Matthew 4:3 (WEB)
The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”
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 · 38
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“For, when tempting Him, he said, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 3.
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Tertullian
“…of the very Scriptures, out of which he was at the moment forging his temptation: “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 3.
Read the whole comment“Satan likewise knew Him to be this in his temptations: “Since Thou art the Son of God.”” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 3, 6.
Read the whole comment“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“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“…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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Athanasius of Alexandria
“This also the father of the Arian heresy asked as one of his first questions; ‘If Thou be the Son of God;’ for he knew that this is the truth and the sovereign principle of our faith; and that, if He were Himself the Son, the tyranny of the devil would have its…” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 3.
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John Cassian
- John Cassian, Conferences I–X V.4Conference V
“For the first Adam could not have fallen a victim to gluttony unless he had had material food at hand, and had used it wrongly, nor could the second Adam be tempted without the enticement of some object, when it was said to Him: “If Thou art the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”” — editor's note: S. Matt. iv. 3.
Read the whole comment - John Cassian, Conferences XVIII–XXIV XXIV.17Conference XXIV
“…seek the power of the present life and the kingdoms of this world; the reasonable part when he said: “If Thou art the Son of God cast Thyself down from hence.”” — editor's note: S. Matt. iv. 3, 6.
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Augustine of Hippo
“I know, too, that Esau was deceived by a longing for lentiles, and that David took blame to himself for desiring water, and that our King was tempted not by flesh but bread.” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 3.
Read the whole comment“…temptation of the Lord Man was threefold: by food, that is, by the lust of the flesh, where it is suggested, “command these stones that they be made bread:” by vain boasting, where, when stationed on a mountain, all the kingdoms of this earth are shown Him, and promised if He would worship: by curiosity, where,…” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 3.
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 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“When then He was an hungred as ye know, the tempter said to Him, “If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 3.
Read the whole comment“But after that temptation, when, as Scripture says, He was ministered to by the angels who are good and holy, and therefore objects of terror to the impure spirits, He revealed more and more distinctly to the demons how great He…” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 3–11.
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
“Thus, after He was an hungered, it is said, “The tempter came, and said unto Him, If Thou be Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 3.
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Ambrose of Milan
“Further, the devil himself hurled the first dart of his temptations from the quiver of pleasure, saying: “If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”” — editor's note: S. Matt. iv. 3.
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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“…obeying his belly and not God, was cast down from paradise into this vale of tears; and why Satan used hunger to tempt the Lord Himself in the wilderness; and why the apostle cries: “Meats for the belly and the belly for meats, but God shall destroy both it and them;” and why he speaks of the self-indulgent as…” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 2, 3.
Read the whole comment“And yet after the Saviour had fasted forty days, it was through food that the old enemy laid a snare for him, saying, “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.”” — editor's note: Matt. iv. 3.
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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.
Read the whole comment“…a sign of possible and mortal nature, in order to test the power which he feared, said, “If Thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.”” — editor's note: S. Matt. iv. 3.
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Hippolytus of Rome
“As John says these things to the multitude, and as the people watch in eager expectation of seeing some strange spectacle with their bodily eyes, and the devil is struck with amazement at such a testimony from John, lo, the Lord appears, plain, solitary, uncovered, without escort, having on Him the body of man like a…” — editor's note: It was a common opinion among the ancient theologians that the devil was ignorant of the mystery of the economy, founding on such passages as Matt. iv. 3, 1…
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Catena Aurea on Matthew
- Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Matthew
If we observe the successive steps of the temptation, we shall be able to estimate by how much we are freed from temptation. The old enemy tempted the first man through his belly, when he persuaded him to eat of the…
Read the whole comment - Ambrose of MilanCatena Aurea on Matthew
He begins with that which had once been the means of his victory, the palate; “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves.” What means such a beginning as this, but that he knew that the Son…
Read the whole comment - Hilary of PoitiersCatena Aurea on Matthew
And therefore in the temptation he makes a proposal of such a double kind by which His divinity would be made known by the miracle of the transformation, the weakness of the man deceived by the delight of food.
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
But thou art caught, O Enemy, in a dilemma. If these stones can be made bread at His word, your temptation is vain against one so mighty. If He cannot make them bread, your suspicions that this is the Son of God must…
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
But as the Devil blinds all men, so is he now invisibly made blind by Christ. He found Him “an hungred” at the end of forty days, and knew not that He had continued through those forty without being hungry. When he…
Read the whole comment - JeromeCatena Aurea on Matthew
Christ’s purpose was to vanquish by humility;
Read the whole comment - Leo the GreatCatena Aurea on Matthew
hence he opposed the adversary rather by testimonies out of the Law, than by miraculous powers; thus at the same time giving more honour to man, and more disgrace to the adversary, when the enemy of the human race…
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Matthew
So the Lord when tempted by the Devil answered only with precepts of Holy Writ, and He who could have drowned His tempter in the abyss, displayed not the might of His power; giving us an example, that when we suffer…
Read the whole comment - Pseudo-ChrysostomCatena Aurea on Matthew
He said not, ‘I live not,’ but, “Man doth not live by bread alone,” that the Devil might still ask, “If thou be the Son of God.” If He be God, it is as though He shunned to display what He had power to do; if man, it…
Read the whole comment - Rabanus MaurusCatena Aurea on Matthew
This verse is quoted from Deuteronomy. [margin note: c. 8. 3] Whoso then feeds not on the Word of God, he lives not; as the body of man cannot live without earthly food, so cannot his soul without God’s word. This…
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Cross-references · 32
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.6.
Cited together in Against Heresies V.21.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.6 and 1 other place.
Cited together in Against Heresies V.21.
Cited together in Against Heresies V.21.
Cited together in Against Heresies IV.6.
Cited together in Sermons on New Testament Lessons Sermon 73.
Cited together in Sermons on New Testament Lessons Sermon 73.
Cited together in Sermons on New Testament Lessons Sermon 73.
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 Catechism §394 and 1 other place.
Cited together in Sermons on New Testament Lessons Sermon 73.
Cited together in Against Praxeas Chapter 1.
Cited together in Sermons Sermon 40.
Cited together in Catechism §394.
Cited together in Against Heresies V.21.
Cited together in Against Heresies V.21 and 1 other place.
Cited together in Conferences XVIII–XXIV XXIV.17.
Cited together in Conferences XVIII–XXIV XXIV.17.
Cited together in Conferences XVIII–XXIV XXIV.17.
Cited together in Conferences I–X V.4.
Cited together in Against Heresies V.21.
Cited together in Against Praxeas Chapter 1.