Matthew 4:1 (WEB)
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Catechism · 2
The Seven Petitions
“It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the tempter, both at the outset of his public mission and in the ultimate struggle of his agony.” — Catechism footnote: Cf. Mt 4:1-11; 26:36-44.
The Fall
“Scripture witnesses to the disastrous influence of the one Jesus calls "a murderer from the beginning", who would even try to divert Jesus from the mission received from his Father.” — Catechism footnote: Jn 8:44; cf. Mt 4:1-11.
Fathers and councils · 36
Augustine of Hippo
“And done it was; and Thou didst deliver my tongue whence Thou hadst already delivered my heart; and full of joy I blessed Thee for it, and retired with all mine to the villa.” — editor's note: As Christ went into the wilderness after His baptism (Matt. iv. 1), and Paul into Arabia after his conversion (Gal. i. 17), so did Augustin here find in his…
Read the whole comment“But now there was read in the Gospel, how the Lord Jesus Christ in the wilderness was being tempted of the devil.” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 1.
Read the whole comment“Hence our Lord fasted forty days, forty days He was tempted in the desert, and forty days He was with His disciples after His resurrection.” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 1–11.
Read the whole comment“And what else does the Gospel narrative shadow forth under the fast of the Lord Himself, during which forty days He was also tempted of the devil, than that condition of temptation which appertains to us through all the space of this age, and which He bore in the flesh which He condescended to take to…” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 1, 2.
Read the whole comment“And so the account continues, until we come to the words, Then the devil left him: and, behold, angels came and ministered unto Him.”” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 1–11.
Read the whole comment“By these three was the Lord tempted of the devil.” — editor's note: Matt iv. 1–10.
Read the whole comment“…through every entrance to creep into His inward parts, was thrust out, having finished all his alluring temptation in the wilderness after the baptism; because, being dead in the spirit, he forced no entrance into Him who was alive in the spirit, he betook himself, through eagerness for the death of man in any…” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 1–11
Read the whole comment“For He thought it meet also to be tempted by the devil, by whom otherwise He would never have been tempted, just as, had He not been willing, He would never have suffered; and the answers He gave to the devil are such as thou also oughtest to use in times of temptation.” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 1–10.
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John Chrysostom
“Matt. IV. 1.” — the author cites it
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Jerome
“Perchance, mindful of his old trick, he will try to tempt Bonosus with hunger.” — editor's note: Gen. iii. 1–6; Matt. iv. 1–4.
Read the whole comment“That we should believe this to be true of men is nothing wonderful, for even the Lord Himself was tempted, and of Abraham the scripture bears witness that God tempted him.” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 1, sqq.
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Tertullian
“Thereupon the Lord, driven apart into desert places after baptism, showed, by maintaining a fast of forty days, that the man of God lives “not by bread alone,” but “by the word of God;” and that temptations incident to fulness or immoderation of appetite are shattered by abstinence.” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 1–4.
Read the whole comment“…this world as the Creator’s, since the apostle imputes ignorance to them, whereas even the devil according to our Gospel recognised Jesus in the temptation, and, according to the record which is common to both (Marcionites and ourselves) the evil spirit knew that Jesus was the Holy One of God, and that Jesus was…” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 1–11.
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Basil the Great
“He was present when the Lord was being tempted by the devil; for, it is said, “Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted.”” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 1.
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Ambrose of Milan
“For it is written: “Then was Jesus led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.”” — editor's note: S. Matt. iv. 1.
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Gregory of Nazianzus
“…heavens cleft asunder, and witness borne to him by the Spirit That is of one nature with Him; you shall see Him tempted and conquering and served by Angels, and healing every sickness and every disease, and giving life to the dead (O that He would give life to you who are dead because of your heresy), and driving…” — editor's note: Ib. iv. 1–11.
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Leo the Great
“For He conquered the adversary, as ye have heard, by quotations from the law, not by actual strength, that by this very thing He might do greater honour to man, and inflict a greater punishment on the adversary by conquering the enemy of the human race not now as God but as Man.” — editor's note: Ut audistis, viz. in the Gospel for Quadragesima, or the First Sunday in Lent then apparently as now S. Matt. iv. 1–11: cf. Serm. XL. 3.
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Catena Aurea on Matthew
- John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Whoever thou art then that after thy baptism sufferest grievous trials, be not troubled thereat; for this thou receivedst arms, to fight, not to sit idle. God does not hold all trial from us; first, that we may feel…
Read the whole comment - Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea on Matthew
The Devil’s snares are chiefly spread for the sanctified, because a victory over the saints is more desired than over others.
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Matthew
Some doubt what Spirit it was that led Jesus into the desert, for that it is said after, “The Devil took him into the holy city.” But true and without question agreeable to the context is the received opinion, that…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Why did He offer Himself to temptation? That He might be our mediator in vanquishing temptation not by aid only, but by example.
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
He was led by the Holy Spirit, not as an inferior at the bidding of a greater. For we say, “led,” not only of him who is constrained by a stronger than he, but also of him who is induced by reasonable persuasion; as…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
“Led,” not against His will, or as a prisoner, but as by a desire for the conflict.
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
The Devil comes against men to tempt them, but since He could not come against Christ, therefore Christ came against the Devil.
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Matthew
We should know that there are three modes of temptation; suggestion, delight, and consent; and we when we are tempted commonly fall into delight or consent, because being born of the sin of the flesh, we bear with us…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
The Devil is wont to be most urgent with temptation, when he sees us solitary; thus it was in the beginning he tempted the woman when he found her without the man, and now too the occasion is offered to the Devil, by…
Read the whole comment - Glossa OrdinariaCatena Aurea on Matthew
This desert is that between Jerusalem and Jericho, where the robbers used to resort. It is called Hammaim, i.e. ‘of blood,’ from the bloodshed which these robbers caused there; hence the man was said (in the parable)…
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
Not Christ only is led into the desert by the Spirit, but also all the sons of God who have the Holy Spirit. For they are not content to sit idle, but the Holy Spirit stirs them to take up some great work, i.e. to go…
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
But that you may learn how great a good is fasting, and what a mighty shield against the Devil, and that after baptism you ought to give attention to fasting and not to lusts, therefore Christ fasted, not Himself…
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
And to fix the measure of our quadragesimal fast, be fasted forty days and forty nights.
Read the whole comment - John ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
But He exceeded not the measure of Moses and Elias, lest it should bring into doubt the reality of His assumption of the flesh.
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Matthew
The Creator of all things took no food whatever during forty days. We also, at the season of Lent as much as in us lies afflict our flesh by abstinence. The number forty is preserved, because the virtue of the…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Otherwise; The sum of all wisdom is to be acquainted with the Creator and the creature. The Creator is the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; the creature is partly invisible, - as the soul to which we assign a…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Matthew
Not however because Christ fasted immediately after having received baptism, are we to suppose that He established a rule to be observed, that we should fast immediately after His baptism. But when the conflict with…
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
The Lord knew the thoughts of the Devil, that he sought to tempt Him; he had heard that Christ had been born into this world with the preaching of Angels, the witness of shepherds, the inquiry of the Magi, and the…
Read the whole comment - Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea on Matthew
He was “an hungred,” not during the forty days, but after them. Therefore when the Lord hungred, it was not that the effects of abstinence then first came upon Him, but that His humanity was left to its own strength.…
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Cross-references · 13
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.12.
Cited together in Catechism §394.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.12.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.12.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.12.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.12.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.12.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.12.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.12.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.12.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.12.
Cited together in Catechism §394.
Cited together in On the Holy Spirit I.12.