1994 issue 8 - sermon on luke 4:1-13 - the temptation of jesus - counsel of chalcedon

8/12/2019 1994 Issue 8 - Sermon on Luke 4:1-13 - The Temptation of Jesus - Counsel of Chalcedon

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W.esus

LUKE

4:1-13

INTRODUCTION

The

Relation

of

OUT

Text

Luke 4:1-13, to its Context

The temptation ofJesus is insepa-

rably connected with what

precedes

it and

what

follows it. Moreover, it is

as historical as what precedes it, i.e.,

Jesus baptism, and as what follows

it, Le.,

Jesus

preaching

Inhtis-

try. Jesus' tempta

tionbySatan in the

wilderness was an

actual incident in

His life , Mat.

12:29, which can

not be reduced to

supers tition

or

psychological de

rangement

or

my

thology.

Its Relation to

the Preceding

ontext

Jesus' temptation by Satan in the

wilderness is intimately connected to

His baptism, as the phrase, "immedi

ately," n Mark's account, (1 :12), indi

cates. Jesus being driven into the wil

dernessby the Holy Spirit is the neces

sary consequence of is baptism by

John, (Lk: 4:1), The same Spirit who

descended uponJesus

at

Hisbaptism

by

John in the wilderness, now leads

Him

to penetrate more deeply into

the wilderness. Although Jesus has

been baptized and God has person

ally declared Him to

be

His beloved

Son, the humiliation phase of Jesus'

saving mission is not yet over. Jesus

must remain submissive: the Spirit

does not allow him to abandon the

wilderness after His baptism.

Its Relation to

the Following Context

After His victory over Satan dur-

ing His temptation in the wilderness,

Jesus begins His preaching ministry,

Lk.

4:14, with nothing and no one

able to stopHim from accomplishing

all of His redemptive plans for

His

people. He begins His preaching

and

teaching ministry as the triumphant

Victor over the arch-enemy of the

people of God.

The

Purpose

of

the Temptation ofJesus

The Work

of

the

Head

of

a

New

Humanity

The first Adam, the covenantal

and genetic head of the old fallen

humanity,

had

by his disobedience

during his probationunder the Cov

enam of Works, plunged the entire

human race into sin, judgment

and

death, Rom. 5:12ff. Now the Last

Adam, Jesus Christ, had come to

earth

as

the Head ofa New Redeemed

Humanity to save those whom

He

represented from that sin, judgment

and death. He had to go through His

probation so that He could succeed

where Adam failed, so that

He

could

give this New Race more than the old

4

'

TIlE COUNSELof Chalcedon October November, 1994

race ever lost in Adam. For

if

by

the

transgression of the

one,

death

reigned

through

the

one

much

more thosewho

receive

th

e

abundance

of

grace

of

hegift

of

righteousness

will reign in

life through

theOne,Jesus

Christ. o

then

as

through

one

transgression

there resulted con-

demnation

to

a

men;

even

so

through

one

act

of

righteousness there

resulted

justification

of life to

all men.

For

as

through the one man's

disob

e

dience

the

many

were made sinners, even so

through the

obedience

of trye

One the

many

will

be

made

righteous. -

Romans 5:17-19.

Therefore, be-

cause Adam dis

obeyedin the Gar

denofEden,1esus

had

to

obeyjn the

Wilderness, i

mankind was to

be

s.aved from sin

and reconciled

with God. When

man in the image

of God failed, God

n the image of

man came to the

rescue. Whetesin

abounds, graceabounds

aU

the more.

The Victory

of

the Messiah

Over Evil

The Satanic temptations of JesUs

had a special character. They were

intended to temptJesus, not merely

as

a human being, but

as

a direct

attack on Him

as

the Messiah, the

Savior of sinners. This is evident

from the fact that the temptation of

Jesus

took place immediately after

His baptism when He was publicly

inaugurated

as

the Savior sent

by

God to save thosewho are lost. These

temptations in the wilderness were

not ordinary temptations. Their

purpose was to bring down the Mes

siah, the Anointed One of God, so

that He would

no

longer be in a


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position or a condition to save sin

ners'

for

if

He

gave in

to

Satan's

temptations,

He

would be a sinner

Himself; and the entire divine plan of

redemption would

fall to

the ground

in failure. If Jesus had here, or

indeed at any other time, lost in the

conflict, God's whole plan ofredemp

tion in Him would have been de

feated.

