soiled

Then, when He was washed, did the devil attempt to soil Him. (A. Farindon, D. D.)

Satans malice

His malice is so great that he is never at rest. He watcheth every good thing in its bud, to nip it; in its blossom, to blast it; in its fruit, to spoil it. (A. Farindon, D. D.)

The power of habit to resist temptation

What we are surely possessed of, we can hardly lose. And such a possession, such an inheritance, is true piety, when we are once rooted and built up, and established in it. It is a treasure which no chance can rob us of, no thief take from us. A habit well confirmed is an object the devil is afraid of. Oh, the power of an uninterrupted obedience, of a continued course in the duties of holiness! It is able to puzzle the great sophister, the great god of this world. (A. Farindon, D. D.)

Was led by the Spirit

Led by the Spirit

We are to consider the leader. He was led by the Spirit.

1. That the state of a man regenerate by baptism is not a standing still. We must not only have a mortifying and reviving, but a quickening and stirring spirit (1Co_15:45).

2. As there must be a stirring, so this stirring must not be such, as when a man is left to his own voluntary or natural motion; we must go according as we are led. For having given ourselves to God, we are no longer to be at our own disposition or direction. (Bishop Andrewes.)

The Divine leading a security in temptation

The Children of Israel made no scruple to pitch their tents within the borders of their enemies if the pillar of cloud did remove before them; so wheresoever the grace of God doth carry a man, Gods glory being his undoubted end (without all vain delusions, and carnal reservations) he may be bold to venture. (Bishop Hacket.)

Tempting the Tempter

Have you seen little children dare one another which should go deepest into the mire? But he is more childish that ventures further and further, even to the brim of transgression, and bids the devil catch him if he can. I will but look and like, says the wanton, where the object pleaseth me; I keep company with some licentious persons, says an easy nature, but for no hurt, because I would not offend our friendship. I will but bend my body in the house of Rimmon, when my master bends his, says Naaman; I will but peep in to see the fashion of the mass, holding fast the former profession of my faith. Beloved, I do not like it when a mans conscience takes in these small leaks; it is odds you will fill faster and faster, and sink to the bottom of iniquity. (Bishop Hacket.)

Led by the Divine Spirit

The grounds upon which I will insist are these.

1. We must be led by the Spirit before we can work anything which is good.

2. I will unfold how we are led by initiating or preventing grace, when we arc first made partakers to taste of the hopes of a better life.

3. I will show how we are led by preparatory grace, which goes before the complete act of our regeneration.

4. With what great and mighty power the Spirit doth lead us in converting grace.

5. How we are led by subsequent grace and sanctification, which cooperates and assists us after our conversion. (Bishop Hacket.)

Temptations not to be sought

In that the evangelists do not say that Christ cast Himself upon a temptation, neither did go to undertake it till He was led to it, we note, that whatever may be the advantage of a temptation by the Spirits ordering of it, or what security from danger we may promise to ourselves upon that account, yet must we not run upon temptations; though we must submit when we are fairly led into them. The reasons of this truth are these:--

1. There is so much of the nature of evil in temptations that they are to be avoided if possible.

2. To run upon them would be a dangerous tempting of God; that is, making a bold and presumptuous trial, without call, whether He will put forth His power to rescue us or not. When do men run uncalled and unwarrantably upon temptation?

(1) When men engage themselves in sin and apparent wickedness, in the works of the flesh. For it can never be imagined that the holy God should ever by His Spirit call any to such things as His soul abhors.

(2) When men run upon the visible and apparent occasions and causes of sin. This is like a mans going to the pest-house.

(3) When men unnecessarily, without the conduct either of command or urging an unavoidable providence, do put themselves, though not upon visible and certain opportunities, yet upon dangerous and hazardous occasions and snares.

(4) Those run upon temptation, that adventure apparently beyond their strength, and put themselves upon actions good or harmless, disproportionably to their abilities.

(5) They are also guilty that design an adventure unto the utmost bounds of lawful liberty.

(6) Those also may be reckoned in the number of such as rush upon their danger, who go abroad without their weapons, and forget in the midst of daily dangers the means of preservation. (R. Gilpin.)

Led by the Spirit

The devil was the instrument of the temptation, but God ordained it. (G. S. Barrett.)

The Divine purpose in the temptation

It was the last act of His moral education; it gave Him an insight into all the ways in which His Messianic work could possibly be marred. If, from the very first step in His arduous career, Jesus kept the path marked out for Him by Gods will without deviation, change, or hesitancy, this bold front and steadfast perseverance are certainly due to His experience of the temptation. All the wrong courses possible to Him were thenceforth known; all the rocks had been observed; and it was the enemy himself who had rendered Him this service. It was for this reason that God apparently delivered Him for a brief time into his power. This is just what Matthews narrative expresses so forcibly: He was led up by the Spirit to be tempted. When He left this school, Jesus distinctly understood that, as respects His person, no act of His ministry was to have any tendency to lift it out of His human condition; that, as to His work, it was to be in no way assimilated to the action of the powers of this world; and that, in the employment of Divine power, filial liberty was never to become caprice, not even under a pretext of blind trust in the help of God. And this programme was carried out. His material

wants were supplied by the gifts of charity (Luk_8:3), not by miracles; His mode of life was nothing else than a perpetual humiliation--a prolongation, so to speak, of His Incarnation. When labouring to establish His kingdom, He unhesitatingly refused the aid of human power--as, e.g., when the multitude wished to make Him a King (Joh_6:15); and His ministry assumed the character of an exclusively spiritual conquest, tie abstained, lastly, from every miracle which had not for its immediate design the revelation of moral perfection, that is to say, of the glory of His Father Luk_11:29). These supreme rules of the Messianic activity were all learned in that school of trial through which God caused Him to pass in the desert. (F. Godet,D. D.)

Into the wilderness

The danger of solitude

As a deer that is struck knows by instinct what a danger it is to be single, and therefore will herd himself if he can; so do not separate yourself from the face of men upon temptation, that is the way to betray your soul, but unite your force against the tempter by mixing yourself with good men. (Bishop Hacket.)

Christs a lonely life

But I reduce all to this head. The solitude of the wilderness did best befit Him in this work, because He began, continued, and ended the work of the Mediatorship by Himself, and by no other assistance. (Bishop Hacket.)

Humility

Much better it is to be humble with Christ in a barren desert, than to be proud with Adam in a delicious paradise. (Bishop Hacket.)

Man sociable

God hath made man a sociable creature, if the contagion of the world doth not make him unsociable. (Bishop Hacket.)

Solitude favourable to temptation

Solitude affords a great advantage to Satan in the matter of temptation. This advantage ariseth from solitude two ways:

1. First, As it doth deprive us of help. They can mutually help one another when they fall; they can mutually heat and warm one another; they can also strengthen one anothers hands to prevail against an adversary.

2. Secondly, Solitude increaseth melancholy, fills the soul with dismal apprehensions; and withal doth so spoil and alter the temper of it that it is not only ready to take any disadvantageous impression, but it doth also dispose it to leaven and sour those very considerations that should support, and to put a bad construction on things that never were intended for its hurt. (R. Gilpin.)

Spiritual victory in spite of disadvantage

Here we have an image of the conflicts betwixt Ishmael and Amalek, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. God, to gain the greater glory to Himself, gives all the advantages that may be to the enemies of His Church. How unequal was the combat and contention betwixt Luther a poor monk, and the Pope, and so many legions of his creatures? They had the sword of most magistrates to sway at their pleasure, great power, and great authority, yet Luther took the prey out of their teeth, as poor David overthrew the great Goliath. (D. Dyke.)

Christ in the wilderness

What a contrast between that gracious, noble Form and the scene in which it is set! The Bible delights in contrasts. On Calvary, e.g., it shows us the cross, and One hanging on it, the very incarnation of beauty and patient love and gentleness--the perfect Man, the perfect God--and there all around Him surge the angry crowds full of hale and wickedness and every corruption. So here we behold that same Holy Being standing in the midst of the picture of desolation--oh, how desolate that desert even in the light of the noonday!--how much more desolate at night, when the imagination filled it with its own fears and mysteries and terrors! But more horrid than the darkness, more terrible than wild beasts, than any earthly terror, is the dark presence of Satan. There they stand alone together, the Son of God and the spirit of evil; and we know that they are to be the figures in some great transaction. What was the mighty event? It was the greatest event that has ever occurred on earth except the Incarnation, Crucifixion, and Resurrection of our Lord. It was to be the greatest battle ever fought on the earth--the battle between Satan, the personification of hate and vileness and all that is repulsive, and the incarnation of purity and holiness. (F. C. Ewer, D. D.)

Retirement preparatory to action

It has been said that Christ by His example sanctioned the eremitical life, the retirement into the deserts of the old hermits, to spend their lives in contemplation. To some extent only is this true. Christ sanctioned retirement, but He made retirement from the world preparatory to active mission work in the world. Where the old hermits misread His teaching was in this, that they retired to the deserts and did not leave the deserts again--they made that a cul-de-sac which should have been a passage. The example of our Lord seems to us in this age of high pressure to be of special importance. We look too much to the amount of work done, rather than to the quality of the work. This is the case in every branch of life, in every industry, in every profession; and it cannot be denied that in the present day the hurry of life is so great that men have not the patience to study and to appreciate good work; so long as it has a specious appearance of being good, it is sufficient. But in spiritual work, we must consider that the eye of God is on us, and that we are labouring for Him, not for men, and, by His retirement for prayer and fasting into the solitude of the desert, Christ puts into our hands the key to the door of all thorough and efficacious work in the spiritual sphere,--it must be well considered, well prayed over, and well prepared for. Every plant has its hidden life that precedes its visible and manifested life; the seed, or bulb, or tuber spends a time in accumulating to itself vital force or energy, during which period it appears to be dormant. Then, when it has taken the requisite time, it begins to grow, it throws up its leaves and flowers. The leaves and flowers are no spontaneous development out of the root, they have been long prepared for in the hidden life and apparent sleep of the seed or root underground. All life is initiated by a hidden period of incubation. And all healthy human activity has also its still unperceived phase of existence. Christ shows us that it is the same in the spiritual life. The forty days and nights--I may say the whole of the hidden life at Nazareth--was the seed germinating, and the three years ministry was the manifestation of the life. (S. Baring-Gould, M. A.)

Scene of the temptation

The scene of the temptation was the wilderness. What wilderness we are not told; and all which it imports us to note is that it was a wilderness, in which this encounter of the good and the evil, each in its highest representative, took place. There could have been no fitter scene, none indeed so fit. The waste and desert places of the earth are, so to speak, the characters which sin has visibly impressed on the outward creation; its signs and its symbols there; the echoes in the outward world of the desolation and wasteness which sin has wrought in the inner life of man. Out of a true feeling of this, men have ever conceived of the wilderness as the haunt of evil spirits. In the old Persian religion, Ahriman and his evil spirits inhabit the steppes and wastes of Turan, to the north of the happy Iran, which stands under the dominion of Ormuzd; exactly as with the Egyptians, the evil Typhon is the lord of the Libyan sand-wastes, and Osiris of the fertile Egypt. This sense of the wilderness as the haunt of evil spirits, one which the Scripture more or less allows (Isa_13:21; Isa_34:14; Mat_12:43; Rev_18:2), would of itself give a certain fitness to that as the place of the Lords encounter with Satan; but only in its antagonism to paradise do we recognize a still higher fitness in the appointment of the place. The garden and the desert are the two most opposite poles of natural life; in them we have the highest harmonies and the deepest discords of nature. Adam, when worsted in the conflict, was expelled from the garden, and the ground became cursed for his sake. Its desert places represent to us what the whole of it might justly have been on account of sin. Christ takes up the conflict exactly where Adam left it, and, inheriting all the consequences of his defeat, in the desert does battle with the foe; and, conquering him there, wins back the garden for that whole race, whose champion and representative He was.(Archbishop Trench.)

The world a wilderness

The earth a wilderness! you will say. Oh, but it is full of scenes of beauty; has it not its running streams, and flowery leas, and wooded slopes, and leaning lawns? How glorious its sunsets! How fair its gardens, all filled with fragrant flowers! Yes, the earth has its beauties, but they are not the true, the essential beauties. Go you to Quarantania: there you shall find also a certain beauty--the beauty of wild sublimity--the mountain peak, the trenchant rock, the dark ravine with its rugged sides; yet it is a howling wilderness. Quarantania has a certain beauty, and so has earth. But compare the desert, stern, barren, desolate, with the fair gardens of Italy, and great as is the gulf between these, it is not so vast as the gulf between this world that we call so fair and the Golden Jerusalem, of which we are citizens. All that is most bright and glorious here is dull and harsh and pale compared with what God is keeping for us there. Is not the earth filled with mountains of disappointments? with snares, sufferings, griefs, ingratitudes? Oh! the wilderness of this world. What a contrast with the paradise of God! (F. G. Ewer, D. D.)

The forty days in the wilderness

We make a mistake when we think that those forty days were all days of temptation and sorrow. They must have been, on the contrary, days, at first, of peaceful rest, of intense joy. Alone with God, driven by the Spirit into the wilderness, the Saviour dwelt in the peaceful thought of His union with His Father. The words spoken at the baptism, the fulness of the Spirits power within Him had filled His human heart with serene ecstasy. He went into the wilderness to realize it all more fully. It was then in this spiritual rest and joy that we may reverently conceive the beginning of the wilderness life was passed. As such, it was the first pure poetry of the perfect union which was to arise between the heart of man and the Spirit of God; the springtime of the new life; the first clear music which ever flowed from the harmony of a human spirit with the life of the universe. But now we meet the question, How did this become test, temptation? To understand this we must recall the two grand ideas in His mind:

1. That He was at one with the Father--that gave Him His perfect joy.

2. That He was the destined Redeemer of the race. To the first peaceful days had now succeeded days when desire to begin His redemptive work filled His soul. And the voice in His own soul was echoed by the cry of the Jewish people for their Messiah. He was urged, then, by two calls, one within, and one without. But--and here is the point at which suffering and test entered--these two voices directly contradicted one another. As soon as Christ turned to the world with the greeting of His love, He heard coming from the world an answering greeting of welcome, but the ideas which lay beneath it were in radical opposition to His own. The vision of an omnipotent king and an external kingdom was presented to His Spirit as the ideal of the Jewish people. It came rudely into contact with the vision in His own heart of a king made perfect by suffering, of a kingdom hidden at first in the hearts of men. It is not difficult to see the depth and manifoldness of the tests which arose from the clashing of these two opposed conceptions. (Stepford A. Brooke, M. A.)

The solitary place

No: we must be led into some secret and solitary place, there to fast and pray, to fit and prepare ourselves for the work which we have to do, there to taste how sweet the Word of God is, to ruminate and chaw upon it as it were and digest it, to fasten it to our very soul and make it a part of us, and by daily meditation so to profit that all the mysteries of faith and precepts of holiness may be, as vessels are in a well-ordered family, ready at hand to be used upon any occasion, (A. Farindon, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 4:1. And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, &c., was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness, &c. — Supposed by some to have been in Judea; by others to have been the great desert of Horeb, or Sinai, where the children of Israel were tried for forty years, and Moses and Elijah fasted forty days. Here we see that our blessed Lord began his ministry immediately after his baptism, not by going directly to Jerusalem, the seat of power, preceded by the Baptist, and with the divine glory surrounding his head, but by retiring into a wilderness, that, without interruption, he might prepare himself for his work by fasting, meditation, and prayer, and by sustaining temptations. Hence his journey to the wilderness is said to have been undertaken by the direction, or strong impulse, of the Spirit, by which Mark says he was driven. See note on Mar 1:12-13, and especially on Mat 4:1, where the nature and design of our Lord’s temptation are explained at large.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Temptation. Nazareth. Capernaum

1-13. The Temptation (Mat_4:1; Mar_1:12). See on Mt.

5. Lk inverts 2nd and 3rd Temptations.

13. For a season] 'These words signify “until a favourable time.” The conflict foretold so precisely, can be none other than that of Gethsemane. “This is your hour and the power of darkness,” said Jesus at this very time (Luk_22:53), and a few moments before He had said, “The prince of this world cometh” (Joh_14:30)' (Godet).

14, 15. Return to Galilee. Beginning of the Ministry proper (Mat_4:12; Mar_1:14; Joh_4:1, Joh_4:43). See on Mt and Jn.

14. In the power of the Spirit] Christ's miracles and preaching in Judæa (Joh_1:29 to Joh_4:42) had already made Him famous, so that when He was come unto Galilee, the Galileans received Him, having seen all the things that He did at Jerusalem at the feast (Joh_4:45).

16-30. Visit to Nazareth. See Mat_13:53; Mar_6:1. It must remain doubtful whether this visit to Nazareth, which Lk places at the beginning of the Galilean ministry, is identical with that placed considerably later by Mt and Mk. In any case, Lk here makes use of an important independent source. On synagogues see on Mat_4:23.

16. As his custom was] When living at Nazareth, Jesus had been accustomed to read the lessons as an ordinary member of the congregation. Even boys under age were allowed to do this. Stood up for to read] The Law and the Prophets, but not the Hagiographa, were read standing. The rabbis said: 'They do not read the law otherwise than standing up. Nay, it is unlawful for him that readeth to lean upon anything.' 'A man may read out of the book of Esther either standing or sitting, but not so out of the Law.' Jesus having stood to read, sat to expound. As He read in Hebrew, the Methurgeman, or Interpreter, translated into the vernacular Aramaic. See on Mat_2:6

17. There was delivered.. the book (or 'a roll')] The rolls were in the charge of the hazzan, or attendant (Luk_4:20), who handed them to the reader, and received them back when read. Sometimes the prophets formed a single roll, sometimes (as here) they were divided into books.

18. From Isa_61:1-2, with one clause 'to set at liberty them that are bruised' inserted from Isa_58:6, LXX. This passage, in which the prophet declares to the exiles in Babylon their approaching deliverance, is now read in Jewish synagogues on the Day of Atonement, and may so have been read even at that time. The reading was very short (two verses only), because a sermon was to follow. When there was no sermon, the reading was made considerably longer.

The Spirit of the Lord, etc.] In Isaiah this is a soliloquy of the Righteous Servant of Jehovah, whom our Lord identifies with Himself. The Jews generally regarded it as a soliloquy of the prophet himself. He hath anointed me] viz. at My baptism. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted] RV omits.

To preach deliverance] RV 'to proclaim release to the captives.' The original words have reference to the release of the Jewish captives from Babylon. Jesus applies them to the release of sinners from the guilt and bondage of sin, through His ministry. The blind] Spiritual blindness is here chiefly in view. To set at liberty them that are bruised] From Isa_58:6. Our Lord purposely inserted these words in the passage read according to a common custom. The rabbis said, 'The reader of the prophet may skip from one text to another, but he may not skip from prophet to prophet, but in the twelve (minor) prophets it is lawful.'

19. To preach the acceptable year of the Lord] In Isaiah this is the year of the return, but Jesus applies it to His earthly ministry. It is not to be inferred from this that Christ's ministry lasted only a year.

21. This day is this scripture, etc.] “With the emphatic self-assertion of this sermon, cp. the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).

22. Bare him witness] i.e. declared that the report of His power as a preacher was not exaggerated.

And they said] or, rather, 'but they said,' according to the Heb. idiom, which has only one word for 'and' and 'but.' Is not this Joseph's son?] and, therefore, not the Messiah, or a prophet, or any one great.

23. Physician, heal thyself] The defect or malady from which, in the opinion of the Nazarenes, Christ was suffering, was want of consideration among those who knew Him best, especially his fellow-townsmen. Let Him remove that defect by working such miracles as would convince them that He was a teacher sent from God, and He would then be more successful in 'healing,' i.e. converting, others. The Nazarenes were jealous because Jesus had worked miracles at Capernaum and other places before He worked any at Nazareth. The proverb occurs frequently in rabbinical writings, 'Physician, heal thine own lameness.' 'In a sad state is the city whose physician has the gout, and whose steward has one eye.'

24. No prophet is accepted] RV 'acceptable.' The truth is a familiar one. We often think lightly of what is very familiar. The blessings at our doors are those we value least. Here and in Mat_13:57, Christ's 'own country' is Nazareth, where He was brought up. In Joh_4:44 it is perhaps Judæa, where He was born. There is a curious parallel in the life of 'the heathen Christ,' Apollonius of Tyana, who is represented as saying, 'What wonder is it, if, when I am esteemed by the rest of mankind as like a god, and by some even as a god, my own country alone until now refuses to recognise me?' Plutarch says, 'You will find that few of the most prudent and wisest of mankind have been appreciated in their own country.' Another ancient writer says, 'All the philosophers seem to have had a hard life in their own country.'

25-27. The vv. contain a refusal to work miracles in Nazareth. St. Matthew (Mat_13:58) gives the reason: 'because of their unbelief.'

25. Elias] RV 'Elijah.' Our Lord gives two instances of prophets, who, being dishonoured in their own country, went and conferred great blessings upon foreigners. Three years and six months] So also in Jam_5:17. This does not agree with the OT., which says that the rain returned in the third year (1Ki_17:1; 1Ki_18:1), but it agrees with Jewish traditional usage, which frequently introduced the number three and a half, as being half of the mystical number seven. 'Ever since the persecution under Antiochus Epiphanes, three years and a half (=42 months=1,260 days) had become the traditional duration of times of great calamity (Dan_7:25; Dan_12:7; Rev_11:2-3; Rev_12:6, Rev_12:14; Rev_13:5)' (Plummer).

27. Eliseus] RV 'Elisha.'

28. They are angry with Jesus for venturing to compare Himself with the old prophets, and for rebuking them for their want of faith in Him.

29. That they might cast him down] perhaps as a preliminary to stoning Him as a blasphemer—'The place of execution was twice a man's height. One of the witnesses throws him down,' etc. As the local synagogues with their 'bench of three' could not condemn to death, Plummer conjectures that this was what the Jews call the 'rebel's beating.' This was administered by the people without trial and on the spot, when any one was caught in what seemed to be a flagrant violation of some law or tradition (Joh_8:59; Joh_10:31; Act_21:31-32).

30. Went his way] A mysterious restraint upon the power of His enemies is implied as in Joh_18:6.

31. Migration to Capernaum. See on Mat_4:13.

31b-37. Demoniac healed in the synagogue. Mar_1:23. See on Mar_1:21.

38-41. Healing of Simon's wife's mother and others (Mat_8:14; Mar_1:29). See on Mt.

42-44. Retirement to a desert place. Preaching tours (Mar_1:35). See on Mat_4:23-25.

44. The synagogues of Galilee] The best critics read, 'the synagogues of Judæa.' This is the only express mention by the synoptists of the Judæan ministry, but see on Mat_23:37

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

§ 17. TEMPTATION OF JESUS, Luk_4:1-13.

Mat_4:1-11; Mar_1:12-13.

1. Full of the Holy Ghost—Bestowed in full measure at his baptism.

Returned from Jordan—Towards Jerusalem, probably, and thence to Nazareth. This is an important point. It has been objected, How could he be led into the wilderness, when at his baptism he was already in the wilderness? Jesus’s back was towards the wilderness, we reply, and his face and movements toward Jerusalem, or Nazareth, when, as Mark says, “immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 1-13. THE TEMPTATION. The consecration of our Lord in his baptism was immediately followed by what is known as his temptation. It is, perhaps, the most mysterious and least understood of any of the scenes of the public ministry related by the evangelists.

It is related at some length by SS. Matthew and Luke, with very slight difference of detail, the principal one being the order in which the three great temptations occurred. In St. Mark the notice of this strange episode in the life is very short, but harmonizes perfectly with the longer accounts of SS. Matthew and Luke. St John omits it altogether; first, because, with the earlier written Gospels before him, he was aware that the Church of his Master already possessed ample details of the occurrence; and secondly, the story and lessons of the temptation did not enter into the plan which St. John had before him when he composed his history of his Lord"s teaching.

What, now, was the temptation? Did the evil one appear to Jesus actually in a bodily form? Did his feet really press some elevation, such as the summit of snowy Hermon, or the still more inaccessible peak of Ararat? and did the far-reaching prospect of sea and land, mountain and valley, bathed in the noonday glory of an Eastern sun, represent to him the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them? Did be in very truth stand on the summit of the great temple-roof, and from that dizzy height gaze on the crowds below, crawling like ants across the sacred court, or toiling along the Jerusalem streets?

So generally thought the ancients, and so it would appear, on first thoughts, from St. Matthew"s account, where we read, (Mat_4:3) "The tempter came to him.;" and the vivid realistic imagery of St. Mark (Mar_1:12, 13) would rather help us to the same conclusion. Some expositors and students of the Word have imagined for it comes to little more that the devil manifested himself to Jesus under the guise of an angel of light; others prove supposed the tempter came to him as a wayfaring man; others, as a priest, as one of the Sanhedrin council.

But on further consideration all this seems highly improbable. No appearance of the devil, or of any evil angel, is ever related in the Bible records. The mountain whence the view of the world"s kingdoms was obtained after all is fanciful, and any realistic interpretation is thoroughly unsatisfactory and improbable. The greater of the modern scholars of different countries the Germans Olshausen and Neander, the Dutch Van Oosterzee, the Frenchman Pressense, the Swiss Godet, Farrar and Plumptre in our own land reject altogether the idea of a presence of the tempter visible to the eye of sense. The whole transaction lay in the spiritual region of the life of Christ, but on that account it was not the less real and true.

Nor is it by any means a solitary experience, this living, beholding, listening, and even speaking in the Spirit, narrated by the evangelist in this place as a circumstance in the Lord"s life. Centuries before, Ezekiel, when in his exile by the banks of Chebar in Chaldea, was lifted up and borne by the Spirit to far-distant Jerusalem, that he might see the secret sins done in the temple of the Lord. (Eze_8:3) Isaiah again, in the year that King Uzziah died, saw the Lord on his throne, surrounded by seraphim; in this vision the prophet speaks, and hears the Lord speak, and a burning coal from off the altar is laid on his mouth. (Isa_6:1-11) To pass over the several visions of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and others, in which the transactions lay altogether in the spiritual region of their lives, we would instance from the New Testament St. Paul"s account of himself caught up into paradise, "whether in the body or out of the body" he could not tell. (2Co_12:1-4) And still more to the point, St. John"s words prefacing his Revelation, how he was "in the Spirit on the Lord"s day," when he heard the voice behind him, and saw his glorified Master. On that day and in that hour he heard and saw what he relates in his twenty-two chapters of the Revelation.

In language very slightly different, the temptation of the blessed Son of God is related by the evangelists, when they preface the history of the event with the words, "Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost... was led by the Spirit into the wilderness". (see, too, Mat_4:1)

We conclude, then, with some confidence, that the devil did not appear to Jesus in a bodily form, but that, in a higher sphere than that of matter, the Redeemer met and encountered with the result we know so well that spiritual being of superhuman but yet of limited power, who tempts men to evil, and accuses them before the throne of God when they have yielded to the temptation. "We believe to use Godet"s words here had he been observed by any spectator whilst the temptation was going on, he would have appeared all through it motionless upon the soil of the desert. But though the conflict did not pass out of the spiritual sphere, it was none the less real, and the value of the victory was none the less incalculable and decisive.

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness; more accurately translated, in the Spirit. The question of the nature of the temptation has been discussed in the above note. The words, "full of the Holy Ghost," and "was led by the Spirit," lead us irresistibly to the conclusion that the Lord, during this strange solemn time like Ezekiel, Daniel, Isaiah, and, later, Paul and John the beloved apostle was especially under the influence of the Holy Spirit; that his eyes were open to see visions and sights not usually visible to mortal eye; and that his ears were unlocked to hear voices not audible to ordinary mortal ears. Tradition has fixed upon a hill district bordering on the road which leads up from Jericho to Jerusalem, as the scene of the temptation. The hill itself, from being the supposed spot where the Lord spent these forty days, is named Quarantania. The rocks in this neighborhood contain many caves.

Vers. 1-13. The temptation in the wilderness.

One of the most mysterious but most suggestive passages in the history of the Christ. Without attempting to indicate all the points presented for reflection (see homiletics on Matthew 4), observe

I THE TEMPTATION IS NECESSARY TO THE PERFECTING OF JESUS AS THE SAVIOR OF SINNERS. He is led by the Spirit into the wilderness led for the purpose of being tried by the devil. In the solitudes and simplicities of the Nazareth life, he had not known, he could not know, this kind of trial. Now is to come the first distinct experience of the devil"s power. God may we so say? carried him away from the scene of the baptism and the opened heavens and the Divine voice, and presented him to Satan, the prince of the power of the air: "This is my beloved Son: put forth thine hand, and touch him." Is this strange?

1. It is a very real link of communion between the Lord and the life beset by sin and evil. "By thy fasting and temptation, good Lord, deliver me.

2. See in it a part, and an essential part, in the making of Jesus to us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption. Let us not overlook that "the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil." Now begins the great pitched battle between the kingdoms of light and of darkness; the wilderness-time is the girding of the sword on the thigh of the most Mighty. Do not think of the temptation as an isolated experience. At the end of all the temptations the devil departed from him only for a season, or until a season. He had been conquered, but he was not done with the Conqueror; he only bided his opportunity. The whole earthly ministry was a conflict with that hell which had all but dominated over the world of man. And the conflict was concluded in victory only when the Head was bowed on the cross. "Through death he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." Ah! truly there is "an infinite more behind" all that is recorded.

II TEMPTATION IS NECESSARY TO HUMAN PERFECTING. The hour of the leading into the wilderness is striking. St. Luke amplifies the account given by the earlier evangelist. The latter connects the event with the baptism and that which accompanied it; the former tells us of what is subjective of the conscious plenitude of life and power. Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, is led. When the sense of the mighty force is strong within him, when the chords of the heart are vibrating in response to the voice from heaven, when the soul feels straitened until it enters on the great mission given it; when he is ready, lo! this summons to the wilderness, this forcible taking of the anointed man, with the anointing fresh and full, to the dreary desert place over whose surface the wild beasts roam. But is not this a way of God? Was not Saul of Tarsus, in the morning of his life in Jesus, sent for three years to Arabia? Is not strength gathered, is not character compacted, through contact, direct and personal, with the forces alike of good and evil? He who was "made in all things like to his brethren" must have that in his human history which corresponds to facts and necessities in ours. And the wilderness, with its struggle, its assaults on faith and obedience, its glimpse into the outer darkness, its resistance of the devil, is a necessity in the education of the man as the Son of God.

III THE TEMPTATIONS OF CHRIST RECORDED ARE A MIRROR OF THE TEMPTATIONS OF HIS BRETHREN Mark the word "recorded." St. Luke tells us that Jesus was led during forty days, tempted of the devil. What the forty days meant remains untold. Probably it could not be expressed in language intelligible to us. It was only at the end that "the Divine event becomes human enough to be made to appear." Until then the lower wants were in a condition of suspense; the hunger is "the first sign of his coming back to us." Then the part of the temptation which we can understand begins. It will be remembered that we are dealing with a narrative of real transactions. It is not a poem, not a parable. Whether the acts were purely subjective, consisting only of suggestions to the inner spiritual sense, is a doubtful point; but that there was a veritable tempting in the manner described, that we are regarding "a chronicle of events," cannot be doubted. Nor is it a mere likeness of temptation that is set before us. The gospel story would be nothing to the heart if we conceived of it as a series of visions which in no distinct way touched the citadel of the Lord"s heart, was not to him what temptation is to us the contact of the soul with some hour and power of darkness. If it be asked How can this be if Jesus was without sin? let it be recollected that sin does not consist in an impression of what is evil; it consists in yielding to the impression, in receiving it. The sacred writers are careful to note that all suggestions come, not from the soul, but to the soul from a lying spirit outside the personality. When we speak of sinlessness, we do not mean that enticements to sin can never present themselves or be felt as enticements; we mean that they are never yielded to or consented to that there is a will so perfectly loyal to the Father that the wrong and the unchildlike are never in the purpose of Jesus. Note the three points or regions of the temptation recorded. The order is slightly different in the accounts of St. Matthew and St. Luke. That which is third in the one is second in the other, reminding us that too much stress is not to be laid on the mere sequence of the story. The first trial had reference to the urgent need; it came in the form of the subtle insinuation, "Son of God, you are hungry: why not use your power to satisfy the wants of nature? You have not bread, you cannot buy bread: why not bid these stones become bread?" So plausible, that the lie can scarcely be discerned. It is addressed to the man on the most pressing side of his necessity. And Jesus meets it as man. "Man"s only life is not that by bread, but that by every word which proceedeth out of the mouth of God." God"s Word had made the stone a stone. He would not say the stone is a loaf. He must be throughout in harmony with the eternal word and will. Then how subtle is the second attack! Adhering to St. Matthew"s order, "Thou art full of confidence in thy God. Thou dost trust him to the uttermost. Put thy faith to the proof. The Jews expect that their Messiah will descend from the clouds. Away to the top of yonder temple. Cast thyself down from thence. Do something striking; thou knowest it is written, "He shall give his angels charge over thee. How plausible the appeal to the Son of God on the side of his faith! And, once more-repelled by the counter-thrust, the counter-Scripture, "Thou shalt not try to the uttermost the Lord thy God, claiming a miraculous help for what is born of human pride and rashness mark the tact and the audacity in the final assault which the enemy makes. The love of power that which is at once the strength and the weakness of every noble mind shall be the wedge. "Son of God, look down on the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. Thou art seeking the sovereignty of man. I can give it thee. The force is thine; use it at my instigation. The dominion of love is one of toil and pain. Take what I offer. Think what blessings to the world will be at once secured. The sole condition is to fall down and worship me. Am I not the real king of the world?" It is the very climax of devilry. The temptation can go no further. "Then saith Jesus, Get thee behind me, Satan." It is the battle of man that is portrayed in man"s Lord. "For both he that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one." Here is the tempter who is tempting us, adapting the form of his solicitations to our tempers, our endowments, our circumstances. Here are the characteristics of his approaches, his doubts, his "ifs" ("if" is a devil-word which more than any other loosens the holdfasts of faith), his quotations from Scripture when it suits his purpose to do so, his three great heads of temptation that which seeks us through bodily need or fleshly appetite, that which seeks us through even our purer and higher instincts, that which would draw us into the net by stirring up the pride of life. Ah! there is no sleeping with this tempter. "Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation.

