Gospel of Matthew Chapter 4 Vs. 4

 The Temptation of Jesus

Matthew 4:4 “But 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.”

It is written,... First words of Christ since His anointing. There were at least two sets of three temptations: the first three in Luke 4:1-13, after which Satan left Christ "for a season"; the last three in Mat. 4:1-11, after which Satan was dismissed by Christ, never to present like temptations again.

Man shall not... These are the methods God used to humble and test Israel: hunger, thirst, lack of supplies, and other chastening. This part of the verse was quoted by Christ in His great victory over Satan (Mat. 4:4; Luke 4:4).

Jesus set an example for us with this answer. He said, “It is written.” Our answer, when the devil or our lusts tempt us, should be, “It is written”.

The victory in each aspect of the temptation is related to Jesus’ use of Scripture. “It is written”: First, He quotes Deuteronomy 8:3 above, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” The source of bread is more important that the bread itself.

Later, Jesus would say, “I have meat to eat that ye know not of” (John 4:32). His source of strength was obedience to the Father’s will and He would not even work a miracle to avoid personal suffering when such suffering was a part of God’s purpose for Him.

We are instructed to eat the Word of God. Our source of help in every situation is to have the Word of God so engraved in our inner being, that we will be able to draw our strength from the Word.

In each of these verses above, God is telling us that it is our responsibility to prepare for the battles we will face. It is, also, our responsibility to stand head to head with the devil in combat. We must stand and fight by Christ's strength, if we are to win over the devil.

Our weapons are not physical, they are spiritual. It is important to prepare and be ready. Our day of combat through Christ is here. The church is being shaken. All who have not prepared will fall to the devil.

There must be no compromise of the Word of God. We must make it even more important to consume the Word of God, than to eat physical food. A more important source of sustenance than food, it nurtures our spiritual needs in a way that benefits us eternally, rather than merely providing temporal relief from physical hunger.

We cannot win battles with the devil in our own power and might. We must fight the devil with the Word of God and in the name of Jesus the Christ.

Jesus therefore quoted Deut. 8:3, which affirms that man does not live on bread alone, but by God’s Word. It is better to obey God’s Word than to satisfy human desires. The fact that Jesus quoted from Deuteronomy showed that He recognized the inerrant authority of that book, one often criticized by scholars.