Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” But he answered, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’” Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him.
"Satan's intention in the temptation was to make Christ sin so as to thwart God's plan for man's redemption by disqualifying the Savior. God's purpose (note that the Spirit led Jesus to the test) was to prove His Son to be sinless and thus a worthy Savior. It is clear that He was actually tempted; it is equally clear that He was sinless (2 Cor 5:21)." (Ryrie)
"...make a careful comparison between the opening verses of the third chapter in Genesis and the temptations of our Lord. The Satan there is the same, that old serpent, the devil. He came to Eve with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, and the same he brings to bear upon the Lord. He said to Eve, 'Is it so that God said?' and to Christ he said, 'If thou art the Son of God.' It is doubt, unbelief with which he always advances. He misquoted the Word of God to Eve. God had said, 'Thou shalt surely die,' and he said, 'Lest ye die.' He does the same in the temptations of Christ. These hints will be sufficient to help in the comparison." (Gaebelein)
"Since Christ was under the full control of the Spirit, and since the purpose of the temptation was to demonstrate His sinlessness and thus prove His moral right to be Savior-Sovereign, we must recognize that Jesus was the Aggressor in the temptation. He forced Satan to put Him to the test so that His true character might be revealed. (That explains why He spent forty days in the desert before the temptations began. Satan sought to escape the confrontation.) Had there been a longer delay, it would have been a concession that Jesus was the sinless One." (Pentecost)
"'If' [in vs 3] may be translated 'Since.' Satan acknowledged that He had the power to turn stones into bread." (Ryrie)
command these stones to become loaves of bread - "Is there anything wrong in being hungry? Certainly not. It is in this that the subtlety of the tempter shows itself. The enemy comes with a natural want and appeals to our Lord's power to relieve Himself from that want ... If He had entered upon the suggestion of Satan He would have acted according to His own will and that would have been the will of the enemy. He would have taken His case in His own hands. All the elements of disobedience and distrust to God are in it involved." (Gaebelein)
"Satan's invitation was based on the sonship which the Father had acknowledged at Jesus' baptism. The sonship of Christ carried with it the implication that the Son had certain rights and there was no reason why He could not exercise those rights to gratify His appetite and satisfy Himself. This suggests that man's highest good comes from gratifying his desires and happiness comes from satisfying his fleshly appetites. The implication is that man is a physical being with physical appetites which are to be gratified; thus, man lives by bread alone." (Pentecost)
But he answered, “It is written - "Quoting Deut. 8:3 (a book whose authority is often rejected and whose contents not well known), the Lord refused to act independently of the Father's power but chose rather to rely on God's Word." (Ryrie)
"This temptation was an attempt to pervert Jesus Christ from perfect obedience to the will of God. He was in the desert in the will of God, and therefore all that He endured while in the desert was part of God's will for Him. To gratify His own desires would have been to abandon the will of God and substitute His own will, deeming that gratification of His appetite was more important than obedience to the will of God. 'Now, what constituted this a temptation? where lay its evil? Suppose Christ had commanded the stones to become bread, what then? To Christ, considering the work He had to do, two things were necessary. He had to live His personal life (1) within the limits necessary to man, and (2) in perfect dependence on God. Had He transgressed either of these conditions He had ceased to be man's ideal Brother or God's ideal Son. Man cannot create; he lives by obeying Nature. He has to plough, to sow, to reap, to garner and winnow, to bruise and bake his grain, that he may eat and live. Now, had Christ by a direct miracle fed Himself, He had lifted Himself out of the circle and system of humanity, had annulled the very terms of the nature which made Him one with man. While His supernatural power was His own, it existed not for Himself, but for us. The moment He had stooped to save self He had become disqualified to save men. The ideal human life must be perfect in its dependence on God, absolute in its obedience. The ideal Son could not act as if He had no Father. And so His choice was not to be His own Providence, but to leave Himself to the Divine. He conquered by faith, and His first victory was like His last.' [Edersheim]" (Pentecost)
the pinnacle - "About 600 ft (182 m) above the valley below. Had the Lord cast Himself off this height and lighted on the temple area unharmed, the people might have acclaimed Him as Messiah." (Ryrie)
for it is written - "Satan, as well as Jesus, quotes the Bible (in this instance, Ps. 91:11-12). But Satan did not quote accurately, for he omitted a phrase that was not suited to his purpose ('in all your ways')." (Ryrie)
