Bible Encyclopedia: Temptation

◄ Temptation ►

Jump to: Topical • ISBE • Easton's • Webster's • Concordance • Thesaurus • Greek • Hebrew • Library • Subtopics • Terms

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

TEMPT; TEMPTATION

temt, tem-ta'-shun (nacah, "to prove" "try," "tempt" maccah, "a trial," "temptation"; peirazo, "to try" "prove" peirasmos "a trial," "proof"): The words have a sinister connotation in present-day usage which has not always attached to them. Originally the words were of neutral content, with the sense of "putting to the proof," the testing of character or quality. Thus, God is "tempted" by Israel's distrust of Him, as if the people were actually challenging Him to show His perfections (Exodus 17:2 Psalm 78:18 Acts 15:10 Hebrews 3:9, and often); Abraham is "tempted," being called upon to offer up Isaac (Genesis 22:1); and Jesus is "tempted" to a spectacular Messiahship (Matthew 4 and parallel passages (see TEMPTATION OF CHRIST)). No evil is implied in the subject of these temptations. Temptation therefore in the Scripture sense has possibilities of holiness as well as of sin. For as all experience witnesses, it is one thing to be tempted, another thing to fall. To be tempted-one may rejoice in that (James 1:2), since in temptation, by conquering it, one may achieve a higher and nobler manhood.

"Why comes temptation but for man to meet

And master and make crouch beneath his foot,

And so be pedestaled in triumph?"

Holiness in its best estate is possible only under conditions which make it necessary to meet, resist and triumph over temptation. Thus, Jesus Himself became our Great High Priest in that, being tempted in all points like as we are, He never once yielded, but fought and triumphed (Hebrews 4:15).

One must not deceive one's self, however, in thinking that, because by the grace of God one may have profit of virtue through temptation as an instrument, all temptation is equally innocent and virtuous. It is noticeable in the case of Jesus that His temptation was under the direction of the Spirit (Mark 1:12); He Himself did not seek it, nor did He fear it. Temptations encountered in this way, the way of duty, the way of the Spirit, alone constitute the true challenge of saintship (James 1:12); but it is the mark of an ignoble nature to be perpetually the center of vicious fancies and tempers which are not of God but of the devil (James 1:13-15). One may not escape entirely such buffetings of faith, but by any sound nature they are easily disposed of. Not so easily disposed of are the trials (temptations) to faith through adversity, affliction, trouble (Luke 22:28 Acts 20:19 James 1:2 1 Peter 1:6); and yet there is no lack of evidence to the consoling fact that God does not suffer His own to be tempted above what they are able to bear (1 Corinthians 10:13) and that for every crisis His grace will be sufficient (2 Corinthians 12:8, 9).

Charles M. Stuart

TEMPTATION OF CHRIST

1. The Sources:

The sources for this event are Mark 1:12, 13 Matthew 4:1-11 Luke 4:1-13; compare Hebrews 2:18; Hebrews 4:15, 16, and see GETHSEMANE. Mark is probably a condensation; Matthew and Luke have the same source, probably the discourses of Jesus. Matthew is usually regarded as nearest the original, and its order is here followed.

2. Time and Place:

The Temptation is put immediately after the Baptism by all the synoptists, and this is psychologically necessary, as, we shall see. The place was the wilderness; it was "up" from the Jordan valley (Matthew), and was on the way back to Galilee (Luke). The traditional site, Mt. Quarantana, is probably a good guess.

3. Significance:

At His baptism, Jesus received from heaven the final confirmation of His thought that He was the Messiah. It was the greatest conception which ever entered a human mind and left it sane. Under the irresistible influence of the Spirit, He turned aside to seek out in silence and alone the principles which should govern Him in His Messianic work. This was absolutely necessary to any wise prosecution of it. Without the slightest precedent Jesus must determine what a Messiah would do, how He would act. Radical critics agree that, if such a period of meditation and conflict were not recorded, it would have to be assumed. By this conflict, Jesus came to that clearness and decision which characterized His ministry throughout. It is easy to see how this determination of guiding principles involved the severest temptation, and it is noteworthy that all the temptation is represented as coming from without, and none from within. Here too He must take His stand with reference to all the current ideas about the Messiah and His work.

4. The Reporter:

Jesus alone can be the original reporter. To this Holtzmann and J. Weiss agree. The report was given for the sake of the disciples, for the principles wrought out in this conflict are the guiding principles in the whole work of the kingdom of God on earth.

