The Temptation of Jesus Christ by Satan through Three Trials - Research Paper Example

Luke: 4 13 Alishia D. Pretlow St. Leo Rel 110 April 3, Mrs.Partlow Outline Introduction of Luke 4 13 narrates the temptation of Jesus Christ by Satan through three trials. a. The plain sense b. Narrative theology c. Receptive history d. Oral tradition e. Historical critical method f. Theological reasoning 2. Conclusion Introduction Luke 4: 1-13 narrates the temptation of Jesus Christ by Satan through three trials. This paper discusses the historical background, genre, and literal meaning of this biblical passage. Secondly, it carries out a syntactical and theological study of the same passage. This goes a long way to indicate that Jesus lived a sinless and blameless life. Jesus throughout this passage remains faithful to God and resists all the temptations of the devil. In this passage, Jesus shows the struggling believer can keep away from habitual sins by using the scriptures to guide his life. Plain sense The use of plain sense to interpret the scripture involves determining if the scripture makes the ordinary common sense and thus we use this in the interpretation. According to the scripture this narrative is meant to develop the idea that Jesus’s entire life was sinless and blameless. Luke 4 repeats most of the themes that are found in the bible. This is exemplified in this passage by the use of keywords that are common in the bible. The Holy Spirit, God, Devil, Son of God and the name Lord, your God, are keywords that are found in many verses of the bible. The common biblical theme of temptation and trial dominate this verse as it has in many others (Beale and Carson, 2007). James 1:13-18 talks about how our bodily desires lead us into temptation. This passage discusses the means one can use to overcome temptation, which is also the theme of first Corinthians 10:13. The structure of the passage enhances the plain sense of the passage significantly because the context makes perfect common sense. The passage starts with Jesus returning from the Jordan full of the Holy Spirit, which in turn guides him to the wilderness. The first temptation involved hunger and the devil asked Jesus to turn the stones into bread. Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy to show that the word of God is more important than food (Ford, 1999). The second temptation involved the devil asking Jesus to worship him and become the king of all kingdoms in the world. However, Jesus referred to the scripture again to overcome the temptation. Finally, the Devil asked Jesus to throw himself from the pinnacle of the temple to test if God would protect him. Luke’s structure portrays a process of testing where Jesus overcomes a more challenging temptation than the previous one. Narrative theology Narrative theology generally involves the interpretation of a scripture or passage from the bible through the meaning of the story narrated. From this passage, Luke 4: 3-12, the devil comes out as deceitful character with the capabilities of manipulation targeting our most vulnerable areas of desire. The devil knows Jesus, his nature, power, and status as the son of God and uses these in tempting him. Physically the devil knows that Jesus was hungry since he had not eaten for forty days in the desert. The devil also knows that Jesus had the capabilities of performing miracles, that is, if he desired he could turn the stones into bread. The devil was also aware that Jesus was the Son of God and presumed that the Holy Father will never allow any harm to come upon his son. Thus, we see that the devil will always use our weakness and desires when he puts us into temptation. The Gospel of Mark is a narrative about the life of Jesus (Green, 1997). So Luke 4:1-12 narrates the encounter of Jesus with the devil and the subsequent temptation. Luke intended his work to read as history and not fiction. However, Luke’s narrative is theological as it aims to show how Jesus was victorious over the temptation of the devil by remaining obedient to God and following the scripture (Ford, 1999). In this passage, the reader becomes the character Jesus who is being tested by the devil. Notably, making the readers the character undergoing temptation enables Luke to teach the virtue of obedience and the ways an individual can resist sin (Larkin, 2000). By using a structure that arranges the events chronologically, Luke is able to show that Jesus was tested at a time when he was weakest physically but spiritually very strong. Reception History Reception history involves the interpretation a scripture with reference to how the scripture was interpreted from another a previous error and how they made sense out of it. Luke 4:1-14 is set between the time of Jesus baptism and the beginning of his public ministry. Prior to this temptation narrative, Luke connects Jesus to Adam in the genealogy found in Luke 3:23-38 (Green, 1997). This attempt to show Jesus was of the lineage of Adam appeal to the gentile converts who are the focus of Luke’s Gospel. In fact, the Gospel of Luke is portrayed to have been written for a new Roman convert named Thoephilius (Beale and Carson, 2007). In contrast, Matthew and Mark do not seek to show Jesus came from the lineage of Adam. On this context Jesus is tempted by the devil during the four occasions and he always defended himself using the scripture from the Old Testament. Knowing that Jesus was hungry the devil tempted him by asking the Son of God to change stone into bread. Jesus