Temptation

And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered. And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread. And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence: For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. And Jesus answering said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season. (Luk 4:1-13 KJV)

Parallel Passage…

Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. (Mat 4:1-11 KJV)

This passage raises questions in some minds as to whether or not there was a possibility of Christ falling in sin. Otherwise they say, “It couldn’t have been a real temptation.” They don’t consider temptation real unless there’s a possibility of sinning. But since Christ was both man and God, and since God can’t sin, there was no real way for Him to fall into sin. Yet, what else would we call the attacks of Satan if not temptations? Perhaps whether something’s a temptation or not has less to do with the object that it’s directed against, and more to do with the object that directs it. So since Satan directed the attacks against Christ for His destruction, we should consider it real temptation.

Though the Spirit of God drove Christ into the wilderness, it was the Devil who tempted Him. This is an important distinction to make because the Scriptures tell us to:

Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: (Jas 1:13 KJV)

Though God doesn’t tempt us He does test us. We see this in His interaction with Abraham when we read that:

And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. (Gen 22:1-2 KJV)

So what’s the difference between the testing of Abraham by God and the tempting of Christ by the Devil? Well, the testing by God was meant to confirm Abraham in his faith and love for God while the tempting by the Devil was meant to bring about sin if at all possible. You see, when Abraham went to sacrifice his son, he was stopped by an angel of God. It was never God’s plan to have Abraham sin, but He was testing Abraham to see where his faith and love rested – whether on God or on Isaac.

In the case of our passage where Christ is tempted of the Devil we see both God and the Devil working towards different goals. The Devil is trying to get Christ to sin and fail in the redeeming work that He came to accomplish. God is strengthening the ministry of Christ by starting it off with a great victory over Satan. This passage also gives us an example of the Devil’s means in tempting us to sin, as well as the proper response to fend off the great serpent.

We must always remember that temptations to sin come not from God, but rather from Satan as he seeks to cause us to fall. And as we understand who our tempter is, and that he’s God’s Devil, we can be assured that the Spirit of God who dwells in us is able to overcome this mere creature.