Matthew 3:13-4:11

Family Bible Study
Professor and Chair, Department of Religion and Philosophy, Samford University

Victorious Living
Matthew 3:13–4:11

After 18 years of silence, the New Testament picks up Jesus’ life with two dramatic episodes which set the course for His future mission and ministry — His baptism by John and the temptations by Satan. The first event indicates His type of ministry, and the second the resistance to it. In each we see the primary characteristic of how Jesus understood His mission — to serve God.

The Baptism
John had gained a reputation as an outsider to the powers-that-be in Judea. He criticized the people for their religious superficiality and the rulers for their social immorality and injustice. His unique form of baptism was for remission of sins and protection against the forthcoming divine judgment. People came to him to “get right” with God. He was a prophet calling persons to righteousness.    

The biggest issue in understanding Jesus’ baptism is why did He do it. Matthew 3:15 says it was “proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” There are at least three ways to interpret this verse.

First, Jesus was unrighteous and needed by His repentance to “get right” with God. However, nothing indicates that either Jesus or John thought this about Him. In fact, John even said that Jesus should baptize him.    

Second, Jesus needed an official beginning to His public ministry. This view has the merit of connecting Jesus’ baptism with what immediately follows. However, there is no evidence that Jesus thought of it that way, and there is no such precedence for such an official beginning for prophets or major rabbis.    

Third, perhaps the best interpretation is that Jesus was affirming and aligning Himself with John’s prophetic critique of the religious and social life of Israel.    

The Temptations
This episode was not accidental to Jesus’ ministry. The same Spirit which empowered Him then led Him into the wilderness to be confronted by the tempter (4:1). Jesus’ first messianic task was to face and reject three powerful and evil temptations.

Jesus’ 40-day fast prepared Him psychologically and spiritually to sense the gravity of the situation. In this heightened perceptive state, He is confronted with temptations. The text is clear that they do not come from His own insecurities or doubts. Jesus did not have to settle a psychological problem with Himself before He could do His messianic work. Rather, He had to settle His relationship with evil.    

The temptation’s source is represented by three names — the tempter, devil and Satan. The names’ meanings indicate a dominant feature of evil — destruction. The tempter tries to draw one away from what is right. The Greek word for devil is diabolos, which literally mean “to throw across.” Evil tries to obstruct and block God’s direction. The word Satan literally means “adversary.” Evil is by nature contrary and oppositional to God and humanity.

The text suggests the tempter understood Jesus’ ministry, and presented Jesus with a choice — Jesus could go His baptismal way “proper for righteousness sake” or gain power, immortality and fame. What makes this choice a real temptation is that Jesus must have thought that power, immortality, and fame could be used to work goodness and benefit for others. For instance, one could eliminate poverty if one could change stones into bread.

One could perhaps bring about world peace under a single political ruler. Satan even couches the second temptation in terms of Scripture, making it that much more enticing.

But Jesus rejected them. The common denominator in each rejection is Jesus’ insistence on God’s exclusive demands upon our needs, values and worship. He freed himself from the world’s powers to determine His needs, values and worship so that He could be totally free toward God. Real goodness and benefit are not defined by the vicissitudes and fickle nature of political and personal power but by God’s righteousness (i.e., the love of God and neighbor). The world’s hope for peace and justice is not found in its own solutions which can be and always have been twisted and corrupted toward destruction but in the Word of God, in trusting God and worshiping only God.