Matth. 4, 1-11.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, that he might be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he hungered. And the tempter came unto him, and said, If thou be the Son of God, let these stones become bread. And he answered and said, It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil brought him with him into the holy city, and set him upon the pinnacle of the temple, and said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, let thyself down: for it is written: He shall command his angels concerning thee, and they shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. Then said Jesus unto him, Again, it is also written: Thou shalt not tempt thy Lord God. Again the devil led him up into a very high mountain, and shewed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. And said unto him, All these will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then said Jesus unto him, Remove thyself from me, Satan: for it is written: Thou shalt worship God thy Lord, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil left him; and behold, the angels came to him and ministered to him.
1 The evangelist indicates here in the first part that immediately after baptism Christ was driven by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Now you know that Christ did none of these works for his own sake. He was the Lord of the devil, death and victory, Ps. 24:8, 10, as soon as he was born;
*In the same year, the first four printings appeared; we follow, like the Erlangen edition, the third printing. - Cf. Altenb. A. II, 839, Leipz. A. XII, 438, Erl. A. 17, 80. ed.
Nor did he let himself down as if he had not, for our sake alone, that he might teach us faith and love. For when the devil attacks me, my heart is comforted, my faith is strengthened, because I know the one who has overcome him and has done it for me, so that he can come to my aid and comfort me, and I believe that the devil has been overcome for me through Christ, so that he can no longer harm me. If I believe this, then I have it for sure. So now faith overcomes the devil. So the first
piece that God teaches me faith, that I know that Christ has overcome the devil for me.
2. the other: If I now know that the devil is not powerful over me, but has overcome me because of faith, I must also give myself up to be tempted. And this is done so that my faith may be strengthened, and the next man may have comfort and an example through my overcoming and temptation. This is the other thing, that I may say: O adversary, behold, thou hast tempted me, and hast trespassed against me. Now, though I have stumbled and fallen a little, yet I set before thee Christ, who is mine, who overcame thee, and stumbled not; whose victory is mine; he then must be overcome. Behold, as soon as baptism comes, one must be tempted.
Now see in what opinion this is done. It says here that he was driven into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit and became hungry, so that he thinks he has been abandoned by God. Notice that when faith is involved, temptation does not stay away for long. The Holy Spirit does not let you rest and celebrate, but soon throws you into temptation. How so? That faith may be finely proven, 1 Pet. 1, 7, 4, 12, and that God may show His power and majesty in us poor and weak vessels, as Paul says 2 Cor. 12, 9. Otherwise the devil will blow us away like a little straw. But when God comes and hangs such a weight on us, makes us so important and heavy that it must lie underneath; then it becomes apparent to the devil and all people that it is God's power. In this way, God shows His glory and majesty in our weakness; that is why He throws us into the wilderness, that is, He throws us so that we are abandoned by all creatures, that we see no help anywhere, yes, we think that God has also completely abandoned us, Ps. 22, 2, Matth. 27, 46. For as He places Himself here with Christ, so He also places Himself with us. It is not sweet, it must make man afraid, compelled (bang).
4. as, take a temple: like a man
flees unchastity, but an evil conscience holds and death etc., there man thinks he lies down and God is far from him; there he cannot measure that God is with him. As when unchastity goes along, the devil blows the veins and the bones full of such evil lust that man suffers and wallows in the unpleasure like a sow in dung. There the soul suffers and sways to and fro; that is not right. Man does not see God, nor does he see the devil. The devil stands behind and blows like a charcoal burner; so that there are some who become completely senseless, forgetting even his word, yes, even reason, fall away like unreasonable cattle. Now behold, if a man could be wise, and say, Behold, how doest thou? and could see that the devil did this, that he blew so, made so hot, as Job saith, Cap. 41, 11. 12.: "He has such a hot breath, he blows no as in coals, and makes everything glowing, makes everything hot and fervent, that all veins burn, and cannot rest." Now, if one could see that the devil was doing it, it would be almost half won. If one could keep still and watch Christ overcome and see that God was with him, he would soon gain a desire and love for chastity and would spit on that. Let this be an example.
(5) Now this is done that man may know his weakness, and that Christ may show his power and might. But that we consent not; but run unto Christ, and seek help, and let not the devil overthrow us. Therefore let us be prepared and ready to flee to Christ. Therefore, if you believe, do not be surprised; it must be so, and do not sleep. He comes here and gives you a poison in your heart, so that you burn completely and do not know where to go. Then fall down, and say, O Christ, behold how I lie and fall! O Christ, as thou hast overcome, help me up, that I may feel and sense thy help, that my faith may be strengthened, and that thy majesty may be glorified.
(6) So it is with all other temptations. As, with wrath: if anyone has challenged you in body, or goods, or honor, or friendship, behold, God lets you go.
