ACC ~ Matthew 4 v1 - 11

OVERVIEW:

Adam’s temptation was reversed in Jesus’ temptation (THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA). The devil goes out to tempt people, but in this case it was Christ who went to confront the devil (ANONYMOUS). It was fitting that the devil be defeated in that same human flesh in whose death he had gloried (HILARY). In the forty days he provided a pattern for our fasting (ANONYMOUS). Jesus’ temptation was for our instruction. Jesus did whatever was necessary for our salvation by both acting and being acted upon (CHRYSOSTOM). The forty days may have symbolic resonance with the mystical meaning of four tens (CHRYSOLOGUS), with the basic units of physical measurement, with embryonic formation (ORIGEN) or with the fact that Elijah fasted forty days. The devil was disturbed and feared most that after he had filled the world with sins, there would now come someone to take away the sins of the world (CHROMATIUS).

It was precisely when Christ hungered that the devil made his move to tempt him (THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA). By hunger he participates fully in our human condition except for sin (ORIGEN). The devil begins with the temptation to indulge the belly. By this same means he cast out the first man, and by this means many are still cast down (CHRYSOSTOM). In following, the Lord did not show weakness but patience; in leading, the devil did not show strength but pride (ANONYMOUS). In the wilderness the Lord had humbled the Hebrews through hunger and fed them with manna that they might know that one does not live by bread alone (ORIGEN). By the Word, not bread alone, we are fed for life with God (JEROME). That by which Adam was tempted, food, did not succeed in tempting Christ (MAXIMUS OF TURIN). It is not through miracles but by patient, long-suffering endurance that we must prevail over the devil. We should do nothing merely for show (THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA). The devil sought to lead the Lord from the highest to the lowest things by setting him on the pinnacle of the temple (HILARY). The false arrows from the devil’s own skewed view of Scripture are broken by the true shield of Scripture (JEROME).

Responding to the devil with Scripture, Jesus shows that demonic temptation must be overcome by forbearance (CHRYSOSTOM). Jesus dealt with three temptations—to gluttony, vainglory and avarice. All three recapitulated the one temptation of Adam. By this we are taught to answer all temptation with Scripture (GREGORY THE GREAT). The devil is subservient to whatever purpose God wished to happen in his providential arranging of all things (THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA).

Every promise of the devil is intrinsically irrational, for he could not give everything to one person unless he took everything away from everybody, and if he took everything away, he would be adored by no one. The devil does not have the power to tempt God’s people as long as he wishes but only as long as God permits (ANONYMOUS). When the devil was commanded to worship the Lord and him only, this was the opposite of the devil’s earlier words to the Savior: “If you will fall down and worship me” (JEROME). In this way the Lord made sport of the devil, the Leviathan, as with a fishhook (CHROMATIUS). According to God’s dispensation, our good angels may make themselves invisible to the devil, that they might give the devil an open space in which to tempt in order to provide moral exercise toward deeper virtue (ANONYMOUS).

4:1 | Jesus Led into the Wilderness

READINESS TO FACE TEMPTATIONS

CHRYSOSTOM: The text says “then.” Then when? This was after the descent of the Spirit, after the voice that was borne from above had said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Led by whom? This is marvelous. All of this was led by the Holy Spirit. For it says Jesus was “led up by the Spirit.” All this was for our instruction. The Lord does whatever is necessary for our salvation by both acting and being acted upon. He submitted himself to being led up there to wrestle against the devil. Now we should not be troubled if, after our baptism, we too have to endure great temptations. We should not treat this as if unexpected but continue to endure all things nobly, as though it were happening in the natural course of things. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 13.1. [1]

[1] PG 57:207-8; NPNF 1 10:80**. By submitting himself to being led up by the Spirit to the wilderness to struggle against temptation, he teaches us to face our temptations.

ADAM’S TEMPTATION REVERSED

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: For since Adam met with luxury in paradise and, through deception, deteriorated to what is worse, it was necessary that [the Spirit] lead Christ into the wilderness in order to enfeeble the devil’s force by someone greater in strength. So he fasted for forty nights and days. FRAGMENT 17. [1]

[1] MKGK 102. Adam through deception fell from the luxury of paradise into temptation and the Fall. Hence the Spirit necessarily led Jesus into the wilderness to enfeeble the devil’s force by someone greater in strength.

