In Matthew chapter 4 (and Mark 1, starting at verse 13), we are told that Jesus was led by the Spirit out into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. To summarize, Jesus fasted for forty days and nights, and Satan suggested that Jesus turn stones into bread. Jesus responded with Scripture, “Thou shalt not live by bread alone.” So Satan hit Jesus with Scripture, telling Him to prove Himself by throwing Himself from the pinnacle of the temple, quoting Psalms 91, “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.” But Jesus responded, quoting Deuteronomy again, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Satan then offered Jesus the whole world, if Jesus would bow down and worship Satan. Jesus’ response to that was to tell Satan to leave, quoting, “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” (Maybe I’m missing something here, but it appears that Jesus is actually quoting Exodus 34:14 and Deuteronomy 8:19 together)
There are a few points that I want to make with this. First, some people have criticized because the quotes in the gospels don’t match up exactly with the Scriptures in the Old Testament. Actually, they are pretty close. Keep in mind, though, that the Old Testament was written in Ancient Hebrew, but the New Testament was written in Greek. So the same phrase, translated from Hebrew to English, is going to be permutated slightly when translated from Hebrew to Greek to English. The actual phrase didn’t change; the wording is just slightly different. Think about it, when you read Psalms 91:11-12, don’t you get the same sense that you do when you read Matthew 4:6? Don’t they say the same thing, even if they aren’t worded quite the same? One could make an argument that, since both were translated into English at the same time, the translators could have compared notes, to make sure that they did match. Certainly they could have, but that would have required collusion. Technically, that might not have been considered collusion, because there would not have been an attempt to defraud, but the translators clearly wanted to avoid even the appearance of collusion to defraud.
It seems to me that some people misinterpret what Jesus was saying when He said, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Some people seem to think that Jesus was ordering Satan to leave Him alone. After all, Jesus was God manifest in the flesh; Satan was tempting Him, and Jesus was saying, don’t do that. I have to believe, though, that if Jesus had ordered Satan to leave, the conversation would have ended right there, but it didn’t. So what was Jesus saying? He was saying that He wasn’t going to throw Himself off the pinnacle of the temple, because that would be tempting God. In other words, Satan was trying to get Jesus’ flesh (which was, after all, fully human) to tempt God. There will be times when God will put us in potentially dangerous situations if for no other reason than to try our faith, but that doesn’t mean that we should just cavalierly place ourselves in harm’s way, based on the promise that He will protect us.
My final point, and this is the point that is usually made from this account, is that Satan tried to use Scripture against Jesus. It didn’t work, of course, because Jesus knew exactly what each verse in the Bible meant. There are some things in there that we have not been given full understanding of, yet. There are some people out there that will try to use Scripture to convince us of things that just aren’t Bible. As contradictory as that may sound, it is absolutely true. I would also like to make the point, though, that Satan offered three different temptations, and he only used Scripture for one of them. Most of the time, the nonsense that we get hit with isn’t even Scripture. Don’t misunderstand me, there are a lot of things that aren’t Scripture that aren’t wrong. We know a lot about hygiene, for example, that the people living in Biblical times didn’t know. You won’t find any mention of germs, bacteria, or viruses in Scripture. Of course, now that we know those things, we recognize that a lot of the things that God told Ancient Israel to do were not just religious rites, they were good hygienic practices. So, sometimes things outside the Bible help us to understand the Bible better. But, sometimes, things outside of Scripture, or even things in Scripture, but taken out of context, can make what is Scripture seem to be, well, questionable. In cases like that, the Word of God takes precedence—always and forever.
There are a few points that I want to make with this. First, some people have criticized because the quotes in the gospels don’t match up exactly with the Scriptures in the Old Testament. Actually, they are pretty close. Keep in mind, though, that the Old Testament was written in Ancient Hebrew, but the New Testament was written in Greek. So the same phrase, translated from Hebrew to English, is going to be permutated slightly when translated from Hebrew to Greek to English. The actual phrase didn’t change; the wording is just slightly different. Think about it, when you read Psalms 91:11-12, don’t you get the same sense that you do when you read Matthew 4:6? Don’t they say the same thing, even if they aren’t worded quite the same? One could make an argument that, since both were translated into English at the same time, the translators could have compared notes, to make sure that they did match. Certainly they could have, but that would have required collusion. Technically, that might not have been considered collusion, because there would not have been an attempt to defraud, but the translators clearly wanted to avoid even the appearance of collusion to defraud.
It seems to me that some people misinterpret what Jesus was saying when He said, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.” Some people seem to think that Jesus was ordering Satan to leave Him alone. After all, Jesus was God manifest in the flesh; Satan was tempting Him, and Jesus was saying, don’t do that. I have to believe, though, that if Jesus had ordered Satan to leave, the conversation would have ended right there, but it didn’t. So what was Jesus saying? He was saying that He wasn’t going to throw Himself off the pinnacle of the temple, because that would be tempting God. In other words, Satan was trying to get Jesus’ flesh (which was, after all, fully human) to tempt God. There will be times when God will put us in potentially dangerous situations if for no other reason than to try our faith, but that doesn’t mean that we should just cavalierly place ourselves in harm’s way, based on the promise that He will protect us.
My final point, and this is the point that is usually made from this account, is that Satan tried to use Scripture against Jesus. It didn’t work, of course, because Jesus knew exactly what each verse in the Bible meant. There are some things in there that we have not been given full understanding of, yet. There are some people out there that will try to use Scripture to convince us of things that just aren’t Bible. As contradictory as that may sound, it is absolutely true. I would also like to make the point, though, that Satan offered three different temptations, and he only used Scripture for one of them. Most of the time, the nonsense that we get hit with isn’t even Scripture. Don’t misunderstand me, there are a lot of things that aren’t Scripture that aren’t wrong. We know a lot about hygiene, for example, that the people living in Biblical times didn’t know. You won’t find any mention of germs, bacteria, or viruses in Scripture. Of course, now that we know those things, we recognize that a lot of the things that God told Ancient Israel to do were not just religious rites, they were good hygienic practices. So, sometimes things outside the Bible help us to understand the Bible better. But, sometimes, things outside of Scripture, or even things in Scripture, but taken out of context, can make what is Scripture seem to be, well, questionable. In cases like that, the Word of God takes precedence—always and forever.
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