on response quoted on two occasions from thee book of Deuteronomy. Looking at the general overviews of the book of Deuteronomy we see the failure of Israelites to fail to see the Promised Land due to their disobedience to the word of God in the wilderness. Thus from the temptation we are supposed to be aware not to repeat the mistakes that had occurred to the past generation. When the devil tempts Jesus to jump from the gable of a temple and God would send his angles to protect him, He responds with a quote from Deuteronomy 6:16. This brings our attention to the Ten Commandments that were given to Moses by God. The commandments were given to govern the generation of the Israelites through their hard times to the desert. The failure by them to adhere by this law resulted on only one person seeing the Promised Land. This presents a message that we should be obedient to the laws of God and good things will come unto us. Oral tradition Through oral tradition the knowledge of prophesies were transferred from generation to generation. From the prophetic books of the Old Testament, the Israelites had been warned against continued rebellion against the will of God. Isa. 10:24–26; Hos. 2:14–15; Jer. 16:14–15, 11:15–16 (Beale and Carson, 2007) The Israelites were warned that continued rebellion would lead to their exiting from Canaan. However, the same books also foresaw the restoration of the Israelite nation after their exile in Babylon. Luke depicts Jesus as the person who will restore God’s kingdom much the same way as Moses did in the original exodus (Green, 1997). In the Genealogy of Luke, Jesus is presented as the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies that a messiah will come to restore God’s kingdom. Through Jesus, it is prophesied that blessing will come to all nations (Bovon, Koester &Thomas, 2002). The Genealogy ends at David, which was the point of establishment of the Kingdom. The time of exile ends the second section, showing God’s judgment had come to be and the kingdom had been taken away. The ending of the genealogy with Jesus shows that time for restoration of the Kingdom had come (Larkin, 2000). Luke equates Jesus to the infant Moses when his father and mother have to flee to Egypt to prevent Herod from killing him. Similarly, in the Old Testament, Pharaoh had attempted to kill the young Moses. Historical critical method The historical critical method involves the interpretation of the scripture with regards to the background of the era in the context. From the beginning of the bible, the devil is opposed to God’s will and is the enemy of both Man and God (Talbert, 2002). In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve failed to overcome the devil’s temptation and went against the will of God (Larkin, 2000). Throughout the Bible, the theme of the enmity between God and the Devil and Good and evil remains dominant. Theological reasoning Although God wants us to maintain a close relationship with human beings, when we give in to temptation this relationship is spoilt (Larkin, 2000). From the passage Jesus serves as an example to Christians. Jesus shows how we are supposed to respond to temptation.The contrast between Adam and Jesus show that Christians have the ability to overcome temptation by using God’s word as shield and thus maintaining a close relationship with God. Passing the temptations by Jesus was significant because it further proved that Jesus was true son of God. The question that is addressed from this passage is on how we should respond to temptations. By having deep knowledge of the scripture as Jesus did the Christian community will be capable of maintaining a good relation with God. Further, this scripture brings into our attention the book of Deuteronomy and we can be able to determine our fate if we go contrary to the laws of God. Conclusion Taking the temptation narrative in its plain sense it is about resisting temptation. It shows that Jesus under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and the scriptures was able to fight and defeat Satan. It follows then that Christians should seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit when faced with temptations. It suggests that God arms his follower with weapons to defeat the devil. Furthermore, its shows that Jesus has the power to defeat Satan, God’s historical arch-enemy. It also teaches that through obedience to God, we are able to be filled by the Holy Spirit and thus, we will be able to resist temptations by the devil. References Beale, G. K., & Carson, D. A. (Eds.). (2007). Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament. Baker Academic. Bovon, F., Koester, H., & Thomas, C. M. (2002). Luke 1: A commentary on the Gospel of Luke 1: 1-9: 50 (Vol. 56). Fortress Pr Fitzmyer,J.(2008).The interpretation of Scripture: in defense of the historical critical method. New York: Paulist Press. Ford, D. (1999).Theology: A very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford U.Press. Green, J. B. (1997). The gospel of Luke (Vol. 3). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. Larkin, W. J. (2000). The Recovery of Luke-Acts as" Grand Narrative" for the Churchs Evangelistic and Edification Tasks in a Postmodern Age. JOURNAL-EVANGELICAL THEOLOGICAL SOCIETY, 43(3), 405-416. Shepherd, W. H. (1994). The narrative function of the Holy Spirit as a character in Luke-Acts. Scholars press. Talbert, C. H. (2002). Reading Luke: A literary and theological commentary. Smyth & Helwys Publishing, Inc.. Read More