Luke 4:1–2

Footnotes

1. 1 Here δέ (de) has been translated as “then” to indicate continuity with the previous topic.
2. 2 “River” is not in the Greek text but is supplied for clarity.
3. 3 The double mention of the Spirit in this verse makes it clear that the temptation was neither the fault of Jesus nor an accident.
4. 4 Most (A Θ Ξ Ψ 0102 f1, 13 33 𝔐 lat) read εἰς τὴν ἕρημον (eis tēn erēmon, “into the wilderness”), apparently motivated by the parallel in Matt 4:1. However, the reading behind the translation (ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ, en tē ejrēmō) is found in overall better witnesses (𝔓4vid,7, 75vid א B D L W 579 892 1241 it).
5. 5 Or “desert.”
6. 6 Grk “in the desert, for forty days being tempted.” The participle πειραζόμενος (peirazomenos) has been translated as an adverbial clause in English to avoid a run-on sentence with a second “and.” Here the present participle suggests a period of forty days of testing. Three samples of the end of the testing are given in the following verses.
7. 7 Grk “And he.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
8. 8 The reference to Jesus eating nothing could well be an idiom meaning that he ate only what the desert provided; see Exod 34:28. A desert fast simply meant eating only what one could obtain in the desert. The parallel in Matt 4:2 speaks only of Jesus fasting.
9. 9 The Greek word here is συντελεσθείσων (suntelestheisōn) from the verb συντελέω (sunteleō). This verb and its cognate noun, sunteleia, usually implies not just the end of an event, but its completion or fulfillment. The noun is always used in the NT in eschatological contexts; the verb is often so used (cf. Matt 13:39, 40; 24:3; 28:20; Mark 13:4; Rom 9:28; Heb 8:8; 9:26). The idea here may be that the forty-day period of temptation was designed for a particular purpose in the life of Christ (the same verb is used in v. 13). The cognate verb teleioō is a key NT term for the completion of God’s plan: See Luke 12:50; 22:37; John 19:30; and (where it has the additional component of meaning “to perfect”) Heb 2:10; 5:8–9; 7:28.