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NASB | Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Matthew 4:1 Then Jesus was led by the [Holy] Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. [Luke 4:1-13] |
Subject: What was the point of the temptation ? |
Bible Note: I decided to write a second posting about the link you provided. The author makes a small assumption that clouds his thinking. He assumes that Jesus is the same today as he was on earth. Take a closer look at Phillipians 2. In verses 7 and 8, Jesus emptied himself and made himself in the form of a bond servant .. one of the lowliest members of society. He became a man and was obedient until he died. But notice in Verse 9. It says God exalted him. It's clear that Jesus, after the death on the cross, was not the same as he was prior to the death on the cross. He was much more than he was before. That makes a tremendous difference. Jesus is not the same now as he was on earth prior to the death on the cross. He is much more, and Paul confirms it in Phillipians 2. The writter of the article you provided never mentions this passage. He says that Jesus can empathize because he "understands" temptation. If Jesus was unable to sin, then he wasn't tempted. The writer seems to forget that in order to be tempted there needs to be some hint of the capacity to give in. I can try to tempt my car night and day with playboy magazine, but my car won't give into the temptation of lust. Why? Because it is incapable of such. Hence all I did was make a fool of myself. Now I know there is a massive difference between Jesus and my car, but the premise is the same. If there is no capacity to give in to temptation, then there was no temptation to begin with. There are a couple verses he sites, like Hebrews 2:18 where the verses prior talk about what I am proposing here .. that Jesus was made to be like man with the one exception of not being born and bound to sin so that he could live a perfect and righteous life to be the perfect sacrifice for sin. Jesusman |