The Temptations of Christ

The New Testament tells of Jesus’ temptations to assure and encourage believers to trust in His salvation and follow His pattern of faithfulness to God. Though sinless, Jesus experienced the moral struggle between the desire to do right and the desire to sin. Temptation is a basic experience all people encounter. For His mission of salvation, Jesus stood in the place of sinful people, suffered the onslaught of temptation, and triumphed by never giving into sin.

The wilderness temptations (Matt 4:1–11; Mark 1:12–13; Luke 4:1–13) highlight Jesus’ role as the new Adam, and mirror Israel’s 40 years of wilderness wanderings. Like Adam and Eve, Jesus underwent temptation, but where they sinned, Jesus proved faithful.

Jesus’ faithfulness is further seen in Gethsemane, where Jesus asked three times for another way (Matt 26:39, 42, 44), and on the cross, where He experienced the despair of feeling forsaken by God (Matt 27:46). Jesus’ temptations speak to the authenticity of the incarnation. The temptations also qualify Him for His role as priest, since He is able to identify with His people in their temptations and restore them in relationship to God (Heb 4:14–16). In addition to completing His work as sinless redeemer, Jesus’ temptations and sufferings—and His responses—teach those who follow Him how to overcome temptation and difficulty in their own lives.

As Jesus demonstrated in the temptation in the wilderness—and through his faithfulness at Gethsemane—the proper response to temptation is to resist with the help of God. In the wilderness, Jesus showed that God’s Word can be used to counter the lies of temptation. Jesus responded to Satan’s appeals by relying on God’s Word, manifesting the lesson that Israel was supposed to learn in their 40 years of wilderness journeying (Deut 8:2–3). Temptation often presents sin as acceptable and desirable; the antidote is the truth of God’s Word. In Gethsemane, Jesus charged His disciples to pray that they not enter into temptation (Luke 22:40).

Christ’s temptations occurred for our sake, as part of His work to save His people. The experience of being tempted “in all ways as we are” (Heb 4:15) reassures believers that Jesus, despite being the eternal God, truly understands the experience of temptation. He endured the strain of temptation from childhood until His final moments on the cross. Jesus experienced the temptation to retaliate when sinned against, to withdraw and protect Himself, to shrink back from God’s mission, and to avoid suffering. His empathy and willingness to help those undergoing temptation originate in His personal experience. Hebrews 4:16 urges Christians to seek Jesus’ help, as He both understands temptation and pain, and possesses the ability to provide the aid necessary to surmount any obstacle.

John McKinley