5. Exposition:

(1) Fasting.

Jesus was so intensely absorbed that He forgot to eat. There was nothing ascetic or ritualistic about it, and so this is no example for ascetic fasting for us. It is doubtful whether the text demands absolute abstinence from food; rather, long periods of fasting, and insufficient food when He had it. At the end of the forty days, He woke to the realization that He was a starving man.

(2) The First Temptation.

The first temptation is not a temptation to doubt His Messiahship, nor is the second either. "If thou art the Son of God," i.e. "the Messiah," means, simply, "since thou art the Son of God" (see Burton, Moods and Tenses, sections 244, 245; Robertson, Short Grammar, 161). There was not the slightest doubt on this point in Jesus' mind after the baptism, and Satan knew it. There is no temptation to prove Himself the Messiah, nor any hint of such a thing in Jesus' replies. The very point of it all is, How are you going to act, since you are Messiah? (Matthew 4:3 parallel Luke 4:3).

The temptation has these elements:

(a) The perfectly innocent craving for food is imperious in the starving man.

(b) Why should He not satisfy His hunger, since He is the Son of God and has the power?

Jesus replies from Deuteronomy 8:3, that God can and will provide Him bread in His own way and in His own time. He is not referring to spiritual food, which is not in question either here or in Deuteronomy (see Broadus' just and severe remark here). He does not understand how God will provide, but He will wait and trust. Divinely-assured of Messiahship, He knows that God will not let Him perish. Here emerges the principle of His ministry; He will never use His supernatural power to help Himself. Objections based on Luke 4:30 and John 10:39 are worthless, as nothing miraculous is there implied. The walking on the water was to help the apostles' faith. But why would it have been wrong to have used His supernatural power for Himself? Because by so doing He would have refused to share the human lot, and virtually have denied His incarnation. If He is to save others, Himself He cannot save (Matthew 27:42). In passing, it is well to notice that "the temptations all turn on the conflict which arises, when one, who is conscious of supernatural power, feels that there are occasions, when it would not be right to exercise it." So the miraculous is here most deeply imbedded in the first principles of Messianic action.

(3) The Second Temptation.

The pinnacle of the temple was probably the southeast corner of the roof of the Royal Cloister, 326 ft. above the bottom of the Kidron valley. The proposition was not to leap from this height into the crowd below in the temple courts, as is usually said, for

(a) there is no hint of the people in the narrative;

(b) Jesus reply does not fit such an idea; it meets another temptation entirely;

(c) this explanation confuses the narrative, making the second temptation a short road to glory like the third;

(d) it seems a fantastic temptation, when it is seriously visualized.

Rather Satan bids Jesus leap into the abyss outside the temple. Why then the temple at all, and not some mountain precipice? asks Meyer. Because it was the sheerest depth well known to the Jews, who had all shuddered as they had looked down into it (Matthew 4:5-7 parallel Luke 4:5-8).

The first temptation proved Jesus a man of faith, and the second is addressed to Him as such, asking Him to prove His faith by putting God's promise to the test. It is the temptation to fanaticism, which has been the destruction of many a useful servant of God Jesus refuses to yield, for yielding would have been sin. It would have been

(a) wicked presumption, as though God must yield to every unreasonable whim of the man, of faith, and so would have been a real "tempting" of God;

(b) it would have denied His incarnation in principle, like the first temptation;

(c) such fanaticism. would have destroyed His ministry.

So the principle was evolved: Jesus will not, of self-will, run into dangers, but will avoid them except in the clear path of duty. He will be no fanatic, running before the Spirit, but will be led by Him in paths of holy sanity and heavenly wisdom. Jesus waited on God.

(4) The Third Temptation.

The former tests have proved Jesus a man of faith and of common sense. Surely such a man will take the short and easy road to that universal dominion which right-fully belongs to the Messiah. Satan offers it, as the prince of this world. The lure here is the desire for power, in itself a right instinct, and the natural and proper wish to avoid difficulty and pain. That the final object is to set up a universal kingdom of God in righteousness adds to the subtlety of the temptation. But as a condition Satan demands that Jesus shall worship him. This must be symbolically interpreted. Such worship as is offered God cannot be meant, for every pious soul would shrink from that in horror, and for Jesus it could constitute no temptation at all. Rather a compromise with Satan must be meant-such a compromise as would essentially be a submission to him. Recalling the views of the times and the course of Jesus ministry, we can think this compromise nothing else than the adoption by Jesus of the program of political Messiahship, with its worldly means of war, intrigue, etc. Jesus repudiates the offer. He sees in it only evil, for

(a) war, especially aggressive war, is to His mind a vast crime against love,

(b) it changes the basis of His kingdom from the spiritual to the external,

(c) the means would defeat the end, and involve Him in disaster.

