Commentary - Luke 4:1-13

Bird's-eye view

Here we have the great contest, the foundational conflict. Before Christ could go to the cross to crush the serpent's head, He first had to bind the strong man in the wilderness. This account in Luke is a tightly structured summary of a forty day contest, culminating in three representative temptations. This is not just a story about how Jesus resisted temptation; it is the story of how the second Adam faced the tempter in a desolate place and triumphed where the first Adam failed in a perfect garden. Every detail here is packed with covenantal significance. Jesus, full of the Spirit, is led by that same Spirit into the place of testing. This is a divine setup. The hunger, the isolation, the devil's challenges, and Christ's scriptural rebuttals all serve to demonstrate that He is the qualified champion for God's people. He is the one who lives by every word of God, who worships God alone, and who trusts God without testing Him. This victory is the necessary prelude to His entire public ministry. He plunders the strong man's house because he first bound the strong man.

The structure is straightforward. First, the setting is established: Jesus, Spirit-filled, is in the wilderness for forty days of fasting and temptation (vv. 1-2). Then we have the three great temptations, each a parry and thrust. The temptation of the flesh (turn stones to bread), the temptation of worldly power (all the kingdoms for a bow), and the temptation of spiritual pride (throw yourself from the temple). In each case, the devil questions His sonship, and in each case, Jesus answers with the authority of Scripture, wielding the sword of the Spirit. He doesn't argue metaphysics with the devil; He simply quotes the Word. The conflict ends with the devil departing, but only for a season, reminding us that our spiritual warfare is a long campaign, not a single skirmish.

Outline

Context In Luke

This episode follows immediately after Jesus' baptism, where the Father declared from heaven, "You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased" (Luke 3:22). The Spirit descended on Him like a dove, and His genealogy was just traced all the way back to Adam, the "son of God" (Luke 3:38). So, the question of Jesus' sonship is front and center. The temptation in the wilderness is the immediate testing of that declared identity. The Father has just affirmed Him, and now the devil comes to challenge it. "If you are the Son of God..." is the recurring taunt. This event, therefore, serves as the hinge between Christ's private life and His public ministry. Having been declared the Son and proven Himself as the faithful Son, He is now ready to begin His work of proclaiming the kingdom.

Key Issues

Verse by Verse Commentary

v. 1 Now Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was being led around by the Spirit in the wilderness

Right after the high point of His baptism, the descent of the Spirit and the voice of the Father, Jesus is immediately thrust into the crucible. Notice the agency here. He is "full of the Holy Spirit," and it is this same Spirit who leads Him into the wilderness. This is not an accident. This is a divine appointment. God is sovereign over this entire encounter. The Spirit who anoints is the same Spirit who leads into trial. We often want the anointing without the trial, the fullness of the Spirit for the mountaintop, not the valley. But God's economy is different. The Spirit leads us into the fight, but He also equips us for it. The wilderness is a place of desolation, a place of testing, historically the place where Israel was tested for forty years. Jesus is recapitulating the history of Israel, but this time, He will succeed where they failed.

v. 2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had finished, He was hungry.

Forty days. The number echoes Moses on Sinai and Elijah on his journey to Horeb. It also, and most importantly, corresponds to Israel's forty years of wandering and testing. Jesus is the true Israel, condensed into one representative man. He is undergoing the definitive test. And He is being tempted by "the devil." Let's be clear, the devil is a personal being, a fallen angel of great power, and the sworn enemy of God and man. He is not a mere symbol of evil or a psychological disturbance. He is the accuser, the tempter, the father of lies. And for forty days, this contest rages. Luke summarizes it, giving us the highlights at the end. The fast is absolute: "He ate nothing." This physical extremity is the backdrop for the spiritual assault. The devil waits until He is at His weakest physically, when He "was hungry," to launch his most pointed attacks. This is how our enemy operates. He looks for the opportune moment, the point of weakness.

v. 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

Here is the first thrust. The devil begins with a challenge to Jesus' identity, an identity just affirmed by the Father at the Jordan. "If You are the Son of God..." This is the aboriginal lie, casting doubt on God's word and God's character. The temptation is subtle. It is not a temptation to do something inherently sinful. Eating is not a sin, especially when you are starving. The temptation is to use His divine power for His own ends, independent of the Father's will and timing. It is a temptation to impatience, to self-reliance. "Use your power to serve your needs." It is the same lie whispered to Adam and Eve: "God is holding out on you. Take matters into your own hands."

v. 4 And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE.’ ”

Jesus' response is immediate and definitive. He does not engage in a philosophical debate. He does not perform a miracle to prove His sonship. He wields the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. "It is written." This is the ultimate authority. He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3, a passage that reflects on Israel's time in the wilderness, when God humbled them and fed them with manna to teach them this very lesson. Jesus identifies Himself with "man." He is the archetypal man, showing us how humanity was designed to live: in total dependence on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Physical sustenance is secondary to spiritual obedience. He trusts His Father to provide, in His time and His way.

v. 5 And he led Him up and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

The second temptation moves from the appetite of the body to the ambition of the soul. The devil presents a panoramic vision, a dazzling display of all human power, glory, and achievement. "All the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time." This is a real offer of real power. The devil is not bluffing here. Scripture calls him the "prince of the power of the air" and the "god of this world." He has a certain delegated, usurped authority, and he is offering it all to Christ.

v. 6 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this dominion and its glory, for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.

