#17 The Temptation of Jesus
The
accounts of Jesus’ temptation in Matthew and Luke in the King James Bible have
some mistranslations and items missing that substantially distort what occurred.
This is one of the events that the Lord changed when he led Joseph Smith to
review and correct some parts of the bible that were misleading and confusing. (Referred
to as the Joseph Smith Translation – JST.)
In
the following passages of Matthew and Luke I have used the King James Version,
but with the JST corrections.
Matthew
4:1-11:
“1.
Then Jesus was led up of the Spirit, into the wilderness, to be with God.
2.
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, and had communed with God,
he was afterwards an hungered, and was left to be tempted of the devil.
3.
And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command
that these stones be made bread.
4.
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
5.
Then Jesus was taken up into the holy city, and the Spirit setteth him on the
pinnacle of the temple.
6.
Then the devil came unto him and said, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself
down, for it is written, 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.
7.
Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy
God.
8.
And again, Jesus was in the Spirit, and it taketh him up into an exceeding high
mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.
9.
And the devil came unto him again, and said, All these things will I give unto
thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
10.
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan; for it is written, Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
11.
Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.”
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.
And after forty days, the devil came unto him, to tempt him. And in those days
he did eat nothing; and when they were ended, he afterwards 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 Spirit taketh him up into a high mountain, and he beheld all the
kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
6.
And the devil came unto him, and said unto him, All this power will I give unto
thee, and the glory of them; for they are delivered unto me, and to whomsoever
I will, I give them.
7.
If thou therefore wilt worship me, 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 the Spirit brought him to Jerusalem, and
set him on a pinnacle of the temple. And the devil came unto him, 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.”
There
are a number of scriptural sources and commentaries that support each other
with insights that greatly increase our understanding of this account between
our Savior and the devil. I believe the
ones I have selected are representative of the others.
Apostle
Bruce R. McConkie:
Jesus
dwelt in mortality as a man. He was
subject to all of the passions, desires, appetites, and temptations that go
with this mortal probation. To work out his own salvation, he had to overcome
the flesh, bridle his passions, control his desires and appetites, and resist
the
tempting
wiles of Lucifer. Though he was called upon to “suffer
temptations,
and pain of body, hunger, thirst and fatigue,” (Mosiah 3:7; 15:5) though he
dwelt in the flesh as the Son of God, “yet learned he obedience by the things
which he suffered.” (Hebrews 5:8)
True,
he remained obedient and faithful in all things, and never at any time did sin
gain power over him. Though he “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
he remained without sin.” (Hebrews 4:
15) However, in accordance with the eternal laws of free agency he could have
succumbed to temptation; he could have lost his own soul and failed in his
divinely appointed mission. That he remained true to his trust, that he was
faithful and obedient to the whole law, made him the great Exemplar, the Light
of the World, who could say to all men, “Follow thou me.” (3 Nephi 31:10)
As
with all men, Jesus was tempted from time to time. The particular temptations
occurring after he had fasted and prayed for forty days presumably were some of
the most severe. That they were real, and that overcoming them constituted a
major spiritual triumph is evident.
Jesus
did not go into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil; righteous men do not
seek out temptation. He went “to be with God.”
Probably he was visited by the Father; without question he received transcendent
spiritual manifestations. The temptations came after he “had communed with God.”
Lucifer
did not transport Jesus to the pinnacle of the temple or into a high mountain. Such
is not his power or prerogative. In each instance Jesus was taken to these
locales by the Spirit, and then the devil came to tempt him. Nor did Lucifer
show him all the kingdoms of the world; such was done by the Spirit; it was after
he had seen the vision that the devil made his false offer.
Apostle
Bruce R. McConkie:
Jesus
was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to commune with his Father in Heaven,
and ultimately to be tempted of the devil. After forty days of fasting, prayer
and divine communion he was visited by the devil who came tempting, enticing,
seeking to destroy the house of faith in which Jesus dwelt. Jesus had his
agency, he could have succumbed and failed. All three temptations were really
an effort to get Jesus to test his divinity, to test his Father. Our Lord, as a
mortal, was subject to the same laws of trial and testing that govern all
mortals. After his baptism greater temptations confronted him than ever before.
Ending
forty days of fasting, Satan's first temptation is to Jesus' bodily hunger. “If
thou be the Son of God, command these stones be made bread.” Jesus answers “It is written, Man shall not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
The
second temptation occurs after the Spirit has taken the Lord to the pinnacle of
the temple. The scriptures foretell
that the Father will see that Jesus, as the Son of God, will be protected by
the Father and his angels. Satan challenges Jesus to test this and prove it: “If
thou be the Son of
God,”
cast thyself down for all to see. Jesus replies, “thou shalt not tempt the Lord
thy God.”
The
third temptation seems again to be to the mortal side of Jesus ... to receive
all earthly wealth and power if he will fall down and worship the devil. Jesus'
reply to this: “Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou
serve.”
Jesus
was tempted, if we may say so, to fulfill all righteousness. It was part of the
eternal plan. It gave him the experiences he needed to work out his own
salvation, and it prepared him to sit in judgment upon his erring brethren,
who, in a lesser degree, are tried and tested as he was.
Holzapfel
and Waymen:
This
appears to be the last incident of preparation before Jesus begins his
ministry. It is interesting to note that Jesus performed miracles over and over
for and on behalf of others, but nowhere (not even here) do we see him perform
one in his own behalf.
Several
issues seem to be involved in Satan’s temptations:
- The devil is enticing Jesus to choose an easier road to fulfill his divinely appointed and accepted mission.
- Jesus' loyalty to God is being challenged and tested.
- The temptations demonstrate that the external threats constitute a real, not imaginary, opposition to the mission Jesus is now beginning ... one of antagonism, malice, rejection, and betrayal. (Chapter six “Jesus in the Wilderness”)
Jackson
and Millet:
The
Apostle Paul wrote that “Christ was in all points tempted like as we are, yet
without sin.” (Hebrews 4) Temptations following Jesus' baptism were not the
first with which he was confronted, Jesus was now a mature man and surely had
been tempted before.
Satan's
personal appearance to Jesus was real ... face to face with open and spoken
conversation. After forty days of fasting, Jesus' hunger was real and physical.
Satan's
tempting of Jesus on the pinnacle of the temple ... and his challenge “If thou
be the Son of God;” Jesus’ physical fall was not the point. The point was would
the Lord “fall” in his obedience to the Father? Would he fail? The promise of
protection for Jesus was a scriptural fact ... there was no need for Jesus to
test the Father's promise.
With
the third temptation, the kingdoms, glories, and powers of the world as offered
by Satan, we see his true motives: “All these things will I give thee, if thou
wilt fall down and worship me.” The devil was really offering nothing here.
Christ knew that he would ultimately and
completely
vanquish Satan by continuing and completing the mission given him by the
Father.
Glenn
R. McGettigan
March
2012; Revised April 2014
References:
“Commentary
on the Book of Mormon.” Volume 1. p. 40. Reynolds & Sjodahl
“Journal
of Discourses.” Volume 2. p. 326. Smith
“The
Inconvenient Messiah.” BYU Devotional. February 2, 1982. Holland
“The
Temptation in the Desert” from “The Gospel According to Luke.” Volume 1. p. 506+.
Fitzmyer