IV THE VICTORY OF CHRIST IS OUR ENCOURAGEMENT. Blessed is the assurance contained in the words, "Get thee behind me, Satan." The devil is behind Jesus, the Captain of our salvation. What is our position towards our Captain? Apart from him? Ah, we may tremble! With him, in him? He is between us and Satan, and we can do all things through him strengthening. "Be of good cheer: I have overcome.

HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Vers. 1, 2 (first part). Solitude and struggle.

We are not to suppose, even though we read this statement as given by Matthew, (Mat_4:1) that our Lord was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for the express purpose of being tempted by the evil one: to take that view would be to mistake the force of the Hebrew idiom. All that is intended is that Jesus was constrained ("driven," Mark says) to retire into the solitude of the wilderness where he would have to undergo the temptation which did actually befall him. He was led, by Divine direction, into retirement, and there, by Divine permission, into spiritual struggle.

I THE DIVINE DIRECTION. As Moses in Midian, as David around Bethlehem, as Elijah at Horeb, as John in the wilderness of Judaea, as (afterwards) Saul in Arabia, so Jesus prepared for his great work in the depth of "the solitary place." There we Can well believe that he held much communion with God; that he looked down into the secret places of his own soul and communed carefully with himself; and that he pondered long on the great workthe Father"s business which lay before him. We may be sure that this period of solitude produced very rich fruit in after-days, not only in the truth which was spoken, but in the life which was lived and the sorrow which was endured. This period should find its Counterpart in our history; if it does not find it by our consent, it may do so without any choice of our own. For:

1. God commends such retirement to us. He does so by the way in which he led the greatest and the wisest of his servants (see above); by the faculties of devotion, introspection, and forecast which he has given us; by the example of our Lord. But:

2. God compels us to such retirement. He does so by his holy providence, when he lays us aside, when he takes us away from the busy scenes of toil, from "the strife of tongues," from the excitements of society, and even from the distractions of the home circle; when he shuts the door upon us and draws round the curtain and leaves us alone with himself. Of that time, if we are wise, we shall make good use. It is a time for spiritual renovation; then we may learn lessons we should never gather even in the sanctuary; then we may enter on an upward path which otherwise we should never take, and so reach a goal we should otherwise never gain. It is a sacred opportunity, inciting to

a. review;

b. introspection or self-examination;

c. onlook;

d. prayer,

including the solemn and determined rededication of our whole selves and our entire future to the service of our Savior.

II THE DIVINE PERMISSION. By the permission of God the evil one came to our Lord and tempted him (see following homilies). God allows the tempter to assail us even as he did his "beloved Son." There are some temptations which are more likely to beset us in the period of solitude than at any other time temptations of the wilderness. They are:

1. A morbid sensitiveness as to

(1) our own condition a disposition to look too much to our own feelings, and to dwell too little on the goodness and the love of God; also as to

(2) our own reputation, and the estimation in which we are held among men.

2. Excessive disappointment and consequent disheartenment concerning

(1) the life we are living before God;

(2) the work we are doing for our fellowmen;

(3) the progress of the kingdom of God.

But though we may pass through these struggles we may come safely out of them. The remedies are these:

(1) An appeal to God for his guidance and inspiration;

(2) a resort to the promises of his Word;

(3) a timely return to the activities of daily work, of public worship, of active usefulness. C.

HOMILIES BY R.M. EDGAR Vers. 1-13. The temptation of Christ.

From the baptism of Jesus we now pass to his temptation. In the baptism he received, as we have seen, three gifts from the Father the guarantee of a perfect revelation of the Father"s will, of a perfect inspiration to do that revealed will, and of an assurance of Sonship during the trying ordeal. We are now to notice three temptations, corresponding very accurately to these three gifts, and so presenting in most artistic fashion the great drama of Messiah"s life. But before taking them up as they are here presented by Luke, let us direct our attention to one or two preliminary matters. And first we must notice that Jesus was "led," or, as Mark puts it still more graphically, was "driven" of the Spirit into the wilderness. (Mar_1:12) This clearly implies that our Lord did not "court temptation," nor rush with a light heart into it, nor shirk it, but accepted bravely what was forced upon him. It is only in such a spirit that we can hope successfully to resist it. There is no premise of Scripture to sustain any one who rushes madly into temptation. But, secondly, we observe that a great baptism of the Spirit is usually to prepare the recipient for some victoriously-to-be-met temptation. Jesus went to the wilderness filled with the Holy Ghost, and so was enabled to vanquish his tempter. Thirdly, the scene of the temptation is significant. While its exact location is not indicated, its general characteristics are. It was some wilderness, where nature affords no food or sustenance to man. What a contrast to the happy garden where the first Adam was tempted! Messiah meets the tempter in the most trying circumstances, and the tempter"s defeat there is promise of his defeat everywhere. Moreover, Mark tells us he was "with the wild beasts". (Mar_1:13) It is a new Daniel braving the lions and subduing them. Fourthly, we must observe that he is here tempted in his public capacity, as Messiah. He had doubtless been tempted previously as a private individual; he had been urged by Satan most probably to leave the privacy of Nazareth for a more public position, and had put away all these temptations manfully. Now that he has dedicated himself as Messiah in the Jordan, he must undergo corresponding temptations.

I NOTICE THE TEMPTATION THROUGH APPETITE. (Vers. 3, 4) After forty days" fast, during which time he was suffering temptation from Satan, he finds himself famishing. The spectacle in the wilderness and among the wild beasts is, therefore, that of a famishing Messiah. Never was he nearer death than on this occasion, except when death actually came. It is at this juncture that Satan first tempts him through his hunger. He claims to be the Son of God; this assurance was given him in his baptism; and as the Son he believes he possesses, though as yet he has not exercised, miraculous power. Let him, then, use his power for self-preservation, which is the first law of nature, and transform the stones of the wilderness into bread. The fallacy which underlies this temptation is one to which men are now most prone, viz. that "men must live," and then this false principle passes through degrees of comparison, and men say to themselves they must, if possible, live well, and, lastly, they must, if possible, live very well But is it necessary that any of us should live? Who has given us this revelation? May not God"s revelation be that the best thing we could do would be to die for truth and righteousness? Hence our Lord, instead of listening to the voice of appetite, declares his resolve to listen to the voice of God, and upon that revelation he will live. "It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." It is surely instructive in these times, when appetite is accepted by many as man"s one certain revelation, to have our Lord directing our attention to a higher revelation and a more sustaining voice. Bread cannot sustain the whole man; it can only prop up the physical nature; but the spiritual needs other food and higher help, and finds it in God"s Word alone! Amid the fierce struggle for bread, let us listen to him who speaks about the better bread which comes out of the mouth of God!

II NOTICE THE TEMPTATION THROUGH AMBITION. (Vers. 5-8) Matthew puts this temptation last, instead of here, and in this is probably chronologically more accurate than Luke. But we need not transpose it in order to profit by it. Messiah, then, though famishing, abides by the revelation of God rather than make a miraculous banquet in the wilderness. But of the revelation the Father gave him this was a chief part that he was to become Conqueror and Ruler of the world! Universal empire was, therefore, his legitimate ambition. It is here that Satan tempts him. Taking him to some mountain-top, he shows him, in some miraculous fashion, all the kingdoms of the inhabited world in a moment of time. Next he claims to be the rightful ruler of these kingdoms, but is willing to make a bargain with the ambitious Messiah that, if he will only acknowledge his sovereignty and pay him the homage due to earthly kings, all the kingdoms shall be made over to him. The temptation here is to gratify ambition at the cheapest rate. No self-denial, no self-sacrifice, no consuming spirit, shall be needful, but simply a little homage paid to the world"s prince. It was such a bargain as a worldly mind would have welcomed eagerly. But Jesus refused the terms. He would not acknowledge Satan to be the world"s rightful ruler. He regarded him as a usurper whom he had come to depose. Hence, in impatience with the arch-fiend, our Lord exclaimed, "Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." The question in the first temptation was that of revelation, corresponding to the first of the baptismal gifts; the question in this temptation is that of inspiration, the spirit of service, and corresponding to the second of the baptismal gifts. Jesus will not render any homage to the world"s betrayer, but will serve God alone! Once more may we see the grand spirit of self-sacrifice which this implies. Jesus will seek and obtain a universal empire, but by making no truce with the world; rather would he himself suffer unto death and be followed by myriads of martyrs, than gratify a poor ambition in Satan"s suggested and worldly way.

III NOTICE THE TEMPTATION TO PRESUMPTION AND OSTENTATION. (Vers. 9-12) As Messiah Jesus must consider what plan would be best for beginning his public work. This must have been with him a distinct subject of thought. And now Satan suggests that if he precipitated himself from the pinnacle of the temple into the court, and did so with impunity as God"s Son, the people could not but hail him as the promised Messiah. He should put his Sonship, the tempter suggests, to the test. He should test the promise about angels bearing up the believer and preventing him from dashing his foot against a stone. It was a temptation to carry faith into presumption, and becoming ostentatious in doing so. Our Lord, then, having resolved to live by faith, is as firmly resolved to avoid presumption. He will not tempt his Father by claiming support in ostentatious circumstances. And so he repels the insinuation, and resolves not to presume upon his Sonship. Hence we find that, instead of entering in any such spirit upon his work, he enters upon it publicly when he drives the traffickers from the temple. It was an amazing method of beginning Messianic work, and yet it was the best way. These temptations have their little counterparts in our own experience. We are tempted through appetite, through ambition, and through presumption. We must resist the enemy in the Master"s spirit. The apt quotations from the Divine Word show where the sword of the Lord lies, and it is for us not to let it rust in a napkin, like Goliath"s at the tabernacle, but to have it in constant readiness for active service and faithful resistance.

And now, in conclusion, we have to notice the fact that angels came and ministered unto Jesus when the crisis was past. We know not what they brought to him-ambrosial food, the corn of heaven, perhaps; at all events the most delightful food of which he ever partook. Then, like Elijah, he went in the strength of the food received, not, indeed, to the mount of God and the wilderness, but from the wilderness to the busy haunts of men, and in the power of the Spirit. Satan, meanwhile, having "completed" the temptation, having done his worst to make him fall, leaves him for a season free. It must have been a heaven of happiness to be consciously free from his incessant wiles and snares, and to have won the freedom. So may we in our little measure win some respite from the enemy, if we faithfully follow our Lord in resisting temptation! R.M.E.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES

Luk_4:1. Full of the Holy Ghost.—Which had descended upon Him in full measure at His baptism. Led by the Spirit—Or, “in the Spirit” (cf. Luk_2:27); abiding in the Spirit as the element of His life. Into the wilderness.—A better reading is “in the wilderness” (R.V.), and to connect the next clause with it: the leading of the Spirit continued there during forty days. The scene of the Temptation according to a not very ancient tradition is the mountainous region near Jericho—called from this identification Quarantania. There is some probability that the legend is true.

Luk_4:2. Tempted.—The present participle implies that the temptations lasted daring the forty days, though they culminated in the three specific attempts recorded in this and in the first Gospel.

Luk_4:3. And the devil said.—It is impossible to say whether the narrative before us, which Christ Himself must have communicated to His disciples, is literal history, or a symbolical description of an inward struggle. The phrase in the fifth verse, “in a moment of time,” would seem to indicate that the prospect was presented to the spiritual sense and not to the bodily eye; and this would favour the second of the two modes of interpretation above suggested. The phrase used in the Epistle to the Hebrews, “in all points tempted like as we are” (Luk_4:15), inclines the same way. If Thou be the Son of God.—An allusion doubtless to the words spoken from heaven at the time of His baptism. This stone.—Notice the graphic touch. Bread.—Or, “a loaf” (R.V. margin).

Luk_4:4. It is written.—It is somewhat remarkable that the three quotations from the Old Testament which Christ here makes are all from the Book of Deuteronomy (Luk_8:3; Luk_6:13; Luk_6:16). But by every word of God.—Omit these words; omitted in R.V.; probably taken from Mat_4:4.

Luk_4:5. And the devil.—St. Matthew describes the temptation in Jerusalem as coming before that on the mountain; he evidently follows the order of time, as he indicates in the use of the word “then” (Mat_4:5; Mat_4:11). St. Luke may have had the idea in his mind of recording the temptations in the order of their varying degrees of intensity, as addressed respectively to natural appetite, ambition, and spiritual pride. It may be, however, that he simply narrates the two temptations, the scene of which was laid in the wilderness, before passing on to that which took place on the summit of the Temple. The words “the devil” and “into an high mountain” are possibly added from St. Matthew’s Gospel; they are omitted in the R.V. See note on Luk_4:3.

Luk_4:7. Worship.—I.e. do homage. All shall be Thine.—Rather, “it [the world] shall all be thine” (R.V.).

Luk_4:8. Get thee, etc.—The first sentence in this verse is omitted in the R.V.; it was probably taken from St. Matthew’s Gospel.

Luk_4:9. A pinnacle.—Rather, “the pinnacle”; some well-known part of the building. Josephus tells of one called the Royal Porch which overlooked the valley of Hinnom at a dizzy height. There is nothing to indicate that Satan desired Jesus to perform a miracle in the sight of the people by casting Himself down and being preserved from injury.

Luk_4:10. For it is written, etc.—The quotation is from Psa_91:11, but the words “in all Thy ways” are omitted; these words give the condition on which protection is promised—a condition which Satan would have Christ ignore.

Luk_4:11. In their hands.—Rather, “on their hands” (R.V.).

Luk_4:13. All the temptation.—Rather, “every temptation” (R.V.), i.e. every kind of temptation. For a season.—Or, “until a season” (R.V. margin); though the two renderings are virtually identical in meaning. Temptation was now abandoned, but was to be resumed again on a fitting opportunity. The reference is probably to the closing scenes of our Lord’s life, when the devil would assail Jesus through the treachery of Judas (Luk_22:3; Luk_22:53; Joh_14:30), and through the malignant opposition of the Jews (Joh_8:44).

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Luk_4:1-13

Temptation and Victory over it.—At first sight one might be inclined to think that He who was Son of God as well as Son of man could not be an example to us in the matter of resistance to evil. We find it hard to believe that He could really feel the pressure of temptation, and we take it almost for granted that He won the victory over evil in virtue of a Divine strength specially His own. Hence this episode in the life of the Saviour is usually regarded as mysterious and inexplicable, and is probably but seldom chosen by Christian preachers for purposes of exhortation. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, however, speaks of the temptation of Christ in terms which bring it near to our experiences: he says, “We have an High Priest, who was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” A reverent study, therefore, of this incident in the history of our Lord should teach us many lessons of great value, both as to the nature of temptation and as to the way in which to overcome it. From it we learn, e.g.—

I. That the holiness which God approves is that which can stand the test which temptation applies.—It was the will of God that Jesus should be subjected to temptation. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil (cf. Mat_4:1). It was in accordance with what the word of God tells us of the Divine procedure that He who took upon Him our nature should be put to the test. And the process, painful as it is, is one through which all intelligent, moral beings must pass. Innocence, which is so attractive to us, may be largely ignorance of evil, and therefore be devoid of moral value; and accordingly we can see the wisdom of subjecting it to the process by which alone it can rise into holiness. The angels were put to the test, and some of them fell from their first estate. Our first parents, in like manner, were called to make the choice between obedience and disobedience to a Divine commandment; and every one of their descendants has had to suffer from the consequences of their evil choice. And in the Scriptures we read of the trial to which the faith of some of God’s most eminent servants was specially subjected in the cases of Abraham, Job, David, and Peter. It is of course highly dangerous and presumptuous for us to cast ourselves in the way of temptation, and Christ has taught us to pray to be spared temptation. But that virtue or holiness is alone worthy of the name which has endured and can endure trial; and God is able and willing to impart special grace to us, when in His providence we are placed in circumstances of special danger.

II. That we have to contend against a vigilant and wily spiritual foe.—The doctrine of an evil spirit is unwelcome to many; but both the word of God and the facts of human life attest the existence of a personal tempter. “Assuredly,” says Trench, “this doctrine of an evil spirit, tempting, seducing, deceiving, prompting to rebellion and revolt, so far from casting a deeper gloom on the mysterious destinies of our fallen humanity, is full of consolation, and lights up with a gleam and glimpse of hope regions which would seem utterly dark without it. How should one not despair of oneself, having no choice but to believe that all the strange suggestions of evil which have risen up before one’s own heart had been born there! One might well despair of one’s kind, having no choice but to believe that all its hideous sins and all its monstrous crimes had been self-conceived, bred within its own bosom with no suggester from without. But there is hope, if ‘an enemy have done this’; if, however, the soil in which all these wicked thoughts and wicked works have sprung up has been the heart of man, yet the seed from which they sprang had been there sown by the hand of another.” It lay in the necessity of things that he should come into direct and immediate collision with Him who had one mission in the world, that is to destroy the works of the devil.

III. That temptations are manifold in form.—Some, as this history reveals to us, spring from bodily necessities and weaknesses, others from a love of those things that are earthly and transitory, others from spiritual pride; for under these three heads may the temptations which assailed Christ be classified. They appeal to every side of the being, and no one is in circumstances which place him above the reach of some one or other of them. The poor are tempted by their poverty to distrust God, the rich and successful are tempted to use unlawful means for securing greater wealth and power or to apply what they possess to selfish ends, while those who enjoy God’s favour are tempted to presume upon it. The weakness of the weak, the strength of the strong, and attainments in holiness are made by the tempter the occasion for suggesting evil counsels.

IV. All the forms of sin suggested are found to spring from one root—self-will.—At His incarnation Christ had merged His lot with the lot of His race. The first temptation is that He should separate Himself from them and use the power which had been intrusted to Him for providing a way of escape from the hardship in which He found Himself. The second temptation was that He should refuse to accept the humiliation and suffering by which it was God’s will that He should win His kingdom, and that He should found a kingdom like those of this world—founded on force and policy and surrounded by the pomp and display which the world loves. The third temptation was that He should put the love of His Father to the proof in a way of His own choosing and not of God’s appointing. In all of them the attempt was made to excite self-will, and to urge Christ to depart from what He knew to be the course His Father would have Him follow. This was an attempt of the kind only too successfully employed against our first parents. They, too, were urged to distrust God’s love, and to seize upon that which was attractive in their eyes, even although, in order to do so, they had to transgress a Divine commandment.

V. Victory over temptation is won by steadfast trust in God and obedience to His will.—Christ’s hunger and isolation at this time did not shake His belief in God’s power and willingness to sustain Him. Worldly wealth, and power, and honour which could only be secured by disloyalty to holiness and truth had no charms for Him; and He did not shrink from the toil, and pain, and suffering by which He knew it had been appointed that He should gain His throne. Nor would He abandon that life of faith which He intended to live by tempting God, or putting His loving-kindness and fidelity to the proof. All through He subordinated every feeling and desire to the will of God. In this, then, He affords us the great example of resistance to evil. No temptation can prevail against us if we calmly and fairly consider what God would have us to do, or what commandment He has given us for our guidance in the special circumstances in which we find ourselves, and if we resolutely determine to subject our wills to His will. We can never be at a loss to discover what God’s will is. If we are in the habit of consulting conscience, and if we, like Christ, have our minds stored with the holy precepts of God’s word, we can in an instant decide what is the path of duty, and no tempter can force us against our will to depart from that path. Our danger lies in a conspiracy between our wavering wills, our strong passions, and the counsels of the evil one.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk_4:1-13

Luk_4:1-13. The Temptation in Relation to the Baptism.—The temptation followed, and must be viewed in connection with, Christ’s baptism. When God gives armour, He soon puts it to the proof, and so the strength given at the baptism was soon tested in the wilderness.—Nicoll.

A Strange Passage in the Life of Christ.—Jesus had been baptized of John. One would have thought that without further delay He would now have begun His public work. But we are mistaken. The thirty years must have a parallel in the forty days. The Spirit leads not to the battle-field, but to the wilderness. He leads Him out not to attack the enemy, but to sustain the enemy’s attacks on Him. What mythical theory could find a motive for so strange a passage in the life of Christ? The temptations of the devil were all skilfully directed to try the question whether Jesus was so thoroughly one with the Father as He professed to be and as it was necessary He should be—whether His Father’s business was really the one interest of His heart and the great business of His life—whether His delight in doing God’s will was so strong that it could not be overcome by any intenser feeling—whether, under high pressure, some discord might not be revealed between Him and His father.—Blaikie.

The Account of the Temptation given by Christ Himself.—The account of the Temptation can only have come from our Lord Himself. This is the only instance in which our Lord breaks through His reticence as to His personal history on earth. Here, and here only, does He give us a glimpse of what had befallen Him, or of what had passed within His breast.—Latham.

A Solemn Pause.—He who is ever the God, not of haste, but of order, prescribes a solemn pause, memorable in itself, monitory in its doctrine, between the Baptism and the Ministry.—Vaughan.

The Temptations in the Wilderness.—Of this mysterious conflict we see but little, and that dimly. The agony in the wilderness, like the final agony in the garden, is shrouded in darkness. But we see an absolute victory, and a Deliverer proved at the outset “mighty to save.”

I. The preparation, the process, and the issues of our Lord’s temptation exhibit it to us as a necessary element in His redeeming work.

II. In His temptation our Lord is to be regarded as a type and pattern to ourselves.—Pope.

The Purpose of the Temptation in Relation to Christ.

I. That He might bid defiance to Satan, and in His person conquer at the outset the power of sin.

II. That He might approve, in uttermost trial, the spotlessness and perfection of the sacrifice He carried forward to the cross.

III. That He might acquire, by a mystery of experience which we cannot fathom, a perfect sympathy with the infirmities of the nature He came to sanctify and save.—Ibid.

Luk_4:1. “Led by the Spirit.”—It was necessary that Christ who had assumed our nature should be put to the proof—should be subjected to the trial of having to choose between using His gifts and faculties for gratification of self or using them in the service of God. This probation is required in the case of all free and intelligent beings; some angels passed through it successfully, man fell before it. It is noticeable that Jesus did not seek temptation, but was led towards it by a higher will than His own. The fact that temptation came immediately after the baptism in the Jordan, with all its wonderful and supernatural circumstances, is very significant. The time of spiritual exaltation is the time of spiritual danger. “Thus shalt thou be sure to be assaulted, when thou hast received the greatest enlargements from Heaven, either at the sacrament, or in prayer, or in any other way. Then look for an onset. This arch-pirate lets the empty ships pass, but lays wait for them when they return richest laden” (Leighton). Satan knows how to take advantage of the peculiarities of our situation.

“Wilderness.”—The contrast between the temptation of Adam and that of Jesus, the second Adam, both in the scenes in which they were laid and the results which followed from them, has often been drawn.

1. Adam was tempted in a garden, Jesus in the wilderness.

2. Adam fell, Jesus was victorious.

3. Adam’s disobedience brought death, the obedience of Jesus brought life. “Adam fell in paradise, and made it a wilderness; Christ conquered in the wilderness, and made it a paradise, where the beasts lost their savageness (Mar_1:13) and the angels abode” (Olshausen).

Luk_4:2. “Did eat nothing.”—The forty days’ fast seems rather an indication of deep absorption in reverie, during which not even the stings of hunger were felt, than as a religious exercise of the kind the Jews were accustomed to observe in connection with prayer. It scarcely seems to afford ground for the custom of observing an ecclesiastical fast of like duration. For

(1) Christ literally abstained from every kind of food;

(2) He did not deliberately inflict the pain of hunger upon Himself—indeed, He did not feel hunger until the forty days were past; and

(3) He did not periodically observe a like abstinence—this was a unique experience in His life, and His state of ecstasy (like that of Moses and Elijah) is not one into which we can bring ourselves.

“Hungered.”—Christ hungered as man, and fed the hungry as God. He was hungry as man, and yet He is the Bread of Life. He was athirst as man, and yet He says, Let him that is athirst come to Me and drink (Rev_22:17). He was weary, and is our rest. He pays tribute, and is a King; He is called a devil, and casts out devils; prays, and hears prayer; weeps, and dries our tears; is sold for thirty pieces of silver, and redeems the world; is led as a sheep to the slaughter, and is the Good Shepherd; is mute like a sheep, and is the everlasting Word; is the Man of sorrows, and heals our pains; is nailed to a tree and dies upon it, and by the tree restores us to life; has vinegar to drink, and changes water to wine; lays down His life, and takes it again; dies and gives life, and by dying destroys death.—Greg. Naz.

Luk_4:3-4. The First Temptation.—During the forty days Jesus had been sustained, not by the power of His Divine nature, but by the great rapture of spiritual gladness which upbore Him. When these had passed, He was torn with the pangs of hunger, and here the temptation of Satan comes in.

I. After the manner of the tempter, he makes the truth problematical—“If Thou be.” The stones to the sick eyes of a hungry man had the shape of loaves, and one word from Him would have turned them to food. Why was the word not spoken? Because, if He had spoken it, He would have undone His incarnation, by drawing back from the lot of the race with which He had identified Himself. He would also have shown—

II. A want of trust in the Divine providence that was able to feed Him without using any miraculous energy. “Man shall not live,” etc. He did not care to assert His Godship then. If God pleased, He might make the bare wind of the desert a banquet. Jesus has meat to eat that the tempter knows not of. This first temptation—

III. Is presented to us by the tempter in our own lives.—“I must live.” The answer is—There is no need that a man should live, but there is need that he should be righteous. He will not die if he trusts in God. Man lives by everything that proceeds from God’s mouth.—Nicoll.

The Danger of Starving the Soul.—Man wants no reminding that he lives by bread. There is no fear of his not giving care enough to the needs of his body; but there is danger lest he should think of nothing but these needs, and starve his soul, and become such that eternal life, without a body to care for, would only be a condition of aimless weariness. Jesus resolved therefore to keep His powers apart for spiritual ends. He will not use this power to provide what others win by toil, or to preserve Himself or His followers from the common ills of human life.—Latham.

Luk_4:3. “If Thou be the Son of God.”—Satan contrasts the Divine greatness of Jesus as the Son of God, of which He had been assured at His baptism, with His present condition of destitution and hunger, and urges Him to depart from the condition of humiliation which He had accepted on becoming incarnate. Self-sufficiency and independence of God is the state of spirit Satan would fain excite in Christ. The temptation is a subtle one; for he does not suggest a miraculous provision of luxurious food, but of mere bread to stave off death by hunger. But Christ did not work a miracle for the sake of delivering Himself from that state of dependence upon God which all men should occupy.

“Command this stone.”—This gift of miracles in Christ was in many respects a talent; and it was necessary that He should employ this talent wholly for the purposes for which it was intrusted to Him, viz. to confirm His mission and doctrine, to honour the Father, and to do good to men, and not at all to accommodate and relieve Himself.—Scott.

Luk_4:4. “Written.”—It is not by inward illumination, but by the written word of God, that Christ as man professes to find guidance. His words are a rebuke to those who claim greater honour for what they imagine is inward illumination than they are willing to pay to God’s word.

“Not live by bread alone.”—The passage quoted is a strikingly appropriate answer: “Jehovah suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee to know that man doth not live,” etc. (Deu_8:3). The whole nation of Israel was fed for forty years in the wilderness: with what confidence may Christ therefore look to God for sustenance during the few days of His sojourn in the desert! God by the ordinary operation of His providence brings forth food for man out of the earth; but He is able to give sustenance in other ways, if He sees fit so to do. Manna and quails were miraculously provided for the Israelites in the wilderness; Elijah was fed by the ravens and by an angel; the multiplication of the loaves of bread and of the fishes by Christ’s power (cf. also the miracle wrought by Elisha, 2Ki_4:42-44) illustrates this principle. It is right to look to God for extraordinary help in extraordinary circumstance. The fact that we are dependent upon God for food is also implied in the Lord’s Prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

Christ’s Use of Scripture.

I. For defence.—This is the very first use we find Him making of the word. He answered every suggestion of Satan with, “It is written.” The word was in His hands the sword of the Spirit, and He turned with its edge the onsets of the enemy.

II. For this use of Scripture the practice of committing it to memory is essential.—Often, when temptation comes, there is no time to search for the word to meet it; everything depends on being armed, with sword in hand. This shows how necessary it is to fill the memory while it is plastic with stores of texts.—Stalker.

Christ is our Example in all Things.—Here we see how He met the tempter so as to conquer him. He used His Bible as a quiver, and He drew from it the sharp arrows which He hurled so successfully against His opponent. He drew them from memory. He had used the quiet days at Nazareth to store His mind with the precious words. The lesson lies for us on the surface.—Miller.

“Not by bread alone.”—It was the Saviour’s purpose to give a signal proof, at the very outset of His public career, both of the weakness of His body as man and the perfect control exercised over it by the joint action of His human and Divine will. The appetite for bread was lawful; not so the abuse of His high powers to satisfy His own personal need. Therefore His answer was ready. His heart overflowing with love and confidence in His heavenly Father, and pure from all unclean desires, prompted the reply He clothed in the words of Scripture. There lay the force of His word, strong to baffle the tempter and drive him to another ground of attack. The Lord’s rebuff was no mere quotation got by heart and ready; the thought rose spontaneously out of the pure springs within, and found its readiest expression in the well-studied language of Holy Writ.—Markby.

Our First Duty.—It is never right for us to starve our spiritual nature to get bread for our bodies. It is our first duty to keep God’s commandments, and in obedience is the highest good that we can attain in this world. Sometimes the best thing we can do for our life is to lose it; we had better any day starve to death than commit the smallest sin to get bread. Getting bread should not be our first object in life, and is really not our business at all.—Miller.

Higher Aims than Gratification of Appetite.—It is one of the grandest texts I know. Man has appetite, but appetite is not man. The gratification of appetite is not the main object of man’s existence. Too many live as if they thought it was so. To make bread is the one object for which many live. Jesus Christ protests against this degradation of our nature, and says, “A man has higher aims than to gratify his appetite. He has a soul. Bread-making is not a sufficient object for a redeemed soul.”—Meyer.

Luk_4:5-8. The Second Temptation.

I. The tempter tried Jesus through the mind.—Human nature is ambitious, loves power, thirsts for greatness. To such dispositions did Satan now address himself in Christ. He offered Him universal empire; without delay and without a struggle He proposes, as it were, a short road to redemption. On one condition. He must do homage for His throne to Satan; He must hold His crown, as it were, from him. In short, it was the offer of a great good through a little evil—to save Himself and to save mankind a deluge of blood and tears, by one brief acknowledgment of an enemy’s right, and by one passing homage to a usurper’s crown.

