"If thou be the Son of God..."

[hindsey]

In the "temptation" of Matthew 4 and Luke 4, Satan always starts out with, "If thou be the Son of God," do such and such. I've got a question. Is it possible that Satan was not trying to get Jesus to sin, but rather trying to verify that this Man in front of him was in fact the Son of God. Jesus had lived on the earth for about 30 years or so before this time, but as soon as John baptizes Him and the voice from Heaven announces, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" then we see Satan coming up to Him saying, "If thou be the Son of God..." Satan is not omnipresent, so is it possible that one of his devils went and told him that these events happened at the baptism?

To support this theory, I point out Matt 4:7 - Jesus' reply to Satan tempting Him to cast Himself down from the temple was, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." That is a quote from Deuteronomy 6:16 - "Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah." And to go a little bit more, we're told about Massah in Exodus 17:7 - "And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?"

It's just a thought...

 

[filosofer]

While an interesting theological question, the Greek text in Matthew does not allow such an interpretation. The conditional sentence in Greek could be rendered as: "If you are the Son of God - and I will accept that this is indeed true - then..." The conditional phrase assumes that the first part is true. So, the challenge is not the Sonship of Jesus, but rather the use of His Sonship to short-circuit or circumvent his mission/minitry.

 

[hindsey]

I've learned a little bit of Greek, but I am not familiar with the "conditional" and its need to be rendered that way. Could you point me to another use of that in the Bible (I guess more specifically, the NT would be needed). And, if possible, could you briefly explain that to me? I'm not trying to prove my point, I'm just trying to learn.

 

[Lovesherald]

I don't think of it being that way. I've often thought of it as Satan trying to make Jesus doubt himself and tempt him into proving his identity.

 

[filosofer]

I've learned a little bit of Greek, but I am not familiar with the "conditional" and its need to be rendered that way. Could you point me to another use of that in the Bible (I guess more specifically, the NT would be needed). And, if possible, could you briefly explain that to me? I'm not trying to prove my point, I'm just trying to learn.

I don't think of it being that way. I've often thought of it as Satan trying to make Jesus doubt himself and tempt him into proving his identity.

In this case, it doesn't matter what we want it to be. We have to accept what the text allows us to accept. In this situation, the Greek does not allow us to understand it as a question of trying to get Jesus to doubt His Sonship.

Conditions can be presented in Greek in several ways. The key is whether the word AN (often by itself left untranslated) is used in the main clause or not. If AN is not used in the main clause, then there are two types of condition:

1. Particular: Greek uses the word EI ("if") with the indicative, and the follow-on verb is indicative, then the condition is a simple statement of fact.

Examples include: Matthew 4 (and parallel in Luke 4) provides one example. So also, John 15:20, "If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you." In each case, the "if" portion indicates what is, in fact, true. So, in this case, "If indeed you are the Son of God (and it is true), then ..." is the proper way to translate and interpret the text.

2. Generality: Greek uses EAN ("if") with the subjunctive verb followed by an indicative. Often this can be translated as "if ever..." In other words, the "if" portion of the sentence is not necessarily true, but if it were true, then the last part of the sentence is true.

Examples include: in the present subjunctive Matthew 17:4 and Mark 9:43; with aorist subjunctive Matthew 6:14.

3. A third type of condition occurs if the AN is present in the main clause. This is called Contrary to fact, and the condition is unreal or or unfulfilled (translated in English by would or should).

Examples include: John 5:46 and John 11:32.

I hope this helps in understanding the tempation texts.

 

[hindsey]

filosofer, thank you very much - it helps indeed.

 

[Theophorus]

In the "temptation" of Matthew 4 and Luke 4, Satan always starts out with, "If thou be the Son of God," do such and such. I've got a question. Is it possible that Satan was not trying to get Jesus to sin, but rather trying to verify that this Man in front of him was in fact the Son of God. Jesus had lived on the earth for about 30 years or so before this time, but as soon as John baptizes Him and the voice from Heaven announces, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" then we see Satan coming up to Him saying, "If thou be the Son of God..." Satan is not omnipresent, so is it possible that one of his devils went and told him that these events happened at the baptism?

To support this theory, I point out Matt 4:7 - Jesus' reply to Satan tempting Him to cast Himself down from the temple was, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." That is a quote from Deuteronomy 6:16 - "Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah." And to go a little bit more, we're told about Massah in Exodus 17:7 - "And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?"

It's just a thought...

Theophylact who was Greek and lived in the 12th century raises that possibility in his commentary:

" 'If thou be the Son of God', as if he were saying, 'I do not believe the voice from heaven; but if Thou art the Son of God, show me'. "

 

[statrei]

While an interesting theological question, the Greek text in Matthew does not allow such an interpretation. The conditional sentence in Greek could be rendered as: "If you are the Son of God - and I will accept that this is indeed true - then..." The conditional phrase assumes that the first part is true. So, the challenge is not the Sonship of Jesus, but rather the use of His Sonship to short-circuit or circumvent his mission/minitry.

I accept your argument but need more substance to your conclusion. How would Jesus have short-circuited or circumvented his mission/ministry by providing the evidence requested?

 

[filosofer]

The three temptations paralleled the temptations of Adam and Eve in the graden (Gen. 3) as well as the temptations of the Israelites in the widlerness. For Jesus to give into the temptations would have indicated his own rebellion aginst God's plan - a perfect fulfillment (Matthew 5:17) of God's will as outlined in the 10 commandments. Obviously the last one in Matthew's sequence, when Satan urges "worship me" violates the first commandment and would show that Jesus does not recognize nor desire to do what God the Father desires.

 

[Dmckay]

I accept your argument but need more substance to your conclusion. How would Jesus have short-circuited or circumvented his mission/ministry by providing the evidence requested?

Filosfer's answer to your question was excellent. Satan was trying to get Jesus to compromise Himself and not follow the plan for salvation that was required by G-d's attributes. Satan isn't omniscient, and he would think that it would be possible that Jesus, being limited by His human body and nature, would take the easy route. Remember, in the Garden Jesus prayed, "Father if there be any way, let this cup pass from Me. But, nevertheless, not My will but thine be done."

 

[statrei]

The three temptations paralleled the temptations of Adam and Eve in the graden (Gen. 3) as well as the temptations of the Israelites in the widlerness. For Jesus to give into the temptations would have indicated his own rebellion aginst God's plan - a perfect fulfillment (Matthew 5:17) of God's will as outlined in the 10 commandments. Obviously the last one in Matthew's sequence, when Satan urges "worship me" violates the first commandment and would show that Jesus does not recognize nor desire to do what God the Father desires.

Thank you.