He will serve God only, and God is served in righteousness. Only means which God approves can be used (Matthew 4:8-11 parallel Luke 4:9-13). Here then is the third great principle of the kingdom: Only moral and spiritual means to moral and spiritual ends. He turns away from worldly methods to the slow and difficult way of truth-preaching, which can end only with the cross. Jesus must have come from His temptation with the conviction that His ministry meant a life-and-death struggle with all the forces of darkness.

6. The Character of the Narrative:

As we should expect of Jesus, He throws the story of the inner conflict of His soul into story form. So only could it be understood by all classes of men in all ages. It was a real struggle, but pictorially, symbolically described. This seems to be proved by various elements in the story, namely, the devil can hardly be conceived as literally taking Jesus from place to place. There is no mountain from which all the kingdoms of the world can be seen. This view of the matter relieves all the difficulties.

7. How Could a Sinless Christ be Tempted?:

The difficulty is that there can be no drawing toward an object unless the object seems desirable. But the very fact that a sinful object seems desirable is itself sin. How then can a sinless person really be tempted at all? Possibly an analysis of each temptation will furnish the answer. In each ease the appeal was a real appeal to a perfectly innocent natural instinct or appetite. In the first temptation, it was to hunger; in the second, to faith; in the third, to power as a means of establishing righteousness. In each ease, Jesus felt the tug and pull of the natural instinct; how insistent is the demand of hunger, for instance! Yet, when He perceived that the satisfaction of these desires was sinful under the conditions, He immediately refused their clamorous appeal. It was a glorious moral victory. It was not that He was metaphysically not able to sin, but that He was so pure that He was able not to sin. He did not prove in the wilderness that He could not be tempted, but that He could overcome the tempter. If it is then said that Jesus, never having sinned, can have no real sympathy with sinners, the answer is twofold: (1) Not he who falls at the first assault feels the full force of temptation, but he who, like Jesus, resists it through long years to the end. (2) Only the victor can help the vanquished; only he, who has felt the most dreadful assaults and yet has stood firm, can give the help needed by the fallen.

LITERATURE.

Broadus on Matthew in the place cited.; Rhees, Life of Jesus of Nazareth, secs. 91-96; Sanday, Outlines of the Life of Christ, section 13; Holtzmann, Hand-Commentar, I, 67 f; J. Weiss, Die Schriften des New Testament, I, 227 f; Weiss, Life of Christ, I, 337-54; Dods, article "Temptation," in DCG; Carvie, Expository Times, X (1898-99).

F. L. Anderson

CHRIST, TEMPTATION OF

See TEMPTATION OF CHRIST.

Greek

3986. peirasmos -- an experiment, a trial, temptation
... an experiment, a trial, temptation. Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine Transliteration:
peirasmos Phonetic Spelling: (pi-ras-mos') Short Definition: trial, testing ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3986.htm - 7k

3803. pagis -- a trap, snare
... snare. From pegnumi; a trap (as fastened by a noose or notch); figuratively,
a trick or statagem (temptation) -- snare. see GREEK pegnumi. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/3803.htm - 7k

Strong's Hebrew

4531. maccah -- despair
... 4530, 4531. maccah. 4531a . despair. Transliteration: maccah Phonetic Spelling:
(mas-saw') Short Definition: temptation. temptation, trial ...
/hebrew/4531.htm - 5k

Library

The Temptation
... VOLUME I: ST. LUKE Chaps. I to XII THE TEMPTATION. ... And when the devil had ended all
the temptation, he departed from Him for a season.' "Luke 4:1-13. ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture e/the temptation.htm

In Despondency and Temptation.
... Songs of the Cross and Consolation. IN DESPONDENCY AND TEMPTATION. ... By severe
temptation, Gladly would he keep from thee Jesu's consolation. ...
/.../gerhardt/paul gerhardts spiritual songs/in despondency and temptation.htm