"The Psalm which Satan quotes (Psalm 91) is a Messianic Psalm. He takes Him to the Holy City, Jerusalem, and upon the pinnacle of the temple, because the second temptation is the temptation of Him as the Messiah. Standing upon that high place the people below must have seen Him and recognized Him; Satan was hid from their view. What a test and proof of His Messiahship if slowly He had descended, the laws of gravitation completely set aside, landing unharmed on His feet before the astonished multitude. Would they not at once accept Him? Why should He be rejected if by doing this He might become in the shortest order their leader, their King and redeemer from the yoke of the Roman oppressor?" (Gaebelein)
"Now, what was the evil in this suggested act? It was twofold, evil alike on the Godward and on the manward side. In the first aspect it meant that God should be forced to do for Him what He had before refused to do for Himself—make Him an object of supernatural care, exempted from obedience to natural law, a child of miracle, exceptional in His very physical relations to God and Nature. In the second aspect it meant that He was to be a Son of Wonder, clothed in marvels, living a life that struck the senses and dazzled the fancies of the poor vulgar crowd." (G. Campbell Morgan)
Again it is written - "Quoting Deut. 6:16, Christ responded that one cannot expect God to protect when out of His will." (Ryrie)
"Christ responded to this temptation by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16: 'Do not test the Lord your God.' Once again the tempted One submitted Himself to the authority of the Word of God, accepting it as the will of God rather than submitting to the solicitation of the evil one. Christ's refusal to put God to the test did not come because He was afraid God could not prove Himself. To the contrary, Christ's trust was so implicit that He saw no need to put God to a test. Christ believed God because of His Word, not because of evidence that had been presented that He is faithful. In this test Jesus Christ showed absolute confidence in God and remained in perfect obedience to God's will." (Pentecost)
I will give you - "Satan, as prince of this world, was within his rights to make this offer (John 12:31)." (Ryrie)
"Notice here particularly the claim the devil set up, and let it not be forgotten that the claim was made in the presence of Jesus. He claimed some right to the kingdoms of the world, and the claim was based upon certain unquestionable facts. These kingdoms had become what they were, largely under his control. They were at the moment submissive to his sway, obedient to his laws, being led captive by him at his will. For the larger part, the whole of them were blindly asleep in the arms of the wicked one. By the very temptation, Satan seems to lay claim to a title, which Jesus Himself gave him incidentally at a later period, 'the prince of this world.' The fact of his sway is undisputed. He was then as he is today, exercising authority over all those who are in darkness, and he is perpetually paying his price to those who serve him." (Pentecost)
"Satan's intention in the temptation was to make Christ sin so as to thwart God's plan for man's redemption by disqualifying the Savior. God's purpose (note that the Spirit led Jesus to the test) was to prove His Son to be sinless and thus a worthy Savior. It is clear that He was actually tempted; it is equally clear that He was sinless (2 Cor 5:21)." (Ryrie)
"...make a careful comparison between the opening verses of the third chapter in Genesis and the temptations of our Lord. The Satan there is the same, that old serpent, the devil. He came to Eve with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, and the same he brings to bear upon the Lord. He said to Eve, 'Is it so that God said?' and to Christ he said, 'If thou art the Son of God.' It is doubt, unbelief with which he always advances. He misquoted the Word of God to Eve. God had said, 'Thou shalt surely die,' and he said, 'Lest ye die.' He does the same in the temptations of Christ. These hints will be sufficient to help in the comparison." (Gaebelein)
"Since Christ was under the full control of the Spirit, and since the purpose of the temptation was to demonstrate His sinlessness and thus prove His moral right to be Savior-Sovereign, we must recognize that Jesus was the Aggressor in the temptation. He forced Satan to put Him to the test so that His true character might be revealed. (That explains why He spent forty days in the desert before the temptations began. Satan sought to escape the confrontation.) Had there been a longer delay, it would have been a concession that Jesus was the sinless One." (Pentecost)
"'If' [in vs 3] may be translated 'Since.' Satan acknowledged that He had the power to turn stones into bread." (Ryrie)
command these stones to become loaves of bread - "Is there anything wrong in being hungry? Certainly not. It is in this that the subtlety of the tempter shows itself. The enemy comes with a natural want and appeals to our Lord's power to relieve Himself from that want ... If He had entered upon the suggestion of Satan He would have acted according to His own will and that would have been the will of the enemy. He would have taken His case in His own hands. All the elements of disobedience and distrust to God are in it involved." (Gaebelein)
"Satan's invitation was based on the sonship which the Father had acknowledged at Jesus' baptism. The sonship of Christ carried with it the implication that the Son had certain rights and there was no reason why He could not exercise those rights to gratify His appetite and satisfy Himself. This suggests that man's highest good comes from gratifying his desires and happiness comes from satisfying his fleshly appetites. The implication is that man is a physical being with physical appetites which are to be gratified; thus, man lives by bread alone." (Pentecost)
