Degree of Baccalaureate in Theology
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Item Challenges to the Life of a Christian In the Light Of Jesus' Temptations: Matthew 4:1-11(Tangaza University College, 2005) Icapango De Almeida, JoaquimThe danger of people falling away from God in our days is as high as it was in the time when Israel was living surrounded by nations who worshiped other gods. The worship of idols as it was done by the Canaanites may no longer be a problem for us today but the replacement of God by our own abilities, strength and different kinds of progress is a big temptation that faces the present humanity. The plan of God for humanity and nature still encounters resistance in many ways. It remains an ideal as far as its realisation and actualization is concerned. Total trust and confidence in God remains a challenge for a society that claims to have moved far away from the primitive and mythological stages of humanity. The temptations of Jesus as narrated in the synoptics have been the topic of many discussions among scholars. Though many things have been said about them few things have been put into writing. This is shown by the small biography that exists about the topic. It is true that scholars, when writing on the synoptics, make some references on the temptations, but it is also true that few scholars have ventured to take the temptations as a topic of biblical research on its own as it is done on other biblical passages. Scholars have interpreted the temptations in different ways. There are those who think that the temptations are mythological descriptions of beliefs that were held by the Jewish communities and therefore they cannot make any sense to us. I 4 2 There are also those who, though they remove the mythological aspect from the temptations, see little value in them concerning their applicability to the Christian life of the present time. They hold that the concepts used in the description of the temptations are no longer relevant to the present times. However, there is a third group of scholars who hold that the temptations are historically true and they have a lot to tell us today. We are going to follow this last position in this work since our goal is to make the contents of the temptations relevant for the Church's daily preaching and catechesis. In order to accomplish our goal, we shall start by clarifying some terms so that we may have a common starting point of understanding of our topic. We shall study the passage selected for our study of the temptations, which in our case is Matthew 4:1-11. After, we shall look at the natural tendencies of the human person in order to find out in which situation the temptations stand concerning the core of human natural orientation. Finally, we shall try to look at the implications of the temptations in the lives of those who have answered the call to follow Jesus. That is, we shall apply the temptations to the life of Christians. The content of the material presented in this work does not intend to exhaust the whole question that can be raised about the temptations but to show in which way the temptations are valid and relevant for Christians and even for humanity in general. The material in this paper is the fruits that result from many hours of hard work, intensive research, personal reflection and prayer. We are going to present our thoughts within the framework of the position held by different scholars though without losing the focus of our own standing. Therefore we defend the originality of the material presented in this work.Item The Temptations of The Son of God According to Matthew 4:1-11(Tangaza University College, 2003) Mushunje, RegisMore often than not, we presume that temptation is a sin. On the contrary, it is not sin ( rather it is neutral or indifferent. It is simply an attraction to an object or certain action that is normally associated with eviI.2 In biblical sense, temptation is a situation of choice between fidelity and infidelity to one's obligations toward God.3 It is ordinarily translated from a Hebrew word 7197Z (mosso) whose root rici; (nissa) means "to put to the test", "to try", "to prove".4 The LXX and the New Testament use the verb TrapciCco (peirazo) with the sense of "to test" or "to tempt" to evil. But the test as it is should not be judged as wrong or bad since it is not out of one's choice. Judgment should only be based on the responce to the temptation. In the story of the fall (Gen 3:1-24), the snake in the Garden of Eden tested Eve, but we cannot blame her for being tempted. We can only judge her guilty or innocent as k as her responce to the temptation is concerned. The same could be said of Adam. After Eve seduced him to eat the forbidden fruit, he had two choices: to deny or to accept. It is from his choice that Adam is judged. Humanly speaking, it is very logical that the Israelites were tempted to follow the gods of other nations who seemed to be more powerful in their eyes and reject the God of Israel. The seduction to idolatry was more appealing than following the God who "neglects" them as they journey in the desert. We see here a general trend in temptation. The wrong or forbidden action is more appealing and enticing than the acceptable one. It is in this context that we encounter the temptations that Jesus underwent. It is more appealing to have bread if one is hungry instead of to starving (cf. Matt 4:3). It is humanly enticing to show spectacular powers rather than remain ordinary in the face of others (cf. Matt 4:6). And who does not want to amass wealth and be considered great? Yet these are the temptations that Jesus endured in order to manifest his kingship. If temptations "came to the Son [of God] himself, they will certainly come to his followers"5 and for this reason they are part and parcel of Christian life. In his experience, Paul says, "I can will what is right, but cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do" (Rom 7:18-19). Human life is full of temptations and coping with them is an enormous challenge. For that reason I chose to focus on the Temptations of Jesus. My hope, in this study, is to gain insights that can help Christians face temptations and triumph as Jesus did. Matthew's teaching on this reality goes a long way in empowering humanity to do God's will instead of following human desires only.