# Mathew 8 - Temptation of Christ



## Eoghan (Aug 22, 2008)

1. What precicely was the temptation RE: stones to bread ?

2. What made Deuteronomy 8:3 the perfect rebuttal?

Deut 8:3 is the set text in Judaism for this week so the whole of Judaism will be pondering this, just now.


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## Matthew1034 (Aug 22, 2008)

1) When Satan arrived on the scene of Jesus' fasting and prayer, he appealed to Jesus' flesh. I don't believe Satan, in the stone to bread temptation, was trying to get Jesus to "show his power" but rather was tempting Christ to succumb to the needs of the flesh.

Satan does this with us all the time, enticing us with sweets and meats more than we need. Jesus was fasting for x amount of days, but you know he was hungry. When you have a hunger from not eating for say, 4 days, a piece of bread the size of a rock could look and seem absolutely _delicous_, absolutely _satisfying_, absolutely _necessary_. Satan manifests the lusts of the eyes, the lusts of the flesh, and the pride of life.

2) This interpretation of the temptation makes Deut. 8:3 shine: Christ already knew that man lives by every word of God and not by bread alone, but WE could not have figured something like that out; in fact, our (man's) interpretation of the fasting in the scriptures led to the purposeless acts of piety of the Pharisees.

Indeed, Christ shared our hunger, and through his pain he pointed not to Satan or to the needs of the flesh, but to God (Heb. 2:14).

John Piper quoted a book, I forget the title and author, but it stated that, "where are the men who need God's word more than their daily food?"


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## Contra_Mundum (Aug 22, 2008)

1. The temptation was to use his divine power in a way not subservient to his Father's will. To feel a need, and not wait on the Lord. As a man, with a nature like ours, he made himself subject to our circumstances. Which of us would be able to turn stones into bread?

2. Israel was sent out into the wilderness to be tried. Deu 8:3 "And he [Jehovah] humbled thee, and [Jehovah] suffered thee to hunger." The people were fed by the will (the word) of God, they did not feed themselves. Their physical sustenance was one of a myriad of object lessons intended to teach the spiritual among them a spiritual truth. Bread is to the body, what God's Word is to the soul.


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