As

the Anointed One from

Heaven He had come to

face

the

whole empire of evil and darlmess in

the person of Satan, the ruler of that

empire."- Geldenhuys

The Nature

o

the

Temptation o esus

The Reality o

jesus' Temptation

As a real human being,Jesus could

really be tempted. Therefore, He had

to

be

made

lihe His

brethren

in

all

things, that

He might

become

a

merciful

and

faithful

high

priest in

things

per

taining

to God, to mahe propitiation

for

the sins

of

the

people. For since

He

Himself

was

tempted

in that which

He

connection that 'the fact that the so

licitations came wholly from with

out, and were not born from within,

does not prevent that which was

offered to Him being regarded as

desirable. The force of a temptation

depends,

not upon

the sin involved

in what is proposed,

but

upon

the

advantage connected with it. -

Geldenhuys

All the temptations ofJesus were

brought on Him

by

Satan, and none

of them originated or could originate

from His own sinless heart.

" . .The Son of God vol

untarily

endured

the

temptations , whichwe are

now considering,

and

fought,

as

it were,

in

single

combat with the devil,

that, by

His

victory, He

might obtain a triumph

for

us. Whenever we are

called to encounter Satan,

let us remember, that his

attacks can, in

no

other

way, be sustained and re-

if

Chrie;t wae; tempted ae the public

repree;entative

of

all believere;, let ue

learn,

th t the temptatione; which

befall ue are

not

accidental or regu-

lated by the will

of

Satan without

God'e; permie;e;ion; but th t the Spirit

ofGod pree;idee; over our contee;te; ae

n

exerclfJe of

our

faith.

Calvin

"At this

point it

is neces

sary

to

notice the differ

ence between the

temptability of Christ, and

that of a fallen man; for

where there is some re

semblance, there is also a

dissimilarity between

them. Christ's temptations

were all of

them SINLESS,

butverymanyof he temp

tations of a fallen man are

pelled, than by holding

out this shield: for the Son of God

undoubtedly allowed Himself

to

be

tempted, that

He

may

be

constantly

before our minds, when Satan ex

cites within us any contest of tempta

tions. --

.. .if Christ was tempted

as

the public representative of all be

lievers, let us learn, that the tempta

tions which befallus arenot acciden

tal, or regulated

by

the will of Satan,

without God's permission; but

that

the Spirit of God presides over our

contests as an exercise of our faith.

This will aid us in cherishing the

assured hope, that God, who is the

supreme judge and disposer of the

combat, will not

be

unmindful of us,

but will fortify us against those dis

tresses, which

He

sees that we are

unable

to

meet."- John Calvin

suffered, He is able to come to the aid of

those who

are

tempted,

Hebrews

2:17-18. For we

do not

have

a

high

priest who

cannot

sympathize with our

weaknesses, but one

who

has been

tempted

in all

things as

we are,

yet

without sin, Hebrews

4:

15.

The Sinless Nature

o

jesus' Temptation

From

His

childhood to

His

death

Jesus

was

exposed to all the tempta

tions that every human being has

to

contend with---except, however,

those temptations that come from

within us

as

result of the inward

original taint or of the influence of

former sins. Owing

to

His intrinsic

spotlessness, temptations in His case

could only come from the outside.

Plummer righdy observes in this

SINFUL: that is, they are

the hankering and solici

tation of forbidden and wicked de

sire. The desire to steal,

to

commit

adultery,

to

murder,

is

sinful, and

whoever is tempted by it to the act of

theft, or adultery or murder is sin

fully tempted,James 1:14. --- Now

our Lord was

not

tempted

by

the

sin[ullusts of pride, ambition, envy,

malice, hatred, anger, jealousy, ava

rice ... ; in short

by

evil desire or

concupiscence ofany kind. --- Christ

had

no sinful lust of any sort, John

14:30." - W.G.T. Shedd, pg. 343,

vol. II, Shedd's

Dogmatic

Theology.

For

we do

not

have a

great

high

priest who

cannot

sympathize with

our

weaknesses, but one who has been

tempted

in all

things

as

we

are,

yet

Without

sin,

Hebrews 4:15. This

verse teaches us that the temptations

of Christ were "without sin" in their

October November,

1994

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Chalcedon

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SOURCE

and

NATURE as well as in

their

RESULT. Itdoesnotteach,asis

often reported, thatJesus was tempted

to sin

in

every respect exacdy

as

fallen

man

is, by inward lusts,as well

as by

other

temptations, only

he

did

not outwardly yield to any tempta

tion. Instead, Hebrews 4: 15 teaches

that

Jesus

was tempted

in

every way

human

beings are tempted,EXCEPT

by

those temptations that are sinful

because they originate

in

an evil heart

and with a forbidden desire. Christ

was tempted without

sin,

orsinlessly,

in all points like as we are. The

preposition, CHORTIS, "without,"

denotes total separation. It is used

frequendy in the

book of

Hebrews.

