Satan’s Hermeneutic: A Lesson from How the Devil Used the Bible to Tempt Jesus

In a recent article series, the belief statement from a Prosperity Gospel was carefully studied and ultimately determined to be misguided (see https://battlehardenedbeliever.com/?p=859). In a nutshell, their statement employed Scripture that in general discussed God’s temporal blessings of the faithful and declared them to be certain in a believer’s life. While these verses did most certainly support the belief that God delights in blessing His people even during their earthly existence, these Scriptures must also be weighed alongside the whole of Scripture since God acts in line with His entire Word. To put this another way, meanings and applications of any given text within the Bible are controlled by the whole of Scripture and not just exclusively by the verse itself. In this article, the 2^nd temptation of the devil in his effort to lead Christ to sin will be considered, and its hermeneutical fallacy will be discussed.

Matt 5: 1-11 – “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” 4 But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’” 5 Then the devil took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You’; and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’” 7 Jesus said to him, “On the other hand, it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took Him to a very high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory; 9 and he said to Him, “All these things I will give You, if You fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and serve Him only.’” 11 Then the devil left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.”[i]

In direct opposition to the paradigm offered by Word of Faith, Prosperity Gospel, and various other Self-Help Gospel churches, God’s Spirit led Christ into His wilderness experience knowing the devil would try to tempt Him. Moreover, He had the Lord suffer forty full days with a complete lack of sustenance. When He finally reached the point of desired vulnerability, the devil came with his temptations, each of which engaged the mind. Given the focus of this article, attention will now be placed on the second temptation of Christ.

In verse 6, the Devil offered Christ a seemingly applicable Word of God quoted from Psalm 91:11-12: “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, ‘He will command His angels concerning You’; and ‘On their hands they will bear You up, So that You will not strike Your foot against a stone.’” By confronting Christ with the very Word of God, Satan was calling upon Jesus to demonstrate his faith in God’s Word. God had promised divine assistance and care for His Son, so Christ had every reason to believe that God would take care of Him.

Just as Christ faced a time of great need, Christians also have times when God’s temporal blessings seems to be in short supply. To address this, many churches instruct them to faith God more, to speak the Word of God into existence, and to focus on His promised temporal blessings. In a similar way, Jesus is being told by Satan to trust God more, to put His Word into service by activating His faith, and to concern himself with his momentary desire for alleviation.

Instead of relying on Satan’s proof-texting to that God’s Word can be put to service so as to address His immediate temporal dilemma, Christ employed another verse from Deuteronomy 6:16: “You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.” The Lord avoided Satan’s scheme by trusting in, relying upon, and applying the fullness of God’s Word. He trusted in God’s promised provision while not making Himself, His needs, or His desires the focus. He willingly faced His moment of trial with an eternal mindset that holds on to God and His revealed character during the temporal moment. Like Christ, we should prepare ourselves to be led by the Holy Spirit into times of trial and temptation where our temporal needs may go unaddressed. When those times come upon us, we must faithfully hold to the full Word of God and not allow ourselves to be directed to a few prooftexts that Satan may use to take our eyes of faith off of Christ. With an eternal mindset, we must remember that he would have us focus on our immediate present and our earthly comfort. Furthermore, he would have us subjugate God by acting upon His Word in such a way that His Word is made to do our bidding.

[i]This scripture comes from NASB1995.