II. Christ discerned the snare and foiled the stratagem.—The gospel so brought in would have been a curse and not a blessing. Never for one moment did His will waver. He seized upon the compromise, and crushed it to atoms in the right hand of obedience. Henceforth there must be war, war to the knife, between the Tempted and the tempter. In that decision lay ten thousand others. Christ will not have Satan lulled. He will have him bound. The lesson, the edict, the declaration of war are for all time.

III. It has a voice for Christian men.—Whenever we do evil that good may come we bend the knee to Satan.—Vaughan.

Luk_4:5. “All the kingdoms of the world.”—Hunger had not terrified, neither does plenty allure, the Saviour from the path of duty. The scourge of poverty is followed by the vision of plenty; but the one is as powerless as the other to overcome His holy will. This teaches us the great lesson that our liability to sin does not depend upon the circumstances in which we are placed so much as upon the disposition or frame of spirit which characterises us. We are apt to think that if the cross were removed or the burden lightened we should find it easier to be holy—that the sin that besets us would lose its power to ensnare us if we were placed in happier circumstances. Yet circumstances only afford us an opportunity of manifesting what is in us. Jesus was superior to all circumstances simply because He was superior to all sin. The sinful heart will betray itself even if the outward conditions on which it lays the blame were all changed; it will be as faithless in prosperity as it was in adversity. The sinless heart is free from danger everywhere; it is not depressed by humiliation, it is not seduced from its allegiance to God by exaltation.

“In a moment of time.”—Perhaps in this phrase we have the clue to the solution of the question as to whether the history of the Temptation is a narrative of external facts or a parabolical description of mental and spiritual experiences. Apart from the consideration that from no mountain on earth could “all the kingdoms of the world be seen,” the phrase “in a moment of time” seems to describe something presented to the mind’s eye rather than to the bodily sense. And if this is the case with one of the temptations, why may it not be so in the case of all of them? In Heb_4:15 we read that Christ was “tempted in all points like as we are.” Does not this imply manner of temptation as well as actual fact of temptation? The momentary glimpse of the world’s kingdoms and their glory suggests temptation of a very intense kind. For those temptations are most acute which are presented to us suddenly and unexpectedly. Another thought is suggested by an ancient writer: “It is fitting that all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, should be displayed ‘in a moment of time.’ For here it is not so much the rapid glance of sight which is signified as the frailty of mortal power which is declared. For in a moment all this passes away; and oftentimes the glory of this world has vanished before it has arrived.”

Luk_4:6. A Great Bribe offered to Christ.—The greatness of Christ is implied in the greatness of the bribe here offered to Him. Satan is not accustomed to offer all to those whom he tempts, but gives by little and little. “There be some that will say—They were never tempted with kingdoms. It may well be; for it needs not, when less will serve. It was Christ only who was thus tempted; in Him lay a heroical mind that could not be allured with small matters. But with us it is nothing so, for we esteem far more basely of ourselves. We set our wares at a very easy price; he may buy us even dagger-cheap, as we say. He need never carry us so high as the mount. The pinnacle is high enough; yea, the lowest steeple in all the town would serve the turn. Or let him but carry us to the leads and gutters of our own houses, nay, let us but stand in our windows or our doors, if he will give us but so much as we can there see, he will tempt us throughly; we will accept it, and thank him too. He shall not need to come to us with kingdoms.… A matter of half a crown, or ten groats, a pair of shoes, or some such trifle will bring us on our knees to the devil” (Andrewes).

“Delivered unto me.”—We cannot say this statement is absolutely false. Satan has a certain limited power assigned to him; the world is under his power, not absolutely or permanently, but actually. Hence he is called “the prince of this world” by Christ Himself (Joh_12:31). Worldly glory is within his power, since he may use it for tempting and ensnaring men. The description of a delegated power possessed by the evil one was calculated to correct the erroneous ideas of many of St. Luke’s Gentile readers. They were accustomed to the dualistic idea of a kingdom of evil, not simply permitted to exist, but independent of the Divine will.

The Tempter’s Promise.—High on the desert mountain, full descried, sits throned the tempter with his old promise—the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them. He still calls you to your labour, as Christ to your rest,—labour and sorrow, base desire and cruel hope. So far as you desire to possess rather than to give; so far as you look for power to command instead of to bless; so far as your own prosperity seems to you to issue out of contest or rivalry of any kind with other men, or other nations; so long as the hope before you is for supremacy instead of love, and your desire is to be greatest instead of least—first instead of last—so long you are serving the lord of all that is last and least—Death—and you shall have death’s crown with the worm coiled in it, and death’s wages with the worm feeding on them; kindred of the earth shall you yourself become; saying to the grave, “Thou art my father,” and to the worm, “Thou art my mother and sister.” I leave you to judge and to choose between this labour and the bequeathed peace; these wages and the gift of the Morning Star; this obedience and the doing of the will which shall enable you to claim another kindred than that of earth, and to hear another voice than that of the grave, saying, “My brother, and sister, and mother.”—Ruskin.

Luk_4:7. “If Thou therefore wilt worship me.”—Worship of Satan means that Christ should acknowledge his delegated power, and make the Messianic kingdom like those of the kingdoms of this world, in accordance with the general expectation and desire of the Jewish people. The word “therefore” shows that this is the sense in which the passage is to be understood. Not by material means or by physical force did Christ intend to found His kingdom, but by spiritual operations. His kingdom was not to be in continuation of anything previously existing, but a new beginning.

Luk_4:8. “Him only shalt thou serve.”—Satan has recourse to that passion whereof men in stricken folly are prone to be proud, and to make silly boast of their own weakness—to ambition, “the last infirmity of noble minds.” But the allegiance of the Son of man was not to be so shaken. Sinless, therefore, was the soul of the Lord as well as His body.—Markby.

Worship due to God alone.—Christ here asserts that worship is due to God and to Him alone. Yet in Heb_1:6 we read that worship is to be paid to Christ Himself. What way is there by which to reconcile these two assertions, except by recognition of the Divine nature of Christ? How can Arians and Socinians reconcile them?

Luk_4:9-12. The Third Temptation.

I. Satan prompts Jesus to display His supremacy and confound His adversary by challenging the celestial powers to do Him the homage of their protection.

II. The sublime reliance of Christ’s answer is in His profound submission of obedient humility.—These simple words confounded the assailant, and go to the root of the temptation. Where is the child of God upon earth who is not daily thus tempted to tempt his God? This temptation finds its best and worst comment in the sins which dishonour God in His people; in the spiritual pride which tempts the Lord to withdraw His gifts; in the presumption that trifles with danger, trusting in an unpledged protection; in the spirit, conduct, and lives of those who forget that the privileges of grace belong to the lowly in heart, and are to be maintained only by humble walking with God.—Pope.

Luk_4:9. How to distinguish Faith from Presumption.—The moment trust in God presumes to break any one, even the least of the laws of God, and then expects God to save it from the consequences of its disobedience, it is not trust, but unbelief; it is not faith, but presumption; it is not honouring, it is tempting God.—Barrett.

“Cast Thyself down.”—Experiments upon the Lord our God, whether upon His forbearance, His protection, or His power, are forbidden once and for ever in the sure word of revelation. Thou shalt not put to wilful trial the preserving and protecting Hand. God will keep His servants in lawful paths; but thou shalt neither trifle with danger, and say, “God will preserve,” nor with sin, and say, “God will protect!”—Vaughan.

Use of Supernatural Power.—Though Christ did not intend to have recourse to material means and to the methods and resources of worldly power in founding His kingdom, He yet purposed to make use of the gift of working miracles in accordance with the will of God. He is now urged to use this power capriciously, or in other words to infringe the relationship that existed between Him and the Father.

“Cast Thyself down.”—Observe, Satan may tempt us to fall, but he cannot make us fall. He may persuade us to cast ourselves down, but he cannot cast us down,—Wordsworth.

Luk_4:10-11. “He shall give His angels charge.”—The quotation from Scripture gives additional keenness to this temptation; and it is valuable to notice the nature of the error which underlies the use made of the sacred text. The error consists in ignoring or in keeping out of sight the fact that God’s promises are conditional, while His precepts are absolute. By voluntarily creating a danger for ourselves, we deprive ourselves of the promises of help and deliverance which God will fulfil to those who are in danger while they are pursuing the path of duty. There is nothing in the narrative to imply that Christ was tempted to make an impression upon priests and worshippers in the Temple by miraculously appearing among them, and thus to induce them to accept Him as the Messiah. This idea of theatrical display and wonder-working power would be more in harmony with the second temptation of Luk_4:6, i.e. to use carnal and not spiritual means for founding His kingdom.

Luk_4:12. Temptation to Spiritual Pride.—Finding Jesus to be a man of God, and His body proof against His weapons, Satan turns to a more formidable mode of attack. He tries Him on the quarter of spiritual pride. Doubtless he knew well that this was the most vulnerable point in the armour of the servants of God. Perhaps he had never met with one before who had escaped being wounded there; even Elijah hardly came off scatheless from that assault. Here, however, he was foiled again, and driven off by a like impulse of the pure human heart of Christ, quenching Scripture ill used with Scripture well used.—Markly.

“Thou shalt not tempt.”—In Deu_6:16 the words are, “Ye shall not tempt.” Perhaps by the change to “thou” Christ implies His own Divine majesty, and forbids Satan to assail Him further. “Thou shalt not tempt Me who am the Lord thy God.” To tempt God is to seek to put Him in the dilemma of either violating His own word, or of doing what we wish Him to do, even though we are conscious that our wish is not in accordance with His will. It is a kind of sin which is often prompted by religious fanaticism.

“It is said.”—Christ does not refute the use made by Satan of Scripture, but, as said above, sets the absolute precept over against the conditional promise. This is more emphatically indicated by St. Matthew (Mat_4:7).

“It is written again.”—The addition of a second scripture qualifies and interprets the first, but does not contradict it.—Alford.

Clear Guidance in Scripture.—So though thou canst not clear the sense of an obscure scripture, thou shalt always find a sufficient guard in another that is clearer.—Leighton.

Luk_4:13. “All the temptation.”—I.e. every kind of temptation. The Christian may recognise temptations and learn the proper mode of resisting them by studying this narrative of Christ’s experience in the wilderness. On every occasion of danger we may draw help from His example, for few forms of temptation will be found which may not be referred

(1) to distrust of God, or

(2) the desire of perishing things, or

(3) vain ostentation.

“For a season.”—What is the force of these words? It is in accordance with the facts of His life to read them as referring to the continual battle of His life. “My temptations.” That is His own description of His life. There was not a temptation at the beginning (in the wilderness) and at the end (in the garden) with a clear space between, but the battle was fought all through His life. If proof, or rather record, of it be a wanting, that does not make it less terrible, for mortal struggles are often waged in grim silence.—Nicoll.

A Short Lull.—It is a mistake to suppose that He was only tempted during the forty days in the wilderness. Those forty days were a fierce and typical outbreak of new temptations such as He had been incapable of before His baptism; but we are significantly told that, at the close of them, the devil departed from Him “for a season.” It was a short lull, and the storm was but gathering strength to burst on Him again.—Mason.

Enticements and Threats.—As, in the wilderness, by every allurement of pleasure, so in the garden and on the cross, by every avenue of pain, did the devil seek to shake the second Adam from His steadfastness. And this also may teach us what we have to expect; at one time the seductions, at another the threats, of an evil world. “And who is sufficient for these things?”—Burgon.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

C. In the Wilderness. Luk_4:1-13

1And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from [the] Jordan, and was led by [in] the Spirit into, the wilderness, 2Being forty days tempted of [by] the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward1 hungered.3And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stonethat it be made bread. 4And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shallnot live by bread alone, but by every word of God2 [Deu_8:3]. 5And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain,3 shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world ina moment [instant] of time. 6And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them [i.e., of the kingdoms]: for that [it] is delivered unto me [has been committed or entrusted to me by God]; and to whomsoever I will, I give it.7If thou therefore wilt worship [fall down before] me, all shall [it shall all] be thine.8And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan:4 for it is written,Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. 9And he brought him to [into] Jerusalem, and set him on a [the] pinnacle of the temple, and said untohim, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: 10For it is written, He11shall give his angels charge over [concerning] thee, to keep thee [safe]: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone [Psa_91:12]. 12And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt theLord thy God. 13And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a [until a convenient] season.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The narrative of the temptation has in Luke a peculiar character. While Mark contents himself with relating the event in a brief mention (Luk_1:12-13), Luke is almost as detailed as Matthew, but deviates in his order of arranging the different temptations from this his predecessor in narration. The third temptation, with Matthew, is with Luke the second, and the reverse. We give the preference to the arrangement of the first Evangelist. Matthew keeps the order of time more in mind (Luk_4:1; Luk_4:5; Luk_4:8) than Luke, who speaks quite indefinitely (Luk_4:1-2). In the arrangement of the former, moreover, there is a more natural climax, and it is in itself improbable that the Lord, after He had repulsed the demand of the tempter that He should worship him, would have tolerated still a third attempt from this side or would have entered into any intercourse with him. On this account, Ambrosius and also other fathers of the church, even in commenting upon the narrative of Luke, have preferred the arrangement of Matthew. In another respect, also, the praise of greater exactness belongs to the first of the Evangelists. Matthew makes the temptation proper only begin after the fortieth day; Luke represents this whole space of time as a period of inward temptations, nevertheless it is evident that at least the temptation to turn stones into bread, represented as the first of all, could only begin at the end of the period of time, after long fasting. Perhaps the two narratives may be, without violence, reconciled in this way; that the forty days, also, were, in a more general sense, a time of inward temptations (Mark and Luke), while immediately thereafter (Matthew) the more concrete cases of temptation which are adduced in the first and third Gospels, present themselves.

Luk_4:1. In the Spirit, ἐν τῷ πνεύμ.; in Matthew, ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύμ.—There appears to be no doubt that this signifies the Holy Spirit, which had just been poured out in all its fulness upon the baptized Jesus. Full of the Holy Spirit, that now more than ever penetrated and inspired Him, He was driven with irresistible might not only toward (εις) the wilderness, but into (εν) the wilderness, where He abides awhile, not only with the unexpected consequence, but with the definite purpose (πειρασθῆναι, Matthew), that He there, according to God’s supreme providence and under His especial permission, should be tempted of the devil.

Luk_4:2. Forty days tempted by the devil.—If we read with Lachmann, ἐν τῆ ἐρήμῳ, which appears to deserve the preference, we may perhaps refer the designation of time, viz., forty days, to the immediately preceding words, ἤγετο εἰς τὴν ἔρημον, and translate: “He was led in the Spirit into the wilderness forty days, and tempted by the devil.” In this way even the appearance of a discrepancy between Matthew and Luke, in regard to the actual point when the temptation began, is avoided.

Into the wilderness.—We are to understand the word “wilderness” not with some of the older expositors in a figurative, but in a literal, sense, and probably (agreeably to tradition) to refer it to the wilderness of Quarantania, between Jericho and Jerusalem. As to the locality, see the Gospel of Matthew by Lange, p. 81. There is still shown the mountain upon which the tempter is said to have taken the Lord, lying over against Abarim, from whose summit Moses overlooked the promised land. Trustworthy travellers relate, that in the neighborhood of this mountain there are found many stones whose form and whose color even agrees with that of bread, so that they could easily deceive the hasty observer. See Sepp, Leben Jesu, ii p. 92.

By the devil.—We come here to the natural question, what we are to think as to the agent of the temptation and the manner in which the tempter approached the Lord. As to the former, the views may properly be divided into two classes. Some will acknowledge here no working of the devil whatever, and understand it either of one or of several human tempters, or, of tempting thoughts and conceptions, which are supposed to have arisen in the mind of Jesus Himself in view of His Messianic work. Others assume an actual temptation of the devil, whether in visible form as the Gospels relate, or through the working of the invisible evil spirit upon the pure ψυχή of the Lord, capable as it nevertheless was of temptation. The different advocates of these explanations may be found named in Hase, Meyer, and De Wette. It cannot be difficult for us to make a choice among these different explanations. That the narrative can scarcely be understood literally appears hardly to need an intimation. A corporal appearance of the devil, a temporary ἐνσάρκωσις of the evil principle, is without any analogy in the Holy Scriptures. How should the devil have had power over the body of the Lord to carry Him through air and clouds whither he would? If the Lord did not know him, what should we have to think of His all-surpassing knowledge? And if He did know him, how could He consent to hold discourse with such a tempter? Where lies the mountain from which all the kingdoms of the earth can be viewed with a glance, and how could the Lord during the forty days in which He abides in the silent wilderness all at once stand upon the pinnacle of the temple? But this impossibity of understanding the narrative κατὰ ῥητόν does not for all this give us a right to find here an historical or philosophical myth. If even the previous history exhibits a purely historical character, still less do we move in a nebulous, mythical sphere at the beginning of the public life of Jesus. Analogies which are presented with the history of the temptations of Job, David, and others, would at most only prove the possibility, but by no means the probability or certainty of the invention of a narrative of a temptation of the Messiah. We see plainly that the Evangelists are persuaded that they are relating an historical fact, and we have no right, upon philosophical grounds, to bring in doubt the possibility of the chief fact here related.—Quite as unsatisfactory is the interpretation of it as a dream, vision, or parable. If the Lord had wished to teach His apostles in a similitude from what fundamental principles He started in His Messianic activity, and to what temptations they also were exposed, He would certainly have availed Himself of another form of instruction. Moreover, it is hard to see how such a parable could with any ground have been understood as history. The difficulty does not lessen but increases, if we assume that the parable in this form does not come from Jesus Himself, but from one of His disciples, who invented it in order to warn the first believers against sensuous Messianic expectations; and if we understand it as a dream or a vision, the narrative then really loses all significance. What value has a conflict that has arisen from self-deceit, and does he deserve the name of a victor who strives against spectres of the night? If this vision was effected by the devil in the soul of Jesus (Olshausen), we do not then comprehend what significance is to be attributed to a temptation that was not combated with rational self-consciousness. Or if this dream was a product of the fantasy of Jesus Himself (Paulus), we could then no longer ascribe any perfect sinlessness to Him whose imagination could, sponte sua, defile itself with such odious conceptions.

As respects the opinion that we have here to understand a human tempter, this, in its older form, has been already too often combated for us to lose now even a word in disputing it. The only form in which it deserves consideration is that in which Lange (Leben Jesu, p. 218) brings it up. He is far from denying the diabolical ground of the temptation, but maintains that the medium of it was a visit of the Sanhedrim, who, after John—subsequently to their interview with him—had referred them (Joh_1:19-28) to Jesus, had, in Lange’s view, approached Him with the full pomp and impetuousness of their Messianic expectations, and laid before Him a plan of Messianic activity wholly different from that which had originally come to maturity in His own mind. We cannot possibly read the brilliant exposition of this view in its details without recognizing the author’s gift of intuition and combination. If we saw ourselves necessitated to look for historical foundation of this kind for our present narrative, we should undoubtedly seek in vain to project a better. But, on the other hand, it must not be overlooked that the Evangelists themselves do not make the least mention of so early a meeting of the Lord with the Sanhedrim; that there is as little proof of John’s having designated the Messiah to the Sanhedrim as there is probability of any such interview with the yet unknown Nazarene; that, finally, the offence speedily taken by the Sanhedrim against the Lord after His public appearance admits of a sufficient explanation even without assuming so secret a back-ground. All these reasons now give weight to the question whether we should not do better (Ullmann) to understand here tempting thoughts, which had come up in the soul of the Lord from the worldly form of the Messianic expectations among the Jews, which, however, He at once, through the might of His holy will, repelled from Him, and which, when He afterward communicated these inner experiences of His to His disciples, He ascribed, in oriental style, to the devil the prince of this world. However, on considering the matter more closely, this interpretation also offers difficulties, so that Strauss for once did not say untruly that the Lord in this case would have communicated to His disciples “a confused mixture of truth and fiction.” Why He should have related to His friends this history of His inward conflict in such a form, can scarcely be understood. As to the first and second temptations at least, we do not see how they could proceed from the worldly-minded expectation of the contemporaries of the Lord. This, at all events, would have sprung more from the consciousness of His own miraculous power and the certainty of the protection of God than from the corrupt notions of the spirit of the times. “If Jesus had had even in the most fleeting manner such thoughts, He would not have been Christ, and this explanation appears to me as the most wretched neoteric outrage that has been committed against His person” (Schleiermacher). If these tempting thoughts were purely theoretical and objective, occasioned by conceptions having nothing attractive for the Lord, where is the temptation? and if these evil thoughts proceeded actually from the heart of the Son of Man (Mat_15:19), where is His sinlessness? We, for our part, believe that we can only explain the origin of the temptation by assuming the direct operation of the (invisible) evil spirit upon the mind and the sensibility of the Redeemer. In this case, 1. the credibility of the narrative is recognized, and we are as little necessitated to understand the devil at the beginning as the angels at the end of the narrative, in a merely figurative sense; 2. the sinlessness of the Lord is preserved: the tempting thoughts originate not from within, but are brought upon Him from without; 3. and, finally, the abandonment of a spiritless literal interpretation is vindicated. But if the Evil One worked directly, although invisibly, upon the God-man, the temptation must have taken place ἐν πνεύματι, alone, and we are justified in representing to ourselves the Lord upon the pinnacle of the temple without His having left the wilderness. There is no other conception which, like this, holds fast to what is essential in the purely historical interpretation without falling into the absurdities that necessarily spring from the assumption of a bodily appearance of the devil.

We feel conscious that this opinion can find no favor in the eyes of those who despise the doctrine of a personality of the Evil One as a superstition of the middle ages. But we cannot join with them, since we are thoroughly persuaded that very many scruples against the biblical demonology proceed from exaggeration or misunderstanding. That Jesus and the apostles did speak of a personal evil spirit and of his operations, is subject to no doubt, and that in this they accommodated themselves to a superstitious popular fancy, is wholly without proof. If any one, philosophically reasoning, persists in seeing in their expressions only the personification of an abstract idea, let him look to it how he can answer for it; but let him not at all events impose this conception on Jesus and the apostles. Never is Rationalism weaker than when it seeks to vindicate itself exegetically. That the old demonology did not receive its fuller development among the Jews until after the Babylonian captivity, we must no doubt concede; but so far is it from being of Chaldean and Persian origin, that, on the other hand, it distinguishes itself in essence and character from this and every dualistic theory, intended to explain the riddle of sin. That even in higher regions of the spiritual world freedom has been misused to sin, is as far from being unreasonable as is the conception that the fallen angels unite with a high degree of intellectual development a deep moral degeneracy. Both facts are daily to be seen among men, and whoever is willing to believe in personal good angels, but not in a personal Satan, is thoroughly inconsistent. The possibility of a direct working of the Evil One upon the spirit of the Lord, admits of being opposed neither with psychological nor with scriptural arguments. Its intention could be no other than to bring Him to a fall, and thus to frustrate the work of Redemption, and its permission by the Father can seem strange to no one who understands what this means: “Though He were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered!”

And He did eat nothing in those days.—A comparison with Mat_11:18 shows, that it is not indispensably necessary to understand such an expression of an entire abstinence from all food. “He might have been able, as well as John, to partake of locusts and wild honey without essentially annulling the fast.” (Lange.) On the other hand, however, nothing hinders us from understanding this fasting of the Lord in its strictest sense. If there are examples of an uncommonly long fasting, even in men whose physical and psychical development has been disturbed by sin, how much more conceivable is it with Him whose bodily organism had been weakened by no sin, whose soul, more than that of any one, could control the flesh and constrain it to obedience. Immediately after such a fast, hunger must necessarily have made itself felt with unexampled power; and undoubtedly by the abstinence from bodily nourishment, the susceptibility of the soul to the influence of the Prince of Darkness, and the combat with him, was not a little heightened. According to Matthew and Luke, the hunger makes itself felt not in the course of the forty lays, but only at the end of them.

Luk_4:3. If Thou be the Son of God command.—The voice of the evil spirit evidently links itself with the remembrances of the heavenly voice at the Jordan. Here also, is the devil a Simia Dei, since he permits an echo of the word of truth to be heard.—This stone, τῷ λίθῳ τούτῳ, more δεικτικῶς, than in Matthew, who retains his ordinary plural, οἱ λίθοι οὗτοι, in an oratio indirecta. The point of attachment for the temptation is partly the exalted self-consciousness, partly the painful necessity of the Lord; the purpose of the temptation, to have Him use His miraculous power for the satisfaction of His own necessity.

Luk_4:4. That man shall not live by bread alone.—In Matthew the citation, Deu_8:3, is quoted more fully, and moreover from the LXX. We need not deny that the Lord uses the declaration in a somewhat different sense from that in which Moses means it; nor is there any reason for referring the appellation “Man” exclusively or principally to the Messiah. In a divinely free manner He uses the word of Scripture to indicate that man, even without the use of bread, may behold his life lengthened and sustained by any means whatever of which God may avail Himself to strengthen his bodily energies. In other words: God does not need His miraculous power in order to allay painful hunger. For that He possesses innumerable means, and the Son will await the way which the Father may please to use.

Luk_4:5. Taking Him up into a high mountain.—As already remarked, Luke assigns to the third and severest temptation the middle place. “Matthœus eo temporis ordine describit assultus, quo facti sunt, Lucas gradationem observat in locis, it describit desertum, montem, templum. Quœ ordinis non modo innoxia sed etiam salubris varietas, argumento est, non alterum Evangelistam ab altero scripsisse” (Bengel). The difficulty, however, which the narrative of Luk_5:8 offers, according to the Recepta, namely, that the Lord, after He had recognized and unmasked the Evil One, can yet admit for the third time discourse with him; this difficulty vanishes if we assume, with Tischendorf and others, that the words, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” are here spurious, and have been transferred from the parallel passage in Matthew.

Showed unto Him.—Of course, ἐν πνεύματι, not one after the other, but all together, ἐν ῥιπῆ ὀφθαλμοῦ, 1Co_15:52.

All the kingdoms of the world.—Not the Jewish land, but the heathen world surrounding it and extending beyond the sight, which is several times spoken of in the New Testament as subject to the prince of this world, while Jehovah is the head of the theocratic state. Besides this, it deserves consideration that the address of Satan to the Lord on this occasion is communicated by Luke somewhat more at length than by Matthew.

For it has been committed to me, etc.—A paraphrase of the preceding words for the benefit and edification of Theophilus and other readers, who were unacquainted or little acquainted with the demonology of the Jews.

Luk_4:7. If Thou, therefore, wilt fall down before me.—We need not here understand an actually idolatrous adoration. It is sufficient if we understand it of an Oriental homage which is often rendered to mighty monarchs, Mat_2:2. As the first temptation is addressed to sensual appetite, this is addressed to the craving for the possession of kingly dignity, upon which the Messiah is conscious of being assuredly able to reckon. The temptation lies in the alternative; dominion without conflict on the one hand, bloody strife on the other, against the might of darkness, if its alluring voice should be repelled. The lie which is at the bottom of the arrogant promise of the tempter (“to me is it committed,” etc.), is truly Satanic; but it is this very arrogance of demand which enables the Lord (Matt.) to know with whom He is striving in this moment, and He has at once the “ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου” ready against Satan, in that He yet again hurls upon him a decisive word of the Scripture.

Luk_4:8. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, Deu_6:13.—According to the LXX., with a variation of προσκυνήσεις instead of φοβηθήση, on account of the preceding words of Satan. The Lord does not only publicly express the monotheistic principle, but shows at the same time that He will rather dispense with all the kingdoms of the world, however by right they belong to Him, than obtain them in an unlawful way. His answer is a declaration of war; His rejection of the homage He paid for with His life; and so repulsed, Satan could not return the third time. Before it came to this pass, however, that he retreated, still another temptation took place previously; according to Matthew’s accurate account, the second, which, however, Luke relates as the third.

Luk_4:9. And he brought Him to Jerusalem.—Although in itself it is very probable that the Lord, during this period, spent a single day, κατὰσάρκα, at Jerusalem (Lange), it nevertheless appears more probable to us that He did not in body leave the wilderness at all before the combat was quite ended. Before the inner consciousness of the Lord, it was, without doubt, as if He stood upon the πτερύγιον, and as respects the ability of the Evil One to transport Him in spirit to a place so entirely different, we may well call to mind the expression of Gregory: “Nil mirum est, si Christus a Diabolo se permisit circumduci, qui a membris illius se perrhisit crucifigi.”

On the pinnacle of the temple, not ναοῦ, but ̔εροῦ.—The access to the κορυφή was apparently permitted to no one but the priests and Levites alone, but nothing hinders us from understanding one of the accessory buildings, whose pinnacle constituted a sort of cornice (ἀκρωτήριον), and of which Josephus also relates that from it one could throw a look that made him dizzy, into an incalculable depth (Ant. Jud. xv. 15, 11). It is true, if any one cast himself down there he would not descend before the eyes of the citizens of the city, but in the obscure vale of Kedron. But the promise, moreover, is precisely this, that in falling He should not reach the bottom, but in His fall should be held up by the angels, and doubtless be brought into the midst of the astonished inhabitants of the city and frequenters of the temple, who a moment before had seen him, with shuddering terror, upon the eminence.

Luk_4:10. For it is written, He shall give.—“The devil can quote Scripture for his purpose.” And this time he combats the Lord with His own weapons. The passage, Psa_91:11-12, is not Messianic (Usteri), but speaks of the saints in general, and the devil leaves the Lord to draw a conclusion a minori ad majus from the safety of the saints to that of the Messiah, the chief favorite of God. By a literal interpretation of the figurative utterance he tempts the Lord to work a miracle of display, not upon the heart and conscience but upon the imagination of the people, and thus in a few moments to bring about an extraordinary success. This time he works not upon the desire of enjoyment or possession, but of honor and elevation. Now it will undoubtedly have to be shown, whether the Lord really believes the word of the Scripture with which He has already repeatedly defended Himself. He is tempted on the side of that same believing confidence which has just held Him back from turning stones into bread, and the greatness of His triumph consists in this, that He at once discovers the just limit that separates confidence and presumption.

Luk_4:12. And Jesus answering.—The Lord answers a third time with a word of Scripture, out of Deut. (6:16), still more striking in Matt., πάλιν γέγραπται, rursus. The word of the law which He mentions contains no contradiction of the devil’s quotation from the Psalm, but a rectification of the misuse which the Evil One had made of it. Apart from the special signification of the utterance for the Israelitish people (on occasion of the strife at Marah, Exo_17:2) the Lord gives him to feel that whoever throws himself uncalled into danger in the hope that God will deliver him, displays no heroic courage of faith, but commits an act of presumptuous folly.

Luk_4:13. And when the devil had ended all the temptation.—The coming and ministration of the angels is to be supplied from Matthew and Mark. See, as to this, Lange, Matthew, p. 86. Without doubt, it is in the spirit of the narration if we conceive to ourselves these as invisible witnesses of the combat and triumph of Jesus. (Comp. 1Co_4:9.) While they, soon after the departing of Satan from Him, serve Him whether spiritually or bodily. (Comp. 1Ki_19:5.)

Until a season.—It is a very significant intimation for the apprehension of the whole history of the temptation which Luke gives us in these concluding words. Unwittingly he gives us occasion in these forty days to see not only the beginning but also the type of the different temptations which were perpetually returning for the God-man. Without doubt he has regard, moreover, particularly to the time when Satan entered into Judas (Luk_22:3) and the whole power of darkness rose against the Suffering One. Yet he may also have thought on the activity of the Evil One in opposing the Lord previously to this. Comp. Luk_10:18; Luk_13:16; Luk_22:31.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. The history of the temptation in the wilderness constitutes partly the end of the history of the hidden, partly the beginning of the history of the public life of Jesus. The silence of John respecting this event, proves nothing against the truth of the narrative of the Synoptics. Had none of those uttered a word of a tentatio a Diabolo, the believer himself, who sees in Christ the God-man, and assumes the reality of a kingdom of darkness over against the kingdom of Heaven, would of himself have come to the supposition that a life and working such as that of the Lord could not possibly have begun without such a preceding inward conflict. Of what kind this conflict was is now communicated to us by his witnesses in a way which leaves us no other choice, than here either to understand it as one of the σεσοφισμέοοι μῦθοι, whose origin, on historical Christian ground, an apostle of the Lord denies (2Pe_1:16), or to believe that Jesus Himself instructed His disciples in reference to this remarkable event of His inner life. For us the latter admits of no controversy, and thus is the inquiry as to the source of the historical narrative answered in a satisfactory manner. But at the same time it is self-evident that the Lord could not communicate to His friends in reference to what took place in the wilderness more than they were in a condition to bear. Joh_16:12. Without doubt, therefore, He clothed His narrative in a form which was calculated for their receptivity and their necessity, and there remains to us the privilege of distinguishing carefully between the fact itself and the peculiar way in which it was represented by Him and has been described by them. Here, also, does the utterance, Joh_6:63, hold good.

