CHRIST, TEMPTATION OF (πειράζω, G4279). The term has two general meanings in the Gr. (1) “To try, to put to the test”; in the good sense, God “tested” Abraham (Gen 22:1) and Job. This is akin to chastening and is necessary to develop mature character. (2) In a bad sense it is enticement to sin. As stated by James, “God cannot be tempted with evil and he himself tempts no one; but each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire” (James 1:13, 14).

1. Sources. The temptation of Christ is recounted in the synoptic gospels (Matt 4:1-11; Mark 1:12, 13; Luke 4:1-13; cf. Heb 2:18; 4:15, 16). There is also strong evidence that Jesus encountered similar temptations during His later ministry on several occasions.

2. Locale. The traditional site of the temptation is Mount Quarantania. It is not far from the probable site of Jesus’ baptism and is in accordance with the scriptural statement that immediately thereafter the Spirit drove Him into the wilderness (Mark 1:12). It is the highest hill in the vicinity and commands a spectacular view of the Jordan valley. In addition it fulfills the condition of being “in the wilderness,” an area uninhabited because of its extreme dryness.

3. The occasion. At the time of Jesus’ baptism the account reports a voice from heaven saying, “Thou art my beloved son” (Luke 3:22). For John it was a time of recognition of the long-anticipated Messiah; for Jesus it was the momentous event marking His introduction to public life after three decades of relative obscurity.

4. The nature of the temptation. It is not unlikely that the author of the first epistle of John had this temptation, together with that of Adam and Eve, in mind when he summed it up by saying, “All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world” (1 John 2:16). This would seem to be a summarization of the temptation of Eve, who saw that the tree was good for food (“the lust of the flesh”), that it was a delight to the eyes (“lust of the eyes”), and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise (“pride of life”) (Gen 3:6). Jesus’ temptation also bears some similarity to this analysis.

a. “Lust of the flesh.” It is stated that Jesus fasted forty days and forty nights, the maximum time a person can do without food without endangering his health. During this time He was no doubt engaged in prayer and concentrated thought as He faced the issues resulting from His awareness of being the Messiah. Jesus was the only One in history who accepted this role without losing His sanity. During this time of emotional stress it is not strange that appetite was lacking. When the stress was over, however, normal hunger pangs asserted themselves imperiously. To Jesus, conscious of His God-given powers, the urge to satisfy the hunger craving in this manner must have seemed plausible. Surely that which is natural cannot be sinful. Why would it not be right to produce bread by the available supernatural power? Jesus instantly rejected it on the basis of Deuteronomy 8:3, the gist of which is that spiritual nourishment is more than the gratification of physical appetite. Jesus rejected cheap bread as quickly as He would have rejected cheap grace. He refrained from using the miracles for selfish gratification. This would have been an unlawful gratification of lawful desire.

b. “The lust of the eyes.” The second temptation was in the opposite extreme. He stood the test of faith; now He had to withstand the temptation to fanaticism. Again He resorted to Deuteronomy: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test” (6:16). The temptation to cast Himself from the “pinnacle of the temple,” possibly an allusion to the portico of Solomon’s Porch, which rose over 300 ft. above the Kidron Valley, was a temptation to do something spectacular in order to win quick public approbation. It was also tempting the Father; it was daring God to rescue Him. Later Jesus was to encounter a similar temptation, to be acclaimed king by an enthusiastic multitude (John 6:15). A similar temptation was presented to Jesus when Peter tried to dissuade Him from the way of humiliation and suffering, to which the Master replied, “Get behind me, Satan” (Matt 16:23). Jesus rejected it on the basis that it would be a challenge to the providence of God; it would be daring God to intervene in a dramatic manner. It would represent a refusal to wait upon the Lord. This was a temptation to which King Saul succumbed when he took it in hand to offer the sacrifice himself without waiting longer for Samuel.

c. “The pride of life.” The third and last temptation was that of gaining a legitimate end by unworthy means. The devil, to whom Jesus once referred as the ruler of this world (John 14:30), is quoted as saying that he would give to Jesus the allegiance of the world in return for an act of worship. This is a temptation implying that “the end justifies the means.” It means that one can accept the services of the devil or of evil men if they will further what seems to be a worthy cause. This was the devil’s last and final bid and apparently he himself thought that Jesus would not accept it. Jesus again replied in the words of Matthew 4:10, “You shall worship the Lord your God...only.” In so doing Jesus chose the hard, slow way of persuasion rather than the use of force. In this respect, Christianity differs radically from the methodology of Islam, a fighting faith. With His answer Jesus repudiated the means which promised quick and spectacular gains at the sacrifice of principle. Following this audacious challenge, the devil left and angels came. Probably the devil came then as he has since, not in visible form, but in the area of thought and motive.

5. Could Jesus have sinned?To some it is inconceivable that Jesus could have done anything but withstand temptation. The writer of the Hebrews stated that He was tempted in all points as we are (Heb 2:18; 4:15), implying that the temptation was real and that He could have yielded, just as anyone could yield to temptation. To deny that Jesus could have sinned is to deny His humanity and to fall into the error of Docetism, which maintains that His humanity was only an appearance and not actually real. Because Jesus was truly human, He could have yielded to these temptations and others like them and forfeited His messiahship and sonship. He refrained from using His divine status to minimize the temptations, but permitted them to be felt in their full force. Thus He was truly man as He was truly God.

See Temptation of Christ.