The Temptation of Christ
... The Temptation of Christ. Matthew 4:1-11 " "Then was Jesus led up of the
Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. ...
/.../whitefield/selected sermons of george whitefield/the temptation of christ.htm

The Temptation in the Wilderness.
... THE TEMPTATION IN THE WILDERNESS. ... or, if Satan might be so foolish, wherein
could such temptation so presented have tempted our Lord? ...
/.../macdonald/unspoken sermons/the temptation in the wilderness.htm

Of Resisting Temptation
... ADMONITIONS PROFITABLE FOR THE SPIRITUAL LIFE CHAPTER XIII Of resisting temptation. ...
And they who endured not temptation became reprobate and fell away. ...
/.../kempis/imitation of christ/chapter xiii of resisting temptation.htm

The Thirteenth Chapter: Resisting Temptation
... BOOK ONE. THOUGHTS HELPFUL IN THE LIFE OF THE SOUL The Thirteenth Chapter:
Resisting Temptation. SO LONG as we live in this world ...
/.../kempis/the imitation of christ/the thirteenth chapter resisting temptation.htm

Temptation
... SERMON VII. TEMPTATION. Eversley, 1872. Chester Cathedral, 1872. ... Let me say a
few words to-day about a solemn subject, namely, Temptation. ...
/.../kingsley/all saints day and other sermons/sermon vii temptation.htm

Power and Temptation
... LXVIII POWER AND TEMPTATION. Matthew iv.1-11. ... The sooner that decision is made the
better. Some people have never quite done with that temptation of the devil. ...
/.../peabody/mornings in the college chapel/lxviii power and temptation.htm

Temptation.
... MORNING AND EVENING HYMNS. 974. " Temptation. 974. LM Bowring. Temptation.
1 Oh, what a struggle wakes within, When in the spirit's ...
//christianbookshelf.org/adams/hymns for christian devotion/974 temptation.htm

Letter vi. Temptation.
... LETTERS, &c. LETTER VI. Temptation. "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into
temptation." Matthew 26:41. MY DEAR SISTER,. That there ...
/.../a practical directory for young christian females/letter vi temptation.htm

Easton's Bible Dictionary

(1.) Trial; a being put to the test. Thus God "tempted [Genesis 22:1; R.V., `did prove'] Abraham;" and afflictions are said to tempt, i.e., to try, men (James 1:2, 12; Comp. Deuteronomy 8:2), putting their faith and patience to the test.

(2.) Ordinarily, however, the word means solicitation to that which is evil, and hence Satan is called "the tempter" (Matthew 4:3). Our Lord was in this way tempted in the wilderness. That temptation was not internal, but by a real, active, subtle being. It was not self-sought. It was submitted to as an act of obedience on his part. "Christ was led, driven. An unseen personal force bore him a certain violence is implied in the words" (Matthew 4:1-11).

The scene of the temptation of our Lord is generally supposed to have been the mountain of Quarantania (q.v.), "a high and precipitous wall of rock, 1,200 or 1,500 feet above the plain west of Jordan, near Jericho."

Temptation is common to all (Dan. 12:10; Zechariah 13:9; Psalm 66:10; Luke 22:31, 40; Hebrews 11:17; James 1:12; 1 Peter 1:7; 4:12). We read of the temptation of Joseph (Genesis 39), of David (2 Samuel 24; 1 Chronicles 21), of Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 32:31), of Daniel (Dan. 6), etc. So long as we are in this world we are exposed to temptations, and need ever to be on our watch against them.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (n.) The act of tempting, or enticing to evil; seduction.

2. (n.) The state of being tempted, or enticed to evil.

3. (n.) That which tempts; an inducement; an allurement, especially to something evil.

Topical Bible Verses

1 Corinthians 10:13
There has no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Topicalbible.org

Matthew 4:1-11
Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Topicalbible.org

Mark 14:38
Watch you and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit truly is ready, but the flesh is weak.
Topicalbible.org

Matthew 26:41
Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.
Topicalbible.org

Luke 22:40
And when he was at the place, he said to them, Pray that you enter not into temptation.
Topicalbible.org

Luke 8:13
They on the rock are they, which, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no root, which for a while believe, and in time of temptation fall away.
Topicalbible.org

Thesaurus

Temptation (22 Occurrences)
... That temptation was not internal, but by a real, active, subtle being.
It was not self-sought. ...Temptation is common to all (Dan. ...
/t/temptation.htm - 30k