2. The fact now, which can be derived with sufficient certainty from the different narrations, is apparently this: 1. At the beginning of His course, the Saviour was exposed to temptations to act in direct opposition to the high principles to which He showed Himself faithful through life. 2. These temptations were directly occasioned by the Prince of this world, who wished to bring the second Adam, like the first, to apostasy, in order thus to destroy the work of redemption. 3. The Lord, with clear consciousness and steadfastness, combatted these temptations with the sword of the Spirit (Eph_6:17), and left the field of conflict without a single wound. 4. The Victor, as a sign of the Father’s approbation, was served by the angels of heaven and received their homage.—Every explanation of the history of the temptation which acknowledges what is essential in these great elements of it, deserves from the Christian point of view to be admitted and weighed. In respect to the external side of the fact (the condition of the Lord, the manner of the temptation, the locality, etc.), it will, perhaps, never be possible to find an explanation which satisfactorily resolves all difficulties. Yet this is of less consequence if only the inner significance of the above named facts remains acknowledged, and these, themselves, are not assailed.

3. The history of the temptation throws the brightest light upon the person of the Lord. On the one hand, we learn to know Him here from His own word (Luk_4:4) as a man like His brethren in all things (Heb_2:17); on the other hand, Satan himself proclaims Him as God’s Son (Luk_4:3), and this time, at least, has the father of lies become a witness of the truth. The true humanity of the Lord reveals itself not less in the hunger which He feels than in His capacity of being tempted. His divine majesty shows itself in the manner in which He combats, in the victory which He achieves, in the crown which He wins.

4. Dogmatics has in the treatment of the history of the temptation, the difficult problem, on the one hand, to regard the Lord as truly tempted, so that the temptations do not glide from Him as something merely external, as water from a rock, without making any impression upon His sensibility; on the other hand, to vindicate the word of the apostolic writer, χωρὶς ἁμαρτίας (Heb_4:15). That both the one and the other, are impossible, if an absolute non potuit peccare is asserted of the Lord, is self-evident. The ἀναμαρτησία of the Lord by no means excluded the possibility of sinning; but on the other hand consisted in this, that He, filled with boundless abhorrence of sin, combatted and overcame it under whatever form it might show itself. Only the Father is ἀπεὶραστος κακῶν (Jam_1:13), but the Logos, once entered within the bounds of finite humanity, comes through his ὁμοίωμα σαρκὸς ἀμαρτίας (Rom_8:13) into personal contact with sin. Like every true man, the Lord had a sensuous perception of the pleasant and the unpleasant. For this feeling natural enjoyment must have been preferable to want, honor to shame, riches to poverty, life to death. Upon this feeling the might of temptation works, and whoever in this of itself could already find something sinful, would have to prefer an accusation against God, who originally so constituted our human nature. He would, moreover, be obliged to consider the first man as a sinner born, for in the very commandment of probation and in the added threatening (Gen_2:16-17) the existence of this feeling is presupposed. Every representation by which there is ascribed to the Lord even a minimum of the peccatum originale (Irving) is condemned by the Christian consciousness in the most decided manner.

5. On the other hand, the potuit non peccare, can and must, be vindicated here as vigorously as the realiter non peccavit. He did not awaken the conception of what was evil, of Himself within Himself, but it came from without to Him through the operation of another spirit upon His own. This would have amounted to an inward sin only in the case that the Lord’s will had inclined a moment to practise that which He had learned to know as morally evil. That the three thoughts: to work a miracle for Himself; to work upon the people through outward display; and to attain earthly dominion—considered altogether for itself and as yet without reference to God’s will—had something attractive for His delicate and pure moral sense, is so little to be denied that the opposite, in a true man, would scarcely be conceivable. It lay in the very nature of the case that such conceptions at this moment must produce upon the spirit and sensibility of the Lord a double impression. Why should He otherwise have at once reached out for a weapon with which to combat the enemy? But here we could speak of sin, only in case that the desire for evil had really been awakened, that the wish to be able to give an ear to the Evil One had come up in His sensibility. But of this we perceive no trace. The temptation comes before His eyes in its most alluring colors; He has a living sense of all that it possesses which is attractive; He reflects that He might be able to succumb, yet instantaneously He repels it from Him as something foreign and unhallowed. It places itself before His imagination, but finds no point of attachment in His will; it works upon the ψυχή, yet before this can be stained the tempter is already conquered through the πνεῦμα.

Two examples for a more particular elucidation. There was as yet no sin when Eve saw that the forbidden tree had its attraction, nor yet when the permission to eat of this tree appeared to her desirable, so long, that is, as she was considering this act without any relation to the prohibition that had been received; only when in unconscious and conscious conflict with the commandment the actual desire rose in her mind, and she was filled with dissatisfaction at the commandment, did sin then creep into her heart, even before she had stretched out her hand after the apple.—It was as yet no sin that the Lord in Gethsemane exhibited a natural dread of death, a natural longing for life; no sin as yet that He in the immediate presence of death, and in the consciousness of being able to escape it, had a double sense of the worth of life, nor was it even as yet any sin that He prayed and wished that the cup might pass from Him: only if He had allowed this wish to prevail contrary to the will of God, after He had clearly perceived this will; if the resolution to submit Himself to God’s recognized will had been preceded by reluctance and conflict; if, in a word, not His deed but His will even had then moved in another direction from God’s will, then would the Man of Sorrows have been also a child of sin.

6. The temptations here vanquished perpetually returned in the public life of the Lord. The first, e.g., Mat_27:40; the second, Joh_7:3-4; the third, Joh_6:14. It cannot surprise us that the Lord, therefore, saw in the entreaty of Peter, Mat_16:22, a Satanic back-ground. To whichever of these temptations He had given a hearing, still either His perfect obedience or His perfect love of man would have been stained, and herewith His perfect capability of being a Redeemer of sinners would have been annihilated.

7. The history of the temptation throws light upon the work of the Lord. We learn here to recognize this as a work that was given Him by the Father Himself to do, which He entered upon with clear self-consciousness, which was preceded by severe conflict, and which was directed entirely to destroying the works of the devil. 1Jn_3:9. In His perfect obedience, the second Adam, He here stands over against the first as the Restorer of the Paradise which Adam lost by his sin. “Adam fell in Paradise and made it a wilderness; Christ conquered in a wilderness and made it a paradise, where the beasts lost their savageness and the angels abode.” (Olshausen.)

8. The threefold temptation of Jesus is the symbol and type of the temptations against which every Christian has to strive. 1Jn_2:16. First temptation =the lust of the flesh; the second =the lust of the eye; the third =pride, of which John says: “It is not of the Father, but of the world.”

9. The temptation of Jesus as it repeats itself, as well in His own life as in the lives of His people, was, on the other hand, in a certain sense adumbrated in the temptations and trials of the most eminent men of God under the ancient covenant. (Joseph, Job, David, and others.) It lies in the nature of the case, that in proportion as one is placed on a higher eminence in the kingdom of God, he is also exposed to severer temptations. It is remarkable that almost at the same time with this temptation of the Lord a similar temptation encountered His Forerunner. See Lange, Leben Jesu, p. 451 ff.

10. The origin of all these temptations, and very especially of the temptation of Jesus, was the working of the devil. The history of His temptation may be called a striking revelation of the existence, the might, the laws, and the working of the kingdom of darkness. The existence of this kingdom of the personal Evil One, is not revealed by the Holy God. It reveals itself in facts like these. It is here shown that there is an Evil Spirit, an enemy of God, and of His kingdom. He knows Christ and hates Him. He uses the Scripture and perverts it; to lead astray is his joy, and lying is his power; God’s word the only weapon that vanquishes him. It is noticeable how the most exalted moments of development for the kingdom of God have been at all times accompanied by an intenser reaction of the kingdom of darkness. Where the history of mankind begins, there the father of lies shows himself. When Israel is about to become a theocratic people, he imitates the miracles of Moses through the Egyptian sorcerers; when the Son of God appears in the flesh, He increases the number of the δαιμονι ζόμενοι, and seeks to bring Him Himself to apostasy; and when the last development of the kingdom of God approaches, there does he rage most vehemently because his time is short. Rev_20:7.

11. With the best right, at all times, has the Saviour’s “It is written” been considered as one of the strongest proofs for the divine authority of the Holy Scripture. The Christian who regards the whole Bible with the eye with which the Lord viewed the Old Testament, cannot possibly restrict the rule which He gave on another occasion, ὅτι οὐ δύναται λνθῆναι ἡ γραφὴ. Joh_10:35. It is remarkable, moreover, of what high importance even those parts of Scripture can be, which to us, superficially considered, appear less important for Christian life and faith. All three citations of the Lord are taken from one book (Deuteronomy), and yet the word of God, out of this one book, is for Him enough to put the Devil and his power to flight. 1Co_12:22-23, holds good, also, of the organic whole of the Scripture.

12. In the inquiry respecting the historical reality of the angelophanies in the life of the Lord, we must above all not overlook their infrequeney, which affords the strongest argument against an invention. From the settlement of the child in Nazareth we have met no angels on His way, and after this appearance we shall not see them in visible form again before the night of Gethsemane falls. Would a writer of myths have been able to content himself with so little? But if now, after the decisive ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου had been addressed to Satan, no angels had appeared, we should almost have had occasion to doubt the reality of their existence. Comp. Lange, Gospel of Matthew, p. 86: Jésus tenté au desert, trois méditations par Ad. Monod, Paris, 1854.

13. An eminent work of art, setting forth the history of the temptation in a genuine Protestant spirit, has proceeded from Ary Scheffer.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The history of the temptation offers for homiletical treatment peculiar difficulties, which are easier to feel than to avoid. It is certainly easier to point out how it must not, than how it must be, handled suitably for the edification of the church. On the whole, a sharp separation of the exegetico-critical and the practico-ascetical element is to be commended, and the counsel of the apostle, 2Ti_2:23, must not be lost out of mind. Superficial criticism of opposing opinions is in the pulpit as superfluous as an extended defence of personal views. Where there is strife the Devil comes into the midst of the children of God. Job_1:6. It will be best to leave the disputable points in a sacred obscurity and to keep to that which is clear and evident. To those who, in reference to the New Testament demonology, stand on a sceptical or negative position, the treatment of this material is least of all to be commended. They have, if they cannot withhold themselves from it, at least to take heed that they advance no principles by which the expression of the Christian self-consciousness in reference to the absolute sinlessness and purity of the Lord shall be in the least wounded. On the whole, if one is disposed to treat the entire narrative altogether, it will perhaps be best to consider it either as an image of the conflict which the Lord had to sustain His life long, or as a type of the spiritual conflict to which every believer in His name is called. That, nevertheless, both in the whole narrative, as well as in its particular parts, there lies a rich treasure of thoughts homiletically serviceable, may be seen from the following hints.

From the Jordan of glorification to the wilderness of temptation. This is the way of God; as with Christ, so with the Christian; and, moreover: 1. An old, and yet an ever new; 2. a hard, and yet a good; 3. a dark, and yet a light; 4. a lonesome, and yet a blessed way.—The temptations which follow a Christian, even into solitude.—Christian fasting in its opposition: 1. To Judaizing fasting, which sees in abstinence from food something in itself meritorious; 2. to heathenish wantonness, which says: “Let us eat and drink, for,” etc.; again, 3. to the ultramontane: “Touch not, taste not, handle not;” 4. to the ultra-Protestant: πάντα ἔξεστιν, but without the limiting οὐ πάντα συμφέρει.—Doubt of the truth of God’s word the first way to sin; Song of Solomon , 1. In Paradise, Gen_3:2; so here, Luk_4:3; Luke 3. so always.—The temptation to misuse, ever united with the possession of peculiar power.—The unpermitted ways of providing one’s bread.—“It is written” (γέγραπται), the sword of the Spirit: 1. How beautifully it glitters; 2. how deeply it wounds; 3. how decisively it triumphs.—Man lives not by bread alone; he cannot, he may not, he need not.—God can in all manner of ways remove the need of His own.—The dangerous mountain heights in the spiritual life.—The Evil One, the prince of this world: 1. Extent; 2. limits of his might.—Never does Satan lie more outrageously than when he promises.—The worship of the Devil in its more refined forms: 1. How old it Isaiah 2. how richly it appears to reward; 3. how miserably it ends.—To worship the Lord and serve Him alone: 1. A difficult; 2. a holy; 3. a blessed requirement.—Even the sanctuary is no asylum against severe and renewed temptation.—The Lord of the temple upon the pinnacle of the temple and—upon the brink of the abyss.—The highest standpoints border on the deepest abysses.—The Devil also a Doctor of Divinity.—The misuse of Holy Scripture: 1. In many ways the letter used as a weapon to combat the spirit; a poetical word as a weapon to contest the requirement of the law; an Old Testament declaration as a weapon to combat a declaration of the New Testament; 2. dangerous, because the word of Scripture, in and of itself, is holy, finds an echo in the spirit, and is used with so much craft; to be vanquished only by a right, that is, an intelligent, persevering searching of the Scriptures, prompted by the longing for salvation.—No angels’ help to be expected for him that would tempt God.—The ministration of angels to the saints: 1. How far to be expected; 2. how far not.—What is it to tempt God? Why is this sin so great? How is this sin best avoided?—When the Scripture is used believingly, wisely, and perseveringly, there must the Devil at last give way.—When the Devil gives way, it is still always “for a season;” every time he comes back in order: 1. To mislead; but also, 2. to be combatted; and, 3. to be conquered anew.—The angels come to serve Him who has refused their help when it would tempt God.—The noblest triumphs over the kingdom of darkness are celebrated in secret.—Heaven is a sympathizing witness of the conflict carried on on earth.—God permits no one to be tempted above his power of resistance, but gives with the temptation the way of escape. 1Co_10:13.

Starke:—Whoever gives himself to be guided by God’s spirit, like Christ, comes, it is true, into temptation; but yet he also comes out again.—Satan seeks in particular to make God’s children doubtful of their being his children.—The weapons of Christ and His Christians are not carnal, but yet mighty before God.—The glory and joy of the world is brief and momentary:—When the Devil is not ashamed to lie to Christ’s face, of what, then, is he to be ashamed?—Osiander:—Whoever, to obtain honor and happiness, professes a strange religion, worships the Devil.—Nova Bibl. Wirt.:—The Devil is a lofty-seeming spirit; let us, in the might of God, destroy all high things, and in the low valleys of humility be quiet and still.—The Devil can, it is true, strongly draw saints toward sin, but not constrain them by force; persuadere potest, precipitare non potest.—Jerome:—The Scripture is the only rule and standard of our faith and life; to that let us cleave. Psa_119:105.—As Satan continually comes back, so does God come ever back to help us.

Stier:—How the threefold tempter of the wilderness repeats himself with added strength in the passion.—Rautenberg:—Christ is tempted even as we, yet without sin. This word is: 1. A light for our blindness; 2. a spur for our slackness; 3. a staff for our weakness.—Bachmann:—The temptation of Jesus was a temptation: 1. To doubt of God; 2. to presuming upon God; 3. to apostasy from God’s word.—Oettinger:—In the kingdom of God there is: 1. No spiritual consecration without spiritual trials; 2. no spiritual trials without spiritual weapons; 3. no spiritual weapons without spiritual victory.—Arndt:—The temptation of the Lord: 1. Its character; 2. its importance so far as it is set forth, (a) representatively, (b) figuratively, for us.—Fuchs:—The means to a victory over the temptations of the Devil: 1. Watch continually, in every place; 2. watch and pray evermore; 3. use diligently God’s word.—Van Oosterzee:—The temptation in the wilderness the image of the conflict of the Christian life: 1. The temptation; 2. the enemy, 3. the attack; 4. the weapon; 5. the victory; 6. the crown. Finally, the question: If you fight against Christ, how can you still have courage, if you fight under Christ, how can you still be anxious?—The three temptations of the Lord: that in the morning, the noon, the evening of life. Sensuality especially the sin of the youth, ambition especially that of the man, avarice especially that of the old man. Whoever has overcome the first of these three temptations must count upon the second, whoever sees the second behind him will soon be covertly approached by the third. But in these all, we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Over against forty days’ temptation in the first stand the forty days’ peace and joy in the second life of the Lord.

Footnotes:

[1]Luk_4:2.—The adverb is wanting in Codd. B., D., L., [Cod. Sin.], etc., and probably is to be expunged as by Lachmann, Tischendorf and Meyer, because apparently inserted from the parallel passage, Mat_4:2.

[2]Luk_4:4.—Van Oosterzee omits the clause, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ παντὶ ῥήματι Θεοῦ, supported by Tischendorf, but against Lachmann and Meyer. Meyer remarks that “it is supported by almost all the old versions and fathers, and that, if it had been inserted from Mat_4:4, would as a vox solennis have doubtless been more precisely like that passage.” Alford omits it, Tregelles brackets it. Cod. B. and Cod. Sin. both omit it.—C. C. S.]

[3]Luk_4:5.—Text. rec.: εἰς ὅρος ὑψηλόν. The genuineness of this reading is at least doubtful [omitted by Codd. B., L., Cod. Sin.], and to be regarded as a paraphrastic emendation from Mat_4:8, and is therefore omitted by Tischendorf, [Tregelles, Alford, and defended by Meyer, with reason, as absolutely necessary in the text.—C. C. S.]

[4]Luk_4:8.—Text. rec.: Ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου, σατανᾶ. Apparently an interpolation from Mat_4:10. At least it is wanting in Codd. B., D., L., [Cod. Sin.], most versions, and in fathers of authority, and is moreover a serious (and, at the same time, critically suspicious) obstacle to the harmony of the evangelical narratives.

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luke

THE TEMPTATION

Luk 4:1 - Luk 4:13.

If we adopt the Revised Version’s reading and rendering, the whole of the forty days in the desert were one long assault of Jesus by Satan, during which the consciousness of bodily needs was suspended by the intensity of spiritual conflict. Exhaustion followed this terrible tension, and the enemy chose that moment of physical weakness to bring up his strongest battalions. What a contrast these days made with the hour of the baptism! And yet both the opened heavens and the grim fight were needful parts of Christ’s preparation. As true man, He could be truly tempted; as perfect man, suggestions of evil could not arise within, but must be presented from without. He must know our temptations if He is to help us in them, and He must ‘first bind the strong man’ if He is afterwards ‘to spoil his house.’ It is useless to discuss whether the tempter appeared in visible form, or carried Jesus from place to place. The presence and voice were real, though probably if any eye had looked on, nothing would have been seen but the solitary Jesus, sitting still in the wilderness.

I. The first temptation is that of the Son of man tempted to distrust God.

Long experience had taught the tempter that his most taking baits were those which appealed to the appetites and needs of the body, and so he tries these first. The run of men are drawn to sin by some form or other of these, and the hunger of Jesus laid Him open to their power-if not on the side of delights of sense, yet on the side of wants. The tempter quotes the divine voice at the baptism with almost a sneer, as if the hungry, fainting Man before him were a strange ‘Son of God.’ The suggestion sounds innocent enough; for there would have been no necessary harm in working a miracle to feed Himself. But its evil is betrayed by the words, ‘If Thou art the Son of God,’ and the answer of our Lord, which begins emphatically with ‘man,’ puts us on the right track to understand why He repelled the insidious proposal even while He was faint with hunger. To yield to it would have been to shake off for His own sake the human conditions which He had taken for our sakes, and to seek to cease to be Son of man in acting as Son of God. He takes no notice of the title given by Satan, but falls back on His brotherhood with man, and accepts the laws under which they live as His conditions.

The quotation from Deuteronomy, which Luke gives in a less complete form than Matthew, implies, even in that incomplete form, that bread is not the only means of keeping a man in life, but that God can feed Him, as He did Israel in its desert life, with manna; or, if manna fails, by the bare exercise of His divine will. Therefore Jesus will not use His power as Son of God, because to do so would at once take Him out of His fellowship with man, and would betray His distrust of God’s power to feed Him there in the desert. How soon His confidence was vindicated Matthew tells us. As soon as the devil departed from Him, ‘angels came and ministered unto Him.’ The soft rush of their wings brought solace to His spirit, wearied with struggle, and once again ‘man did eat angels’ food.’

This first temptation teaches us much. It makes the manhood of our Lord pathetically true, as showing Him bearing the prosaic but terrible pinch of hunger, carried almost to its fatal point. It teaches us how innocent and necessary wants may be the devil’s levers to overturn our souls. It warns us against severing ourselves from our fellows by the use of distinctive powers for our own behoof. It sets forth humble reliance on God’s sustaining will as best for us, even if we are in the desert, where, according to sense, we must starve; and it magnifies the Brother’s love, who for our sakes waived the prerogatives of the Son of God, that He might be the brother of the poor and needy.

II. The second temptation is that of the Messiah, tempted to grasp His dominion by false means.

The devil finds that he must try a subtler way. Foiled on the side of the physical nature, he begins to apprehend that he has to deal with One loftier than the mass of men; and so he brings out the glittering bait, which catches the more finely organised natures. Where sense fails, ambition may succeed. There is nothing said now about ‘Son of God.’ The relation of Jesus to God is not now the point of attack, but His hoped-for relation to the world. Did Satan actually transport the body of Jesus to some eminence? Probably not. It would not have made the vision of all the kingdoms any more natural if he had. The remarkable language ‘showed . . . all . . . in a moment of time’ describes a physical impossibility, and most likely is meant to indicate some sort of diabolic phantasmagoria, flashed before Christ’s consciousness, while His eyes were fixed on the silent, sandy waste.

There is much in Scripture that seems to bear out the boast that the kingdoms are at Satan’s disposal. But he is ‘the father of lies’ as well as the ‘prince of this world,’ and we may be very sure that his authority loses nothing in his telling. If we think how many thrones have been built on violence and sustained by crime, how seldom in the world’s history the right has been uppermost, and how little of the fear of God goes to the organisation of society, even to-day, in so-called Christian countries, we shall be ready to feel that in this boast the devil told more truth than we like to believe. Note that he acknowledges that the power has been ‘given,’ and on the fact of the delegation of it rests the temptation to worship. He knew that Jesus looked forward to becoming the world’s King, and he offers easy terms of winning the dignity. Very cunning he thought himself, but he had made one mistake. He did not know what kind of kingdom Jesus wished to establish. If it had been one of the bad old pattern, like Nebuchadnezzar’s or Caesar’s, his offer would have been tempting, but it had no bearing on One who meant to reign by love, and to win love by loving to the death.

Worshipping the devil could only help to set up a devil’s kingdom. Jesus wanted nothing of the ‘glory’ which had been ‘given’ him. His answer, again taken from Deuteronomy, is His declaration that His kingdom is a kingdom of obedience, and that He will only reign as God’s representative. It defines His own position and the genius of His dominion. It would come to the tempter’s ears as the broken law, which makes his misery and turns all his ‘glory’ into ashes. This is our Lord’s decisive choice, at the outset of His public work, of the path of suffering and death. He renounces all aid from such arts and methods as have built up the kingdoms of earth, and presents Himself as the antagonist of Satan and his dominion. Henceforth it is war to the knife.

For us the lessons are plain. We have to learn what sort of kingdom Jesus sets up. We have to beware, in our own little lives, of ever seeking to accomplish good things by questionable means, of trying to carry on Christ’s work with the devil’s weapons. When churches lower the standard of Christian morality, because keeping it up would alienate wealthy or powerful men, when they wink hard at sin which pays, when they enlist envy, jealousy, emulation of the baser sort in the service of religious movements, are they not worshipping Satan? And will not their gains be such as he can give, and not such as Christ’s kingdom grows by? Let us learn, too, to adore and be thankful for the calm and fixed decisiveness with which Jesus chose from the beginning, and trod until the end, with bleeding but unreluctant feet, the path of suffering on His road to His throne.

III. The third temptation tempts the worshipping Son to tempt God.

Luke arranges the temptations partly from a consideration of locality, the desert and the mountain being near each other, and partly in order to bring out a certain sequence in them. First comes the appeal to the physical nature, then that to the finer desires of the mind; and these having been repelled, and the resolve to worship God having been spoken by Jesus, Luke’s third temptation is addressed to the devout soul, as it looks to the cunning but shallow eyes of the tempter. Matthew, on the other hand, in accordance with his point of view, puts the specially Messianic temptation last. The actual order is as undiscoverable as unimportant. In Luke’s order there is substantially but one change of place-from the solitude of the wilderness to the Temple. As we have said, the change was probably not one of the Lord’s body, but only of the scenes flashed before His mind’s eye. ‘The pinnacle of the Temple’ may have been the summit that looked down into the deep valley where the enormous stones of the lofty wall still stand, and which must have been at a dizzy height above the narrow glen on the one side and the Temple courts on the other. There is immense, suppressed rage and malignity in the recurrence of the sneer, ‘If Thou art the Son of God’ and in the use of Christ’s own weapon of defence, the quotation of Scripture.

What was wrong in the act suggested? There is no reference to the effect on the beholders, as has often been supposed; and if we are correct in supposing that the whole temptation was transacted in the desert, there could be none. But plainly the point of it was the suggestion that Jesus should, of His own accord and needlessly, put Himself in danger, expecting God to deliver Him. It looked like devout confidence; it was really ‘tempting God’. It looked like the very perfection of the trust with which, in the first round of this duel, Christ had conquered; it was really distrust, as putting God to proof whether He would keep His promises or no. It looked like the very perfection of that worship with which He had overcome in the second round of the fight; it wag really self-will in the mask of devoutness. It tempted God, because it sought to draw Him to fulfil to a man on self-chosen paths His promises to those who walk in ways which He has appointed.

We trust God when we look to Him to deliver us in perils met in meek acceptance of His will. We tempt Him when we expect Him to save us from those encountered on roads that we have picked oat for ourselves. Such presumption disguised as filial trust is the temptation besetting the higher regions of experience, to which the fumes of animal passions and the less gross but more dangerous airs from the desires of the mind do not ascend. Religious men who have conquered these have still this foe to meet. Spiritual pride, the belief that we may venture into dangers either to our natural or to our religious life, where no call of duty takes us, the thrusting ourselves, unbidden, into circumstances where nothing but a miracle can save us-these are the snares which Satan lays for souls that have broken his coarser nets. The three answers with which Jesus overcame are the mottoes by which we shall conquer. Trust God, by whose will we live. Worship God, in whose service we get all of this world that is good for us. Tempt not God, whose angels keep us in our ways, when they are His ways, and who reckons trust that is not submission to His ways to be tempting God, and not trusting Him.

‘All the temptation’ was ended. So these three made a complete whole, and the quiver of the enemy was for the time empty. He departed ‘for a season,’ or rather, until an opportunity. He was foiled when he tried to tempt by addressing desires. His next assault will be at Gethsemane and Calvary, when dread and the shrinking from pain and death will be assailed as vainly.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CHAPTER 4

CHAPTER 4:1-13

1. The Temptation in the Wilderness. (Luk 4:1-12.)

2. The Devil Defeated. (Luk 4:13.)

Luk 4:1-13

What interests us most is the different order in which the three temptations of the Lord are reported by Luke. The second temptation the devil brings to bear upon Him (in the high mountain) is the last in the Gospel of Matthew. Why did Luke change the order and put the second temptation last and the last temptation into the second place? Matthew gives, no doubt, the correct order. The Lord’s word to Satan, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” proves this. (These words must be omitted in the 8th verse. They are not found in the best manuscripts.) The order in Luke corresponds to the nature of man. Man is composed of Body, Soul and Spirit. The first temptation concerns the body; the second the soul, and the third the spirit. The temptations man has to go through in life are clearly seen here. In youth it is the lust of the flesh; in manhood the lust of the eyes, to possess and to enjoy; in old age the pride of life. The change in the order is made to correspond to this. But “the holy thing,” the holy Son of God, had nothing in Him which could ever respond to this trinity of evil. He did not sin, nor could He ever Sin. The devil departed from Him for a season.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Temptation of Christ. Luk 4:1-13

The first temptation:

v. 1. And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

v. 2. being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days He did eat nothing; and when they were ended, He afterward hungered.

v. 3. And the devil said unto Him, If Thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

v. 4. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

Jesus had received the gift of the Holy Ghost at His baptism in extraordinary measure, Heb 1:9. He was not merely enlightened by Him, but, like a vessel, He was full of the Spirit; also according to His human nature, all His thoughts and actions were directed by the Spirit’s wonderful power. Not that Christ lost His identity and became a mere puppet, but that He worked with the Spirit that filled Him in full harmony in the work of redemption. It was this Spirit who also led Him, with somewhat urgent insistence, into the wilderness, Mar 1:12. His human nature faltered often in the days of His flesh, He felt constrained at frequent intervals to seek the strength and comfort of His heavenly Father in prayer. And there is every reason for believing that the temptations of the wilderness were of the nature, if not of the severity, of the Passion in Gethsemane. Out there in the wilderness, without human companionship of any kind, Jesus was subjected to the temptations of Satan, for our sakes. He must meet the champion of the powers of darkness at the very outset of His ministry in order to overcome his cunning and powerful attacks. For forty days Christ was exposed to the onsets of the devil. The three temptations which are narrated here were therefore not the only ones which tended to hinder the work of redemption. What He endured during these forty days is beyond all human conception, for which reason He did not speak to His disciples about those days. Had the devil succeeded in his design, then the human race would have remained in his power in all eternity. But Christ did not suffer Himself to be led away from the path of duty and obedience which He had entered. During these forty days the Lord had had nothing to eat, and therefore He was hungry when they came to an end. He had a true human nature and was subject to the same affections as all men; He felt the need of food keenly. Of this fact the devil tried to take advantage. Putting his question in such a form that he implied doubt in the Lord’s ability to help Himself, he pointed to the stones (collective) and asked Him to change them into bread. The temptation is very subtle; Satan does not want to urge the Lord to doubt the providence of the heavenly Father, but desired Christ, without need or authority, to abuse the power which He possessed as the Son of God for the gratification of the desires of the body. But Satan’s cunning was lost upon Jesus, who immediately saw the challenge of the words and countered with a word of Scripture which effectually threw back the attack. He quoted Deu 8:3 to him, thus reminding him of a fact which the devil should know very well, which had been demonstrated to him during these forty days, namely, that God is not bound by the ordinary means for establishing and maintaining life. Had His heavenly Father been able to keep Him alive during these forty days, He would also find ways and means to do so for a few more days without any directions from the devil. Note: This should be remembered whenever the care of this life rears its head in a Christian home; God’s providence and goodness has never failed yet, nor will it in the future, Psa 37:25.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 4:1-2

Victory over the Besetting Sin.

Our Lord, in defeating Satan’s temptations, taught us also how to overcome them: (1) by answering Satan at once; (2) by not vouchsafing to enter into his subtleties; (3) our Lord teaches us that there is an order in Satan’s temptations.

I. If thou canst not find out thy chief fault, apply thyself to any bad one. It is better to gather thyself to an earnest conflict with almost any one, than to lose thy time in debating which to grapple with. Whilst thou art engaged in earnest about one God will disclose to thee others. In this warfare there are some rules, alike for all sins; some special to each; some, which relate to self-knowledge; some, how to be on our guard; some, to help our repentance; some, whereby we may gain strength to fight. (1) It is of the very greatest moment to know the occasions of our sin, and the way in which it shows itself. To know the occasions, puts us on our guard to know how our sin shows itself, gives us the means of stopping it. (2) Even in graver sins, it is very needful to observe whether the temptation begins from within or from without. (3) We should try not only to abstain from sin, but also by God’s help to gain the opposite grace. If thou wouldest save thyself from falling backward, thou shouldest throw thyself forward. If thou wouldest not slip back into sin, thou must stretch forward to Christ and His holiness.

II. Look next at the method of this warfare. This is a practice by which some have in a few months gained more than in years before. First go into thyself; ask of God light to see thyself, bear to know thyself, and to know well what thy sins are; and resolve firmly by thy Saviour’s help to part with them, rather than with Him. Pray to persevere, and all the rest will be easier. Thinkest thou that it will be toilsome to thee, so day by day to remove every speck of sin? What is it, then, which it is so wearisome to cleanse? Is it something which concerns thee not, something for a time only, something for another? Truly it is for Another too. For it is for the All-Holy Trinity. It is that thine own soul, thine own self, thy very inmost self, may be enlarged to contain God and the love of God, that thy senses may desire nothing but what they have in that blessed-making sight of God, and have what overwhelms all their desire, to be blessed in His bliss, wise in His wisdom, good in His goodness, joyous in His joy, full of God, yet stretching forth to God; all thine which is God’s, save His infinity, and that will be for thee too, for thou canst never reach the bounds of His perfections and His goodness.

