Luke 4:1-13 - Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

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the Threefold Temptation

Luke 4:1-13

As the waters of Jordan bisect the Holy Land, so does our Lord's baptism bisect His holy life. In that act He had identified Himself with the world's sin; and now, as the High Priest who was to deal with sin and sinners, He must be “in all points” tempted and tested “like as we are.”

He took into the wilderness a perfect humanity of flesh and blood, made in all points like His brethren, though without sin. He elected to fight His great fight, not by the use of the divine attributes, but as Son of man. Where the first Adam fell, the second must stand.

First, He could not use His native power for His own gratification. Second, He would abide strictly within the limitations of the world He had entered, Hebrews 2:16-17. Third, He would win His kingdom by the Cross.

Related Commentaries of Luke 4:1

Luke 4:1-13

1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,

2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.

4 And Jesus answered him, saying,It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.

5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

7 If thou therefore wilt worship me,a all shall be thine.

8 And Jesus answered and said unto him,Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

9 And he brought him to Jerusalem, and set him on a pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence:

10 For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee:

11 And in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.

12 And Jesus answering said unto him,It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.