Martin Luther was credited with the following phrase: “You can’t blame a man if a bird flies over his head. But if that same bird nests there, is it something else?He was talking about temptation. This same Luther, on another occasion, said that his “attempts were his greatest teachers in theology”.
Why did you have such an understanding?Temptation, in a garden. In an environment of fullness, integral relations, communion and beauty, the curse, contradictions, fears and insecurities produced by sin did not yet exist in the world, humanity did not yet have the reality of sin and the alienation of God, produced by him. makes us understand that Luther was right. Temptation precedes sin, precedes sin. Most of the time it generates sin.
But being tempted is not a sin, and what is temptation?
Temptation is a test. This is a test. The word? Peirasmos?/?Did you comb it? It offers the meaning of the test. Take a test experience to demonstrate or reveal someone’s character and integrity (Ap 2. 2. Gen 22. 1?Abraham is tested by God. ) But there is a meaning, perhaps better known, in which temptation is provocation, incitement to sin, intentional, intentional and even malicious transgression.
There is, therefore, in the teaching of Scripture this sense of seduction, of conviction, of argumentation, of distorted rhetoric, of sofisma. Temptation is a kind of sophysma. It is the use of rational, logical, and certain sense of transgression, disobedience, and sin.
Temptation will often arise with some elements of truth, with some elements of justice, with some elements of legitimacy. Many of the mistakes and sins we make are due to this evil argument, that the devil undertakes or that we develop ourselves, in a kind of soliloquie, in a process of self-agreement, in which we leave room for some of our most primitive but fundamental impulses, to develop without imposing the necessary restriction or in an illegitimate environment. : gluttony, sex, anger, envy, are born of unbridled and unbridled greed.
The scriptures also teach that temptation has three main sources: the devil, the environment, and the very heart of man.
The devil appears as the first tempter of man, precisely in the account of Genesis, of Moses, when he tested Eve and Adam, who succumbed to temptation, gave birth to sin and introduced him to human experience and humanity’s relationship with God. for this reason, the devil became known as “tempting. “
John says that everything in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and the vainglory of life, comes not from the Father, but from the world.
James says (1. 13, 14) that man is tempted by his own greed. Jesus also taught that evil designs and all kinds of sins flow from the heart of man.
We must learn to fight and overcome temptation. Milton, in his lost paradise, said, Then the temptation you do not seek:
Avoiding it is better: it’s almost certain to escape if you run away
Jesus Himself teaches us that we should pray to God and ask Him to “not let us fall into temptation. “The fight against temptation is also a struggle for sanctification and a lesson in humility and self-know-how.
Sanctification because when we overcome temptation, we also overcome sin. We are strengthened against the strength of the flesh, the strength of sin, the strength of the tempter and this world. Sometimes we walk against a kind of “push” similar to those produced by the aircraft turbine Do we need to fight these forces?and, thank God, as we see in the magnificent and creative example given by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 6, we are equipped with true armor to fight the strength of sin. .
But it is also a lesson in humility and self-awareness because, when we fight temptation, we learn to know and respect our limits. We all have “blind spots”, we all have the “Achilles heel”, this area of living where we fail the most, where we hesitate more, where we are more insecure, more likely to make mistakes, to fail. With Eve it was the desire to “be like God” was the desire to “know good and evil. “With some of us, it will be lust, desire for power or money, anger, pride, insecurity, discouragement, and discouragement, anyway, anything?Pulling the trigger, and knowing what it is, knowing the color of the bird that passes over our heads, will be of immense help to learn to escape, to deviate, to dodge, to fight. Was Sun Tzu right to say we should meet our enemy?especially if this enemy is our own heart. In fact, Jeremiah said this even before Sun Tzu was born: “The heart is hopelessly corrupt. “
We have the example of Jesus, who faced and overcame temptation. However, unlike us, he could not be tempted by “his greed” because he did not have it. But Scripture says that it was “tested in everything, but without sin” (Heb 2:18 and 4:15).