Hebrews 7:21--"Those

priests were

made WITHOUT n oath. Hebrews

9:

18--The irst

coven nt w s dedic ted

WITHOUT blood. Hebrews

9:22--"There is no remission

of

sirts

WITHOUT the shedding of blood.

Just

as

the

priests were oathless, the

covenant bloodless, and remission

bloodless

,so

any temptation of Christ

was WITHOUT sin,

or

sinless.

The

Strength of

Jesus' Temptation

A perfecdyrighteous man, "whose

will never falters for a moment, may

feel the attractiveness

of

the advan

tage

more

keenly than the weak man

who succumbs; for the latter prob

ably gave way before he recognized

the whole of the attractiveness; or his

nature may be less capable of such

recognition.

In

this

way the

sinlessness

of

Jesus augments His

capacity for sympathy; for in every

case lie felt the full force of tempta

tion.' And Westcott remarks at He

brews 2:18: 'Sympathy with the sin

ner

in

his trial does

not

depend on

the experience of sin,

but

on the

experience of the strength of the

temptation to sin, which only the

sinless can know in its full intensity.

He who falls yields before the last

strain. ' If we bear these consider

ations

in

mind

we

shall realize that

the Savior experienced the violence

of the attacks of temptations

as

no

otherhuman being ever did, because

all others are sinful

and

therefore

not

able to remain standing until the

temptations have exhausted all their

terrible violence in assailing them."

Geldenhuys

The Duration of

Jesus' Temptations

Although the temptations in the

wilderness were severe, Jesus was

exposed to temptations throughout

His entire earthly

life.

He was tempted

as

a child, a youthand as an adult

ust

like every ordinary human

being---except for temptations from

within. For proof see Hebrews 4:15.

The Temptability and

Impeccability of]esus Christ

The Questions that

risefrom

the

Record of Christ's Temptation

t

is obvious from the New Testa

ment

that Jesus Christ was really

tempted

by

Satan to

sin.

But the

question is could Jesus have really

given in to temptation and really

sinned? Orwas it impossible for Him

to sin? What does the Bible teach?

How can someone really be tempted,

i f t is impossible forhim

to

give in to

that temptation to sin? And yet, how

could the mind of a sinless person

contemplate for a split second a pref

erence to disobey rather than obey

the

will

of God, if the inclination of

that sinless person is always toward

God because of his love for God?

The Explanation

and Dqense

of Christ's Impeccability

The best, most thoroughandmost

biblical answers to these questions

6

THE

COUNSEL of Chalcedon October November, 1994

have

been

given byW.G.T. Shedd, in

volume II of his DOGMATIC THE

OLOGY,

pg. 330ff, (1980, Thomas

Nelson Publishers, Nashville). The

following are some of his points.

The Explanation

of

Christ's Impeccability

The

Last Adam differs from

the

first Adam,

by

reason of His impec

cability. -- He was not only able to

overcome temptation, but He was

unable to be overcome by it. An

impeccable will is one that is so

mighty in

its self-determination to

good that it cannot be conquered by

any temptation

to

evil, however great.

A

will may be positively holy

and

able to overcome temptation,

and

yet

not be so omnipotent in its holy

energy that it cannot

be

overcome.

The angels who

fell

could have re

pelled temptation with that degree

of

power given them

by

creation,

and

so might Adam. But in neither case

vias it infallibly certain that they

would repel it. Though they were

holy, theywerenotimpeccable. Their

will could be overcome, because it

was

not

omnipotent, and theirperse

verance was left to themselves

and

notmadesurebyextraotdinarygrace.

The case ofjesus Christ, the second

Adam, was different, in that He was

not

only able to resist temptation,

but it was infallibly certain that He

would resist it. The holy energy

of

His will was not only sufficiendy

strong to overcome,

but

was so addi

tionally strong that it could not

be

overcome."

Cpg.