The devil makes his claim explicit. He claims ownership and the right of disposal. "It has been handed over to me." This is a lie mixed with a truth. His authority is real, but it is the authority of a rebel and a usurper, granted by the sin of Adam. He is offering Jesus a shortcut to His messianic inheritance. Jesus came to win the kingdoms of the world, to have the nations as His inheritance. The devil offers them to Him now, without the pain, without the suffering, without the cross.

v. 7 Therefore if You worship before me, it shall all be Yours.”

And here is the price: "if You worship before me." One act of obeisance. One bending of the knee. The temptation is to achieve the right end (dominion over the earth) through the wrong means (worship of the devil). It is the temptation to compromise, to place the goal above the principle. All great political temptations boil down to this: compromise with evil to achieve a supposed good. The devil is offering a crown without a cross, glory without suffering. But the way of the kingdom is the way of the cross.

v. 8 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is written, ‘YOU SHALL WORSHIP THE LORD YOUR GOD AND SERVE HIM ONLY.’ ”

Again, Jesus' defense is the Word of God. He quotes Deuteronomy 6:13. The issue is worship. There is only one being in the universe worthy of worship, and that is the Lord God. All authority, all dominion, all glory ultimately belong to Him, and they are to be received from His hand as a gift, not seized through a Faustian bargain with the enemy. Jesus refuses the shortcut because He is utterly devoted to the exclusive worship of His Father. Service and worship are indivisible. To serve God is to worship Him, and to worship any other is to serve another master.

v. 9 And he led Him to Jerusalem and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here,

The final temptation is the most spiritual, the most religious. The setting is the holy city, the very pinnacle of the temple, the highest point of the house of God. The devil again challenges His sonship: "If you are the Son of God..." The temptation is to presumption, to spiritual pride. "Prove your sonship through a spectacular, undeniable sign. Force God's hand. Make Him rescue you in a way that will leave no room for doubt." It is a temptation to manipulate God, to put Him to the test for the sake of public validation.

v. 10 for it is written, ‘HE WILL COMMAND HIS ANGELS CONCERNING YOU TO GUARD YOU,’

Now the devil shows his cunning. He too can quote Scripture. He quotes Psalm 91:11-12, a beautiful promise of God's protection for the faithful. But he quotes it as a crafty lawyer, twisting it out of context. He uses the Word of God to tempt the Son of God. This is a crucial lesson for us. Not every use of Scripture is a right use of Scripture. The devil knows the Bible better than most seminary graduates, but he uses it for his own destructive ends. He turns a promise meant to foster trust into a pretext for presumption.

v. 11 and, ‘ON their HANDS THEY WILL BEAR YOU UP, LEST YOU STRIKE YOUR FOOT AGAINST A STONE.’ ”

The devil completes his quotation, emphasizing the totality of the promised protection. The temptation is to take a promise of God for protection in the path of obedience and twist it into a guarantee of safety in a path of self-willed foolishness. God promises to protect us when we are in His will, not when we are deliberately jumping off of buildings to see if He will catch us.

v. 12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It is said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT PUT THE LORD YOUR GOD TO THE TEST.’ ”

Jesus counters the devil's misuse of Scripture with a right use of Scripture. He quotes Deuteronomy 6:16. He doesn't dispute the text the devil quoted, but He interprets Scripture with Scripture, showing the devil's application to be illegitimate. To jump would be to test God, to demand a sign on His own terms. True faith trusts God without demanding spectacular proof. It rests in His character and His promises without forcing Him into a corner. Jesus refuses to treat His Father as a cosmic vending machine, there to dispense miracles on demand. His trust is not a manipulative ploy; it is the quiet confidence of a faithful Son.

v. 13 And when the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.

The battle is over, for now. The devil has exhausted "every temptation", meaning, every category or type of temptation. He has been thoroughly defeated. He retreats, but it is a strategic retreat. He leaves "until an opportune time." The Greek word for "opportune time" is kairos. The devil is looking for another strategic moment to attack. This reminds us that spiritual warfare is ongoing. Victory in one battle does not mean the war is over. The devil will return at Gethsemane, and on the cross, through the taunts of the crowd: "If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross." But the victory won here in the wilderness secures all subsequent victories. The strong man has been bound, and his house is now ripe for plunder.

Application

This account is far more than an interesting historical episode. It is a foundational lesson in spiritual warfare for every Christian. First, we see that temptation often follows spiritual highs. Straight from the baptism, into the fire. Don't be surprised when trials follow blessings. Second, we learn that the wilderness is often the Spirit's chosen schoolhouse. God leads us into difficult places to test us and to prove our faithfulness. Third, our ultimate weapon in temptation is the Word of God, rightly understood and rightly applied. Jesus didn't rely on His own divine intellect; He relied on "It is written." We must be people of the Book if we are to stand against the wiles of the devil. Fourth, the temptations Jesus faced are the same categories of temptation we face: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Our appetites, our ambitions, and our arrogance are the devil's primary targets. Finally, we see that our victory is secured in Christ. He is the second Adam who stood where the first Adam fell. He is our champion who defeated the enemy on our behalf. We fight, not for victory, but from the victory He has already won. We stand against the devil not in our own strength, but clothed in the righteousness of Christ, the one who was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.