LED BY THE SPIRIT

ANONYMOUS: With the words the Evangelist added, “to be tempted by the devil,” he shows that Jesus was led by the Spirit, but not as a subordinate on the command of a superior and not as a superior on the encouragement of a subordinate. He is referring not only to one who is led or drawn under another’s power but also to one who acquiesces in someone’s reasonable insistence.

Jesus was led to the devil to be tempted. Note that the devil goes out to people to tempt them, and it is not people who go to the devil in order to be tempted by him. And since the devil could not go against Christ, it was Christ who went against the devil. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 5. [1]

[1] PG 56:661.

THE DEVIL DEFEATED BY THE SAME FLESH HE HAD MADE MISERABLE

HILARY: The journey into the desert, the forty-day fast, the hunger after the fast, the temptation by Satan and the Lord’s response—all these are full of the effects of the great heavenly counsel. The fact he was led into the desert signifies the freedom of the Holy Spirit to offer his man to the devil and to permit the occasion of temptation and conquest, which the tempter would not have had unless he had been given it. There was in the devil therefore suspicious fear but no knowledge of the true identity of the One suspected. The devil was moved by the forty-day fast. He had knowledge of the poured-out waters of the abyss in just as many days and of the exploration of the promised land, [1] in the Mosaic law written by God. [2] He also knew that this number of years was fulfilled when the people remained in the desert with the life and condition as it were of angels. [3] Apprehensive of that time therefore in tempting him whom he considered to be a man, he acted rashly. He had enticed Adam and by deceiving him led him to death. But it was fitting, because of his wickedness and evil deed, that he be defeated by that same humanity in whose death and misfortunes he gloried. It was the devil who envied God’s gifts to humanity before the temptation of Adam, who was now unable to understand God’s being present in a human being. The Lord was therefore tempted immediately after being baptized. His temptation indicates how sinister are the devil’s attempts especially against those who have been sanctified, for he eagerly desires victory over the saints.

Jesus did not hunger for human food but for human salvation. It was after forty days and not during forty days that he hungered. Moses and Elijah were not hungry during the same period of fasting. [4] Therefore, when the Lord hungered, the work of abstinence did not creep up on him. His strength was not depleted by his forty days of fasting. He did not abandon his nature as a man. The devil was not to be defeated by God but by the flesh, which he surely would not have dared to tempt, except in those things which he recognized were proper human needs because of the pangs of hunger. ON MATTHEW 3.1-2. [5]

[1] See Num 13:25.

[2] Ex 24:18.

[3] Ex 16:35.

[4] Cf. Ex 34:28.

[5] SC 254:110-14.

4:2 | Jesus Fasts for Forty Days and Nights

FORTY DAYS, THEN HUNGER

ORIGEN: For the number “forty days” is composed of four groups of ten. [1] This may be akin to the four aspects of physical reality, because the sensible world is formed out of four elements. Or it may be because a human being is formed in forty days in the womb. [2] And so that he might not, by fasting any longer than this, give anyone the notion that he had not taken on flesh in truth, he afterward was hungry, sharing all that we have “except for sin” [3] and participating in our condition through his own suffering. FRAGMENT 61. [4]

[1] In this passage is an example of numerical exegesis, which constructs an allegorical interpretation on the symbolical meaning attributed to numbers. The belief that numerical combinations contained hidden inner meanings was widespread in the ancient world.

[2] This does not imply that before these forty days there is nothing human about the developing baby but only that its formation is clearly evident by the fortieth day. In any event, Origen grasped the analogy between the forty days of temptation in forming the new creation and the forty days of embryonic development to form the original creation of the person in the womb.

[3] Heb 4:15.

[4] GCS 41.1:39.

ELIJAH FASTED FORTY DAYS

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: When Christ “hungered,” as it is written, then the devil made his move to tempt him; for he was not wholly amazed at the fact of his fasting for forty days, since he knew that Elijah had fasted for the same length of time. [1] For this reason he took courage to attack him, thinking him to be a person of this kind, and not God. FRAGMENT 18. [2]

[1] Cf. 1 Kings 19:8.

[2] MKGK 203.

JESUS’ HUNGER WAS VOLUNTARY

ANONYMOUS: He therefore fasted for forty days, and he did this for two reasons. First, that he might give us an example of fasting to ward off temptations. Second, that he might set the measure of forty days for our fasting. He hungered, furthermore, so that by not overdoing his fasting God might be manifestly understood and he might dash the devil’s hope in temptation and thwart his victory. After the devil beheld him fasting for forty days, he gave up hope. It was when he realized that Christ was hungry that hope was restored. He approached him as he hungered outwardly but found that inwardly he was never hungry. And while he tempted the hungry Christ, he was conquered by the Christ who was not hungry.