330-331)

The Biblical Basis for

Christ's Impeccability

The Biblical proof for Christ's

impeccability includes the following

points: (1). The unchangeableness

of Christ, taught in Hebrews 13:8,

pertairts to all the characteristics,


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(perfections) of His person. His holi- tion, the divine detennines and con

ness is one of those characteristics; trois the human, not the human the

therefore,

Christ's

holiness

is divine.'---Consequently,whatmight

unchangeable--it cannotand will not be done by the human nature if alone,

become unholiness. (2). A change- and by itself, cannot be done by it in

able holiness

is

incompatible with this UNION with omnipotent holi

the other divine perfections of the ness. n iron wire by itself can be

God-man. ' The possibility of being bent andbroken

ina

man's hand; but

overcome by temptation is inconsis- when the wire is welded into a iron

tent with Christ's omnipotence. Fur- bar, it can no longer be so bent and

thermore, the success of the tempta- broken. --- A mere man canbe over

tion depends, in parr, upon deceiv- come by temptation, but a God-man

ing the person tempted, I

Tim. 2: 14 A finite intelli

gence may

e

deceived,

but

nOt an infinite omniscience

possessed by the God-man,

thus making his apostasy

impossible.

(3).

A holiness

capable of change

is

irrecon

cilable with

the

fact that the

God-man is the Author of

holiness, Heb. 12:2; I Cor.

15:45. Christ is thefountain

of spiritual and holy life for

His people; and this implies

the unchangeable nature of

His own holiness.

he

Theological Basis

for

Christ s Impeccability

"The truth and self-consistence of

the doctrine of Christ's impeccability

appear, also, from a consideration of

the constitution of His person.

"Christ's person is constituted of

two natures: one divine, and the

other human. The divine nature is

both intemptable and impeccable.

'God cannot be tempted with evil:

James 1:13.

' tis

impossible for God

to lie:

Hebrews 6:18. The human

nature, on the contrary, isboth tempt

able and peccable, (i.e., capable, not

only of being tempted, but

also

of

yielding

to

temptation). When these

two natures are UNITED in one

theanthropic, (i.e., divine-human),

person, as they are in the incama-

cannotbe. When, therefore, it is asked

i

he person namedJesus Christ, and

constituted of two natures, was

peccable, the answer must be in the

negative. For in

this

case, the divine

nature comes into account.

As

this is

confessedly omnipotent, it imparts

to

the person of Jesus Christ this

divine characteristic. The omnipo

tence of the

Logos

preserves the

fi-

nite human nature from falling, how

ever great may be the stress of the

temptation to which

tllis

finite na

ture isexposed. Consequently,Christ,

while having a peccable human NA-

TURE in His

constitu tion, was an

impeccable PERSON Impeccability

characterizes the God-man as a total

ity, while peccability is a property of

His

humanity." - Shedd,

pg

331ff.

But if this is so, and if the 'charac-

teristics' of either nature may e at

tributed to the person of the God

man, why may we not say that Jesus

is peccable and impeccable at the

same time? We say that Jesus is both

finite and infinite, weak and om

nipotent, limited and omniscient,

why, then, may we

not

sayHe is both

peccable and impeccable? "Because,

in the latter instance, the divine na

ture

cannot

INNOCENTLY

and

RIGHTEOUSLY leave the human

nature to its

own

finiteness

with'

outany

suppOrt from the

divine, as it can in other in

stances.

"It is the divine nature,

and not

the human, which is

the base of Christ'S person.

The second trinitarian per

son is the root and stock into

which the human nature is

grafted. The wild olive is

grafted into the good olive,

and partakes of its root and

fatness. The eternal Son,

or

the Word, is personal perse

He is from everlasting to ev

erlasting conscious ofHimselfas

dis

tinct from the Father and from the

Holy Spirit. He did

not

acquire per

sonality by union with human na

ture. The incarnation was not neces

sary in order that the trinitarian Son

of God might e self-conscious.

On

the contrary, the human nature which

He

assumedto Himself acquiredper

sonality by its union with Him. By

becoming a constituent factor in the

one theanthropic person

of

Christ,

the previously impersonal humanna

ture, 'the seed of the woman,' was

personalized. If the Logos, (Word),

had obtained personality

by

uniting

with a human nature, He must have

been previously impersonal The in

carnation would then have made an

essential change in the Logos, and

thereby in the Trinity itself. But no

October November, 199+ THE COUNSEL of

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essential change can be introduced

into the triune Godhead, even by so

remarkable

an

act as the incarnation.

Ca).: If the human nature and not

the divinehad

been

the root and base

of Christ's person, He would have

been

a man-God and not a God-man.

The

complex

person, Jesus Christ,

would

have

been

anthropotheistic,

not theanthropic. This was the error

of

Paul

of

Sarnosata, Photinus and

Marcellus, accordingtowhom, Christ

was... a deified man: the base of the

complex person being the

human

nature. Christ is humanized deity,

not deified humanity.

