“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”
Matthew 4:4 — Greek Interlinear
Church Fathers on Matthew 4:4
The Devil who had begun to despair when he saw that Christ fasted forty days, now again began to hope when he saw that 'he was an hungred;' and 'then the tempter came to him.' If then you shall have fasted and after been tempted, say not, I have lost the fruit of my fast; for though it have not availed to hinder temptation, it will avail to hinder you from being overcome by temptation.
If we observe the successive steps of the temptation, we shall be able to estimate by how much we are freed from temptation. The old enemy tempted the first man through his belly, when he persuaded him to eat of the forbidden fruit; through ambition when he said, 'Ye shall be as gods;' through covetousness when he said, 'Knowing good and evil;' for there is a covetousness not only of money, but of greatness, when a high estate above our measure is sought.
He begins with that which had once been the means of his victory, the palate; 'If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves.' What means such a beginning as this, but that he knew that the Son of God was to come, yet believed not that He was come on account of His fleshly infirmity. His speech is in part that of an enquirer, in part that of a tempter; he professes to believe Him God, he strives to deceive Him as man.