To be hungry and not to eat is proper of human patience, but not to be hungry is proper of a divine nature. Therefore he who was not hungry for forty days and then became hungry demonstrates that his hunger was voluntary and not necessary. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 5. [1]

[1] PG 56:664-65.

LENTEN FASTING ANTICIPATED

PETER CHRYSOLOGUS: So you see, my friends, the fact that we fast during Lent is not of human invention. The authority is divine and mystical and not taken for granted. Nor is it based on an earthly custom but on heavenly secrets. Lent [Quadragesima] contains the four-sided teaching of four decades of faith, because perfection is always four-sided. The number forty [quadragesimus] and the number ten [denarius], which hold sacraments both in heaven and on earth because a square is not free to open, are used to explain the undertaking of the Lord’s fast. SERMONS 11.4. [1]

[1] CCL 24:74; FC 17:58*. Christ permitted the devil to tempt him for forty days, that the devil might become entangled by the means by which he thought he might make a catch and thereby to establish for the liturgical year the pattern of forty days of penitence.

4:3 | The First Temptation

THE DEVIL’S INTERROGATION

CHROMATIUS: The devil provokes that he might tempt him, and the Lord follows up that he might win. The battle over this temptation is thus engaged, as the devil says to the Lord, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Unaware of the mystery of the divine dispensation, he frames as a question what he does not know. [1] With the voice of a doubter, he interrogates Christ and says, “If you are the Son of God … ” Now let us see why he inquires when he doubts and why he questions when he does not know. He heard that it had been announced by the angel to the Virgin that she would give birth to the Son of God. He saw the magi, who had left behind the error of their limited knowledge, in humble adoration of the Child that was born. He saw, after the baptism, the Holy Spirit descending like a dove. He also heard the Father’s voice from heaven saying, “This is my Son.” [2] He heard John with a loud voice proclaiming, “This is he who takes away the sin of the world.” [3] Disturbed by so much testimony therefore and now troubled by this voice, this is what he feared most of all: that after he had filled the world with sins, he heard there would now come someone to take away the sins of the world. He was frightened indeed by all these utterances, but he did not yet fully believe that the Son of God whom he had heard, whom he now beheld as a man in the flesh, would take away the sins of the world. In a terrible state of fear he seeks to find out whether these things he had heard were true. He sees the Lord fasting “forty days and nights,” but he was loath to believe that this was the Son of God. He recalled that both Moses and Elijah also fasted for forty days. And so he asked to be given some sign that this was truly the Son of God. He therefore said, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 14.2. [4]

[1] On the level and importance of the knowledge possessed by the devil, the ancient exegetes were highly uncertain. In interpreting the temptation of Christ they usually maintained that the devil could have an inkling of Jesus’ actual identity but could not be certain. This assumption directed their interpretation of the account in Scripture.

[2] Mt 3:16-17; cf. Mk 1:10-11.

[3] Jn 1:29.

[4] CCL 9a:251-52.

THE FIRST POINT OF ATTACK

CHRYSOSTOM: What does the devil first say? “If you are Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” The focus is not upon hunger but divine Sonship. Thinking to cheat him with supposed compliments, the devil suggested, “If you are Son of God,” remaining silent about his hunger in order that he not seem to allege that he indeed was hungry and not upbraiding him for it. For unaware of the greatness of the economy which was unfolding, he supposed hunger to be a reproach to him. So flattering him smoothly, he makes mention of his dignity only.

How then did Christ respond to this? In order to put down the devil’s pride and signify that there was nothing shameful in Jesus’ hunger nor unbecoming to his wisdom, he brings forward precisely the point that the devil had passed over in silence to flatter him. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone.”

In this way the devil begins his temptation with the necessity of the belly. Mark well the craft of that wicked demon. Note at what precise point he begins his struggling and how well he remembers what he does best. For it was by this same means that he cast out the first man and then encompassed him with thousands of other evils. Now by the same means here he again weaves his deceit: the temptation to indulge the belly. So too even now one may hear many foolish people say their bad words by thousands because of the belly. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 13.3. [1]

[1] PG 57:210; NPNF 1 10:81*. The first point of attack in demonic temptation is, as usual, the temptation to satisfy the belly, in response to which Jesus quotes Scripture in defense.

