Last updated on August 3, 2022
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” 5 And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, 6 and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. 7 If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” 8 And Jesus answered him, “It is written,
“‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’”
9 And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, 10 for it is written,
“‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you,’
11 and
“‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”
12 And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country. 15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
Jesus, the Son of God and the Savior of the World, is free. In order to be incarnate as fully God and fully human…and for this temptation narrative to make sense…I think we have to conclude that Jesus is free. That is, he’s not a robot. He successfully lives a sinless life because he chose to do so. But this introduces a problem which philosophers like F.W.J. Schelling once wrestled with. Could Jesus have chosen not to die? Could he have given in to Satan’s temptations here? Was that actually possible? If I say yes, there are more implications than you may realize for how we understand God, but here’s how I think through this. To speak of “choices” and the freedom to give in or resist temptation, we assume temporal categories that Jesus is ultimately not bound by. That is, in an eternal sense, there was no moment when Jesus entertained the choice to do evil. But the freedom to choose that path was in his very being, as was the choice to do Good. The choice for Good and against evil was simultaneous, but outside of time. So he was free to make a choice but there was never a moment in which Jesus was evil or even neutral between Good and evil. And yet, that freedom was and is still there. And, as beings made in his image, we participate in that freedom. Freedom is a part of who we are because it’s part of who God is.
To be sure, I can’t fully explain the Freedom of Jesus. No human form of communication could ever convey the complexity of who God is. In Jesus, though, we encounter every truth about God that we could ever know or comprehend. To know Jesus is to know God. There is no other way to do so. To know Jesus is to know God’s love, his mercy, his wisdom, his power, his voice, and his grace. To read and hear the words of Jesus is to read and hear the words of God.
At the same time, to know Jesus is the only way to truly know ourselves. To be sure, I’m not suggesting that we are gods or demigods, as it were. But we are made in the image of God and find our identity in Jesus and by following his example. In this sense, there are three key points I’d like to make regarding the temptation of Jesus (though I wish I had time to say much more!)
First, notice Satan’s strategy. He is confronting Jesus at a physically weak and difficult moment, while Christ has subjected Himself to 40 days of fasting and prayer in the desert. Furthermore, Satan uses and twists Scripture to try and convince Jesus to listen to him. This is the same strategy that he used on Adam and Eve. But notice the implications of this: If we’re not familiar with Scripture and not studying it, wrestling with it, praying with it, and developing our understanding of it, how would we know what is and is not being twisted? The Devil depends on, counts on, and hopes for our ignorance of Scripture. We must spend time in God’s Word and in listening to the voice of the Good Shepherd lest we be easily led astray by false prophets and duplicitous voices.
This leads to my second point, which highlights Jesus’ strategy. Jesus has no ignorance of Scripture. He is the Word made flesh (John 1). He understands perfectly what Satan is trying to do and why he’s trying to do it. But he “fights” the temptation with Scripture as well, and especially from Deuteronomy. This must be our strategy too. We too often act like the “weapons” of a Christian are Tweets and votes, but, as Paul says in Ephesians 6:12: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” One does not fight such evil with iron, bullets, steal, and bombs, nor with any weapons made by human hands. As Paul continues in Ephesians 6:
13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; 17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, 19 and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak.
Third, and finally, we cannot resist such temptation on our own nor can we ever learn enough to successfully resist Satan. Our knowledge and will is not perfect as Jesus’s was and is. Even Jesus needed to be led by and be “full of the Holy Spirit” (v4) in this moment. We too need the Holy Spirit to make us ready for these trials and temptations. We cannot do it without Him. And God’s words to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 are meant for us as well, “But [God] said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.'”
Be prepared, then, for temptation by studying Scripture and sharpening the Sword of the Spirit. But remember that you are not alone in these moments. The Christian is guided and protected by the same Holy Spirit that accompanied Jesus in those 40 days in the desert.
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