E. B. Pusey, Selected Occasional Sermons, p. 93.

Reference: Luk 4:1, Luk 4:2.—G. Huntington, Sermons for Holy Seasons, p. 129.

Luk 4:1-13

"Tempted like as we are.".

The temptation, as is evident from the language employed, was in some way connected with the descent of the Holy Spirit upon our Lord; and we are thus taught that God, for their own and others’ good, may lead His people through trial. It behoved Jesus to be made like unto His brethren, therefore He was led up into the wilderness; and while it had a bearing on them, it was no less an advantage to Him, for it furnished Him at the outset of His public ministry with a kind of intensified specimen of the difficulties that lay before Him.

I. The tempter makes an appeal to appetite. It is here that temptation first and most strongly besets a youth. From the mysterious connection between the body and the soul, there are certain appetites created within us which, in themselves considered, are not sinful—on the contrary, they are implanted there for useful, nay, for God-glorifying purposes; but Satan comes, and will persuade the young to gratify them in a sinful manner. That you may know how to resist such assaults, see here how Jesus bore Himself when Satan besought Him to gratify His hunger in a forbidden way; He said, "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." That is to say, life does not consist in eating and drinking and enjoyment; life is not the gratification of the body in any shape, but the obedience of the soul to God.

II. The second appeal was made to ambition; and the same insidious temptation is, in one form or other, repeated in the case of every man; and for the most part in the commencement of his career he has to fight the battle, or to yield himself a captive. God’s way to honour and power and wealth is still steep and arduous and rugged; and the lesson we must learn is to avoid the devil’s short cuts, and to make the words of our Lord the motto of our lives: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve."

III. The last onset on our Lord made an appeal to His faith; and it too was as insidious as the rest. Jesus had already repelled him by expressing His confidence in God and allegiance to His Father, and to that very principle the tempter addresses himself now; as if he had said, "Dost thou trust God? Come and I will place Thee in circumstances such as will make manifest to all His guardian care of Thee." Jesus answered, "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." We are not warranted to place ourselves in circumstances such as shall tempt the Lord. If we are in danger in God’s service, we may rely that He will be with us. But we have no right to imagine that He will suspend the law of gravitation, whenever we choose to leap over a precipice; or that He will suspend the spiritual laws which regulate the actions of our souls, whenever we put ourselves into the way of temptation.

W. M. Taylor, Life Truths, p. 147.

References: Luk 4:1-13.—W. Hanna, Our Lord’s Life on Earth, p. 58; Expositor, 1st series, vol. iii., p. 321. Luk 4:1-15.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., 355; J. J. Murphy, Expositor, 2nd series, vol. iv., p. 312. Luk 4:1-33.—F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, p. 49. Luk 4:3.—W. C. E. Newbolt, Counsels of Faith and Practice, p. 1.

Luk 4:4

Christian Fasting.

I. There is a kind of fasting which can be nothing but good for us to practise. Self-denial relates to something which belongs to ourselves, but yet is not our highest property; and this especially applies to our pleasure in bodily enjoyments. This pleasure is really natural, but it does not belong to our highest nature, and it is apt to overgrow that higher nature if not restrained. This restraining it is, then, the exact business of what we call self-denial. Now it is the manifest effect of self-denial thus understood to increase the pleasures of the higher part of our nature. We know that along with restraint of one kind of pleasure there comes the enjoyment of a pleasure of another sort—the pleasure of feeling that, so far as that one action goes, Christ approves of us; that we are so far the children of God, and at peace with God. I speak of this pleasure quite confidently, as of a thing which all understand, and feel to be more delightful than any other. He who never denies himself, never allows himself to feel it; he knows not what it is, and does not believe in its delightfulness.

II. Only observe that this highest pleasure only comes when we deny ourselves really on right motives. If anyone denies himself any indulgence for the sake of gaining credit for it from men, there cannot be in him that delightful sense of being approved of by God, and having so far followed Christ; because he knows that God does not approve such a motive, nor is he following Christ when acting upon it. So it was said in the Epistle of this day, that a man might give all his goods to feed the poor, and yet be without charity. He could not give away so largely without in some sense denying himself; he must cut off some of his pleasures by doing it; but if he does it for the sake of gaining credit for his liberality, he cannot gain that highest pleasure of which I have spoken—the pleasure of having pleased God, and therefore being loved by Him.

T. Arnold, Sermons, vol. v., p. 90.

The Art of Conversation.

Could man be happy without speech, living like the animals in a kind of innocence, but deprived of any higher thought, or communion with his fellows? There have been philosophers who wanted to bring him back to a state of nature, who would deprive him of all philosophy and of all religion, who would have him give up the hardly won inheritance of ages in the hope that he might be without evil and without good. Such prophets of evil should begin, if this were possible, by taking from him language. Human speech is a Divine gift; the more we consider it the more wonderful and mysterious does it appear. We must not lose or impair this glorious inheritance. Consider what is needed to give conversation its true and nobler character.

I. First there is kindness. He is twice blessed who says a pleasing or a soothing word to the aged or stupid, to those who are troubled by some false shame, or who from inexperience feel themselves at a loss in society; for kindness has a wonderful power of transmuting and converting human beings, and if a man, instead of always in thought coming round to himself, were always getting away from himself, he would attain to great freedom and enjoyment of society.

II. A second element in a happy and healthy state of society is sincerity, and mutual confidence which is given by it. We want to be able to trust the society in which we habitually live. In speaking of persons we should be on our guard against many faults which easily beset us; against petty jealousy, or popular envy of the great which hears, not altogether displeased, of something to their disadvantage. "I said I will take heed unto my ways, that I offend not with my tongue."

III. A third element may be described as an elevation above the lower interests of life. How is this higher tone to be attained? No definite answer can be given to this question, for superiority of manners must, for the most part, spring from superiority of character. Yet a few illustrations may realise to us what is meant? Why has one man weight and authority, and another not? Why does a single person so often exert such a spell or charm over a whole company? These are questions which it is instructive to ask, and everyone must answer them for himself, and in the answer to them he may perhaps find an antidote to his own weakness, or vanity, or unreality, or self-consciousness.

B. Jowett, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xv., p. 376.

References: Luk 4:4.—Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 337; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines, p. 61. Luk 4:5.—G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 23. Luk 4:5, Luk 4:6.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xix., No. 1132. Luk 4:5-8.—A. Blomfield, Sermons in Town and Country, p. 72; W. C. E. Newbolt, Counsels of Faith and Practice, p. 16. Luk 4:6.—W. G. Horder, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 243.

Luk 4:7

I. When Jesus was offered the kingdoms of the world in return for an almost trivial act of homage, in His mind the proposal would assume the aspect of an expedient for advancing His kingdom, with the policies and prudences and compromises of this world; an expedient which must have been as fatal to the kingdom of the Gospel as any monstrous coalition between good and evil, between life and death. For surely we must look for something more considerable, as lying behind, and signified by that momentary act of homage to which the Saviour was invited; we can hardly contemplate a ceremonial and bodily prostration as being the first and last of what was proposed. By falling down and worshipping the spirit of the world I understand, lowering the ideal of Christ’s intended kingdom, and enlisting in its favour, and employing as agents in its extension and maintenance, the passions, the appetencies, and ambitions which might without harshness or ambition be included in the word "worldly-mindedness."

II. Our Lord does not hesitate in His answer. He replies, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." Thou shalt make Him no more co-ordinate than subordinate with any other object of worship. The Gospel of grace shall either triumph in all its purity over the sin that is in the world, or in all its purity it shall retire from the conflict, and regain its native heaven. It shall contract no contamination from an alliance with sin, or by a coalition with anything that deserves the name of worldliness. Might we but in every temptation to compromise the interests of truth and love, those two pillars on which leans the temple of Christ within the heart of man, remember that any arrangement, any compromise, any friendly understanding between the spiritual and the anti-spiritual is a dishonour to the Spirit. It is letting an enemy with many comrades into the fortress in the disguise and under the pretext of friendship, who will not be long before he does the work of a traitor upon the garrison who have been so disloyal to their King as to invite his alliance.

W. H. Brookfield, Sermons, p. 262.

Luk 4:9

I. The spirit of temptation here presents himself in the character and with the accents and demeanour of an ally who desires nothing so ardently as the establishment of Messiah’s kingdom in its integrity, and is ready with a proposal to accelerate, nay, precipitate its inauguration, and to insure its unanimous reception by mankind. Here at Jerusalem let the Son of Man perform a wonder that shall at once compel the homage of mankind from the topmost pinnacle of the Temple, which from the loftiest escarpment of the city climbs sheer up into the sky; let Him launch Himself into the air, let Him plunge down to the very bottom of the abyss of the ravine of Jehoshaphat. Then let him alight unharmed. Would not this be a suitable, a proportionate, an appropriate, an effective inauguration of the kingdom of Christ upon earth? We ask

II. Was the Saviour’s mission of such a kind that an abrupt act of conspicuousness and of power would be likely to promote it? Is it conceivable, in short, that there was the smallest taint of ambition in the project of the Saviour? If so, then the expedient suggested by the evil one might have had some affinity with such a purpose. But if his purpose were something at the farthest possible distance from all this; if it were to give a new commandment to mankind, namely, that they should love one another; if his purpose were one which required a far longer time for its disclosure and development than the exhibition of a prodigy, it was indispensable that he should drain the cup of affliction to the dregs, and so step by step ascend to the culmination of suffering upon the Cross; and then, and not till then, and by this gate of tribulation, but by none easier and none other, enter finally into an exceeding glory. This was the prodigy, this was the portent, this was the self-manifestation that Messiah was predestined to achieve before the sons of men. The Saviour is come to gain mankind, not by His power but by His love. He is come, not to claim the surrender of conscience and intelligence, not to substitute arbitrary rule for inward convictions of duty. To have exposed the Gospel to such influences at its outset would have been, as Satan knew, to ensure its extinction; it would have been asking tyranny to be the nurse of freedom; it would have been inviting falsehood to be the guardian of truth; it would have been hiring death to rock the cradle of intellectual and spiritual life.

W. H. Brookfield, Sermons, p. 275.

References: Luk 4:9-12.—W. C. E. Newbolt, Counsels of Faith and Practice, p. 32. Luk 4:14, Luk 4:15.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 67. Luk 4:14-17.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiii., p. 73. Luk 4:14-32.—Expositor, 1st series, vol. iv., p. 430. Luk 4:16.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 401; E. Paxton Hood, Preacher’s Lantern, vol. iii., p. 720; J. Martineau, Hours of Thought, vol. ii., p. 1; H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxi., p. 60. Luk 4:16-31.—W. Hanna, Our Lord’s Life on Earth, p. 122. Luk 4:16-32.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 131. Luk 4:17, Luk 4:18.—H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiv., p. 19. Luk 4:17-21.—Ibid., vol. vii., p. 358.

Luk 4:18

I. These words describe the part of our Lord’s work which was not to be confined to His own personal agency; and this invites us to consider that other parts of His work were to be confined to His own personal agency. This is so; the work of a perfect righteousness wrought by man in absolute conformity to all the requirements of the law of God, and justifying righteousness which can stand the scrutiny of the Divine judgment—this was His work, and His alone. We never find Him telling His followers to go and offer a sacrifice for sin; but we do find Him telling them to go and preach the glad tidings. The preparation was His, and His alone; the proclamation was His, but not His alone. We cannot work deliverance; we can but preach it. He wrought it, finished it, and left it for us to preach. It is a daring invasion of His office to presume to add to the preparation; and it is disobedience to His orders not to proclaim what He has prepared.

II. "Captives." This captivity commenced in the fountain of the human family before any stream had flowed forth from it. The first man, before he had any offspring, had become the slave and captive to sin; he had incurred the consequences, the fatal consequences, of slavery. The great slave-holder is Satan, the enemy of God and man. He uses the world and the flesh, and see how he drags the captives through the mire. And in proportion as a man’s conscience is awakened, and his sin known to be unpardoned, he is a slave.

III. Where is deliverance? This is our glorious message; Jesus Christ alone has deliverance. And mark how it is applied. Captivity began by the violation of the law of God, which is sin. He that committeth sin becomes a slave. The deliverance commences by obedience to the law of God. A man disobeyed, and all men fell. God Himself must obey, or no man can rise again. Deliverance commences thus in perfect obedience by a man to the law of the living God. Now, this is just what our blessed Redeemer and Saviour did. As man, He perfectly obeyed the law of God. There is a righteousness, a perfect righteousness, wrought by Him that can stand the scrutiny of the judgment of Almighty God. That is the beginning of deliverance. The captivity had become fatal by reason of the penalty incurred by disobedience; there was a curse, and the deliverance must therefore proceed by the removal of the curse. The curse must be inflicted, for God is true; the penalty must be endured, for the truth of God endureth for ever. Here, again, Jesus Christ is the Deliverer. He took it upon Himself. This is the deliverance we have to preach. Preached, it is the testimony of God’s love to the world; believed, it is the renewal of every man that receives it; disbelieved, it is a witness against the man that he rejects the counsel of God.

H. McNeile, Penny Pulpit, No. 290.

Luk 4:18-19

Missionary Work.

I. If missionary enterprise were nothing more than one of the most remarkable characteristics of our time, it would well deserve a place in the thoughts of those who are brought up to become English citizens. Missionary work is becoming more and more a national undertaking, the expression of a deep national conviction. Any man, whether he be a statesman, a clergyman, or a layman, who shuts his eyes to this truth, is so far out of sympathy with the English nation, and suffers from that narrowness and isolation of heart which is sure to come upon those who look with contempt on national instincts. But missionary enterprise is something more than a marked phenomenon characteristic of our times. It is no transient phase, which may for a time interest philosophical minds, and then pass into obscurity, to be pierced only by the researches of future antiquarians. It is in its nature a lasting thing. If it pass away from England, it is not too much to say that the life of England will have departed.

II. "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me." The missionary and the missionary society must be able to say this from the heart. There is great danger of forgetting this. This is an age of elaborate organisation, an age of societies. Beyond all question there is a most real danger that the great English religious societies may cover much that is hollow. The very fact that religious enterprises have become an established part of national enterprise is a reason for making us fear that the Spirit of God may be forgotten in the presence of the Spirit of the world. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is (1) liberty, (2) perfect integrity. Wherever the wants of Christ’s children are to be supplied, wherever there are captives needing deliverance, poor asking for tidings of their Father, broken-hearted to be healed, blind praying for, or at least needing, recovery so sight, there is needed one who may well feel that he if a labourer working at an infinite harvest, a shepherd feeding but too, scantily a countless flock of sheep and of lambs; and there, too is needed the mature counsel, the encouragement, and the warning of one who is but little disposed to be a lord over God’s heritage, and is willingly and affectionately accepted as a true Father in God.

H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons, p. 38.

Christ the Emancipator.

I. All the world has been under one consciousness—namely, of limitation of power, either inherent in the individual, or caused by the restrictions of circumstances, or by oppression from without; and to be free has been the aspiration of the world. When the Saviour declared that His mission in this world was to open prison bonds, to set captives at liberty, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, He announced a doctrine with which the hearts of men were universally in sympathy. That was just what they wanted. Mankind want the restrictions and limitations about them to be destroyed.

II. The very first essay that the Saviour makes toward the enlargement of men’s liberty wears the appearance of the opposite. The very first blow which He strikes at tyranny is at the tyranny of sense and sensuousness in the individual. He introduces us to God as a Father; and if we go to the Father through Him, and if He is a living and loving presence to us, we, by being taught to be in sympathy with Jesus Christ, are under the same conduct, and under the same general instructive processes which we see employed in the lower sphere, and in a more limited way in our own households. We are brought to a sense of the beauty, the grace, the sweetness, the power of the superior life in the soul over all the elements and influences of the lower life.

III. But the deliverance from the thrall of appetite and from the infirmities of the flesh is only one single element of emancipation. Christ delivers us from our bondage to secular conditions. The light and the life that we receive by faith tend to make, often do make, might always make, a man superior to his circumstances. That this is true is pre-eminently shown, not so much by those who are most obvious in life, as by the poor, to whom the Saviour said He came to preach this Gospel. It is the peculiarity of the philosophy of antiquity that it came to the few who were enlightened, and left in the dark the great underclass; and it was the peculiarity of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that it was designed to reach the great underclass. It is in hidden retreats and in secluded places that you see that disposition of Christ which makes men in the midst of all limitations and under adverse circumstances strong, steadfast, doing what the air-plants do, that, having no root in the soil, draw all their nutriment from the great air above them.

IV. The illumination that we derive from the Lord Jesus Christ is one that sets us free from ignorance, and in setting us free from ignorance it shuts the door out of which come the emissaries of mischief. Knowledge dominates ignorance, and all through society the strong tend to control the weak. But it is not merely the want of intellectual knowledge that makes a man weak; it is the want of that knowledge which comes by illumination through the Lord Jesus Christ.

H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 313.

The Preaching of the Gospel.

The words of the text are descriptive of the offices of Christ. We shall place them before you in the strongest light if we employ the method of contrast; that is, if we examine other systems, such as the law and natural religion, showing what these can do towards healing the broken-hearted and delivering the captive.

I. The ceremonial law was but a system of rites which had no natural efficacy, or of observances which were themselves destitute of virtue. If there were truth in the ceremonial law, it was, as we know, truth derived exclusively from Christ. Moses cannot be said to have come to preach deliverance to the captives, nor the setting at liberty them that are bruised. Our text will not hold good of the legal dispensation. But let us ask whether it is in any way verified by natural religion.

II. There are many men who think that there is a sort of natural efficacy in repentance, so that sorrow for sin must ensure its pardon. But is it thus in human affairs? Does pardon follow at all necessarily upon repentance? When laws have been broken, whoever dreams of the criminal being forgiven just because he is contrite? Living, as we confessedly do, in our moral capacity, under a retributive government, we can surely have no right to suppose that what would be utterly ineffectual, had we broken the laws of man, must be necessarily efficacious when set against the infraction of the laws of God.

III. Consider how the disclosures in the Gospel provide for the deliverance of the captive and the recovering of sight to the blind. Bound by the prison-house of our selfish dispositions, bruised by our fall from original righteousness, we have but to believe in Christ, and close with Him as our Saviour, and lo! the fetters fall from us, and we spring into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The Gospel admits to liberty, but that liberty God’s service, which alone is freedom; it gives spiritual eyesight, but fixes the eyes on "whatsoever things are pure and lovely and of good report."

H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 1,483.

The Christ as a Preacher.

I. Consider the substance of Christ’s preaching. Without doubt we have in the text the keynote to His entire teaching. The peculiar feature of this quotation from Isaiah, which Christ makes His own, is its doubleness. "The poor"—but men are poor in condition and in spirit. "The captives"—but men may be in bondage under masters or circumstances, and also under their own sin. "The blind"—but men may be blind of eye, and also in spiritual vision. "The bruised"—but men are bruised in the struggles of this rough world, and also by the havoc of their own evil passions. Which did Christ mean? Both, but chiefly the moral, for He always struck through the external forms of evil to the moral root from which it springs, and of whose condition it is the general exponent. Christ sets Himself as the Deliverer from each, the origin and the result, the sin and the root, and the misery which is its fruitage.

II. The philosophy of this preaching. It was a revelation of God. Those words in the Nazareth synagogue were but the idlest breath, except as they brought the delivering God before men. But when God is seen and known the whole nature of man leaps into joyful and harmonious activity. Under this revelation of Him our troubles shrink, our broken hearts are healed, our darkened minds are illuminated, our sins pass away in tears of shame and repentance, and our whole being springs up to meet Him who made us, and made us for Himself; the secret of existence is revealed, the end of destiny is achieved.

III. The remaining point is the power of this preaching. No one truth, unless it happens to be an all-embracing truth, and no number of truths, however clearly seen, have any inspiring or redeeming power until they are grounded in an eternal person. Mozley, in one of his sermons, asks, "Have we not, in our moral nature, a great deal to do with fragments?" Yes, and it is the weakness of human nature, when it under-takes to teach moral truth, that it has only fragments to deal with. It is because Christ did not see truth in a fragmentary way, and because there was in Himself nothing fragmentary, that He teaches with power. There is no capability in man of resisting perfect truth; when it is seen it conquers. The main thing, therefore, is to see; but men love darkness, and even when they begin to see it is in a half-blind way.

T. T. Munger, The Freedom of Faith, p. 151.

References: Luk 4:18.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. III., p. 164; Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 330; Expositor, 3rd series, vol. iii. p. 147; H. P. Liddon, Church of England Pulpit, vol. v., p. 293; Homilist, new series, vol. i., p. 136. Luk 4:18, Luk 4:19.—J. P. Chown. Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 49; Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. ix., p. 196; Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 212.

Luk 4:19-21

Jesus read the prophets’ testimony regarding God’s goodness, and then closed the book, hiding the severity under the parchment folds. He preached on one half of a clause; did He intend to conceal the harsher portion of prophecy—to cover with a veil the frowns that gather on the Father’s countenance, and permit only the smiles to shine through on men? No. He came not to destroy or mutilate the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfil. Heaven and earth may pass away, but not one jot or tittle of the word, till all be fulfilled. Let us try to find out why the omission was made, and what the omission means.

I. It is clear that Isaiah saw the justice as well as the mercy of God, and bare witness impartially of both. He stood afar off, and with an eye divinely opened for the purpose, looked down the avenue of the future, as one might stand upon a mountain far inland and look along a straight narrow estuary to the distant sea, dimly visible on the farthest horizon. At the extremity of the vista, and distant so far in time that to him they seemed to lie within eternity, he descried two lights, one behind the other, and both approaching. The foremost was Divine mercy, and the one behind it was Divine wrath. The faithful witness faithfully proclaimed from his watch-tower to his countrymen both facts—mercy and vengeance.

II. When that witness had served his generation, and fallen asleep, others were successively placed on the same watch-tower to re-duplicate the same warning from age to age. Last of all came Christ, in the fulness of the time. But now the foremost of the two lights had come up. It was abreast of the watchman. Turning to look full upon the one that had come, he sees not the one that is coming. In the lips of Jesus the testimony is not a prediction of what shall be, but a proclamation of what is. The mission of Christ was not to point to another, but to attract to Himself. He meant to present Himself to the people as the fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy, and therefore He could not include the day of vengeance; for on that day that part of the prophecy was not fulfilled. He came not to condemn the world, but to save; while He sat in the synagogue, and their eyes beheld Him, the day of vengeance had not come to them.

W. Arnot, The Anchor of the Soul, p. 260.

Luk 4:22

Christ’s words of love the reproof of detraction.

St. James is amazed at it, as against nature and one of the deepest aggravations of the sinfulness of sinful speaking, that the tongue, which was made to bless God, a harp to make sweet melody to Him, should also utter evil against God’s image—man. Nature is true to itself; man alone is untrue. The fountain sends forth one and the same stream, sweet or bitter. Man’s tongue alone would fain send forth both—sweet praises and blessings to God, bitter and hard and unloving thoughts of men.

I. Evil speaking, which God condemns, involves much besides. There is malice in all evil-speaking; yet it is not only to speak with conscious malice. There is falsehood in most evil-speaking; yet it is not at all to speak with conscious falsehood. Pride, envy, swell it up, waft it on, spread it from mouth to mouth; these aggravate its guilt, but its guilt is not in them. It has its own guilt without them. Its guilt is, that in every form and shape and degree it is a sin against love; and a sin against love is a sin against that which Almighty God, in His very nature, is and loves. Evil speaking springs from a deep, hidden fountain of unlove, gushing forth from the corruption of the human heart.

II. In the day of judgment evil, censorious, unloving words will be of far different account than even good men think here. Other wrong deeds, at most, hurt others’ souls only by evil example. Most other sins have something seemingly revolting in them. He who speaks an evil word may, in one word, as far as in him lies, slay countless souls. He sets rolling that which he cannot stop. You would count him a murderer who from a height let loose the fragment of a rock which should bound on and on, and fall among a multitude, although he knew not whom it would crush. Yet, even thus, the evil word let loose may slay love in the hearts of all who hear it, and on and on in all whom it reaches, and in whose hearts it finds consent.

III. The guilt of evil words is not with those only who speak them. Whoso listens to evil is an accomplice in it. Human law adjudges that the receiver is as guilty as the thief. If there were few receivers there would be few thieves. Evil-speaking has an evil conscience, which awakens as soon as it finds no response. "The ready hearer of detraction," says a father, "is the steel to the flint." Without him it is not drawn out. Since that is true, "Of every idle word thou shalt give account in the day of judgment," how much more of biting, unjust, detracting, unloving, untrue words, which most detracting words are!

E. B. Pusey, Parochial and Cathedral Sermons, p. 215.

Reference: Luk 4:23.—L. D. Bevan, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 389.

Luk 4:26

(with 1Ki 17:9)

I. Faith precedes blessing. There are no blessed rays till we believe, till we have acted on our faith, and found the answer in the Father’s eternal love. I think the woman did not regret the day she met the strange man on the borders of the wilderness. In the land of idolatry there was trouble; on the borders of famishing and doubt there was a constant supply. Mysteriously the meal held out, and the cruse of oil did not run dry. Thus they continued together, two blessed strangers. God sends His servant not to a palace, but to a widow’s cottage, from the solitude of the wilderness, there to learn the humanities of society; from the cry of famine to rely on God, and there to learn the lessons of faith.

II. All great faith precedes great trial. One day, how hoarsely moaned the sea; the waves came murmuring wildly, and dashing on the rocks of Sarepta. The child was dead, and the sun looked down mistily on a distracted mother—distracted indeed, for she impeaches falsely her very blessings. "O thou man of God, art thou come to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?" If I had not entertained him, he had not died. But Elijah was faithless, too. How wildly he, who ought to have known better, calls upon God. Then comes the restoration and the confession. "By this I know that thou art a man of God." Ah, how many proofs are necessary! If her son had continued dead her faith had been buried in his grave. But God helps our infirmities, and condescends to our fears, that He may work out our salvation. And in this He no doubt preached to the prophet not less than the prophet preached to the woman.

E. Paxton Hood, Sermons, p. 343.

References: Luk 4:27.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 129. Luk 4:28, Luk 4:29.—W. Wilkinson, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 53. Luk 4:28-30.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiii., No. 753. Luk 4:33-44.—F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, p. 62. Luk 4:39.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xviii., No. 1071. Luk 4:40.—New Outlines on the New Testament, p. 44. Luk 4:42-44.—W. Hanna, Our Lord’s Life on Earth, p. 127.

The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE TEMPTATION

Mat 4:1-11; Mar 1:12-13; Luk 4:1-13. Matthew says that “He was led by the Spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil.” Mark says: “The Spirit immediately impels Him away into the desert. And He was there in the desert forty days, being tempted by the devil; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels continued to minister unto Him.” Luke says: “Jesus, full of the Holy Ghost, went away from the Jordan; and was led by the Spirit into the desert, being tempted by the devil forty days. And He ate nothing during those days; and they being completed, He was afterward hungry.” I have gazed much upon the Mount of Temptation, lifting his bleak, rugged summit immediately west of Old Jericho, whose walls fell down responsive to the shouts of Israel, and about twenty miles from the ford of the Jordan where Jesus was baptized. It is a bleak, desolate, rugged, dreary region, inhabited only by wild beasts and robbers, unless the Bedoum, in his wanderings, here pitches his tent. The fact that Matthew and Luke positively state that He became hungry after the forty days, and Mark certifies that the angels were ministering unto Him throughout these forty days, involves the conclusion that He was supernaturally kept, in a state of spiritual rhapsody, like Moses and Elijah, during the forty days, so that He did not realize the sensation of hunger until after their expiration; and the ministering angels retiring, the natural, physical condition returns, and with it an intense sensation of hunger, as He had been forty days entirely without physical nutriment. Mark and Luke both state that the temptation was going on during the forty days, while Matthew states that after the forty days, the tempter coming to Him, said, “If Thou art the Son of God, say that these stones Mark, and Luke, we conclude that during the forty days He was undergoing a temptation by the combined minions of perdition, and the powers of darkness turned loose against Him; meanwhile, the angels are present with Him, and through their sympathetic and consolatory ministrations, He enjoys a heavenly prelibation to such an extent as to fill His spirit with an unearthly rapture, the indwelling Holy Spirit, whom He had received when He descended on Him at the Jordan, so thrilling Him with heavenly ecstasy as to supersede and hold in suspense the physical appetites, so as to suspend the sensation of hunger during the forty days of angelic ministration. During this period, while evidently the powers of darkness are turned loose against Him, and doubtless the monsters of the pit swarm around Him, their hideous howling commingling with the growl and the roar of the wild beasts, yet, amid all, He enjoys a glorious victory, so that His spiritual rapture enables Him so to triumph over the physical destitution and depletion as to utterly suspend the sensation of hunger. At the expiration of forty days, the angels having retreated away, and the roar of the hell-hounds, the hissing of reptiles, and the ferocity of the wild beasts all combine to augment the dismal solitude and the awful peril of the situation, suddenly King Diabolus, having vacated his ebony throne in the Pandemonium, and assuming the form of a great and mighty man, like Napoleon Bonaparte or Alexander the Great, dressed in all the pompous costume of royal majesty, approaches Him, and enters upon a personal interview. The ministering angels have retreated away; His spiritual rhapsody no longer holding in suspense the physical functions, a fearful collapse of exhausted nature now supervenes, the intensity of His hunger, after a fast of forty days, being utterly inconceivable. Here we see Jesus at the greatest possible disadvantage.

(a) He is in the enemy’s territory, surrounded by desolation and horror; the ferocious wild beasts ready to devour Him, and more ferocious demons and hellish monsters on all sides, every angel having retreated away, and the bright glory of heaven mantled in dark eclipse, with the awful intensity of hunger, super induced by a forty days’ fast.

(b) In addition to all this, the prince of the Pandemonium, with the cultured intelligence of an archangel, now meets Him, with a personal order to satisfy His poor body with bread.

We must remember that, as Jesus was free from infirmity and from all physical ailment, which so frequently, in our case, suspends the appetite for food, His hunger subsequently to the expiration of the forty days and the angelic ministry was unutterably intense. While the Divinity of Christ could not be tempted, His humanity was tempted, in all the three great departments constituent to our being; i.e., the physical, spiritual, and intellectual.

(c) You observe from the inspired narrative that Satan made his first assault against the physical nature of Jesus, availing himself of the most superlative case of intensified hunger in order to induce Him to satisfy it by resorting to a miracle, which would be out of harmony with the Divine economy, because in probationary life we must be true to providence as well as grace, the former appertaining to the body, and the latter the soul; hence it was pertinent that Jesus, like every other man, should await the providence of God to satisfy His hunger.

In the case of Adam the First, Satan began with the physical, as now in the temptation of Jesus, it so turned out that he economized two thirds of his ammunition, achieving a complete victory in his first assault; i.e., slaying Adam on the first round. If he had failed in the temptation of his body with the fruit, he would then have proceeded to carry the war with all possible expedition into the dominion of spirit and intellect. Not so in the case of Adam the Second; there, Satan used all of his ammunition and lost it all.

(d) You see here the simple method by which Jesus defeated the devil:

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth through the mouth of God.” He is our Infallible Example, who alone has a right to teach the Christian soldier how to fight. If we will follow His example, we are certain to always have victory. You may fight the devil with your creed, and he will run over you rough-shod. Fight him with the plain, simple Word of God, and, like the Salvation Army song,

“If you want to see the devil run, Always shoot him with a gospel gun.”