Tempt (18 Occurrences)
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. TEMPT; TEMPTATION. ...Temptation therefore in the
Scripture sense has possibilities of holiness as well as of sin. ...
/t/tempt.htm - 15k

Points (18 Occurrences)
... Hebrews 2:14), so in His human experience (compare Hebrews 2:17, 18)) tempted like
as we are, yet without sin." He successfully resisted temptation at all ...
/p/points.htm - 13k

Weak (102 Occurrences)
... 14. (vi) Not able to withstand temptation, urgency, persuasion, etc ... Weak (102
Occurrences). Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray, that you don't enter into temptation. ...
/w/weak.htm - 38k

Frail (6 Occurrences)
... 6. (superl) Liable to fall from virtue or be led into sin; not strong against
temptation; weak in resolution; also, unchaste; -- often applied to fallen women. ...
/f/frail.htm - 8k

Phygellus (1 Occurrence)
... The times during and immediately following the Neronic persecution were more dreadful
than can easily be conceived, and the temptation was strong to forsake ...
/p/phygellus.htm - 10k

Phygelus (1 Occurrence)
... The times during and immediately following the Neronic persecution were more dreadful
than can easily be conceived, and the temptation was strong to forsake ...
/p/phygelus.htm - 9k

Serpent (40 Occurrences)
... The serpent is first mentioned in connection with the history of the temptation
and fall of our first parents (Genesis 3). It has been well remarked regarding ...
/s/serpent.htm - 46k

Tried (96 Occurrences)
... take it. (See NAS). Luke 4:13 So the Devil, having fully tried every kind
of temptation on Him, left Him for a time. (WEY). Luke 4 ...
/t/tried.htm - 33k

Satan (50 Occurrences)
... believe a lie (2 Corinthians 1:10). This really goes to the very bottom
of the problem of temptation. Men are not tempted by evil ...
/s/satan.htm - 53k

Bible Concordance

Temptation (22 Occurrences)

Matthew 6:13 Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.'
(WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Matthew 18:7 "Woe to the world because of occasions of stumbling! For it must be that the occasions come, but woe to that person through whom the occasion comes!
(See RSV)

Matthew 26:41 Watch and pray, that you don't enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
(WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Mark 14:38 Watch and pray, that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."
(WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Luke 4:13 When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Luke 8:13 Those on the rock are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; but these have no root, who believe for a while, then fall away in time of temptation.
(WEB KJV ASV WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Luke 11:4 Forgive us our sins, for we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. Bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.'"
(WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Luke 22:40 When he was at the place, he said to them, "Pray that you don't enter into temptation."
(WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Luke 22:46 and said to them, "Why do you sleep? Rise and pray that you may not enter into temptation."
(WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

1 Corinthians 7:2 But, because of sexual immoralities, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.
(See RSV)

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Galatians 4:14 That which was a temptation to you in my flesh, you didn't despise nor reject; but you received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus.
(WEB KJV ASV DBY WBS)

Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if anybody be detected in any misconduct, you who are spiritual should restore such a one in a spirit of meekness. And let each of you keep watch over himself, lest he also fall into temptation.
(WEY)

1 Timothy 6:9 But those who are determined to be rich fall into a temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful lusts, such as drown men in ruin and destruction.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Hebrews 2:18 For inasmuch as He has Himself felt the pain of temptation and trial, He is also able instantly to help those who are tempted and tried.
(WEY)

Hebrews 3:8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
(KJV WEY DBY WBS YLT)

Hebrews 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, they were tried by temptation, they were killed with the sword. They went from place to place in sheepskins or goatskins, enduring want, oppression and cruelty.
(WEY)

James 1:12 Blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to those who love him.
(WEB KJV ASV DBY WBS YLT)

James 1:13 Let no one say when passing through trial, "My temptation is from God;" for God is incapable of being tempted to do evil, and He Himself tempts no one.
(WEY)

2 Peter 2:9 the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment;
(WEB KJV WEY ASV WBS YLT NAS)

Revelation 3:10 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
(KJV WBS)

Psalms 95:8 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
(KJV WBS)

Subtopics

Temptation

Temptation of Christ

Temptation: A Test

Temptation: Abimelech

Temptation: Abraham Leads Pharaoh

Temptation: Achan

Temptation: Always Conformable to the Nature of Man

Temptation: Balaam

Temptation: Balak Tempts Balaam

Temptation: Blessedness of Those Who Meet and Overcome