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MATTHEW 4:1 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
Matt 4Matt 4:2
“Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.”
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. The Spirit who descended on Jesus at the baptism now leads him into the wilderness to face the devil's testing. Then and by the Spirit communicate that the temptation is not accidental or the result of spiritual failure but is divinely arranged — the forty days in the wilderness are part of the plan, not a detour from it. The wilderness is the place where Israel was tested for forty years (Deuteronomy 8:2–3) and where they repeatedly failed. Jesus enters the same wilderness as Israel's representative, facing the same fundamental temptations in concentrated form. Hebrews 4:15 says Jesus was tempted in every way, just as we are — yet without sin. The sinlessness is not the absence of genuine temptation but the faithfulness that actual temptation did not produce.

Church Fathers on Matthew 4:1

The Lord being baptized by John with water, is led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be baptized by the fire of temptation. 'Then,' i.e. when the voice of the Father had been given from heaven.

Pseudo-Chrysostom · 5th century

Whoever thou art then that after thy baptism sufferest grievous trials, be not troubled thereat; for this thou receivedst arms, to fight, not to sit idle. God does not hold all trial from us; first, that we may feel that we are become stronger; secondly, that we may not be puffed up by the greatness of the gifts we have received; thirdly, that the Devil may have experience that we have entirely renounced him; fourthly, that by it we may be made stronger; fifthly, that we may…

Chrysostom · 4th century · Hom. 13

The Devil’s snares are chiefly spread for the sanctified, because a victory over the saints is more desired than over others.

Hilary of Poitiers · 4th century
Read all 20 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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Matthew 4:1 — Community Reflections | HolyStudy