But he answered, “It is written - "Quoting Deut. 8:3 (a book whose authority is often rejected and whose contents not well known), the Lord refused to act independently of the Father's power but chose rather to rely on God's Word." (Ryrie)
"This temptation was an attempt to pervert Jesus Christ from perfect obedience to the will of God. He was in the desert in the will of God, and therefore all that He endured while in the desert was part of God's will for Him. To gratify His own desires would have been to abandon the will of God and substitute His own will, deeming that gratification of His appetite was more important than obedience to the will of God. 'Now, what constituted this a temptation? where lay its evil? Suppose Christ had commanded the stones to become bread, what then? To Christ, considering the work He had to do, two things were necessary. He had to live His personal life (1) within the limits necessary to man, and (2) in perfect dependence on God. Had He transgressed either of these conditions He had ceased to be man's ideal Brother or God's ideal Son. Man cannot create; he lives by obeying Nature. He has to plough, to sow, to reap, to garner and winnow, to bruise and bake his grain, that he may eat and live. Now, had Christ by a direct miracle fed Himself, He had lifted Himself out of the circle and system of humanity, had annulled the very terms of the nature which made Him one with man. While His supernatural power was His own, it existed not for Himself, but for us. The moment He had stooped to save self He had become disqualified to save men. The ideal human life must be perfect in its dependence on God, absolute in its obedience. The ideal Son could not act as if He had no Father. And so His choice was not to be His own Providence, but to leave Himself to the Divine. He conquered by faith, and His first victory was like His last.' [Edersheim]" (Pentecost)
the pinnacle - "About 600 ft (182 m) above the valley below. Had the Lord cast Himself off this height and lighted on the temple area unharmed, the people might have acclaimed Him as Messiah." (Ryrie)
for it is written - "Satan, as well as Jesus, quotes the Bible (in this instance, Ps. 91:11-12). But Satan did not quote accurately, for he omitted a phrase that was not suited to his purpose ('in all your ways')." (Ryrie)
"The Psalm which Satan quotes (Psalm 91) is a Messianic Psalm. He takes Him to the Holy City, Jerusalem, and upon the pinnacle of the temple, because the second temptation is the temptation of Him as the Messiah. Standing upon that high place the people below must have seen Him and recognized Him; Satan was hid from their view. What a test and proof of His Messiahship if slowly He had descended, the laws of gravitation completely set aside, landing unharmed on His feet before the astonished multitude. Would they not at once accept Him? Why should He be rejected if by doing this He might become in the shortest order their leader, their King and redeemer from the yoke of the Roman oppressor?" (Gaebelein)
"Now, what was the evil in this suggested act? It was twofold, evil alike on the Godward and on the manward side. In the first aspect it meant that God should be forced to do for Him what He had before refused to do for Himself—make Him an object of supernatural care, exempted from obedience to natural law, a child of miracle, exceptional in His very physical relations to God and Nature. In the second aspect it meant that He was to be a Son of Wonder, clothed in marvels, living a life that struck the senses and dazzled the fancies of the poor vulgar crowd." (G. Campbell Morgan)
Again it is written - "Quoting Deut. 6:16, Christ responded that one cannot expect God to protect when out of His will." (Ryrie)
"Christ responded to this temptation by quoting Deuteronomy 6:16: 'Do not test the Lord your God.' Once again the tempted One submitted Himself to the authority of the Word of God, accepting it as the will of God rather than submitting to the solicitation of the evil one. Christ's refusal to put God to the test did not come because He was afraid God could not prove Himself. To the contrary, Christ's trust was so implicit that He saw no need to put God to a test. Christ believed God because of His Word, not because of evidence that had been presented that He is faithful. In this test Jesus Christ showed absolute confidence in God and remained in perfect obedience to God's will." (Pentecost)
I will give you - "Satan, as prince of this world, was within his rights to make this offer (John 12:31)." (Ryrie)
"Notice here particularly the claim the devil set up, and let it not be forgotten that the claim was made in the presence of Jesus. He claimed some right to the kingdoms of the world, and the claim was based upon certain unquestionable facts. These kingdoms had become what they were, largely under his control. They were at the moment submissive to his sway, obedient to his laws, being led captive by him at his will. For the larger part, the whole of them were blindly asleep in the arms of the wicked one. By the very temptation, Satan seems to lay claim to a title, which Jesus Himself gave him incidentally at a later period, 'the prince of this world.' The fact of his sway is undisputed. He was then as he is today, exercising authority over all those who are in darkness, and he is perpetually paying his price to those who serve him." (Pentecost)
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