Does Matthew 4. 1-11 record the main but not unique episode of Jesus’ temptation?The parallels between the temptation of Jesus and the temptation of God’s people in the wilderness are too numerous to ignore. It’s a great passage and he tells us a lot, about Jesus.
We have to be careful, first of all, that he was hungry and didn’t eat for 40 days. Not that I’m hungry after 40 days, he spent 40 days starving. If we go 12 hours without eating, we are hungry, Jesus spent 960 hours without eating anything. He was hungry, weakened, warm by day and cold at night. Suddenly the Son of God, who had received his Father’s blessing at baptism, was sent by the same Spirit who sealed the Father’s words: “This is my beloved son” in the wilderness, where he was tempted every day; his temptation was daily and constant.
Satan, then, by his standard, as he had done with Eve when he said ” you could not eat all the fruits’, now less questioning Jesus’ affiliation, knew that Jesus knew that he was the son of God. , but challenges Jesus’ rights as a child. Something like, “Since you are the son of God, you have the right to turn these stones into bread. “Much of the sin for which you and I are tempted also has to do with the sense of law that we believe we have.
But here Satan is trying to tempt Jesus in what was at the heart of his mission. In fact he used it: Jesus is the son of God and he is entitled above all that was created and has the power to turn the stone into bread, but his mission involved the need to empty himself, to renounce his prerogatives, divine power, to subject the use of his power to the will of the Father, for the fulfillment of his redeeming mission. If Jesus succumbed to the first temptation, His mission would be compromised and fail. He could claim his rights at any time. But he didn’t. For the love of us. For the love of your commitment to the Father and the Spirit, to carry our burdens on your back and suffer our pain. Christ needed to learn obedience through suffering (Hebrews 3:5). How does Jesus respond? With the Palabra. De fact, all of Jesus’ answers are found in Deuteronomy 6-8 (6. 13, 6. 16, and 8. 13).
In a second moment, Satan uses Psalm 91. 11,12 to retest Jesus’ affiliation. He is a son and must be protected by God. Jesus’ interpretation of the Word is accurate here (and helps us see that the Bible should never contradict and that interpretation is important). Deuteronomy 6. 16 was Jesus’ response. Jesus reminds us that Scripture forbids testing God. The Israelites did it in the desert when they asked for water. For Jesus (and Israel), it would be a sin to demand God’s protection as proof of his love and care.
Satan then shows the splendor of the world. This shows that Christ is right, out of kinship: but here is one thing, one trap: there is no cross. Actually, Peter makes the same proposal, doesn’t he, remember Jesus’ reaction?The price was to violate, the commandment that requires God’s exclusive worship. Now Christ quotes 6. 13 and reminds us that worship is due only to God.
He refused to process stone and bread and was fed; he refused to throw himself out of the Temple and was assisted by angels. refused to abandon the cross and is now on its way and begins his ministry. It was the beginning of Jesus’ temptations, but he treated them all and overcame them all. As D. Carson recalls, “Jesus was hungry, but he fed others; he was weak, but it is rest for those who run towards him; He is the king of the universe, but he pays homage to Caesar; it’s called devil but demon hunt; he suffers the death of a sinner to save his people from their sins; it’s curse to bless. He doesn’t turn stone into bread, but makes his body bread for us.
Adam was in an orchard full of fruit, well fed, and stopped eating it. Irenea calls the victory of Jesus where Adam has not been able to recap. He triumphed so that we too could succeed.
Jesus’ experience in the wilderness should help us face temptation and recognize some of his models:?We will be tempted, especially when we are weak – we will be tempted, appealing to our sense of rights – we will be tempted to distort the word of God.
But the Apostle Paul teaches us that we can overcome temptations (1:10:13). The Christian has an example in Christ and someone who knows what it is to be tempted. There is someone in Christ who has overcome temptations and sins so that if we fail, we will find in him restoration and forgiveness (1 John 1. 9)
By: Tiago Santos. © 2016 Tiago Santos
© 2016 Faithful Ministérium. All rights reserved. Website: MinistryFiel. com. br. Original: Temptation: how to overcome it?
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