(e) “Then the devil taketh Him into the holy city, and places Him on a pinnacle of the temple, and says to Him, if Thou art the Son of God, cast Thyself down; for it has been written, He gives His angels charge over Thee, to hear Thee up, lest Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.” (Psa 91:2)

Satan is a great Scriptorian, always ready to quote it; but never giving it correctly. So you find Satan’s preachers, always twisting and turning the Word of the Lord to suit their creed. In this quotation, Diabolus very adroitly omits the clause, “In all Thy ways.” We can perfectly rely upon the keeping power of God, so long as we are in the Divine order; but when we get out, then the devil drops a lasso round our necks. In this assault — i.e., Satan’s second campaign against Jesus — he directs his ammunition against the citadel of His human spirit, the receptacle of Divine grace and keeping-power through faith. Consequently the enemy makes a gattling- gun attack on His faith, using all of his chicanery to vitiate it, by turning it into presumption, which is the devil’s counterfeit for faith. O how Satan manipulates to supply the pulpits and the pews with this counterfeit at which is but a trap-door to let them fall into hell! The people believe their creed and support their Church, and presume that they are Christians, while experimentally ignorant of that faith which alone can move the mountains of sin out of their hearts. Again, Jesus uses the Sword of the Spirit, responding to Satan, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” (Deu 6:16.) This consummates the second victory which Jesus won in that memorable wilderness battle. The holy city here, as revealed by Luke, was Jerusalem, whose magnificent temple, so splendidly and artistically built and repaired by Herod the Great, had several lofty towers, to the highest of which Satan now leads Jesus, and having Him now in position and plight to leap away and take chances on the stone pavement several hundred feet below, he makes the bold challenge. It is about twenty-five miles away from the Mount of Temptation in Judea to Jerusalem. I trow, Satan, in gaudy sacerdotal robes, or perhaps royal regalia, in human incarnation, actually became the concomitant of Jesus for a period of time not here specified, but beginning at the end of the forty days. shows Him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of the same, and says to Him, All these will I give unto Thee if, falling down, You may worship before me.” Luke states, “Because it has been given unto me, and I give it to whom I wish.”

Here we see that Satan resorts to a positive and unequivocal falsehood; though he has a false claim on the world, and a dominion over it which he has usurped, and for the time being — for reasons not well known to us, but doubtless lying deep in the probationary economy — he is permitted, in a sense, to reign over the world during the present evil age. (2Co 4:4.) Where E.V. represents God as calling the devil the “god of this world,” the true reading is the “god of this age,” as the world is to be gloriously redeemed after the Satanic age has come to an end. This is peculiar to Satan’s method of lying, especially to the people of God. While it is a substantial falsehood, it exhibits a phase of truth, in the simple fact of his usurped and temporarily permitted dominion over this world, which, even in the most plausible aspect, is subordinated to the sovereign, discriminating providence of God. We have no specification here as to what mountain this was. Mt. Olivet, east of Jerusalem, is the highest in all Southern Palestine. Mt. Pisgah, in full view, in the Land of Moab, east of the Dead Sea, is the highest in all that region. Mt. Hermon, two hundred miles north, ten thousand feet high, is actually the highest in all the Land of Canaan. As Luke says Satan “showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time”, he must have resorted to a panorama, in which he exhibited before the eye of Jesus all the time-honored kingdoms and mighty empires possessing and ruling the world at that time. This temptation was an assault against the powerful, unfallen intellect of Jesus. The greatest minds the ages have ever known, have all been embargoed, darkened, and paralyzed by the fall. As an Intellectualist, the Man Jesus stands alone in the world. Do you not see in His life how all the genius and the learning of the world and the fallen Church were laid under contribution to confuse, tangle up, and perplex Him? In all the histories of the ages, no other absolutely imperturbable man has ever been found. All the sophistry of priests, theologians, and politicians combined, signally failed in any case to embarrass or confuse Him. This final assault of the enemy, on the line of human ambition, appeals to His wonderful intellect. Nebuchadnezzar, order to conquer and possess it. These were all powerful intellectualists. The greater the intellect, the more incorrigible the ambition. The Greek proskuneses not only means worship, in the sense of adoration offered to a god, hut it means that homage and civility which we extend to persons of royal rank and dignity.

(g) You must remember that Satan before his fall was a great archangel, one of the brightest that ever shone around the effulgent Throne.

The Son of God is uncreated and co-eternal with the Father. Doubtless, during this interview, which was probably more prolix than we generally think, Satan adverted to their old friendship in the regions of fadeless bliss, and perhaps appealed to His sympathies; as amid those terrible troubles which had already resulted in his ejectment from heaven, he had resorted to an effort to enlarge his dominions by the accession of this world to the contracted regions of woe; and now, “O Son of God, that You have come to dispute my claim to the planet Earth, I propose to compromise the whole matter by surrendering up to You the sole and exclusive dominion of this controverted territory, with the understanding that You shall have it and reign over it forever, while I will reign in the dominion of Hades; meanwhile, I shall enjoin but one condition on Your part, and that is, that You and I shall be friends again, as in bygone ages in celestial worlds.” Of course, any complicity with Satan would have abducted the humanity from the Divinity, which, in that case, would have returned back to heaven, the plan of salvation collapsing forever. “Then Jesus says to him, Get behind Me, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord God; Him only shalt thou serve.” (Deu 6:13.) “Then Satan leaves Him,” as Luke says, “for a season.”

“Behold, the angels came and continued to minister unto Him.” Here you see that a single stroke with the Sword of the Spirit repels Satan, and consummates the victory. There is now good reason for his final and utter withdrawal from the battle-field. Every army retreats the moment their ammunition is all expended. As Satan had no possible access to the Divinity, he could only work on the humanity, which, pursuant to the Divine similitude in which man was created, has but three entities — i.e., the physical, spiritual, and intellectual. When Satan had turned all the battering rams of hell against these three towers of Mansoul, and in every case suffered signal defeat, he could do nothing more than retreat from the field, crestfallen and hopelessly defeated. What a decisive contrast with his first battle against humanity in Eden, where he saved two thirds of his ammunition, Adam falling on the first assault! But now, in his campaign against Adam the Second, you see he used all of his ammunition, and lost it all. Glorious victory for you and me, and all who, through evangelical repentance and humble faith, will receive it!

William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1–13. The Temptation. See notes on Matt. 4:1–11. Compare Mark 1:12, 13.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

4:1-13 Satan tempted Jesus to bypass his Father’s plan of salvation by taking power and glory for himself. The forty-day temptation in the wilderness parallels Israel’s forty years of testing in the wilderness. Israel failed when tested, but Jesus was victorious.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Luk 4:1. Πνεύματος ἀγίου πλήρης, full of the Holy Ghost) See ch. Luk 3:22.—ἐν τῷ πνεύματι, in the Spirit) viz. that Spirit, the Holy Spirit [given Him specially at His baptism].

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_4:1-13. See on Mat_4:1-11. Comp. Mar_1:13.

According to the reading ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ (see the critical remarks), Luke says: and He was led by the (Holy) Spirit in the wilderness, whilst He was for forty days tempted of the devil. Thus the Spirit had Him in His guidance as His ruling principle (Rom_8:14). Luke relates besides, varying from Matthew, that Jesus (1) during forty days (comp. Mar_1:13) was tempted of the devil (how? is not specified), and that then, (2) moreover, the three special temptations related in detail occurred.[81] This variation from Matthew remained also in the Recepta εἰς τὴν ἔρημον, in respect of which the translation would be: He was led of the Spirit into the wilderness in order to be tempted of the devil during the space of forty days (by reason of the present participle, see on Luk_2:45).

Luk_4:3. τῷ λίθῳ τούτῳ] more concrete than Mat_4:4.

Luk_4:5. ἈΝΑΓΑΓΏΝ] (see the critical remarks) he led Him upwards from the wilderness to a more loftily situated place. The very high mountain (Matthew) is a more exact definition due to the further developed tradition. Luke has drawn from another source.

ἐν στιγμῇ χρ.] in a point of time, in a moment, a magically simultaneous glimpse; a peculiar feature of the representation.[82] On the expression, comp. Plut. Mor. p. 104 A; Jacobs, ad Anthol. VII. p. 126.

Luk_4:6. αὐτῶν] ΤῶΝ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΙῶΝ.

Observe the emphasis of ΣΟῚ … ἘΜΟΊ … ΣΎ (Luk_4:7).

ΠΑΡΑΔΈΔΟΤΑΙ] by God, which the boastful devil cunningly intends to have taken for granted.

Luk_4:10 f. ὅτι] not recitative, but: that, and then καὶ ὅτι: and that. Comp. Luk_7:16. Otherwise in Mat_4:6.

μήποτε] ne unquam, not necessarily to be written separately (Bornemann); see rather Ellendt, Lex. Soph. II. p. 107; Lipsius, Gramm. Unters. p. 129 f.

Luk_4:13. πάντα πειρασμ.] every temptation, so that he had no further temptation in readiness. Omnia tela consumsit, Bengel.

ἄχρι καιροῦ] until a fitting season, when he would appear anew against Him to tempt Him. It is to be taken subjectively of the purpose and idea of the devil; he thought at some later time, at some more fortunate hour, to be able with better success to approach Him. Historically he did not undertake this again directly, but indirectly, as it repeatedly occurred by means of the Pharisees, etc. (Joh_8:40 ff.), and at last by means of Judas, Luk_22:3[83]; but with what glorious result for the tempted! Comp. Joh_14:30. The difference of meaning which Tittmann, Synon. p. 37, has asserted (according to which ἄχρι καιροῦ is said to be equivalent to ἝΩς ΤΈΛΟΥς) is pure invention. See Fritzsche, ad Rom. I. p. 308 f. Whether, moreover, the characteristic addition ἄχρι καιροῦ is a remnant of the primitive form of this narrative (Ewald) or is appended from later reflection, is an open question. But it is hardly an addition inserted by Luke himself (Bleek, Holtzmann, and others), since it is connected with the omission of the ministry of the angels. This omission is not to be attributed to a realistic effort on the part of Luke (Holtzmann, but see Luk_22:43), but must have been a feature of the source used by him, and hence the ἄχρι καιροῦ must also have already formed part of it.

[81] According to Hilgenfeld, Lukes dependence on Matthew and Mark is said to be manifested with special clearness from his narrative of the temptation. But just in regard to this narrative he must have followed a distinct source, because otherwise his variation in the sequence of the temptations (see on Mat_4:5, Rem.), and the omission of the angels ministry, would be incomprehensible (which Hilgenfeld therefore declares to be a pure invention), as, moreover, the ἄχρι καιροῦ (ver. 13) peculiar to Luke points to another source.

[82] The various attempts to make this ἐν στιγμῆ χρότου intelligible may be seen in Nebe, d. Versuch. d. Herrn, Wetzlar 1857, p. 109 ff. The author himself, regarding the temptation as an actual external history, avails himself of the analogy of the fatum morganum, but says that before the eye of the Lord the magical picture immediately dissolved. But according to the connection ἐν στιγμ. χρ. does not mean that the appearance lasted only a single moment, but that the whole of the kingdoms were brought within the view of Jesus, not as it were successively, but in one moment, notwithstanding their varied local situation upon the whole earth. Bengel says appropriately, acuta tentatio.

[83] According to Wieseler, Synopse, p. 201, the persecutions on the part of the Jews are meant, which had begun, Joh_5:15-18 ff.; there would therefore be a longer interval between vv. 13, 14. But a comparison of ver. 14 with ver. 1 shows that this interval is introduced in the harmonistic interest; moreover, Hofmanns reference to the agony in Gethsemane (Schriftbew. II. 1, p. 317) is introduced, since not this, but probably the whole opposition of the hierarchy (Joh_8:44), and finally the crime of Judas (Joh_13:2; Joh_13:27), appears as the work of the devil.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 4:1-13 . The Temptation (Mat 4:1-11 , Mar 1:12-13 ). Lk.’s account of the temptation resembles Mt.’s so closely as to suggest a common source. Yet there are points of difference of which a not improbable explanation is editorial solicitude to prevent wrong impressions, and ensure edification in connection with perusal of a narrative relating to a delicate subject: the temptation of the Holy Jesus by the unholy adversary. This solicitude might of course have stamped itself on the source Lk. uses, but it seems preferable to ascribe it to himself.

Luk 4:1 . δέ : introducing a new theme, closely connected, however, with the baptism, as appears from ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰορδάνου , the genealogy being treated as a parenthesis. πλήρης Πνεύματος Ἁ ., full of the Spirit, who descended upon Him at the Jordan, and conceived of as abiding on Him and in Him. This phrase is adopted by Lk. to exclude the possibility of evil thoughts in Jesus: no room for them; first example of such editorial solicitude. ὑπέστρεψεν ἀ . τ . Ἰ . Hahn takes this as meaning that Jesus left the Jordan with the intention of returning immediately to Galilee, so that His retirement into the desert was the result of a change of purpose brought about by the influence of the Spirit. The words do not in themselves convey this sense, and the idea is intrinsically unlikely. Retirement for reflection after the baptism was likely to be the first impulse of Jesus. Vide on Mt. ἤγετο : imperfect, implying a continuous process. ἐν τῷ Πν ., in the spirit, suggesting voluntary movement, and excluding the idea of compulsory action of the Spirit on an unwilling subject that might be suggested by the phrases of Mt. and Mk. Vide notes there. ἐν τῇ ἐρ .: this reading is more suitable to the continued movement implied in ἤγετο than εἰς τὴν ἐ . of T.R.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 4:1-13. THE TEMPTATION

1. ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, אBDL, Sah[82] It[83] Gr[84] La[85] Ti[86] The εἰς τὴν ἔρημον of the Rec[87] is an easier, more commonplace, less significant reading. See note.

[82] Sah. Sahidic Version.

[83] It. Old Latin Version (Itala).

[84] Gr. Griesbach.

[85] La. Lachmann.

[86] Ti. Tischendorf.

[87] Rec. The Textus Receptus.

1. πλήρης πνεύματος ἁγίου. St Luke often calls special attention to the work of the Spirit, Luk 3:22, Luk 4:14; Act 6:3; Act 7:55; Act 11:24. The expression alludes to the outpouring of the Spirit upon Jesus at His baptism, Luk 3:22. Joh 3:34. The narrative should be compared with Mat 4:1-11; Mar 1:12-13. St John, who narrates mainly what he had himself seen, omits the temptation.

ὑπέστρεψεν. ‘Went away.’

ἤγετο. The imperfect implies a continuous leading during all the forty days, as well as a continuous temptation. A divine impulse led him to face the hour of peril alone. St Mark uses the more intense expression, “immediately the Spirit driveth Him forth.” He only devotes two verses (Mar 1:12-13) to the Temptation, but adds the graphic touch that “He was with the wild beasts” (comp. Psa 91:13), and implies the continuous ministration of angels (διηκόνουν) to Him.

ἐν τῷ πνεύματι. ‘In the Spirit,’ comp. Luk 2:27. Rom 8:14. The phrase emphasizes the “full of the Holy Ghost,” and has the same meaning as “in the power of the Spirit,” Luk 4:14.

“Thou Spirit, who ledd’st this glorious eremite

Into the desert, his victorious field

Against the spiritual foe, and brought’st Him thence

By proof the undoubted Son of God.”

MILTON, Par. Reg. 1.

ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ. ‘In (not ‘into’) the wilderness.’ He was ‘in the Spirit’ during the whole period as He wandered about. The scene of the temptation is supposed to be the mountain near Jericho, thence called Quarantania. The tradition is not ancient, but the site is very probable, being rocky, bleak, and repellent—

“A pathless desert, dusk with horrid shades.”

MILTON.

Scripture everywhere recognizes the need of solitude and meditation on the eve of great work for God (Exo 24:2; 1Ki 19:4; Gal 1:17), and this would be necessary to the human nature of our Lord also.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Chap.

4:1-13.] Temptation of Jesus. Mat 4:1-11.Mar 1:12Mar 1:12, Mar 1:13.

Ver. 1 is peculiar to Luke, and very important. Our Lord was now full of the Holy Ghost, and in that fulness He is led up to combat with the enemy. He has arrived at the fulness of the stature of perfect man, outwardly and spiritually. And as when His Church was inaugurated by the descent of the Spirit in His fulness, so now, the first and fittest weapon for the combat is “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” The discourse of Peter in Act_2, like our Lord’s replies here, is grounded in the testimony of the Scripture.

The accounts of Matt. and Luke (Mark’s is principally a compendium) are distinct: see notes on Matt. and Mark.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

4:1-13. The Internal Preparation for the Ministry of the Christ: the Temptation in the Wilderness, Mat 4:1-11; Mar 1:12, Mar 1:13.

R. C. Trench, Studies in the Gospels, pp. 1-65, Macmillan, 1867; B. Weiss, Leben Jesu, I. 2:10, Berlin, 1882; Eng. tr. 1. pp. 319-354; H. Lathamn, Pastor Pastorum, pp. 112-146, Bell, 1890; P. Schaff, Person of Christ, pp. 32, 153, Nisbet, 1880; A. M. Fairbairn, Expositor, first series, vol. iii. pp. 321-342, Hodder, 1876; P. Didon, Jésus Christ, ch. iii. pp. 208-226, Plon, 1891.

Many futile and irreverent questions have been raised respecting this mysterious subject; futile, because it is impossible to answer them, excepting by empty conjectures; and irreverent, because they are prompted by curiosity rather than by a desire for illumination. Had the answers to them been necessary for our spiritual welfare, the answers would have been placed within our reach. Among such questions are such as these: Did Satan assume a human form, and change his form with each change of temptation, or did he remain invisible? Did he know who Jews was, or was he trying to discover this? Did he know, until he was named, that Jesus knew who he was? Where was the spot from which he showed all the kingdoms of the world?

Three points are insisted upon in the Epistle to the Hebrews (2:18, 4:15), and beyond them we need not go. 1. The temptations were real. 2. Jesus remained absolutely unstained by them. 3. One purpose of the temptations was to assure us of His sympathy when we are tempted. The second point limits the first and intensifies the third. The sinlessness of Jesus excluded all those temptations which spring from previous sin; for there was no taint in Him to become the source of temptation. But the fact that the solicitations came wholly from without, and were not born from within, does not prevent that which was offered to Him being regarded as desirable. The force of a temptation depends, not upon the sin involved in what is proposed, but upon the advantage connected with it. And a righteous man, whose will never falters for a moment, may feel the attractiveness of the advantage more keenly than the weak man who succumbs; for the latter probably gave way before he recognized the whole of the attractiveness; or his nature may be less capable of such recognition. In this way the sinlessness of Jesus augments His capacity for sympathy: for in every case He felt the full force of temptation.1

It is obvious that the substance of the narrative could have had only one source. No one has succeeded in suggesting any probable alternative. There is no Old Testament parallel, of which this could be an adaptation. Nor is there any prophecy that the Messiah would have to endure temptation, of which this might be a fictitious fulfilment. And we may be sure that, if the whole had been baseless invention, the temptations would have been of a more commonplace, and probably of a grosser kind. No Jewish or Christian legend is at all like this. It is from Christ Himself that the narrative comes; and He probably gave it to the disciples in much the same form as that in which we have it here.

1. πλήρης πνεύματος ἁγίου. These words connect the Temptation closely with the Baptism.1 It was under the influence of the Spirit, which had just descended upon Him, that He went, in obedience to God’s will, into the wilderness. All three accounts mark this connexion.; and it explains the meaning of the narrative. Jesus had been endowed with supernatural power; and He was tempted to make use of it in furthering His own interests without regard to the Father’s will. And here ἀνήχθη … πειρασθῆναι. (Mat 4:1) must not be understood as meaning that Christ went into the wilderness to court temptation. That would be too like yielding to the temptation which He resisted (vv. 9-12). He went into the desert in obedience to the Spirit’s promptings. That He should be tempted there was the Divine purpose respecting Him, to prepare Him for His work. D.C.G. ii. P. 714.

Neither Mt.nor Mk. has ἄγιον as an epithet of πνεῦμα here (see on 1:15); and neither of them has Lk.’s favourite ὑπέστρεψεν.

ἤγετο ἐν τῷ πνεύματι τῇ ἐρήμῳ. “He was led in (not into) the wilderness,” i.e. in His wanderings there, as in His progress thither, He was under Divine influence and guidance. The imperf. indicates continued action. Tradition, which is not likely to be of any value, places this wilderness close to Jericho. Some region farther north is more probable. The ἡμέρας τεσσεράκοντα may be taken either with ἤγετο (RV.) or with πειραζόμενος (AV.). As the temptation by Satan was simultaneous (pres. part.) with the leading by the Spirit, the sense will be the same, whichever arrangement be adopted. In Mk. also the words are amphibolous, and may be taken either with ἦν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ or with πειραζόμενος. If we had only the account in Mt. we might have supposed that the temptations did not begin until the close of the forty days. The three recorded may have come at the end of the time, as seems to be implied with regard to the first of them. Or they may be given as representative of the struggles which continued throughout the whole period.

1. 4:14-44. To the Call of the first Disciples.

1. Jesus did not employ this method of healing those who were believed to be possessed, but the Evangelists have erroneously attributed it to Him.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Was led. So Matthew. Mark says, " The Spirit driveth, [εκβαλλει] or thrusteth him forth.

By the Spirit [εν τω πνευματι] . The American Revisers render in the spirit, indicating the sphere rather than the impulse of his action. Into the wilderness. The A. V. has followed the reading eijv, into. The proper reading is ejn, in. He was not only impelled into the wilderness, but guided in the wilderness by the Spirit.

Forty days. This should be joined with the preceding words, indicating the duration of his stay in the wilderness, not of his temptation, as A. V., being forty days tempted. Read as Rev., in the wilderness during forty days. The devil. See on Mt 4:1.

He did eat nothing. Mark does not mention the fast. Matthew uses the word nhsteusav, having fasted, which, throughout the New Testament, is used of abstinence for religious purposes; a ritual act accompanying seasons of prayer.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Fourth Narrative: The Temptation, Luk 4:1-13.

Every free creature, endowed with various faculties, must pass through a conflict, in which it decides either to use them for its own gratification, or to glorify God by devoting them to His service. The angels have passed through this trial; the first man underwent it; Jesus, being truly human, did not escape it. Our Syn. are unanimous upon this point. Their testimony as to the time when this conflict took place is no less accordant. All three place it immediately after His baptism, at the outset of His Messianic career. This date is important for determining the true meaning of this trial.

The temptation of the first man bore upon the use of the powers inherent in our nature. Jesus also experienced this kind of trial. How many times during His childhood and early manhood must He have been exposed to those temptations which address themselves to the instincts of the natural life! The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,—these different forms of sin, separately or with united force, endeavoured to besiege His heart, subjugate His will, enslave His powers, and invade this pure being as they had invaded the innocent Adam. But on the battle-field on which Adam had succumbed Jesus remained a victor. The “conscience without a scar,” which He carried from the first part of His life into the second, assures us of this. The new trial He is now to undergo belongs to a higher domain—that of the spiritual life. It no longer respects the powers of the natural man, but His filial position, and the supernatural powers just conferred upon Him at His baptism. The powers of the Spirit are in themselves holy, but the history of the church of Corinth shows how they may be profaned when used in the service of egotism and self-love (1 Corinthians 12-14) This is that filthiness of the spirit (2Co 7:1), which is more subtle, and often more pernicious, than that of the flesh. The divine powers which Jesus had just received had therefore to be sanctified in His experience, that is, to receive from Him, in His inmost soul, their consecration to the service of God. In order to this, it was necessary that an opportunity to apply them either to His own use or to God’s service should be offered Him. His decision on this critical occasion would determine for ever the tendency and nature of His Messianic work. Christ or Antichrist was the alternative term of the two ways which were opening before Him. This trial is not therefore a repetition of that of Adam, the father of the old humanity; it is the special trial of the Head of the new humanity. And it is not simply a question here, as in our conflicts, whether a given individual shall form part of the kingdom of God; it is the very existence of this kingdom that is at stake. Its future sovereign, sent to found it, struggles in close combat with the sovereign of the hostile realm.

This narrative comprises—1 st. A general view (Luk 4:1-2); 2 d. The first temptation (Luk 4:3-4); 3 d. The second (Luk 4:5-8); 4 th. The third (Luk 4:9-12); 5 th. An historical conclusion (Luk 4:13).

The Temptation

We shall examine—1 st. The nature of this fact; 2 d. Its object, 3 d. The three narratives.

1 st. Nature of the Temptation. — The ancients generally understood this account literally. They believed that the devil appeared to Jesus in a bodily form, and actually carried Him away to the mountain and to the pinnacle of the temple. But, to say nothing of the impossibility of finding anywhere a mountain from which all the kingdoms of the world could be seen, the Bible does not mention a single visible appearance of Satan; and in the conflict of Gethsemane, which, according to Luke, is a renewal of this, the presence of the enemy is not projected into the world of sense.

Have we to do then here, as some moderns have thought, with a human tempter designated metaphorically by the name Satan, in the sense in which Jesus addressed Peter, “Get thee behind me, Satan,” with an envoy from the Sanhedrim, ex gr., who had come to test Him (Kuinoel), or with the deputation from the same body mentioned in Joh 1:19 et seq., who, on their return from their interview with the forerunner. met Jesus in the desert, and there besought His Messianic co-operation, by offering Him the aid of the Jewish authorities (Lange)? But it was not until after Jesus had already left the desert and rejoined John on the banks of the Jordan, that He was publicly pointed out by the latter as the Messiah. Up to this time no one knew Him as such. Besides, if this hypothesis affords a sufficient explanation of the second temptation (in the order of Luke), it will not explain either the first or the third.

Was this narrative, then, originally nothing more than a moral lesson conveyed in the form of a parable, in which Jesus inculcated on His disciples some most important maxims for their future ministry? Never to use their miraculous power for their personal advantage, never to associate with wicked men for the attainment of good ends, never to perform a miracle in an ostentatious spirit,—these were the precepts which Jesus had enjoined upon them in a figurative manner, but which they took literally (Schleiermacher, Schweizer, Bleek). But, first of all, is it conceivable that Jesus should have expressed Himself so awkwardly as to lead to such a mistake? Next, how could He have spoken to the apostles of an external empire to be founded by them? Further, the Messianic aspect, so conspicuous in the second temptation, is completely disguised in that one of the three maxims which, according to the explanation of these theologians, ought to correspond with it. Baumgarten-Crusius, in order to meet this last objection, applies the three maxims, not to that from which the apostles were to abstain, but to that which they must not expect from Jesus Himself: “As Messiah, Jesus meant to say, I shall not seek to satisfy your sensual appetites, your ambitious aspirations, nor your thirst for miracles.” But all this kind of interpretation meets with an insurmountable obstacle in Mark’s narrative, where mention is made merely of the sojourn in the desert, and of the temptation in general, without the three particular tests, that is, according to this opinion, without the really significant portion of the information being even mentioned. According to this, Mark would have lost the kernel and retained only the shell, or, as Keim says, “kept the flesh while rejecting the skeleton.” In transforming the parable into history, the evangelist would have omitted precisely that which contained the idea of the parable.

Usteri, who had at one time adopted the preceding view, was led by these difficulties to regard this narrative as a myth emanating from the Christian consciousness; and Strauss tried to explain the origin of this legend by the Messianic notions current among the Jews. But the latter has not succeeded in producing, from the Jewish theology, a single passage earlier than the time of Jesus in which the idea of a personal conflict between the Messiah and Satan is expressed. As to the Christian consciousness, would it have been capable of creating complete in all its parts a narrative so mysterious and profound? Lastly, the remarkably fixed place which this event occupies in the three synoptics between the baptism of Jesus and the commencement of His ministry, proves that this element of the evangelical history belongs to the earliest form of Christian instruction. It could not therefore be the product of a later legendary creation.

Unless all these indications are delusive, the narrative of the temptation must correspond with a real fact in the life of the Saviour. But might it not be the description of a purely moral struggle—of a struggle that was confined to the soul of Jesus? Might not the temptation be a vision occasioned by the state of exaltation resulting from a prolonged fast, in which the brilliant image of the Jewish Messiah was presented to His imagination under the most seductive forms? (Eichhorn, Paulus.) Or might not this narrative be a condensed summary of a long series of intense meditations, in which, after having opened His soul with tender sympathy to all the aspirations of His age and people, Jesus had decidedly broken with them, and determined, with a full knowledge of the issue, to become solely the Messiah of God? (Ullmann.) In the first case, the heart whence came this carnal dream could no longer be the heart of the Holy One of God, and the perfectly pure life and conscience of Jesus become inexplicable. As to the second form in which this opinion is presented, it contains undoubtedly elements of truth. The last two temptations certainly correspond with the most prevalent and ardent aspirations of the Jewish people—the expectation of a political Messiah, and the thirst for external signs (σημεῖα αἰτεῖν, 1Co 1:22). 1. But how, from this point of view, is the first temptation to be explained? 2. How could the figure of a personal tempter find its way into such a picture? How did it become its predominating feature, so as to form almost the entire picture in Mark’s narrative? 3. Have we not the authentic comment of Jesus Himself on this conflict in the passage Luk 11:21-22, already referred to (p. 210)? In describing this victory over the strong man by the man stronger than he, and laying it down as a condition absolutely indispensable to the spoiling of the stronghold of the former, did not Jesus allude to a personal conflict between Himself and the prince of this world, such as we find portrayed in the narrative of the temptation? For these reasons, Keim, while he recognises in the temptation, with Ullmann, a sublime fact in the moral life of Jesus, an energetic determination of His will by which He absolutely renounced any deviation whatever from the divine will, notwithstanding the insufficiency of human means, confesses that he cannot refuse to admit the possibility of the existence and interposition of the representative of the powers of evil.

Here we reach the only explanation which, in our opinion, can account for the narrative of the temptation. As there is a mutual contact of bodies, so also, in a higher sphere than that of matter, there is an action and reaction of spirits on each other. It was in this higher sphere to which Jesus was raised, that He, the representative of voluntary dependence and filial love to God, met that spirit in whom the autonomy of the creature finds its most resolute representative, and in every way, and notwithstanding all this spirit’s craft, maintained by conscientious choice His own ruling principle. This victory decided the fate of mankind; it became the foundation of the establishment of God’s kingdom upon earth. This is the essential significance of this event. As to the narrative in which this mysterious scene has been disclosed to us, it must be just a symbolical picture, by means of which Jesus endeavoured to make His disciples understand a fact which, from its very nature, could only be fitly described in figurative language. Still we must remember, that Jesus being really man, having His spirit united to a body, He needed, quite as much as we do, sensible representations as a means of apprehending spiritual facts. Metaphorical language was as natural in His case as in ours. In all probability, therefore, it was necessary, in order to His fully entering into the conflict between Himself and the tempter, that it should assume the scenic (plastique) form in which it has been preserved to us. While saying this, we do not think that Jesus was transported bodily by Satan through the air. We believe that, had He been observed by any spectator whilst the temptation was going on, He would have appeared all through it motionless upon the soil of the desert. But though the conflict did not pass out of the spiritual sphere, it was none the less real, and the value of this victory was not less incalculable and decisive. This view, with some slight shades of difference, is that advocated by Theodore of Mopsuestia in the ancient Church, by some of the Reformers, and by several modern commentators (Olshausen, Neander, Oosterzee, Pressensé, etc.).

But could Jesus be really tempted, if He was holy? could He sin, if He was the Son of God? fail in His work, if He was the Redeemer appointed by God? As a holy being, He could be tempted, because a conflict might arise between some legitimate bodily want or normal desire of the soul, and the divine will, which for the time forbade its satisfaction. The Son could sin, since He had renounced His divine mode of existence in the form of God (Php 2:6), in order to enter into a human condition altogether like ours. The Redeemer might succumb, if the question be regarded from the standpoint of His personal liberty; which is quite consistent with God being assured by His foreknowledge that He would stand firm. This foreknowledge was one of the factors of His plan, precisely as the foreknowledge of the faith of believers is one of the elements of His eternal πρόθεσις (Rom 8:28).

2 d. Object of the Temptation.

The temptation is the complement of the baptism. It is the negative preparation of Jesus for His ministry, as the baptism was His positive preparation. In His baptism Jesus received impulse, calling, strength. By the temptation He was made distinctly conscious of the errors to be shunned, and the perils to be feared, on the right hand and on the left. The temptation was the last act of His moral education; it gave Him an msight into all the ways in which His Messianic work could possibly be marred. If, from the very first step in His arduous career, Jesus kept the path marked out by God’s will without deviation, change, or hesitancy, this bold front and stedfast perseverance are certainly due to His experience of the temptation. All the wrong courses possible to Him were thenceforth known; all the rocks had been observed; and it was the enemy himself who had rendered Him this service. And it was for this reason that God apparently delivered Him for a brief time into his power. This is just what Matthew’s narrative expresses so forcibly: “He was led up of the Spirit...to be tempted.” When He left this school, Jesus distinctly understood that, as respects His person, no act of His ministry was to have any tendency to lift it out of His human condition; that, as to His work, it was to be in no way assimilated to the action of the powers of this world; and that in the employment of divine power, filial liberty was never to become caprice, not even under a pretext of blind trust in the help of God. And this programme was carried out. His material wants were supplied by the gifts of charity (Luk 8:3), not by miracles; His mode of life was nothing else than a perpetual humiliation—a prolongation, so to speak, of His incarnation. When labouring to establish His kingdom, He unhesitatingly refused the aid of human power,—as, for instance, when the multitude wished to make Him a king (Joh 6:15); and His ministry assumed the character of an exclusively spiritual conquest. He abstained, lastly, from every miracle which had not for its immediate design the revelation of moral perfection, that is to say, of the glory of His Father (Luk 11:29). These supreme rules of the Messianic activity were all learnt in that school of trial through which God caused Him to pass in the desert.

