The Temptation of Jesus
Excerpt
We may be certain that the story was also told for its exemplary features in order to encourage Christians facing temptation and to indicate to them how to recognise and overcome it. They are to note that in each case Jesus replies to temptation with a quotation from Scripture, thereby indicating that the life of the man of God must follow certain clear principles expressive of God’s will which have already been revealed in the OT. It has been argued that this reduces the story to the level of a rabbinic Streitgespräch in which Jesus overcomes the devil by a superior knowledge of Scripture (cf. Bultmann, 271–275), but the point is rather that Jesus is obedient to God’s will in Scripture (H. Seesemann, TDNT VI, 23-36, especially 34-36 and n. 68), and not that he wins by superior dialectical skill. More
Marshall, I. Howard. The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text. Exeter: Paternoster Press, 1978. Print. New International Greek Testament Commentary.
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