Try it once: for the devil is in your heart day and night, so that you think, "See, this is what I want to do to him, this is how I want to take revenge. This is pleasing to the devil, so he makes you run and speak evil after him or seduce him. Then be thou wise, and think that it is the devil's doing, that he maketh thee so hot, that he bloweth into thee as into a burning oven; and fall down, and say, O Christ, who hast overcome, help me; and he shall soon fall. If he tempts thee with avarice, that thou despairest, and thinkest thou canst not be satisfied, and walkest hither and thither, and poureth; then smite thee, and think, O devil, thou doest this; and then fall down, and think, Oh, behold, God hath promised thee so much, he will give thee enough; do what thou canst. And fall on Christ soon, and be helped.
Now this is said of gross temptations. But when he comes and attacks us at the highest, at the belly, where we are softest, so that one's conscience refuses, hell, death and the devil lies on one and presses him, he becomes so afraid that his legs would melt in his body, so that the gospel, which tasted good before, now does not want to taste; then the devil does not rest, he overthrows you completely and makes you despair. Then be wise, and smite upon thyself, and think, This is surely the devil's doing; he holds the Scriptures up to me thus, that he may press faith. Then fall down and pray: O Lord Christ, help me, do not let me fall; so he must fall, and the heart will then be glad again.
(8) Behold, it was so with Christ, who was driven by the Holy Ghost into the wilderness, that he might so overcome the devil and his temptation, and afterward make us sweet to overcome in him. For you must not think that they were sweet to him; they also touched his heart as well as ours. Let this then be said at the entrance of the gospel, that ye may know what temptations are, and know how to beware of them: as we are taught in the Lord's Prayer: Lead us not into temptation etc.
9 Now let us recently go over the three temptations. The first challenge is: "If you are the Son of God, make the stones
to bread, that thou mayest eat." There you must open two kinds of eyes, the spiritual and the physical. For if you only look at it with natural eyes, you cannot blame anything here; for it is natural to eat and drink, which is not evil. Notice how cleverly the devil sets up his temptations, so that they become too high for nature, and nature sees it as the most reasonable and moderate thing; just as happened to Eve in paradise, when the devil reproached her: Yea, ye shall not eat therefore, lest ye become wise as the gods etc. Then she thought: Ei, macht das kluge Leute, ei, so wäre es billig, dass man es essen, Gen. 3, 4. 5. Here he also suggests it so subtly: If you are hungry, you must also eat. So it goes, it looks so fine, yes, it would not be evil, eat a hungry. Item, the apple, which Eva ate, was also not bad. Yes, if it had not been forbidden. But nature does not look at that. Christ sees that the devil proposes such ugliness to him; therefore he says: "It is written: Not in the bread alone, but in one" etc. From this it can be assumed how he meant it, even though it can be seen that it was written in the most simple way.
Now, what does it work in his heart? See that you are satisfied above all things, do what you will, but do not let your belly go hungry. He wanted to draw him to the belly alone, so that he did not pay attention to God and the soul, but set his date on the belly and on life alone. Behold, how wisely he proposes this. And so it is now, that one looks everywhere at the belly alone, and does not think that it is the devil's rope, thinks all the time: If I had a good house, a chest of money, and enough, I would pursue the Gospel. Now Christ says, "No, you must turn back," and say, "No, I must look to the soul beforehand, and as I stand with God and cling to Him, believe, even if the belly should pine away: after that God will give me what is good for the belly. As he also says: Primum quaerite regnum Dei (Seek first the kingdom of God), Matth. 6, 33, then work and accept what God gives. Are
you are not rich, yet he will not let you die of hunger. This is the first.
011 Now, if he can do thee no harm, that thou thinkest, Well, I must see beforehand how I am with God; then he cometh to the other side, and saith, Yea, yea, there we will go, thou wilt be a godly man; yea, go on. Then he leads thee up into a high mountain, and proclaims to thee his Godhead, and shows thee the kingdom of all the earth, and says, "All this will I give thee, where thou wilt worship me." There he ties you to worship, there he gives you: How now? Be still, thou shalt have enough for thy life, worship me alone. That is, he comes here, and if he cannot win in the belly, he leads a false teaching that blinds the right worship and introduces a false one.
12 Then he says, "Arise, Satan," that is, you adversary; for you are always opposed to the right worship of God. That must have been a high spirit. Now this is when
he leads one into a monastery and lets him serve God there.
Now, if he does not attack you with that, he attacks you with God's temptation. That is the most dangerous thing. If he cannot fell thee with the belly, nor with false doctrine, then he cometh hither, and holdeth up the scripture unto thee: Behold, it is the word of God, burden thyself there; for it is written of thee etc. Nor does he lie, that is, he misleads the Scripture, that one should tempt God. This is a great trial, when one's heart is troubled, and the devil puts a spell into his heart, so that he now despairs, and would gladly grope for God, and for His grace, if it be there. Now for this you must not wait and desire to see and feel God's grace, but close your eyes and think: I will cleave unto the word, and believe as he hath commanded me; I need not feel after it etc. Ps. 119, 31. 130, 5.