COMMAND THESE STONES TO BECOME LOAVES

CYRIL OF ALEXANDRIA: Wanting to draw Christ into the passion of vainglory, [1] Satan did not say to him “eat” but “work a miracle.” This he did, not so that Christ would be helped, but, as I said, in order to draw him to a pretentious act. But Christ, knowing this, did not obey him. Later he would not comply with the Pharisees when they wanted to see a sign from him. For they did not approach him with an undoubting heart, as to God, but were tempting him as a man. Let this therefore be an unfailing rule for the saints, not to show off before unbelievers upon any pretext of utility. [2] FRAGMENT 32. [3]

[1] Ambition, the lust for glory, showing off.

[2] However useful it may seem.

[3] MKGK 162.

4:4 | Living by the Word, Not by Bread Alone

THE LESSON OF THE MANNA

ORIGEN: This saying is quoted by our Savior, and it makes clear to a person with understanding that before the manna came, which was our heavenly food, we must have been in a bad way and close to starving, having spent up all our fat for food. For thus it is written: “And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and then fed you with manna, which you had not known, nor had your fathers known, in order that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone.” [1] The manna itself is a word. This is made clear from the reply Moses made to the question of the children of Israel, when they said to one another, “What is that?” [2] What then did Moses say? “This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. This is the word which the Lord has commanded.” [3] After this the devil goes on to another defeat. FRAGMENT 63. [4]

[1] Deut 8:2-3.

[2] Ex 16:15.

[3] Ex 16:15-16.

[4] GCS 41.1:41.

FEEDING ON THE WORD

MAXIMUS OF TURIN: The Savior put down the devil’s stratagem with a clever response. He does not do what the devil says, lest he seem to declare the glory of his power at his adversary’s will, nor does he answer that it cannot be done, since he could not deny what he had often already done. Therefore he neither gives in to the devil’s petition nor rejects his inquiry. He reserves for himself the manifestation of his power and counters his adversary’s stratagem with eloquence. He therefore says to him, “Not by bread alone shall man live, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”—that is, not by earthly bread or by material food, whereby you deceived Adam the first man, but by the word of God, which contains the food of heavenly life. The Word of God is Christ the Lord, as the Evangelist says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” [1] So, whoever feeds on the word of Christ does not require earthly food, nor can one who feeds on the bread of the Savior desire the food of the world. The Lord has his own bread; indeed, the bread is the Savior himself, as he taught when he said, “I am the bread who came down from heaven.” [2] About this bread the prophet says, “And bread strengthens the human heart.” [3] SERMONS 51.2. [4]

[1] Jn 1:1.

[2] Jn 6:41.

[3] Ps 104:15 (103:15 LXX).

[4] CCL 23:51; ACW 50:125*. By the Word, not bread alone, we are fed for life with God. That by which Adam was tempted, food, did not succeed in tempting Christ.

NOT BY BREAD ALONE

THEODORE OF HERACLEA: The first Adam sinned by eating. Christ prevailed by self-control. He thus teaches that there is no need for us to stay far away from God, even if we are famishing. This is also a pledge of our future state, which Christ in fact inaugurated, that in the future human beings will live even without food. FRAGMENT 22. [1]

[1] MKGK 63.

FEEDING ON GOD’S WORD

JEROME: The testimony was taken from Deuteronomy. The Lord responded in this way, for it was his purpose to overcome the devil with humility and not with power. At the same time, it should be noted that unless the Lord had begun to fast, the devil would not have had an occasion, in accordance with the passage: “My son, as you embark upon the service of God, prepare your soul for temptation.” [1] But the Savior’s very response indicates that it was as man that he was tempted: “Not by bread alone shall man live, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.” So if anyone does not feed upon God’s Word, that one will not live. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 1.4.4. [2]

[1] Sir 2:1.

[2] CCL 77:20.

DO NOTHING FOR SHOW

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: If as God Jesus overcame the devil, it was no great accomplishment for him to defeat the apostate angel whom he himself had made. Nor is this victory to be ascribed to his humanity alone. But by long-suffering, he prevailed over him as man, teaching us that it is not through miracles but by long-suffering and patient endurance that we must prevail over the devil and that we should do nothing merely for show or for notoriety’s sake. FRAGMENT 20. [1]

[1] MKGK 103.

