The Temptations of Jesus And the Tempter In the Gospel of Matthew
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Date
2003
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Tangaza University College
Abstract
The temptations of Jesus and the action of an adversary to God, be it called
Satan, the devil, or the tempter, have, in the past, inspired many a research work, as
well as movies, novels, pious legends, and stirred up the imagination about mythical
beasts and creatures who approach human beings with all kinds of evil intentions.
Matthew's gospel partly contains this legendary vocabulary. It is not, though, a tale
about good and evil, but a carefully constructed account about Jesus, the Son of
God, his suffering during his public life among his fellow people, and the way he
has overcome death once for all. Matthew proclaims the early Christian kerygma
throughout his Gospel account: Jesus suffered, died and rose from death. And all
those who believe in him, through faith, may share in the eternal life he has attained
for all. And what is faith? As we will see, faith is obedience to God our Father.
Obedience to do what? The answer to these and other questions is found in this long
essay. But I am not going to advance anything else in this introduction, apart from
saying that Satan, the tempter, has many faces, but none of them is the face of a
monstrous beast. Rather, his aspect is rather decent, and so are his proposals.
This essay is primarily a biblical and exegetical research paper I have used
the English Revised Standard Version of the Bible, and occasionally the Greek New
Testament, in the way they have come down to us today. I do not attempt to carry
out any formal textual criticism on the texts used, but will nevertheless use some elements of form, source and redaction criticism. I take for granted that the present
final redaction of Matthew's gospel is shaped for his audience best, and therefore I
will use it for my analysis. but without questioning its final editing.
In my research I have come across excellent exegetical commentaries on the
temptation narrative in Matthew, and I am aware that there is nothing I can add in
this essay to what has already been written. Nevertheless, by compiling these
materials and further venturing into some applications which can be drawn from the
present study, I do hope that some clear insights into the nature of the Son of God
and his mission may be eained, even if it is only for my own better understanding.
I will also try to present some practical applications based on the results of
this mainly exegetical study. These applications will be a result more of my own
reflection since there is not much material available on the pastoral consequences of
the exegesis. Nevertheless, I understand that drawing pastoral applications is also
part of the aims of literary criticism, since I understand that through the study of the
final form of a bible text we can bring it closer to our present pastoral context.
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Keywords
Temptations, Jesus, Tempter, Gospel of Matthew