TEMPTATION OF JESUS

Matthew 4:1-11

Prayer to the Holy Spirit

O! Holy Spirit! 

Open my heart and my mind!

To Your inspired Word, 

That it might shape, direct and confront my life according to the Gospel of Jesus, the Lord.

I make this prayer to You In His name. 

Amen 

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Jesus is the New Moses (Evangelist Matthew)

Life and Ministry of Jesus

• Preaching of John the Baptist (Mt 3: 1-12)
• Baptism of Jesus (Mt 3:13-17)
• Temptation of Jesus (Mt 4:1-11)
• Beginning of the Galilean Ministry (Mt 4:12-17)

The temptation of Jesus� in all the synoptics

The Gospel according to Matthew

• 4 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 
• ² He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 
• ³ The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴ But he answered, “It is written,
• ‘One does not live by bread alone,�    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

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• ⁵ Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,
• ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’�    and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,�so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
• ⁷ Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test’”

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• ⁸ Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; ⁹ and he said to him, ““All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”
•  ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, “Get away, Satan! for it is written,
• ‘Worship the Lord your God,�    and serve only him.’”

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• ¹¹ Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and ministered to him.

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The Spirit led Jesus in the desert

“to be tempted (πειράζω) by the devil”

The Greek verb peirazō can be translated as

• ‘to be tempted’
• ‘to be tested’
• ‘to be put to test”

The Enemy (opponent)

In this passage we meet the same character under three names,

• “the devil,”
• “the tempter” (v. 3)
• “Satan” (v. 10).

“Jesus fasted for forty days and nights”

• “You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

Deut 8:1-2

“If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread.”

It is written (gegraptai)

Old Testament reference in Matthew

Matthew indicates nine times, “it is written,” in the perfect tense (gegraptai) (2:5; 4:4, 6, 7, 10; 11:10; 21:13; 26:24, 31).

• “for it is written” (Mt 2:5, Mt 4:4, 6,7,10; 11:10; 21:13; 26:31)
• “Have you never read” Mt 19:4, 21:16; 21:42; 22:31
• “God said…” Mt 15:4; 19:5

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Deuteronomy 8:2–3

• “You shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to make you humble and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So He allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”

Second Temptation

• “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down.”
• Devil uses the scripture Ps 91
• “It is written again, ‘You (plural) shall not tempt (or test) the LORD your God.”
• Jesus uses the Scripture Dt 6:16

People of Massah and Meribah� in the desert

“You shall not tempt the Lord your God

as you tempted Him in Massah” (Deut 6:16)

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Third Temptation

• “All these (Ταῦτά σοι πάντα) I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me.”

“The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.” (Deut 6:13)

Get away! Satan!�Ὕπαγε, Σατανᾶ·

Go behind me! Satan!

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Ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου, Σατανᾶ

Deut 6:4–5

“You shall Love the Lord your God

• with all your heart,
• with all your soul,
• with all your strength;”

GOD

Jesus overcomes temptation with his human will