Smoodock's Blog

As we continue in our study of Matthew’s first book of his testimony about the words and deeds of Jesus, keep in mind what I mentioned in my previous study, that it was men, not a spirit being, who tempted Jesus. As for myself, I don’t believe in a spirit being called Satan or the Devil.[1] However, for those of us who do believe there is such a creature, it is probably more profitable for our understanding of the text to read it in a manner that has the spirit being working through groups of men, some of whom are evil, but also some good men. After all, Jesus did call Peter a satan or an enemy, when Peter tried to tell Jesus that the Messiah couldn’t die (Matthew 16:23). Therefore, even if we believe in an actual being called Satan, he had to have been working through Peter in Matthew 16.

Thus, both Matthew’s and Luke’s accounts of Jesus’ temptations should be read in the context of folks tempting Jesus, by slandering him, because the term devil (Matthew 4:1; Luke 4:2) means “slanderer” or “false accuser.” In fact, this same Greek word (diabolos = devil; G1228) is used to describe men who oppose the Gospel in 1Timothy 3:1; 2Timothy 3:3; and Titus 2:3. Judas Iscariot was, also, such a person (John 6:70).

Keeping in mind that in Matthew’s first book Jesus is ‘offering the Kingdom of God to the people, Matthew begins to describe Jesus’ opposition in terms of a temptation, saying the tempter (G3985) came to him. The Greek word is actually a verb and means: “to make proof or trial of, put to the proof, whether good or evil intent.”[2] So, a proper rendering of the text might be: “When the (false accuser) who would make trial of (Jesus) came to him…” When the Lord makes trial of us, it is done in order to prove us capable of the task at hand. When a false accuser makes trial of a person, his intent is to bring that person down, to cause him to fail. This was the intent of Matthew’s, so called, tempter.

Jesus’ false accuser (slanderer or devil) came to him and said: “IF…” That is, he was calling into question Jesus’ claim to be the Messiah. Luke tells us that Jesus began his public ministry in Nazareth:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears (Luke 4:18-21).

Reading from Isaiah 61:1, Jesus read “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me… anointed me…” After the reading, he closed the book and said: “This day, this scripture is fulfilled in your ears” In other words, Jesus was claiming to be the long-awaited Messiah. It is this that the devil (G1228; diabolos; slanderer; false accuser) wished to call into question. “IF you are the ‘Son of God’” (a Messianic title) prove yourself by doing what I say: “command these stones be made bread” (Matthew 4:3).

We need to understand the meaning behind the slanderer’s request. In the context of Jesus being hungry (Matthew 4:2), he labored for forty days, preaching the Gospel throughout the synagogues of Galilee, and he looked for good results. He preached to folks who lacked spiritual understanding, but did they believe what he said? The slanderer was making his point by claiming no one believed him, because he wasn’t fulfilling the expectations, concerning who the Messiah would be.

The first century Jews had established a picture of what the Messiah should look like, once he appeared on the scene. He would fulfill their every desire, vis-à-vis he would satisfy their fleshy appetites. They would labor and not be disappointed. They would plant and be assured of a great harvest. In other words, they would be rich and not poor, etc. The slander was pointing out how Jesus totally failed in reaching the people: “IF you want someone to believe your claim, this is the program you must follow. With all the miracles you’ve already done among us, you’re not even close to what you should be doing, so why should we believe you?”

Jesus replied by quoting the word of God in contrast to their human tradition. Jesus said: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). In other words, the servant of God must have faith that the Lord will grant the harvest. “Seeing is believing” is not faith. Jesus planted the seed, and he trusted that the seed would produce a harvest, once he sent out his servants to reap what he had sown (Matthew 10:5-42; cp. Luke 10:1-2, 17).

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[1] I’ve read many scholarly opinions about the being called Satan, how he was an archangel, who rebelled against God. Nevertheless, I’ve never read anything that would **prove** their claims. Everyone depends upon the existence of such a creature being common knowledge. Yet, it isn’t common knowledge. If we accept the word of God as true, I can **prove** the existence of God and angels, but I cannot **prove** the existence of an archangel called Satan. In fact, unless I go to extrabiblical sources, I can prove the existence of only one archangel—Michael (Jude 1:9), and he is called THE archangel—meaning the only one! There are many things that modern Christians believe are true, but they are actually traditions and doctrines of men and cannot be proved with the Bible, the word of God. Thus, the motto of my blog is and has been since its conception: QUESTION AUTHORITY!

[2] See Mounce Concise Greek-English Dictionary.