3 d. The Narratives of the Temptation.

It has been maintained that, since John does not relate the temptation, he de facto denies it. But, as we have already observed, the starting-point of his narrative belongs to a later time.

The narrative of Mark (Mar 1:12-13) is very summary indeed. It occupies in some respects a middle place between the other two, approaching Matthew’s in the preface and close (the ministration of the angels), and Luke’s in the extension of the temptation to forty days. But it differs from both in omitting the three particular temptations, and by the addition of the incident of the wild beasts. Here arises, for those who maintain that one of our Gospels was the source of the other, or of both the others, the following dilemma: Either the original narrative is Mark’s, which the other two have amplified (Meyer), or Mark has given a summary of the two others (Bleek). There is yet a third alternative, by which Holtzmann escapes this dilemma: There was an original Mark, and its account was transferred in extenso into Luke and Matthew, but abridged by our canonical Mark. This last supposition appears to us inadmissible; for if Matthew and Luke drew from the same written source, how did the strange reversal in the order of the two temptations happen? Schleiermacher supposes — and modern criticism approves the suggestion (Holtzmann, p. 213)—that Luke altered the order of Matthew in order not to change the scene so frequently, by making Jesus leave the desert (for the temple), and then return to it (for the mountain). We really wonder how men can seriously put forward such puerilities. Lastly, if the three evangelists drew from the same source, the Proto-Mark, whence is the mention of the wild beasts in our canonical Mark derived? The evangelist cannot have imagined it without any authority; and if it was mentioned in the common source, it could not have been passed over, as Holtzmann admits (p. 70), by Luke and Matthew. The explanation of the latter critic being set aside, there remains the original dilemma. Have Matthew and Luke amplified Mark? How then does it happen that they coincide, not only in that part which they have in common with Mark, but quite as much, and even more, in that which is wanting in Mark (the detail of the three temptations)? How is it, again, that Matthew confines the temptation to the last moment, in opposition to the narrative of Mark and Luke; that Luke omits the succour brought to Jesus by the angels, contrary to the account of Mark and Matthew; and that Luke and Matthew omit the detail of the wild beasts, in opposition to their source, the narrative of Mark? They amplify, and yet they abridge! On the other hand, is Mark a compiler from Matthew and Luke? How, then, is it that he says not a word about the forty days’ fast? It is alleged that he desires to avoid long discourses. But this lengthened fast belongs to the facts, not to the words. Besides, whence does he get the fact about the wild beasts? He abridges, and yet he amplifies!

All these difficulties which arise out of this hypothesis, and which can only be removed by supposing that the evangelists used their authorities in an inconceivably arbitrary way, disappear of themselves, if we admit, as the common source of the three narratives, an oral tradition which circulated in the Church, and reproduced, more or less exactly, the original account given by Jesus and transmitted by the apostles. Mark only wished to give a brief account, which was all that appeared to him necessary for his readers. The preaching of Peter to Cornelius (Act 10:37 et seq.) furnishes an example of this mode of condensing the traditional accounts. Mark had perhaps heard the detail relative to the wild beasts from the mouth of Peter himself. The special aim of his narrative is to show us in Jesus the holy man raised to his original dignity, as Lord over nature (the wild beasts), and the friend of heaven (the angels). Matthew has reproduced the apostolic tradition, in the form which it had specially taken in the Jewish-Christian churches. Of this we have two indications: 1. The ritualistic character which is given in this narrative to the fasting of Jesus (having fasted); 2. The order of the last two temptations, according to which the peculiarly Messianic temptation is exhibited as the supreme and decisive act of the conflict. As to Luke, the substance of his narrative is the same apostolic tradition; but he was enabled by certain written accounts, or means of information, to give some details with greater exactness,—to restore, for example, the actual order of the three temptations. We find him here, as usual, more complete than Mark, and more exact, historically speaking, than Matthew.

And now, His position thus made clear, with God for His sure ally, and Satan for His declared adversary, Jesus advances to the field of battle.

1 st. Luk 4:1-2.

By these words, full of the Holy Ghost, this narrative is brought into close connection with that of the baptism. The genealogy is therefore intercalated.

While the other baptized persons, after the ceremony, went away to their own homes, Jesus betook Himself into solitude. This He did not at His own prompting, as Luke gives us to understand by the expression full of the Holy Ghost, which proves that the Spirit directed Him in this, as in every other step The two other evangelists explicitly say it. Matthew, He was led up of the Spirit; Mark, still more forcibly, Immediately the Spirit driveth Him into the wilderness. Perhaps the human inclination of Jesus would have been to return to Galilee and begin at once to teach. The Spirit detains Him; and Matthew, who, in accordance with his didactic aim, in narrating the fact explains its object, says expressly: “He was led up of the Spirit...to be tempted.”

The complement of the verb returned would be: from the Jordan (ἀπό) into Galilee (εἰς). But this complex government is so distributed, that the first part is found in Luk 4:1 (the ἀπό without the εἰς), and the second in Luk 4:14 (the εἰς without the ἀπό). The explanation of this construction is, that the temptation was an interruption in the return of Jesus from the Jordan into Galilee. The Spirit detained Him in Judaea.

The T. R. reads εἰς, “led into the wilderness;” the Alex. ἐν, “led (carried hither and thither) in the wilderness.” We might suppose that this second reading was only the result of the very natural reflection that, John being already in the desert, Jesus had not to repair thither. But, on the other hand, the received reading may easily have been imported into Luke from the two other Syn. And the prep. of rest (ἐν) in the Alex. better accords with the imperf. ἤγετο, was led, which denotes a continuous action.

The expression, was led by, indicates that the severe exercises of soul which Jesus experienced under the action of the Spirit absorbed Him in such a way, that the use of His faculties in regard to the external world was thereby suspended. In going into the desert, He was not impelled by a desire to accomplish any definite object; it was only, as it were, a cover for the state of intense meditation in which He was absorbed. Lost in contemplation of His personal relation to God, the full consciousness of which He had just attained, and of the consequent task it imposed upon Him in reference to Israel and the world, His heart sought to make these recent revelations wholly its own.

If tradition is to be credited, the wilderness here spoken of was the mountainous and uninhabited country bordering on the road which ascends from Jericho to Jerusalem. On the right of this road, not far from Jericho, there rises a limestone peak, exceedingly sharp and abrupt, which bears the name of Quarantania. The rocks which surround it are pierced by a number of caves. This would be the scene of the temptation. We are ignorant whether this tradition rests upon any historical fact. This locality is a continuation of the desert of Judaea, where John abode.

The words forty days may refer either to was led or to being tempted; in sense both come to the same thing, the two actions being simultaneous. According to Luke and Mark, Jesus was incessantly besieged during this whole time. Suggestions of a very different nature from the holy thoughts which usually occupied Him harassed the working of His mind. Matthew does not mention this secret action of the enemy, who was preparing for the final crisis. How can it be maintained that one of these forms of the narrative has been borrowed from the other?

The term devil, employed by Luke and Matthew, comes from διαβάλλειν, to spread reports, to slander. Mark employs the word Satan (from שָׂטָן, H8477, to oppose; Zec 3:1-2; Job 1:6, etc.). The first of these names is taken from the relation of this being to men; the second from his relations with God.

The possibility of the existence of moral beings of a different nature from that of man cannot be denied à priori. Now if these beings are free creatures, subject to a law of probation, as little can it be denied that this probation might issue in a fall. Lastly, since in every society of moral beings there are eminent individuals who, by virtue of their ascendency, become centres around which a host of inferior individuals group themselves, this may also be the case in this unknown spiritual domain. Keim himself says: “We regard this question of the existence of an evil power as altogether an open question for science.” This question, which is an open one from a scientific point of view, is settled in the view of faith by the testimony of the Saviour, who, in a passage in which there is not the slightest trace of accommodation to popular prejudice, Joh 8:44, delineates in a few graphic touches the moral position of Satan. In another passage, Luk 22:31, “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat; but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not,” Jesus lifts the veil which hides from us the scenes of the invisible world; the relation which He maintains between the accuser Satan, and Himself the intercessor, implies that in His eyes this personage is no less a personal being than Himself. The part sustained by this being in the temptation of Jesus is attested by the passage, Luk 11:21-22. It was necessary that the strong man, Satan, the prince of this world, should be vanquished by his adversary, the stronger than he, in a personal conflict, for the latter to be able to set about spoiling the world, which is Satan’s stronghold. Weizsäcker and Keim acknowledge an allusion in this passage to the fact of the temptation. It is this victory in single combat which makes the deliverance of every captive of Satan possible to Jesus.

Luke mentions Jesus’ abstinence from food for six weeks as a fact which was only the natural consequence of His being absorbed in profound meditation. To Him, indeed, this whole time passed like a single hour; He did not even feel the pangs of hunger. This follows from the words: “And when they were ended, He afterward hungered.” By the term νηστεύσας, having fasted, Matthew appears to give this abstinence the character of a deliberate ritual act, to make it such a fast as, among the Jews, ordinarily accompanied certain seasons devoted specially to prayer. This shade of thought is not a contradiction, but accords with the general character of the two narrations, and becomes a significant indication of their originality.

The fasts of Moses and Elijah, in similar circumstances, lasted the same time. In certain morbid conditions, which involve a more or less entire abstinence from food, a period of six weeks generally brings about a crisis, after which the demand for nourishment is renewed with extreme urgency. The exhausted body becomes a prey to a deathly sinking. Such, doubtless, was the condition of Jesus; He felt Himselt dying. It was the moment the tempter had waited for to make his decisive assault.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Christ being carried away (as it were out of the world, into the desert) after the fast of forty days, and the overcoming of Satan thrice, coming as it were suddenly from heaven, beginneth his office.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The last words of the foregoing chapter, that Jesus was the Son of Adam, bespeak him to be the seed of the woman; being so, we have here, according to the promise, breaking the serpent's head, baffling and foiling the devil in all his temptations, who by one temptation had baffled and foiled our first parents. Thus, in the beginning of the war, he made reprisals upon him, and conquered the conqueror.

In this story of Christ's temptation, observe,

I. How he was prepared and fitted for it. He that designed him the trial furnished him accordingly; for though we know not what exercises may be before us, nor what encounters we may be reserved for, Christ did, and was provided accordingly; and God doth for us, and we hope will provide accordingly.

1. He was full of the Holy Ghost, who had descended on him like a dove. He had now greater measures of the gifts, graces, and comforts, of the Holy Ghost than ever before. Note, Those are well armed against the strongest temptations that are full of the Holy Ghost.

2. He was newly returned from Jordan, where he was baptized, and owned by a voice from heaven to be the beloved Son of God; and thus he was prepared for this combat. Note, When we have had the most comfortable communion with God, and the clearest discoveries of his favour to us, we may expect that Satan will set upon us (the richest ship is the pirate's prize), and that God will suffer him to do so, that the power of his grace may be manifested and magnified.

3. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, by the good Spirit, who led him as a champion into the field, to fight the enemy that he was sure to conquer. His being led into the wilderness, (1.) Gave some advantage to the tempter; for there he had him alone, no friend with him, by whose prayers and advice he might be assisted in the hour of temptation. Woe to him that is alone! He might give Satan advantage, who knew his own strength; we may not, who know our own weakness. (2.) He gained some advantage to himself, during his forty days' fasting in the wilderness. We may suppose that he was wholly taken up in proper meditation, and in consideration of his own undertaking, and the work he had before him; that he spent all his time in immediate, intimate, converse with his Father, as Moses in the mount, without any diversion, distraction, or interruption. Of all the days of Christ's life in the flesh, these seem to come nearest to the angelic perfection and the heavenly life, and this prepared him for Satan's assaults, and hereby he was fortified against them.

4. He continued fasting (Luk 4:2): In those days he did eat nothing. This fast was altogether miraculous, like those of Moses and Elijah, and shows him to be, like them, a prophet sent of God. It is probable that it was in the wilderness of Horeb, the same wilderness in which Moses and Elijah fasted. As by retiring into the wilderness he showed himself perfectly indifferent to the world, so by his fasting he showed himself perfectly indifferent to the body; and Satan cannot easily take hold of those who are thus loosened fRom. and dead to, the world and the flesh. The more we keep under the body, and bring it into subjection, the less advantage Satan has against us.

II. How he was assaulted by one temptation after another, and how he defeated the design of the tempter in every assault, and became more than a conqueror. During the forty days, he was tempted of the devil (Luk 4:2), not by an inward suggestion, for the prince of this world had nothing in Christ by which to inject any such, but by outward solicitations, perhaps in the likeness of a serpent, as he tempted our first parents. But at the end of the forty days he came nearer to him, and did as it were close with him, when he perceived that he was hungry, Luk 4:2. Probably, our Lord Jesus then began to look about among the trees, to see if he could find any thing that was eatable, whence the devil took occasion to make the following proposal to him.

1. He tempted him to distrust his Father's care of him, and to set up for himself, and shift for provision for himself in such a way as his Father had not appointed for him (Luk 4:3): If thou be the Son of God, as the voice from heaven declared, command this stone to be made bread. (1.) "I counsel thee to do it; for God, if he be thy Father, has forgotten thee, and it will be long enough ere he sends either ravens or angels to feed thee." If we begin to think of being our own carvers, and of living by our own forecast, without depending upon divine providence, of getting wealth by our might and the power of our hands, we must look upon it as a temptation of Satan's, and reject it accordingly; it is Satan's counsel to think of an independence upon God. (2.) "I challenge thee to do it, if thou canst; if thou dost not do it, I will say thou art not the Son of God; for John Baptist said lately, God is able of stones to raise up children to Abraham, which is the greater; thou therefore hast not the power of the Son of God, if thou dost not of stones make bread for thyself, when thou needest it, which is the less." Thus was God himself tempted in the wilderness: Can he furnish a table? Can he give bread? Psa 78:19, Psa 78:20.

Now, [1.] Christ yielded not to the temptation; he would not turn that stone into bread; no, though he was hungry; First, Because he would not do what Satan bade him do, for that would have looked as if there had been indeed a compact between him and the prince of the devils. Note, We must not do any thing that looks like giving place to the devil. Miracles were wrought for the confirming of faith, and the devil had no faith to be confirmed, and therefore he would not do it for him. He did his signs in the presence of his disciples (Joh 20:30), and particularly the beginning of his miracles, turning water into wine, which he did, that his disciples might believe on him (Joh 2:11); but here in the wilderness he had no disciples with him. Secondly, He wrought miracles for the ratification of his doctrine, and therefore till he began to preach he would not begin to work miracles. Thirdly, He would not work miracles for himself and his own supply, lest he should seem impatient of hunger, whereas he came not to please himself, but to suffer grief, and that grief among others; and because he would show that he pleased not himself, he would rather turn water into wine, for the credit and convenience of his friends, than stones into bread, for his own necessary supply. Fourthly, He would reserve the proof of his being the Son of God for hereafter, and would rather be upbraided by Satan with being weak, and not able to do it, than be persuaded by Satan to do that which it was fit for him to do; thus he was upbraided by his enemies as if he could not save himself, and come down from the cross, when he could have come down, but would not, because it was not fit that he should. Fifthly, He would not do any thing that looked like distrust of his Father, or acting separately from him, or any thing disagreeable to his present state. Being in all things made like unto his brethren, he would, like the other children of God, live in a dependence upon the divine Providence and promise, and trust him either to send him a supply into the wilderness or to lead him to a city of habitation where there was a supply, as he used to do (Psa 107:5-7), and in the mean time would support him, though he was hungry, as he had done these forty days past.

[2.] He returned a scripture-answer to it (Luk 4:4): It is written. This is the first word recorded as spoken by Christ after his instalment in his prophetical office; and it is a quotation out of the Old Testament, to show that he came to assert and maintain the authority of the scripture as uncontrollable, even by Satan himself. And though he had the Spirit without measure, and had a doctrine of his own to preach and a religion to found, yet it agreed with Moses and the prophets, whose writings he therefore lays down as a rule to himself, and recommends to us as a reply to Satan and his temptations. The word of God is our sword, and faith in that word is our shield; we should therefore be mighty in the scriptures, and go in that might, go forth, and go on, in our spiritual warfare, know what is written, for it is for our learning, for our use. The text of scripture he makes use of is quoted from Deu 8:3 : "Man shall not live by bread alone. I need not turn the stone into bread, for God can send manna for my nourishment, as he did for Israel; man can live by every word of God, by whatever God will appoint that he shall live by." How had Christ lived, lived comfortably, these last forty days? Not by bread, but by the word of God, by meditation upon that word, and communion with it, and with God in and by it; and in like manner he could live yet, though now he began to be hungry. God has many ways of providing for his people, without the ordinary means of subsistence; and therefore he is not at any time to be distrusted, but at all times to be depended upon, in the way of duty. If meat be wanting, God can take away the appetite, or give such degrees of patience as will enable a man even to laugh at destruction and famine (Job 5:22), or make pulse and water more nourishing than all the portion of the king's meat (Dan 1:12, Dan 1:13), and enable his people to rejoice in the Lord, when the fig-tree doth not blossom, Hab 3:17. She was an active believer who said that she had made many a meal's meat of the promises when she wanted bread.

2. He tempted him to accept from him the kingdom, which, as the Son of God, he expected to receive from his Father, and to do him homage for, Luk 4:5-7. This evangelist puts this temptation second, which Matthew had put last, and which, it should seem, was really the last; but Luke was full of it, as the blackest and most violent, and therefore hastened to it. In the devil's tempting of our first parents, he presented to them the forbidden fruit, first as good for food, and then as pleasant to the eyes; and they were overpowered by both these charms. Satan here first tempted Christ to turn the stones into bread, which would be good for food, and then showed him the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, which were pleasant to the eyes; but in both these he overpowered Satan, and perhaps with an eye to that, Luke changes the order. Now observe,

(1.) How Satan managed this temptation, to prevail with Christ to become a tributary to him, and to receive his kingdom by delegation from him.

[1.] He gave him a prospect of all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, an airy representation of them, such as he thought most likely to strike the fancy, and seem a real prospect. To succeed the better, he took him up for this purpose into a high mountain; and, because we next after the temptation find Christ on the other side Jordan, some think it probable that it was to the top of Pisgah that the devil took him, whence Moses has a sight of Canaan. That it was but a phantasm that the devil here presented our Saviour with, as the prince of the power of the air, is confirmed by that circumstance which Luke here takes notice of, that it was done in a moment of time; whereas, if a man take a prospect of but one country, he must do it successively, must turn himself round, and take a view first of one part and then of another. Thus the devil thought to impose upon our Saviour with a fallacy - a deceptio visus; and, by making him believe that he could show him all the kingdoms of the world, would draw him into an opinion that he could give him all those kingdoms.

[2.] He boldly alleged that these kingdoms were all delivered to him that he had power to dispose of them and all their glory, and to give them to whomsoever he would, Luk 4:6. Some think that herein he pretended to be an angel of light, and that, as one of the angels that was set over the kingdoms, he had out-bought, or out-fought, all the rest, and so was entrusted with the disposal of them all, and, in God's name, would give them to him, knowing they were designed for him; but clogged with this condition, that he should fall down and worship him, which a good angel would have been so far from demanding that he would not have admitted it, no, not upon showing much greater things than these, as appears, Rev 19:10; Rev 22:9. But I rather take it that he claimed this power as Satan, and as delivered to him not by the Lord, but by the kings and people of these kingdoms, who gave their power and honour to the devil, Eph 2:2. Hence he is called the god of this world, and the prince of this world. It was promised to the Son of God that he should have the heathen for his inheritance, Psa 2:8. "Why," saith the devil, "the heathen are mine, are my subjects and votaries; but, however, they shall be thine, I will give them thee, upon condition that thou worship me for them, and say that they are the rewards which I have given thee, as others have done before thee (Hos 2:12), and consent to have and hold them by, fRom. and under, me."

[3.] He demanded of him homage and adoration: If thou wilt worship me, all shall be thine, Luk 4:7. First, He would have him worship him himself. Perhaps he does not mean so as never to worship God, but let him worship him in conjunction with God; for the devil knows, if he can but once come in a partner, he shall soon be sole proprietor. Secondly, He would indent with him, that when, according to the promise made to him, he had got possession of the kingdoms of this world, he should make no alteration of religions in them, but permit and suffer the nations, as they had done hitherto, to sacrifice to devils (Co1 10:20); that he should still keep up demon-worship in the world, and then let him take all the power and glory of the kingdoms if he pleased. Let who will take the wealth and grandeur of this earth, Satan has all he would have if he can but have men's hearts, and affections, and adorations, can but work in the children of disobedience; for then he effectually devours them.

(2.) How our Lord Jesus triumphed over this temptation. He gave it a peremptory repulse, rejected it with abhorrence (Luk 4:8): "Get thee behind me, Satan, I cannot bear the mention of it. What! worship the enemy of God whom I came to serve? and of man whom I came to save? No, I will never do it." Such a temptation as this was not to be reasoned with, but immediately refused; it was presently knocked on the head with one word, It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God; and not only so, but him only, him and no other. And therefore Christ will not worship Satan, nor, when he has the kingdoms of the world delivered to him by his Father, as he expects shortly to have, will he suffer any remains of the worship of the devil to continue in them. No, it shall be perfectly rooted out and abolished, wherever his gospel comes. He will make no composition with him. Polytheism and idolatry must go down, as Christ's kingdom gets up. Men must be turned from the power of Satan unto God, from the worship of devils to the worship of the only living and true God. This is the great divine law that Christ will re-establish among men, and by his holy religion reduce men to the obedience of, That God only is to be served and worshipped; and therefore whoever set up any creature as the object of religious worship, though it were a saint or an angel, or the virgin Mary herself, they directly thwart Christ's design, and relapse into heathenism.

3. He tempted him to be his own murderer, in a presumptuous confidence of his Father's protection, such as he had no warrant for. Observe,

(1.) What he designed in this temptation: If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down, Luk 4:9. [1.] He would have him seek for a new proof of his being the Son of God, as if that which his Father had given him by the voice from heaven, and the descent of the Spirit upon him, were not sufficient, which would have been a dishonour to God, as if he had not chosen the most proper way of giving him the assurance of it; and it would have argued a distrust of the Spirit's dwelling in him, which was the great and most convincing proof to himself of his being the Son of God, Heb 1:8, Heb 1:9. [2.] He would have him seek a new method of proclaiming and publishing this to the world. The devil, in effect, suggests that it was in an obscure corner that he was attested to be the Son of God, among a company of ordinary people, who attended John's baptism, that his honours were proclaimed; but if he would now declare from the pinnacle of the temple, among all the great people who attend the temple-service, that he was the Son of God, and then, for proof of it, throw himself down unhurt, he would presently be received by every body as a messenger sent from heaven. Thus Satan would have him seek honours of his devising (in contempt of those which God had put on him), and manifest himself in the temple at Jerusalem; whereas God designed he should be more manifest among John's penitents, to whom his doctrine would be more welcome than to the priests. [3.] It is probable he had some hopes that, though he could not throw him down, to do him the least mischief, yet, if he would but throw himself down, the fall might be his death, and then he should have got him finely out of the way.

(2.) How he backed and enforced this temptation. He suggested, It is written, Luk 4:10. Christ had quoted scripture against him; and he thought he would be quits with him, and would show that he could quote scripture as well as he. It has been usual with heretics and seducers to pervert scripture, and to press the sacred writings into the service of the worst of wickednesses. He shall give his angels charge over thee, if thou be his Son, and in their hands they shall bear thee up. And now that he was upon the pinnacle of the temple he might especially expect this ministration of angels; for, if he was the Son of God, the temple was the proper place for him to be in (Luk 2:46); and, if any place under the sun had a guard of angels constantly, it must needs be that, Psa 68:17. It is true, God has promised the protection of angels, to encourage us to trust him, not to tempt him; as far as the promise of God's presence with us, so far the promise of the angels' ministration goes, but no further: "They shall keep thee when thou goest on the ground, where thy way lies, but not if thou wilt presume to fly in the air."

(3.) How he was baffled and defeated in the temptation, Luk 4:12. Christ quoted Deu 6:16, where it is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, by desiring a sign for the proof of divine revelation, when he has already given that which is sufficient; for so Israel did, when they tempted God in the wilderness, saying, He gave us water out of the rock; but can he give flesh also? This Christ would be guilty of if he should say, "He did indeed prove me to be the Son of God, by sending the Spirit upon me, which is the greater; but can he also give his angels a charge concerning me, which is the less?"

III. What was the result and issue of this combat, Luk 4:13. Our victorious Redeemer kept his ground, and came off a conqueror, not for himself only, but for us also.

1. The devil emptied his quiver: He ended all the temptation. Christ gave him opportunity to say and do all he could against him; he let him try all his force, and yet defeated him. Did Christ suffer, being tempted, till all the temptation was ended? And must not we expect also to pass all our trials, to go through the hour of temptation assigned us?

2. He then quitted the field: He departed from him. He saw it was to no purpose to attack him; he had nothing in him for his fiery darts to fasten upon; he had no blind side, no weak or unguarded part in his wall, and therefore Satan gave up the cause. Note, If we resist the devil, he will flee from us.

3. Yet he continued his malice against him, and departed with a resolution to attack him again; he departed but for a season, achri kairou - till a season, or till the season when he was again to be let loose upon him, not as a tempter, to draw him to sin, and so to strike at his head, which was what he now aimed at and was wholly defeated in; but as a persecutor, to bring him to suffer by Judas and the other wicked instruments whom he employed, and so to bruise his heel, which it was told him (Gen 3:15) he should have to do, and would do, though it would be the breaking of his own head. He departed now till that season came which Christ calls the power of darkness (Luk 22:53), and when the prince of this world would again come, Joh 14:30.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

CHAPTER IV.

Christ's temptation, 1-13.

Teaches in the synagogues of Galilee, 14, 15.

He preaches tn a synagogue at Nazareth, 16-28.

They attempt to kill him, 29, 30.

He preaches in Capernaum, 31, 32,

and casts out a demon, 33-37.

Heals Peter's mother-in-law, and various others, 38-41.

He goes to the desert, and preaches afterwards in the synagogues

of Galilee, 42-44.

NOTES ON CHAP. IV.

Verse 1. Was led by the Spirit] Or, And was carried about, ηγετο. Matthew says, αςηχθη, he was brought up. Mark says, the Spirit driveth him εκβαλλει - putteth him forth. But each of the evangelists attributes this to the Holy Ghost, not to Satan.

It may be useful to remark here, that, during the forty days and forty nights in which he is said to have been tempted by the devil, he is carried about, continually sustained and supported, by the Holy Ghost. Let those who are tempted by Satan look for, and, in virtue of the power and intercession of Christ, claim, the same support; and it matters little how many days they may be assaulted by the devil, while they are carried about by the Spirit of God.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

Ver. 1. Returned from Jordan, and was led] No sooner out of the water of baptism, but in the fire of temptation. After greatest feelings, we are to expect sharpest assaults; neither can we better quench the devil’s fiery darts, than with the water of baptism. We lead, saith Luther, of a certain holy virgin, who, whensoever solicited to sin, would stop the tempter’s mouth with this one answer, Christiana sum, I am a Christian. Intellexit enim hostis statim virtutem baptismi et fidei-et fugit ab ea. Satan could not abide the mention of baptism, but fled from her presently.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By the Holy Ghost here is to be understood the gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to the prophecy of him, Isa 11:1,2. The gifts of the Holy Spirit are often in holy writ called the Spirit, Act 2:4; 8:18; 10:44; and not only those that are influenced with the saving gifts and graces of the Spirit, are said to have the Spirit, and be filled; but those who received the more extraordinary powers of it, such as the gifts of prophecy, healing, &c. Others besides Christ are in Scripture said to be filled with the Spirit, Act 6:5; and it was so prophesied concerning John, Luk 1:15. But they had but their measure; to Christ the Spirit was given not by measure, Joh 3:34.

He returned from Jordan: there John baptized, there Christ was baptized by him.

And was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. Ηγετο saith Luke. ’Aνηχθη saith Matthew. Mark expresses it by the word εκβαλλει. The words do not signify a violent motion, (for without doubt Christ went willingly), but a potent and efficacious motion.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The wilderness - Supposed by some to have been in Judea; by others to have been that great desert of Horeb or Sinai, where the children of Israel were tried for forty years, and Moses and Elijah fasted forty days. Matt. iv, 1; Mark i, 12.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

At the twenty-second verse of the foregoing chapter, we find the Holy Ghost descending in a bodily shape like a dove upon our Saviour. In this verse we find the extraordinary effects and fruits of the Holy Ghost’s descent upon our Saviour: he was filled with all the gifts and graces of the blessed Spirit, to fit and furnish him for that ministerial service which he was now entering upon.

But observable it is, that before our Saviour undertook the ministerial office, he is led by the Spirit into the wilderness, and there furiously assaulted with Satan’s temptations. Temptation, meditation, and prayer, says Luther, make a minister: great temptations from Satan do fit us for greater services for God.

And whereas it is said, that Christ was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil by the Spirit, we must understand the Holy Spirit of God; for the devil, I think, is never called the spirit, but has always a brand of reproach annexed, as the evil spirit, the unclean spirit, and the like.

By his being led by the Spirit, (St. Mark says he was drove by the Spirit,) we may either understand a potent and efficacious persuasion, without any violent motion: or else, as the learned Dr. Lightfoot thinks, Christ was bodily caught up by the Holy Spirit into the air, and carried from Jordan, where he was baptized, into the wilderness, where he was tempted.

God had put great honour upon Christ at his baptism, declaring him to be his well-beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased; and the next news we hear is the devil assaulting him with his temptations.

Learn thence, that the more any are beloved of God, and dignified with more eminent testimonies of his favour, so much the more is the devil enraged, and maliciously bent against them.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [XIX. Jesus Tempted].

