The Temptation of Jesus #81

The temptation of Jesus is the account of his forty days of fasting in the wilderness, during which the devil tested him three times. It is told in Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13, with a brief summary in Mark 1:12-13, and it comes immediately after Jesus’ baptism and just before his public ministry begins.

Biblical Account

All three Gospels say that the Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness. He fasted for forty days and nights, and at the end, hungry, he was approached by the tempter. In Matthew’s order, the devil first urged him to turn stones into bread, and Jesus answered from Deuteronomy, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:1-4). Next the devil set him on the pinnacle of the temple and quoted Psalm 91 to urge him to throw himself down. Jesus replied that Scripture also says not to put the Lord God to the test (Matthew 4:5-7). Finally, the devil showed him the kingdoms of the world and offered them in exchange for worship. Jesus dismissed him, saying that worship belongs to the Lord God alone, and angels came to minister to him (Matthew 4:8-11).

Luke gives the same three tests but places the kingdoms before the temple, and he adds that the devil left “for a season” (Luke 4:5-13). Mark mentions only the forty days, Satan, the wild animals, and the angels (Mark 1:12-13). Whether the mountain and the temple pinnacle were physical locations or visionary experiences is not stated, and readers have understood it both ways. A later tradition identifies the wilderness of Judea near Jericho as the setting.

Theological Significance

Each of Jesus’ replies comes from Deuteronomy 6 and 8, passages that look back on Israel’s forty years in the wilderness, where the people grumbled, tested God, and drifted toward other gods (Deuteronomy 8:2-3). Many interpreters see Jesus as the faithful Son who succeeds where Israel failed, since he is called God’s Son at his baptism and is immediately tested on that very identity. The temptations also touch three enduring areas of human struggle: physical appetite, the wish to force God’s hand, and the desire for power without suffering.

The episode also shapes Christian teaching about resisting sin. Hebrews says Jesus was “tempted like as we are, yet without sin” and can therefore sympathize with human weakness (Hebrews 4:15). His method, answering the tempter with Scripture rather than argument or force, has long been used as a model for spiritual discipline and for believers facing their own trials. Christians have also seen in it a first skirmish in the larger conflict with evil that runs through his ministry to the cross.