Cb)'

That the personality of the

God-man depends primarily

upon

the divine nature, and not upon the

human is also evinced by the fact

that this complex theanthropic per

sonality was not destroyed

by

the

death of

Christ. At the crucifixion,

the

union

between the human soul

and the

human

body was dissolved

temporarily,

but

the union between

the Logos,

Cthe

Living Word of God,

In.

1:1 , and the human soul and

body

was not.---Between Christ's

deatJ a.nd resurrection, both the hu

man soul

and

the

human

body were

still

united

with the

Logos.

That the

body was still united to the Logos, is

evincedby the fact that

i t

did not see

corrUption,' Acts 2

:31.

'The divine

and the.hwnannatures,' says Hooker,

'from the

moment

of their first com

bination, have

been

and are forever

inseparable. For even when Christ's

humansoul

forsook the tabernacle of

His body, His deity.forsook neither

body

1;

soul. Ifit had, then we could

not

truly

hold

,either that the

PER-

SON of Christ buried, or that the

PERSON

of

Christ

did

raise

up im-

self :

ftOm

the dead. For the body

separated from the Word can in

no

true sense be termed the person of

Christ;

nor is it

true

to say,

that the

Son

of

God

in

raising

up

that body

did raise

up

Himself, if the bodywere

not both with Him and ofHim even

during the time

it

lay

in

the sepul

Chre.

The hke is also

to

be said of the

soul; otherwise, we are plainly and

inevitably Nestorians.'

"OwenaIso affirms, CHolySpirit,II,

iii),

that the theanthropic personality

of Christ 'was necessary and indis

soluble, so thatitwas notitnpeached,

nor

shaken

in

the least, by the tem

porary dissolution of the humanity

by

the separation of the soul and

body.' --- The unification, then, of

the three factors, the

Logos,

the hu

man soul,

and

the human body,

whiCh

were affected in the miracu

lous conception, and which contin

ued through the whole earthly life of

our Lord, were

not

interrupted

by

the crucifixion. The God-man ex

isted between the crucifixion and the

resurrection, notwithstanding the

separation between the human soul

and body, as truly as He did before,

as He doth

this

instant. And this,

because

it

was

i=utable

divinity

andnot

the mutable humanity,

whiCh

constitutes the foundation of His

personality.

"Cc). That the divinity and not the

humanity

is

dominant and control

ling in Christ's person, is proved

by

the fact that His acts of power were

regulated

by

it.

If

he

Logos

so deter

mined, Jesus Christ was powerless;

and if the Logosso determined,Jesus

Christ was all-powerful. When the

divine nature withdrew its support

from the human, the latter was as

helpless

as

it is in an ordinary human

creature. And when the divine na

ture itnparted its power, the human

nature became 'mighty

in

word and

deed.' When the Logos

so

pleased,

Jesus of Nazareth could no more be

8 THE COUNSEL

of Chakedon f

Octoberl November, 1994

taken by human hands and nailed

to

the cross than the eternal Trinity

could be; and when the Logos so

pleased,

He

could be arrested with

out any resistance and be led like a

lamb to slaughter. .

Cd).

The

knowledge of the God

man depended

upon

the divinena

ture for its amount, and this proves

that the divinity

is

dominant

in

His

person. The human mind of Jesus

Christ stood

in

a somewhat similar

relation to the Logos, that the mind

of a prophet does to God. Though

not the same

in

all respects, because

theLogos and the

human

mind in the

instance of Jesus Christ constitute

one person, while the Holy Spirit and

the inspired prophet are two per

sons, yet in respect

to

the point of

dependence

for

knowledge, there is

an exact similarity. As the prophet

Isaiah could know

no

more of the

secret things of God than it pleased

the Holy Spirit

to

disclose

to

him, so

the human mind of Christ could

know

no

more of these same divine

secrets than the illumination

of

the

Logos

made known. The finite

and limited human nature hindered

a full manifestation of the ' omni

science of the deity. This was a part of

the humiliation of the etemalLogos.

He condescended to unite Himself

with

an

inferior

nature

, throJlgh

which His own.infinite perfections

could shine only in part. When deity

does not work as sitnply deity un

tra=eled but

works

in

the form of

a servant,' it

is

humbled. The Logos

in Himself knew the time of the day

of judgement, but He did not at a

particular moment make thatknowl

edge a part of the

human

conscious

ness

of

esus Christ.

In

so doing He

limited and conditioned

His

own

MANIFESTATION of knowledge in

the theanthropic person, by the ig

norance of the

human

nature.n -W.

G. T. Shedd, pg. 269ff,

Vol.

II,

Dog-

m tic Theology -To be

continued

.

1994 issue 8 - sermon on luke 4:1-13 - the temptation of jesus - counsel of chalcedon

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