XIX. JESUS TEMPTED IN THE WILDERNESS. aMATT. IV. 1-11; bMARK I. 12, 13; cLUKE IV. 1-13.

c1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, b12 And straightway the Spirit driveth him forth cand a1 Then [Just after his baptism, with the glow of the descended Spirit still upon him, and the commending voice of the Father still ringing in his ears, Jesus is rushed into the suffering of temptation. Thus abrupt and violent are the changes of life. The spiritually exalted may expect these sharp contrasts. After being in the third heaven, Paul had a messenger of Satan to buffet him-- 2Co_12:7] was Jesus led up [The two expressions "driveth" and "led up" show that Jesus was drawn to the wilderness by an irresistible impulse, and did not go hither of his own volition ( Eze_40:2). He was brought into temptation, but did not seek it. He was led of God into temptation, but was not tempted of God. God [87] may bring us into temptation ( Mat_6:13, Mat_26:41, Job_1:12, Job_2:6), and may make temptation a blessing unto us, tempering it to our strength, and making us stronger by the victory over it ( 1Co_10:13, Jam_1:2, Jam_1:12), but God himself never tempts us-- Jam_1:13] of the Spirit into the wilderness [The wilderness sets in back of Jericho and extends thence along the whole western shore of the Dead Sea. The northern end of this region is in full view from the Jordan as one looks westward, and a more desolate and forbidding landscape it would be hard to find. It is vain to locate the temptation in any particular part of it. Jesus may have wandered about over nearly all of it] to be tempted of the devil [As a second David, Jesus went forth to meet that Goliath who had so long vaunted himself against all who sought to serve God, and had as yet found none to vanquish him. The account of the temptation must have been given to the disciples by Jesus himself, and as it pleased him to give it to us as an actual history of real facts, it behooves us to accept it without being presumptuously inquisitive. Of course, it has supernatural features, but the supernatural confronts us all through the life of Jesus, so there is nothing strange about it here. Jesus had taken upon him our flesh, and hence he could be tempted, with a possibility of falling. But his divinity insured his victory over temptation. He became like us in ability to fall, that he might make us like unto himself in power to resist. It behooved him to be tempted, and thus sharing our nature with its weakness and temptation he might bring us to share his nature with its strength and sinlessness ( Heb_2:17, Heb_2:18, Heb_4:15, Heb_4:16). Sinlessness does not preclude temptation, else Adam could not have been tempted, nor could Satan himself have fallen. Moreover, temptation is in so sense sin. It is the yielding of the will to temptation which constitutes sin. The spiritual history of humanity revolves around two persons; namely, the first and the second Adam. The temptation of Christ was as real as that of Adam. He had taken upon himself our temptable nature ( Phi_2:7, Phi_2:8), and he was tempted not as a private soldier, but as the second Adam, the Captain of [88] our salvation ( Heb_2:10-18). The failure of the first Adam brought sorrow, darkness and death; the success of the second Adam brought joy, light and immortality. One of the tenets of modern infidelity is the denial of the personality of the devil. It is asserted that the idea of a devil was not known to the early Hebrews, but was borrow from Persian dualism. The Persians held that there were two contending deities--a good one and a bad one; and the Hebrews, according to these critics, learned this doctrine from the Persians during the days of their Babylonian captivity, and modified it so that the god of evil became the devil. But such a theory is based upon the absurd notion that all the books of the Old Testament were written after the return of the Jews from Babylon. Their theory requires this notion, for the books of Genesis and Job, which were written centuries before the captivity, both show a knowledge of this being, and the first connects him and his work with the very beginning of human history. Those who believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures must also believe in the personality of the devil, for they plainly teach it. The devil is a fallen angel ( Jud_1:6, 2Pe_2:4). This doctrine need startle no one, for as there are good and bad spirits in the body, so there are good and bad spirits out of the body. Since God permits sinful spirits in the body, why should he not also permit them out of the body? If there can be a Herod, a Nero, a Judas, among men, why may there not be a Satan among evil spirits? Being but an angel, Satan is neither omnipresent, omniscient nor omnipotent. He is only a tolerated rebel, as we are tolerated rebels. He was the first sinner ( 1Jo_3:8), and was the originator of sin ( Joh_8:44). He is the perpetual tempter of mankind ( Rev_20:2, Rev_20:8), but he shall be conquered by the Redeemer ( Joh_12:31, Rev_12:9), and may be conquered by us also through the grace of Christ ( 1Pe_5:8, 1Pe_5:9, Jam_4:7); but is, nevertheless, dangerous ( Rev_2:10, Rev_3:9). Jesus, therefore, teaches us to pray for deliverance from him ( Mat_6:13, R.V.). Jesus will destroy the works of Satan ( 1Jo_3:8), and Satan himself shall suffer eternal punishment [89] ( Rev_20:10). There is but one devil in the spirit world. The word which our King James Version translates "devils" should be translated "demons." The word "devil" means false accuser or slanderer, and the word in the plural is twice applied, metaphorically, to men and women ( 2Ti_3:3, 1Ti_3:11). The devil is called slanderer because he speaks against men ( Rev_12:10-12) and against God ( Gen_3:1-5). The word "devil" is Greek. The word "Satan" is Hebrew, and means adversary ( Job_2:1). Satan is referred to under many other terms, such as Beelzebub ( Mat_12:24); serpent ( Rev_12:9); prince of the powers of the air ( Eph_2:2); Abaddon (Hebrew) and Apollyon (Greek), meaning destroyer ( Rev_9:11); Belial, meaning good for nothing ( 2Co_6:15); murderer and liar ( Joh_8:44); prince of this world ( Joh_12:31); god of this world ( 2Co_4:4); and the dragon ( Rev_12:7). These terms are always used in the Bible to designate an actual person; they are never used merely to personify evil. The devil may have appeared to Jesus in bodily form, or he may have come insensibly as he does to us. Our Lord's temptation makes the personality of the tempter essential, else Christ's own heart must have suggested evil to him, which is incompatible with his perfect holiness.] b13 And he was cled in the Spirit [that is, under the power of the Spirit] in the wilderness [Isolation from humanity is no security from temptation. In fact, our present passage of Scripture shows that it is highly favorable to temptation. The experience of all hermits shows that loneliness is the mother of a multitude of evil desires] 2 during forty days [Matthew speaks of the temptation as coming "after" forty days. Evidently Mark and Luke regard the long fast as part of the process of temptation, seeing that without it the first temptation would have been without force. There is no evidence of any other specific temptations before the three], being tempted of bSatan; cthe devil, band he was with the wild beasts [A graphic touch, showing the dreariness and desolation of the wilderness, and indicating its peril. Lions, [90] wolves, leopards and serpents have been found in the Judæan wilderness]; cAnd he did eat nothing [It used to be thought that a forty days' absolute fast was a practical impossibility, and Luke's words were therefore modified to mean that he ate very little. But as a forty days' fast has been safely accomplished in modern times, and as it was Jesus who fasted, we see no reason why we should not take Luke's statement literally, as indicating an absolute fast] in those days: and when they were completed. a2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights [A forty days' fast was accomplished by Moses ( Exo_34:28, Deu_9:18), and by Elijah ( 1Ki_19:8), and it is a significant fact in this connection that these two men appeared with Christ at his transfiguration ( Mat_17:3). Those who share Christ's sufferings shall also share his glorification ( Rom_8:17, 2Ti_2:11, 2Ti_2:12). The forty days' fast became a basis for the temptation. We are told that temptation results from the excitement of desire ( Jam_1:14), and, as a rule, the greater the desire the greater the temptation. Viewed from this standpoint the temptation of the second Adam greatly exceeded in strength that of the first, for Adam abstained as to a particular fruit, but Christ fasted as to all things edible], he afterward hungered. [Here, for the first time, our Lord is shown as sharing our physical needs. We should note for our comfort that one may lack bread and suffer want, and still be infinitely beloved in heaven.] 3 And the tempter came [Satan is pre-eminently the tempter, for other tempters are his agents. He may possibly have appeared as an angel of light ( 2Co_11:14), but the purpose of his coming is more important than the manner of it. He came to produce sin in Jesus, for sin would render him forever incapable of becoming our Saviour--a sacrifice for the sins of others] c3 And the devil said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command this stone that it acommand that these stones become bread. [The devil's "if" strikes at the faith of Christ, and faith is the bond of union and accord between man and God. The main sin of this temptation was therefore distrust, though [91] it had other sinful phases. The Father's voice had just declared the Sonship of Jesus, and Satan here boldly questions the truth of God's words, just as he did in the beginning ( Gen_3:3-5). The temptation smacks of curiosity, and curiosity is the mother of many sins. Though Satan so glibly questioned the divinity of Christ, his kingdom soon began to feel the power of that divinity ( Luk_4:34-41), and shall continue to feel it until his kingdom is destroyed ( Heb_2:14, 1Jo_3:8). This temptation appealed to the present appetite, the impulse of the moment, as many of our temptations do. It has been quaintly said of the tempter that "he had sped so successfully to his own mind by a temptation about a matter of eating with the first Adam, that he practiced the old manner of trading with the second." This first temptation is still Satan's favorite with the poor. He suggests to them that if they were really the beloved objects of God's care, their condition would be otherwise. We should note that Jesus wrought no selfish miracle. Such an act would have been contrary to all Scripture precedent. Paul did not heal himself ( 1Co_12:7-9, Gal_4:13, Col_4:14), nor Epaphroditus, ( Phi_2:25-27), nor Trophimus ( 2Ti_4:20). Denying himself the right to make bread in the wilderness, Christ freely used his miraculous power to feed others in the desert ( Mat_14:15-21), and merited as just praise those words which were meant as a bitter taunt-- Mat_27:42.] 4 But he { c4 And Jesus aanswered and said, cunto him, It is written [Jesus quotes Deu_8:3. It is a saying relative to the times when Israel was sustained by manna in the wilderness. The case of Jesus was now similar to that of Israel. He was in a foodless wilderness, but he trusted that as God had provided for Israel in its helplessness, so would he now provide for him. Israel sinned by doubt and murmuring, and proposing to obtain bread in its own way--that is, by returning to Egypt ( Exo_16:1-9). Jesus avoided a like sin. We should note the use which our Lord made of Scripture: in his hour of trial he did not look to visions and voices and special revelation for guidance, but used the written Word as the lamp [92] for his feet ( Psa_119:105); in the conflict of temptation he did not defend himself by his own divine wisdom, but used that wisdom which God had revealed to all Israel through his prophets. Jesus fought as a man ( Phi_2:6, Phi_2:7), and used that weapon which, as God, he had given to man ( Eph_6:17). Jesus used the Scripture as of final, argument-ending authority. Eve also started with "God hath said" ( Gen_3:3); but she was not constant in her adherence to God's word. Jesus permitted Satan neither to question nor pervert the Scripture], Man [In using the word "man" Jesus takes his stand with us as a human being] shall not live by bread alone [Called out of Egypt as God's Son ( Mat_2:15), Jesus could well expect that he would be fed with manna after his forty days' fast. He trusted that God could furnish a table in the wilderness ( Psa_78:19). We, too, have abundant reason for a like trust. God gave us our lives, and gave his Son to redeem them from sin. He may let us suffer, but we can not perish is we trust him. Let us live by his word rather than by bread. It is better to die for righteousness than to live by sin. God fed Israel with supernatural bread, to show the people that they lived thus, and not by what they were pleased to call natural means. The stomach is a useful agent, but it is not the source of life, nor even the life sustainer. Those who think that the securing of bread is the first essential to the sustaining of life, will fail to seek any diviner food, and so will eventually starve with hunger--soul hunger.] abut by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God [To satisfy our sense of duty is often more pleasant than to appease the pangs of hunger ( Joh_4:32-34, Job_23:12, Jer_15:16). The trust of Jesus that God would speak in his behalf and save him, was like that of Job ( Job_13:15). God can sustain our lives without food if he chooses. We shall live if God wills it, bread or no bread; and we shall likewise die at his word ( Mat_6:25, Joh_6:47-58, Act_17:28). God can support our lives independent of our body-- Mat_10:28.] 5 Then the devil taketh him [Matthew emphasizes the [93] compulsory companionship of Satan. Jesus was in the hands of Satan as was Job ( Job_2:5, Job_2:6); but in Jesus' case Satan had the power of life and death, and he eventually took Jesus to the cross and slew him there] into the holy city [A common name for Jerusalem. The inscription on Jewish coins was "Jerusalem the Holy." Arabs to-day call it "el Kuds," "the Holy." The Holy City did not exclude the tempter nor temptations. The church may be the scene of man's sorest trial to resist wrong. But in the Holy City which is to come there will be no temptation]; c9 And he led him to Jerusalem, aand set him [The two verbs "taketh" and "setting" imply that Satan exercised a control over the bodily person of our Lord] on the pinnacle of the temple [It is not known exactly what spot is indicated by the word "pinnacle." Hence three places have been contended for the proper locality: 1. The apex of the temple structure itself. 2. The top of Solomon's porch. 3. The top of Herod's royal portico. As to the temple itself, Josephus tells us that its roof was covered with spikes of gold, to prevent even birds from alighting upon it, and, if so, men could not stand upon it. Solomon's porch, or the eastern portico, faced the Mount of Olives, and has been fixed upon by tradition as the place from which James, the Lord's brother, was hurled. The royal portico of Herod was at the southeast corner of the temple enclosure, and overlooked the valley of Kidron. Here was then, and is yet, the greatest height about the temple, and it was, therefore, the most suitable place for Satan's proposal], 6 and saith { csaid aunto him, If [Godly life rests on faith. The life the devil would have us lead rests on ifs and uncertainties, on doubt and skepticism. We should note that foolish men doubt the divinity of Jesus, but the temptations of our Lord show how positively Satan was convinced of it. The opening scenes of Christ's ministry are redolent with his divinity. The Baptist asserted his purity and might, the Spirit visibly acknowledged his worthiness, the Father audibly testified to his Sonship, and the devil twice assaulted him as the divine champion] thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down [94] [The first temptation was to under-confidence; the second to over-trust and presumption--two very dangerous conditions of the soul. Men begin by disparagingly doubting that Jesus can save them from their sins, and end by recklessly presuming that he will save them in their sins. Comparing this with Eve's temptation, we find that she was vainly curious to see if she might be like God ( Gen_3:5), but Christ resisted such curiously. It is urged by some as to this temptation that there is no hint of vainglory or display, because nothing is said about casting himself down in the presence of the people, and that Jesus was merely taken to the temple because the sacred locality would tend to heighten his trust in the protecting promise which Satan quoted. But this ground is not well taken, for 1. The temple presumes a crowd. 2. We have a right to presume that this temptation would be like others to which Jesus was subjected. He was frequently invited to work miracles to satisfy curiosity, and he invariably refused to do so]: cfrom hence: 10 for it is written [This quotation is taken from Psa_91:11, Psa_91:12, and applies to man generally. Note 1. The devil's head is full of Scripture, but to no profit, for his heart is empty of it. 2. By quoting it he shows a sense of its power which modern rationalism would do well to consider. 3. Satan's abuse of Scripture did not discourage Christ's use of it], He shall give his angels charge concerning thee [Regarding Satan's words as a quotation, we are struck with the fact that his knowledge of this particular passage was based upon his personal experience. He had been confronted by the presence of the guardian angels and had fretted at it ( Job_1:10, 2Ki_6:8, 2Ki_6:17, Psa_34:7, Jud_1:9). As a temptation, Satan's words appeal to Jesus to be more religious; to put more trust and reliance upon the promises of the Father; and he puts him in the place--the temple--where he might argue that God could least afford to let his promise fail], to guard thee: 11 and, On their hands they shall bear thee up [All who love pomp, display of artistic taste, gaieties of fashion, intoxication of fame, etc., fall by this temptation. Those who truly rest on God's promises, stand on a sure [95] foundation, but those who rise on bubbles must come down when they burst], Lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone. 12 And Jesus answering, said unto him, aagain it is written csaid, ["Written," "said"; the writings of Scripture are in general the sayings of God. But the Bible is not made up of isolated texts. To get a right understanding we must compare Scripture with Scripture. We could have no higher indorsement of the Old Testament than this use of it by Christ. It was sufficient for him in his temptations, and with the addition of the New Testament, it is sufficient for us in all things-- 2Ti_3:16, 2Ti_3:17, Col_3:3-16], aThou shalt not make trial [Make experiment upon God, set traps for him, put one's self in dangerous situations, hoping thereby to draw forth some show of loving deliverance. Had Jesus cast himself down, he would have demanded of the Father a needless miracle to prove his Sonship, and would thereby have put the love of God to an unnecessary trial. All who jeopardize themselves without any command of God or call of duty, make trial of his love] of the Lord thy God. 8 Again, the devil taketh him [whether naturally or supernaturally, "whether in the body or out of the body" ( 2Co_12:2-4), we can not tell. But it was a real, practical trial and temptation] unto an exceeding high mountain [it is immaterial which mountain this was; for from no mountain could one see the whole earth with the natural eye], c5 And he led him up, aAnd showeth cshowed ahim [It is not said by either evangelist that Jesus saw the kingdoms from the mountain-top, but that Satan showed them to him. From any high Judæan mountain it would be easy for him to locate Rome, Greece, Egypt, Persia and Assyria, and as he pointed out their locality a few brief words of description would picture them to the imagination of Jesus, and cause their glories to move before his eyes. But it is very likely that to this description some sort of supernatural vision was added. It tempted the eye of Jesus as the luscious fruit did the eye of Eve-- Gen_3:6] all the kingdoms of the world [It tempted Jesus to realize the dreams [96] which the Jewish nation entertained. It was an appeal to him to reveal himself in the fullness of his power and authority as above generals, princes, kings, and all beings of all ages. An appeal to obtain by physical rather than by spiritual power; by the short-cut path of policy rather than by the long road of suffering and martyrdom. Jesus came to obtain the kingdoms of the world. He was born King of the Jews, and confessed himself to be a King before Pilate. All authority is now given to him, and he must reign until he puts all his enemies under his feet, and until all the kingdoms of the world become his kingdom. Satan's way to obtain this kingdom differed from God's way. He might obtain it by doing Satan's will and becoming his worshiper, or by worshiping God and doing his will. Satan would give the speedier possession, but God the more lasting. We also strive for a kingdom; but let us obtain ours as Christ did his], and the glory of them [That is, all their resources as well as their magnificence. Their cities, lands and people, their armies, treasures and temples, etc. Many parents, in encouraging their children to seek earthly glory and distinction, unconsciously assist Satan in urging this temptation]; cin a moment of time [These words strongly indicate that the prospect must have been supernaturally presented. The suddenness of the vision added greatly to the power of the temptation]; a9 and he cthe devil said unto him, To thee will I give all this authority aAll these things will I give thee, [From the standpoint of Christ's humanity, how overwhelming the temptation! It was the world's honors to one who had for thirty years led the life of a village carpenter; it was the world's riches to him who had not where to lay his head. From the standpoint of Jesus' divinity the temptation was repulsive. It was a large offer in the sight of Satan, but a small one in the sight of him who made all the worlds. Such offers are large to the children of the world, but small to those who are by faith joint-heirs with Christ ( Rom_8:17, Phi_3:7, Phi_3:8). But the temptation was, nevertheless, very specious and plausible. The power of Jesus linked with that of Satan, and [97] operating through Jewish fanaticism and pagan expectation would, in a few months, have brought the whole earth into one temporal kingdom, with Jesus as its head. But the kingdom of Christ rested upon a surer promise ( Psa_2:8) than that here given by the "father of lies." God had promised, and, despite the pretensions of Satan, God had not yet retired from the government of the world. It was true that Satan and his emissaries had, by usurpation, gained an apparent possession of the world, but Jesus had right to it as the heir of God ( Mat_21:33-43). Being stronger than Satan, he had come to regain his kingdom, not by treaty, but by conquest ( Luk_11:19-22). Moreover, he would obtain it as a spiritual and not as a carnal kingdom. Servants of Christ should remember this. Every attempt to establish Messiah's kingdom as an outward, worldly dominion is an effort to convert the kingdom of heaven into the kingdom of the devil. God's kingdom can not be secularized. It should be noted also that Satan omits the words "if thou art the Son of God" in this instance, for their presence would have marred the force of the temptation. Note also that this was the only temptation wherein Satan evinced any show of generosity. He is slow to give anything, and most of us sell out to him for nothing-- Isa_52:3], and the glory of them: for it hath been delivered unto me [Satan does not claim an absolute but a derivative right, and his claim is not wholly unfounded ( Joh_12:31, Joh_14:30, Joh_16:11). But the kingdom has been delivered unto him by men rather than by God ( Eph_2:2). How much more quickly Jesus would have obtained power, had he received it from men by consenting to co-operate with them in their sinful practices as does Satan]; and to whomsoever I will [Not so Jesus. His giving is according to the Father's will-- Mat_9:23] I give it [The Emperor Tiberius then held it in the fullest sense ambition ever realized. Yet he was the most miserable and degraded of men. Satan knows how to take full toll for all that he gives.] 7 If [In the temptations Satan uses three "ifs." The first "if" is one of despairing doubt; the second, one of vainglorious speculation; the third, one of moral and [98] spiritual compromise] thou therefore wilt afall down and worship cbefore me [Satan and God each seek the worship of man, but from very different motives. God is holiness and goodness, and we are invited to worship him that we may thereby be induced to grow like him. But Satan seeks worship for vanity's sake. How vast the vanity which would give so great a reward for one act of worship! Verily the devil is fond of it. He gives nothing unless he obtains it, and all his generosity is selfishness. Worshiping before Satan is the bending of the soul rather than of the body. He holds before each of us some crown of success, and says: "Bend just a little; slightly compromise your conscience. Accept the help of Pharisee and Sadducee, and keep silent as to their sins. Mix a little diplomacy with your righteousness. Stoop just a little. If you do, I will aid you and insure your success. If you do not, I will defeat you and laugh at your failures." It is Satan's sin to make such suggestions, but it is not our sin until we comply with them. We may more quickly obtain by his wrong way, but more surely by God's right way. Let no Christian be humiliated or discouraged by gross temptation, since even the Son of God was tempted to worship the devil. What Jesus would not do, the Beast has done, and has received the kingdoms for a season ( Rev_13:1-9). Note, too, that it is all one whether we worship Satan, or mammon, the gift which he offers-- Mat_6:24], it shall all be thine. 8 And a10 Then cJesus answered and said asaith cunto him, aGet thee hence [The passionate utterance of an aroused soul. Indignation is as divine as patience ( Eph_4:26). Satan's sweetest temptation was most disgusting to Christ, for its sin was so grossly apparent. It ran counter to the very first of the ten commandments. Jesus would give it no room in his thoughts; he spurned it, as being as heinous as the law describes it ( Deu_5:6-11). Temptation must be peremptorily rejected. Jesus did not stop to weigh the worthiness of Satan; it was sufficient that God only is to be worshiped. As God, Jesus was himself an object of worship; but as man he worshiped the Father privately and publicly. Satan [99] sought to command Jesus, but was commanded of him. Step by step Satan has obeyed this command, and foot after foot, earth's spiritual world has been yielded by his departing presence], Satan [The first and second temptations were so subtle and covert, and their sin so skillfully disguised, as to suggest that Satan himself was disguised. If so, his pride and vanity, revealed in this last temptation, betrayed him so that Jesus tore off his mask and called him by his right name. When he tempted him in a somewhat similar matter, Jesus called Simon Peter by this name ( Mat_16:23), but he laid a different command upon each of them. To Satan he spoke as an enemy, saying, "Get thee hence." He ordered Satan from his presence, for he had no proper place there. To Peter he spoke as to a presumptuous disciple, saying, "Get thee behind me." The disciple is a follower of his master, and his proper place is in the rear]: for it is written [Jesus gives a free translation of Deu_6:13. He substitutes the word "worship" for the word "fears." Fear prohibits false and induces true worship, and loving worship is the source of all acceptable service. The three Scripture quotations used by Jesus are all from the book of Deuteronomy. He struck Satan with that very part of the Spirit's sword which modern critical infidelity, in the name of religion, and often aided by so-called religious organizations, seeks to persuade us to cast away], Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. [By serving God, Jesus obtained all the earthly authority which the devil offered him, and heavenly authority in addition thereto ( Mat_28:18). So much better are the rewards of God than Satan's.] c13 And when the devil had completed every temptation. a11 Then the devil leaveth che departeth from him for a season. [See Jam_4:7. But Satan left to return many times. Here was the first being endowed with human nature who had defeated Satan under all circumstances for thirty years. This was Satan's first defeat under Christ's ministry. His last is yet to come, and it shall come by this same Christ. Temptations are battles. They leave the victor stronger and the [100] vanquished weaker. Hence Satan when resisted is represented as fleeing. But he only flees for a season. He never despairs of the conflict so long as man is on the earth. Christ was constantly tempted by the returning devil ( Luk_22:28). As Jesus hung upon the cross, all these three temptations with their accompanying "ifs" were spread out before him-- Mat_27:39-43] aand behold, angels came [They had probably witnessed the contest. Compare 1Co_4:9, 1Ti_3:16. Angels do not appear again visibly ministering unto Jesus until we find him in Gethsemane ( Luk_22:43). When Satan finally departs from us, we, too, shall find ourselves in the presence of angels-- Luk_16:22] and ministered unto him. [Jesus was probably fed by the angels, as was Elijah by one of them ( 1Ki_19:4-7). Satan and suffering first, then angels, refreshment and rest. God had indeed given his angels charge, and they came to him who refused to put the father to the test. But they did not succor Jesus during his temptation, for that was to be resisted by himself alone-- Isa_63:3.]

[FFG 87-101]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Luke Chapter 4

The unknown Son of God on earth, Jesus, is led (chap. 4) into the wilderness by the Holy Ghost, with whom He had been sealed, to undergo the temptation of the enemy, beneath which Adam fell. But Jesus endured this temptation in the circumstances in which we stand, not those in which Adam stood; that is to say, He felt it in all the difficulties of the life of faith, tempted in all points like as we are, sin excepted. Take notice here that it is no question of bondage to sin, but of conflict. When it is a question of bondage, it is a question of deliverance, not of conflict. It was in Canaan that Israel fought. They were delivered out of Egypt; they did not fight there.

In Luke the temptations are arranged according to their moral order: first, that which bodily need required; second, the world; third, spiritual subtlety. In each the Lord maintains the position of obedience and of dependence, giving God andHis communications to man-His word-their true place. Simple principle, which shelters us in every attack, but which, by its very simplicity, is perfection! Nevertheless let us remember that this is the case; for raising ourselves to marvellous heights is not the thing required of us, but the following that which applies to our human condition as the normal rule for its guidance. It is obedience, dependence-doing nothing except as God wills it, and reliance on Him. This walk supposes the word. But the word is the expression of the will, the goodness, and the authority of God, applicable to all the circumstances of man as he is.-It shews that God interests Himself in all that regards him: why then should man act of himself without looking to God and to His word? Alas! speaking of men in general, they are self-willed. To submit and be dependent is precisely that which they will not. They have too much enmity to God to trust in Him. It was this, therefore, which distinguished the Lord. The power to work a miracle God could bestow on whom He would. But an obedient man, who had no will to do anything with respect to which the will of God was not expressed, a man who lived by the word, a man who lived in complete dependence upon God and had a perfect trust, which required no other proof of God’s faithfulness than His word, no other means of certainty that He would intervene than His promise of so doing, and who waited for that intervention in the path of His will-here was something more than power. This was the perfection of man, in the place where man stood (not simply innocence, for innocence has no need of trusting God in the midst of difficulties, and sorrows, and questions raised by sin, and the knowledge of good and evil), and a perfection which sheltered one who possessed it from every attack Satan could make upon him; for what could he do to one who never went beyond the will of God, and to whom that will was the only motive for action? Moreover, the power of the Spirit of God was there Accordingly we find that simple obedience directed by the word is the only weapon employed by Jesus. This obedience requires dependence on God, and trust in God, in order to accomplish it.

He lives by the word: this is dependence. He will not tempt (that is, put God to the test) to see if He is faithful: this is trust.

He acts when God wills, and because He wills, and does that which God wills. All the rest He leaves with God. This is obedience; and, remark, not obedience as submission to God’s will where there was an adverse one, but where God’s will was the one motive for action. We are sanctified to the obedience of Christ.

Satan is overcome and powerless before this last Adam, who acts according to the power of the Spirit, in the place where man is found, by the means which God has given to man, and in the circumstances in which Satan exercises his power. Sin there was none, or it would have been to yield, not to conquer. It was shut out by obedience. But Satan is overcome in the circumstances of temptation in which man is found. Bodily need, which would have become lust if self-will had entered into it, instead of dependence on the will of God; the world and all its glory, which, so far as it is the object of man’s covetousness, is in fact the kingdom of Satan (and it was on that ground that Satan tried to bring Jesus, and shewed himself to be Satan in so doing); and, lastly, self-exaltation in a religious way through the things which God has given us-these were the points of the enemy’s attack. But there was no self-seeking in Jesus.

We have found, then, in these things which we have been looking at, a man filled with the Holy Ghost, and born of the Holy Ghost on earth, perfectly well-pleasing to God and the object of His affection, His beloved Son, in the position of dependence; and a man, the conqueror of Satan amid those temptations by which he usually gains advantage over man-conqueror in the power of the Holy Ghost, and by making use of the word, as dependent, obedient, and trusting in God in the ordinary circumstances ofman. In the first position, Jesus stood with the remnant; in the second, alone-as in Gethsemane and on the cross. Nevertheless, it was for us; and, accepted as Jesus, we have in a certain sense the enemy to overcome. But it is a conquered enemy whom we resist in the strength of the Holy Ghost, who is given unto us in virtue of redemption. If we resist him, he flees; for he has met his conqueror. The flesh does not resist him. He finds Christ in us. Resistance in the flesh does not lead to victory.

Jesus conquered the strong man and then spoiled his goods; but it was in temptation, obedience, having no will but that of God, dependence, the use of the word, abiding in subjection to God, that Jesus gained the victory over him. In all this the first Adam failed. After Christ’s victory, we also as servants of Christ gain actual victories, or rather the fruits of the victory already gained in the presence of God.

The Lord has now taken His place, so to speak, for the work of the last Adam-the man in whom is the Spirit without measure, the Son of God in this world by His birth. He has taken it as the seed of the woman (nevertheless, conceived of the Holy Ghost); He has taken it as the Son of God perfectly well-pleasing to God in His Person as man here below; and He has taken it as the conqueror of Satan. Owned to be the Son of God, and sealed with the Holy Ghost by the Father, heaven being open to Him as man, His genealogy is, however, traced up to Adam; and, the descendant of Adam, without sin, full of the Holy Ghost, He conquers Satan (as the obedient man, having no motive but the will of God), and sets Himself to accomplish the work which God His Father committed to Him in this world, and that as man, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

He returns, in the power of the Spirit, into Galilee, [12] and His fame spreads through all the region round about.

He presents Himself in this character: “The Spirit of Jehovah is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, ... to preach the acceptable year of Jehovah.” Here He stops. That which follows in the prophet, respecting the deliverance of Israel by the judgment which avenges them of their enemies, is omitted by the Lord.

Now Jesus does not announce promises, but their fulfilment in grace by His own presence. The Spirit is upon this man, full of grace; and the God of grace in Him manifests His goodness. The time of deliverance is come; the vessel of His favour to Israel is there in their midst.

The examination of the prophecy renders this testimony so much the more remarkable, that the Spirit, having declared the sin of the people and their judgment, in the chapters that precede these words, speaks (when introducing the Christ, the Anointed) only of grace and blessing to Israel: if there is vengeance, it should be executed upon their enemies for the deliverance of Israel.

But here it is grace in His Person, this man, the Son of God, full of the Holy Ghost, in order to proclaim the mercy of a God who is faithful to His promises, and to comfort and lift up the bruised and the poor in spirit. Blessing was there, presenting itself before them. They could not misunderstand it, but they do not recognise the Son of God. “Is not this Joseph’s son?” We have here the whole history of Christ-the perfect manifestation of grace in the midst of Israel, His land, and His people; and they knew Him not. No prophet is accepted in his own country.

But this rejection opened the way to a grace which went beyond the limits that a rebellious people would set to it. The woman of Sarepta, and Naaman, were testimonies of this grace.

Wrath fills the heart of those who reject grace. Unbelieving, and incapable of discerning the blessing that had visited them, they will not have it go elsewhere. The pride which rendered them unable to appreciate grace would not hear of its communication to others.

They seek to destroy Jesus, but He goes on His way. Here is the whole history of Jesus among the people traced beforehand.

He went His way; and the Spirit preserves to us the acts and the cures which characterise His ministry in the aspect of the efficacy of grace, and of its extension to others besides Israel.

Power was in Him whose grace was rejected. Acknowledged by devils, if not by Israel, He expels them by a word. He heals the sick. All the power of the enemy, all the sad outward effects of sin, disappear before Him. He heals, He withdraws; and when entreated to remain (the effect of His works that procured Him that honour from the people which He did not seek), He goes away to labour elsewhere in the testimony committed to Him. He seeks to accomplish His work, and not to be honoured.

He preaches everywhere among the people. He casts out the enemy, He removes sufferings, and proclaims the goodness of God to the poor.

Footnotes for Luke Chapter 4

12: And here note, as anointed with the Holy Ghost and led by Him He goes to be tempted, and returns in the power of it. None was lost, and this power was as much shewn in the apparently negative result of overcoming, as in the miraculous manifestation of power afterwards on men.

John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Connecting Statement:

Jesus fasts for 40 days, and the devil meets him to try to persuade him to sin.

Then Jesus

After John had baptized Jesus. (See: Introduction of a New Event)

was led by the Spirit

This can be stated in active form. AT: "the Spirit led him" (See: Active or Passive)

for forty days he was tempted

Most versions say that the temptation was throughout the forty days. The UDB states "While he was there, the devil kept tempting him" to make this clear.

forty days

"40 days" (See: Numbers)

he was tempted by the devil

This can be stated in active form, and you can make explicit what it was the devil tempted him to do. AT: "the devil tried to persuade him disobey God" (See: Active or Passive and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

He ate nothing

The word "he" refers to Jesus.

translationWords

Jesus

filled with the Holy Spirit

Holy Spirit

Jordan River

desert

tempt

Satan

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.