4:5-6 | The Second Temptation

THE PINNACLE OF THE TEMPLE

HILARY: The devil works at temptation by leading the Lord from the highest to the lowest things to reduce him to humiliation. He set him on the pinnacle of the temple, as if towering over the laws and the prophets. He knew indeed that the angels would be prompt to minister to the Son of God, lest he dash his foot against a stone. He could trample underfoot the serpent and the adder and tread on the lion and the dragon. [1] Concerning those lower things which were taken for granted, the devil kept silent, but by mentioning the higher things, he wanted in some way to elicit obedience from the tempted One, hoping to hear an echo of his own glory in a vote of confidence from the Lord of majesty. ON MATTHEW 3.4. [2]

[1] Ps 91:13 (90:13 LXX).

[2] SC 254:116.

IF YOU ARE THE SON OF GOD

CHRYSOSTOM: What can the reason be that with each temptation the devil adds, “If you are the Son of God”? He is acting just like he did in the case of Adam, when he disparaged God by saying, “In the day you eat, your eyes will be opened.” [1] So he does in this case, intending thereby to signify that our first parents had been beguiled and outsmarted and had received no benefit. So even in the temptation of Jesus he insinuates the same thing, saying, “In vain God has called you Son and has beguiled you by his gift. For, if this is not so, give us some clear proof that you are from that power.” And, because Christ had reasoned with him from Scripture, he does the same, bringing in the testimony of the prophet. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 13.4. [2]

[1] Gen 3:5.

[2] PG 57:211; NPNF 1 10:82*.

HOW THE DEVIL MISINTERPRETED SCRIPTURE

JEROME: “Throw yourself down.” It is the devil’s voice by which he desires that everyone should fall down. “Throw yourself,” he says. He is able to persuade, but he cannot cast down. “He will give his angels charge concerning you; and upon their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.” This we read in the ninetieth psalm. [1] Clearly the prophecy here is not about Christ but about a holy man. The devil therefore is a poor interpreter of the Scriptures. Certainly, if he really knew what was written about the Savior, he should have also said what follows in the same psalm against him: “You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.” [2] Concerning the help of the angels, he speaks as though to a feeble man. Concerning his being trampled underfoot, he is silent like an artful dodger.

Jesus said to him, “It is written further, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” The false arrows from the devil’s own scriptures he breaks with the true shield of the Scripture. And it should be noted that he cited the necessary testimony from Deuteronomy that he might show the sacraments of the second law. COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 1.4.5-7. [3]

[1] Ps 91:11-12 (90:11-12 LXX).

[2] Ps 91:13 (90:13 LXX).

[3] CCL 77:21-22.

4:7 | Not Tempting the Lord

TEMPTATION OVERCOME BY FORBEARANCE

CHRYSOSTOM: What does Christ then do? He is neither indignant nor provoked but with extreme gentleness reasons with him again from the Scriptures, saying, “You shall not tempt the Lord your God,” [1] teaching us that we must overcome the devil not by miracles but by forbearance and long-suffering and that we should do nothing at all for display and vainglory. THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW, HOMILY 13.4. [2]

[1] Mt 4:7.

[2] PG 57:211; NPNF 1 10:82*. Theodore of Mopsuestia uses the same words in his Fragment 20; MKGK 102.

LED THAT WE MIGHT NOT FOLLOW

ANONYMOUS: “Then the devil took him into the holy city.” When you hear the words “led by the devil,” do not think of the devil’s power, that he was able to lead Christ. Rather, wonder at the patience of Christ when he allowed himself to be led by the devil. Therefore, in following, the Lord did not show weakness but patience; in leading, the devil did not show strength but pride, because not understanding the willingness of Christ, it was as though he were leading an unwilling person. He was led that we might not follow the devil’s will. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 5. [1]

[1] PG 56:665.

4:8 | The Third Temptation

THE ECONOMY OF GOD EXPRESSED EVEN IN TEMPTATION

THEODORE OF MOPSUESTIA: The statement that the devil “led him away” has to be understood with reference to God’s plan, [1] since Christ, who had foretold and sought that he should do this, had prearranged for the clear defeat of the one who should try in vain to tempt him. For in the case of Job too it says that “the devil said to the Lord.” [2] But who is so simpleminded as to suppose that the devil discusses things with God? But what he had intended, God allowed him to do, in order to demonstrate Job’s indomitability. So too in the present instance, to the devil is applied whatever purpose God had wished to happen in providentially arranging all things. But as to the phrase “he showed him,” it is clear that he did not show him this in substance and reality, since it is impossible to find a mountain so high that from it someone who wishes can see the whole world. Rather it was through an imaginary image, in keeping with the demon’s usual custom, the clear identifying mark of which is the attempt to delude people of sound understanding by representing to them things that are not there as though they were there and things that have not happened as though they had happened. FRAGMENT 22. [3]

[1] Economy, oikonomia.

