Lord, Throughout These Forty Days...25

Now at this point in the Lenten journey, we need to address an issue relating to Jesus in the Wilderness. Was Jesus tempted or tested? Could this question be more than word-play? What does it matter, if at all?

First, the Word says in Matthew 4.1 "Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil." There is a footnote attached to the word tempted. Mark 1.13, "...and he was in the wilderness 40 days, being tempted by the devil." Again the NIV notes multiple possible meanings for the word tempted. Luke 4.2 "...he was tempted by the devil..." with footnote.

The word is πειραζόμενος to tempt, try, test to see value or worth. to prove. In the Synoptics, it is a participle indicating continuous action. So the texts of the Wilderness experience allow for an understanding of both testing and tempting happening to Jesus.

Now let's look a clear teaching passage on God and temptation. James Chapter 1 teaches, When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

James ays God cannot be tempted. He cannot be lead astray from His will. As living perfection, God does not have flaw, weakness or gaps. No place can be found to exploit by the tempter. No desire exists to have or be more, as God -- in the Blessed Trinity -- has and is all He can be. Being the Truth, he cannot be other than He is.

James also says that God does not tempt anyone. Temptation stems from individual, internal desire. In Wesleyan terms, our "bent to sinning" pulls us toward sins that EASILY entangle us. The brokenness of our whole selves lends itself to temptation.

Jesus is God. As God He cannot be tempted. All-Knowing, He cannot be lead astray as He knows every path and its ending, every suggestion and its motive. All-Powerful, He can resist any pull. Holy, Pure and Good, He cannot do wrong. As Perfection, He lacks nothing so desires nothing more. Temptation as it comes to us, did not come to the Son-God.

Jesus, while God, is God-in-flesh. As the new Adam, created by the Word of God as the Spirit overshadowed a virgin, Mary, Jesus has not the fallen nature. He inherited no "bent-to-sinning." No imperfection pulled at Him. Unbroken, no internal desire distracted Him.

We seem to have found that in the sense that we are tempted, fallen and broken and sin-prown as we are, Jesus was not tempted. Later we will explore "testing" as what may have happened to the Son of God in the Wilderness.