📖 Biblical Definition
Following His baptism by John, Christ was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days of fasting and testing (Matt 4; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4). The devil presented three temptations: turn stones to bread (appetite), throw Yourself from the temple (presumption), worship me for the kingdoms of the world (idolatry). Christ answered each from Deuteronomy (8:3, 6:16, 6:13). Angels came and ministered to Him. The temptation was real; the failure of Adam in Eden was reversed by the Second Adam in the wilderness.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
TEMPTATION OF , n.
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A scriptural event; Christ's forty-day testing in the wilderness.
📖 Key Scripture
Matthew 4:4 — "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
Matthew 4:7 — "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."
Matthew 4:10 — "Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve."
Hebrews 4:15 — "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern Christianity quotes Hebrews 4:15 without grasping how concrete the temptation was.
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The temptation of Christ is one of the most under-applied passages in the Gospels. Each of the three temptations corresponds to a category of sin John names in 1 John 2:16: lust of the flesh (bread), pride of life (temple pinnacle), lust of the eyes (kingdoms' glory). Christ defeats all three; He is the Second Adam where the first Adam fell. Hebrews 4:15 says He was tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.
Modern Christianity sometimes treats Christ's temptation as a polite Bible story. It was a forty-day desert ordeal of hunger, isolation, and direct demonic confrontation. He won by Scripture. Memorize Deuteronomy. The Lord's sword was a verse for every thrust; yours can be too.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek roots below.
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G3986 — peirasmos — temptation; trial
G2048 — eremos — wilderness
Usage
"Modern Christianity quotes Hebrews 4:15 without grasping how concrete the temptation was."
"Christ defeated the three temptations matching 1 John 2:16: flesh, pride, eyes."
"Memorize Deuteronomy; the Lord's sword was a verse; yours can be too."