[2] Job 1:7; 2:2.

[3] MKGK 104.

4:9 | Fall Down and Worship Me

THE INCONSISTENCY IN THE DEMONIC PROMISE

ANONYMOUS: Consider how every promise of the devil is intrinsically irrational and untrue. Certainly he could not give everything to one person unless he took everything away from everybody. If he took everything away from everybody, he would be adored by no one. Remember that the devil is not adored either out of love or out of fear but because he promises and makes deals for riches. So how could the devil take everything away from everyone and give it to one person, in order to be despised by all and worshiped by one? Nor can we say that anyone could keep his own when the devil has charge of everything. There is no case in which one person is in a situation where he is subject to no one else. This has not happened, nor can it happen. Why? First, because God will not grant the devil such absolute power. Second, because of the devil himself, for in what do his joy and glory and power consist except in pride, envy, wrath, vain ambition and the like? When these things come into play, a kingdom cannot stand in unity. It would be necessary to divide up such a kingdom into many kingdoms. But when these things do not come into play, the devil is not reverenced, nor does he reign. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 5. [1]

[1] PG 56:667.

THE THREE TEMPTATIONS

GREGORY THE GREAT: If we look at the progression of his temptation, we see how great the struggle was that set us free from temptation. Our ancient enemy rose up against the first human being, our ancestor, in three temptations. He tempted him by gluttony, by vain ambition and by avarice. And he overcame [Adam] when tempted, because he subjugated him through consent. He tempted him by gluttony when he showed him the forbidden food of the tree and told him, “Taste it.” He tempted him by vain ambition when he said, “You will be like gods.” He tempted him by adding avarice when he said, “knowing good and evil.” Avarice is concerned not only with money but also with high position. We rightly call it avarice when we seek high position beyond measure. If grasping at honor was not related to avarice, Paul would not have said of God’s only begotten Son, “He did not think that being equal to God was something to be grasped.” [1] The devil drew our ancestor to pride by stirring him up to an avaricious desire for high position.

But the means by which he overcame the first man were the same ones that caused him to yield when he tempted the second Adam. The devil tempted him by gluttony when he said, “Tell these stones to become bread.” He tempted him by vain ambition when he said, “If you are the Son of God, cast yourself down.” He tempted him by an avaricious desire for high position when “he showed him all the kingdoms of the world, saying, ‘I will give you all these if you will fall down and worship me.’” But the devil is overcome by the second man in the same way as he boasted of overcoming the first man. He exits our heart at the same juncture where he first made his earliest inroads.

But there is something else we have to consider in this temptation of the Lord, dearly beloved. When the Lord was tempted by the devil, he answered him with the commands of sacred Scripture. By the Word that he was, he could have easily plunged his tempter into the abyss. But he did not reveal the power of his might, but he only brought forth the precepts of Scripture. This was to give us an example of his patience, so that as often as we suffer something from vicious persons we should be aroused to teach rather than to exact revenge. Consider how great God’s patience is, how great our impatience. When we are provoked by some injury or threatened harm, or moved to rage, we seek revenge as far as possible. When we are unable to obtain it, we make our threats. But the Lord endured the devil’s opposition, and he answered him with nothing except words of meekness. He put up with one he could have punished, so that this might all the more redound to his praise. He overcame his enemy not by destroying him but by suffering him for a while. FORTY GOSPEL HOMILIES 16.2-3. [2]

[1] Phil 2:6.

[2] 52.

4:10 | Serving Only God

THE ATTEMPT TO CORRUPT BY AMBITION

HILARY: But now for the third time, the full ambition of diabolical power is at work. The Lord was taken to a very high mountain. All the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them would be his, he was promised, if only he would fall down and worship. His answer broke through all the devil’s suspicions. The devil had enticed Adam with food and led him from the glory of paradise to the place of sin—to the region of the forbidden tree. And he had corrupted him with ambition for a divine name by promising a future similar to that of the gods. In this same way all the power of the world is arrayed against the Lord. The possession of all this is offered to the devil’s very Creator, so that in line with the order of the ancient deceit, he whom the devil did not entice with food nor move from place, he would now corrupt by ambition.

