Luke 4:3 (WEB)
The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”
Fathers and councils · 34
Irenaeus of Lyons
“And the devil looking at Him, and tempting Him, said: “If Thou art the Son of God;”—all thus indeed seeing and speaking of the Son and the Father, but all not believing [in them].” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 3; Luke iv. 3.
Read the whole comment
Ambrose of Milan
“The devil saith: “If Thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it become bread.”” — editor's note: S. Luke iv. 3.
Read the whole comment“The devil said: “Command this stone that it become bread.”” — editor's note: S. Luke iv. 3.
Read the whole comment
Augustine of Hippo
“At the same time, he does not fail to notice the circumstance which is omitted by Luke, namely, that the angels ministered unto Him.” — editor's note: Mark i. 12, 13; Luke iv. 1–13.
Read the whole comment
Tertullian
“By and by the Lord Himself consecrated His own baptism (and, in His own, that of all) by fasts; having (the power) to make “loaves out of stones,” say, to make Jordan flow with wine perchance, if He had been such a “glutton and toper.”” — editor's note: See Matt. iv. 3; Luke iv. 3.
Read the whole comment
John Cassian
“And though he saw a man outwardly in Jesus, yet he was searching for the Son of God, when he said: “If Thou art the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”” — editor's note: S. Luke iv. 3.
Read the whole comment
Catena Aurea on Luke
- Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on Luke
Christ is tempted after His baptism, shewing us that after we are baptized, temptations await us. Hence it is said, But Jesus being full of the Holy Spirit, &c.
Read the whole comment - Cyril of AlexandriaCatena Aurea on Luke
God said in times past, My Spirit shall not always abide in men, for that they are flesh. (Gen. 6:3. Vulg.) But now that we have been enriched with the gift of regeneration by water and the Spirit, we are become…
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on Luke
When therefore you read that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit, and it is written in the Acts concerning the Apostles, that they were filled with the Holy Spirit, you must not suppose that the Apostles were equal to…
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on Luke
That there might be no doubt by what Spirit He was led, while the other Evangelists say, into the wilderness, Luke has purposely added, And he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days. That no unclean…
Read the whole comment - A Greek expositorCatena Aurea on Luke
But if we order our lives according to our own will, how was He led about unwillingly? Those words then, He was led by the Spirit, have some meaning of this kind: He led of His own accord that kind of life, that He…
Read the whole comment - Basil the GreatCatena Aurea on Luke
For not by word provoking the enemy, but by His actions rousing him, He seeks the wilderness. For the devil delights in the wilderness, he is not wont to go into the cities, the harmony of the citizens troubles him.
Read the whole comment - Ambrose of MilanCatena Aurea on Luke
He was led therefore into the wilderness, to the intent that He might provoke the devil, for if the one had not contended, the other it seems had not conquered. In a mystery, it was to deliver that Adam from exile…
Read the whole comment - Cyril of AlexandriaCatena Aurea on Luke
Behold, He is among the wrestlers, who as God awards the prizes. He is among the crowned, who crowns the heads of the saints.
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Luke
Our enemy was however unable to shake the purpose of the Mediator between God and men. For He condescended to be tempted outwardly, yet so that His soul inwardly, resting in its divinity, remained unshaken.
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on Luke
But Jesus is tempted by the devil forty days, and what the temptations were we know not. They were perhaps omitted, as being greater than could be committed to writing.
Read the whole comment - Basil the GreatCatena Aurea on Luke
Or, the Lord remained for forty days untempted, for the devil knew that He fasted, yet hungered not, and dared not therefore approach Him. Hence it follows: And he eat nothing in those days. He fasted indeed, to shew…
Read the whole comment - Ambrose of MilanCatena Aurea on Luke
There are three things which united together conduce to the salvation of man; The Sacrament, The Wilderness, Fasting. No one who has not rightly contended receives a crown, but no one is admitted to the contest of…
Read the whole comment - Gregory of NazianzusCatena Aurea on Luke
He fasted in truth forty days, eating nothing. (For He was God.) But we regulate our fasting according to our strength, although the zeal of some persuades them to fast beyond what they are able.
Read the whole comment - Basil the GreatCatena Aurea on Luke
But we must not however so use the flesh, that through want of food our strength should waste away, nor that by excess of mortification our understandings wax dull and heavy. Our Lord therefore, once performed this…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Luke
But very wisely, He exceeded not their number of days, lest indeed He should be thought to have come in appearance only, and not to have really received the flesh, or lest the flesh should seem to be something beyond…
Read the whole comment - Ambrose of MilanCatena Aurea on Luke
But mark the mystical number of days. For you remember that for forty days the waters of the deep were poured forth, and by sanctifying a fast of that number of days, He brings before us the returning mercies of a…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Luke
Now that number is a sacrament of our time and labour, in which under Christ’s discipline we contend against the devil, for it signifies our temporal life. For the seasons of the year run in courses of four, but…
Read the whole comment - Basil the GreatCatena Aurea on Luke
But because not to suffer hunger is above the nature of man, our Lord took upon Himself the feeling of hunger, and submitted Himself as it pleased Him to human nature, both to do and to suffer those things which were…
Read the whole comment - Ambrose of MilanCatena Aurea on Luke
There are three especial weapons which we are taught the devil is wont to arm himself with, that he may wound the soul of man. One is of the appetite, another of boasting, the third ambition. He began with that…
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on Luke
When a father is asked by his son for bread, he does not give him a stone for bread, but the devil like a crafty and deceitful foe gives stones for bread.
Read the whole comment - Basil the GreatCatena Aurea on Luke
He tried to persuade Christ to satisfy His appetite with stones, i. e. to shift his desire from the natural food to that which was beyond nature or unnatural.
Read the whole comment - OrigenCatena Aurea on Luke
I suppose also that even now at this very time the devil shews a stone to men that he may tempt them to speak, saying to them, Command this stone to be made bread. If thou seest the heretics devouring their lying…
Read the whole comment - Basil the GreatCatena Aurea on Luke
But Christ while He vanquishes temptation, banishes not hunger from our nature, as though that were the cause of evils, (which is rather the preservative of life, but confining nature within its proper bounds, shews…
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on Luke
As if He said, Not by bread alone is human nature sustained, but the word of God is sufficient to support the whole nature of man. Such was the food of the Israelites when they gathered manna during the space of…
Read the whole comment - Cyril of AlexandriaCatena Aurea on Luke
Or, our earthly body is nourished by earthly food, but the reasonable soul is strengthened by the Divine Word, to the right ordering of the spirit.
Read the whole comment - Gregory of NazianzusCatena Aurea on Luke
For the body nourishes not our immaterial nature.
Read the whole comment - Gregory of NyssaCatena Aurea on Luke
Virtue then is not sustained by bread, nor by flesh does the soul keep itself in health and vigour, but by other banquets than these is the heavenly life fostered, and increased. The nourishment of the good man is…
Read the whole comment - Ambrose of MilanCatena Aurea on Luke
You see then what kind of arms He uses to defend man against the assaults of spiritual wickedness, and the allurements of the appetite. He does not exert His power as God, (for how had that profited me,) but as man…
Read the whole comment
Cross-references · 14
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.6.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.6.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.6.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.6.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.6.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.6.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.6.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.6.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.6.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.6.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.6.
Cited together in Theophylact of Ohrid on Luke 4:1–4 (2) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Theophylact of Ohrid on Luke 4:1–4 (2) (Catena Aurea).
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.6.