But the Lord’s response put the matter on a higher plane. He said, “Begone, Satan! For it is written, ‘The Lord your God shall you worship, and him only shall you serve.’” The devil had to live with the outcome of such great recklessness. His crimes were being discovered. He realized that the Lord his God must be adored in the man. By this effective response, the Lord gave us a decisive example. With human power having been disdained and with worldly ambition being held of little account, we also should remember that our Lord and God alone must be adored, especially when the devil’s honor has become the common business of every age. After this flight of the devil, therefore, the angels ministered to Christ. With the devil overcome by the man, his head now being crushed, we now can see better the ministering service of the angels and the unfailing courtesies of the heavenly powers toward us. ON MATTHEW 3.5. [1]

[1] SC 254:116-18.

THE LIMITS OF THE DEVIL’S POWER TO TEMPT

ANONYMOUS: He put an end to the devil’s tempting when he said, “Get behind me, Satan!” The devil could progress no further with his temptation. But we can rightly understand and reasonably ascertain that he withdrew not as though in obedience to the command. Rather it was the divinity of Christ or the Holy Spirit in Christ who drove away the devil. This gives us great consolation, for the devil cannot tempt God’s people as long as he wishes. He can tempt them only so long as Christ or the Holy Spirit who is in them allows him to. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 5. [1]

[1] PG 56:668.

THE DEVIL’S OFFER REVERSED

JEROME: “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Begone, Satan! For it is written: the Lord your God shall you worship, and him only shall you serve.’” Satan and the apostle Peter are not condemned by the same judgment, as many may think. For to Peter it was said, “Get behind me, Satan,” that is, follow me, you who are contrary to my will. But the devil heard the words “Begone, Satan”; And it was not said to him “Get behind me,” as if it were a matter of simple subjection. Rather it is an instruction: “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” This is the opposite of the devil’s earlier words to the Savior: “If you will fall down and worship me.” Now he hears that it is he who should worship his Lord and God. Otherwise, “Go into the everlasting fire that has been prepared for you and your angels.” [1] COMMENTARY ON MATTHEW 1.4.10-11. [2]

[1] Cf. Mt 25:41.

[2] CCL 77:22-23.

THE LORD MADE SPORT OF THE DEVIL

CHROMATIUS: David also prefigures this rejection of temptation when he speaks of the Lord, saying, “And the scourge did not approach his tabernacle.” [1] No sin of diabolical scourge could come close to the body of the Lord. Therefore the Lord withstood temptations from the enemy that he might restore victory to humankind. He thereby made sport of the devil, according to what David also proclaimed: “That Leviathan, whom you made to sport in it.” [2] And again: “He will bring low the false accuser.” [3] And also: “You broke the heads of Leviathan in pieces on the water.” [4] In the book of Job the Lord declared that this Leviathan would be made sport of and caught in this temptation, saying, “You will draw out Leviathan with a fishhook.” [5] TRACTATE ON MATTHEW 14.5. [6]

[1] Ps 91:10 (90:10 LXX).

[2] Ps 104:26 (103:26 LXX).

[3] Ps 72:4 (71:4 LXX).

[4] Ps 74:13-14 (73:13-14 LXX).

[5] Job 40:24.

[6] CCL 9a:255.

4:11 | The Angels Minister to Jesus

THE PERMISSION TO TEMPT

ANONYMOUS: He did not say, “The angels descended and ministered to him,” so he might show that the angels were always on earth to minister to him. Rather at the Lord’s behest they withdrew from him so that the devil might have room to work against Christ. If the devil were to see angels around him, he might not approach him. In this same way the devil comes invisibly to tempt the faithful. There are two permanent angels with each one of us—a good angel and a bad one. As long as the good angel is with us, the bad angel can never lead us into temptation. According to God’s dispensation, however, the good angel may draw back somewhat. Well, he does not exactly draw back but hides himself, making himself invisible to the devil. For unless the good angel wishes to be recognized, he is not seen by the devil. He therefore withdraws, that he might give the devil an open space in which to tempt, and then he waits for the temptation to transpire. INCOMPLETE WORK ON MATTHEW, HOMILY 5. [1]

[1] PG 56:671.