spirit, that is, something unseen, that is not of the flesh.” John said: "Till now, the prophets have told you that the kingdom of heaven will come; but I tell you, it is already come. That you may enter it, you must live the new life, and cast off the errors of the old life. I can only purify you outwardly; the spirit within you can alone purify you." This is the teaching to which Jesus Christ listened. "The kingdom of God is come, but before we can enter it, we must be purified by the spirit within us."

And, in this way, filled with the spirit, Jesus Christ goes into the wilderness, that he may be tried and proved in the spirit.

VI. TEMPTATION OF JESUS IN THE WILDERNESS

Luke iv. 1: ̓Ιησοῦς δὲ Πνεύματος ̓Αγίου πλήρης ὑπέστρεψεν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ιορδάνου· καὶ ἤγετο ἐν τῷ Πνεύματι εἰς τὴν ἔρημον.1

2: ̔Ημέρας τεσσαράκοντα, πειρα ζόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου.2

Then Jesus, filled with the spirit, went up from Jordan into the wilderness.

And the tempter tried him.

1. In Luke it is said, καὶ ἤγετο ἐν τῷ Πνεύματι εἰς τὴν ἔρημον, but in the oldest copies we read, ἐν τῇ épnu; from which it is plain that Jesus, being in the same spirit in which he was when he went up from Jordan, spent forty days in the wilderness. It is true that in Matthew it is said, ἀνήχθη εἰς . . . ὑπὸ τοῦ eis TVеúμатоs, He was carried by the spirit; and in Mark we read, καὶ τὸ πνεύμα ἐκβάλλε αὐτὸν εἰς τὴν ἔρημον, The spirit brought him into the wilderness. Luke recon

ciles the two versions, and says, He was filled with the spirit, and in this spirit he spent forty days in the wilderness.

2. Διάβολος I translate the tempter, to preserve the true meaning of the word, as distinct from the generally received idea of the devil.

1. I omit the word ῥήματι, since it is not found in the Hebrew text. These words are taken from Deut. viii. 3, and the context explains their meaning, as may be seen from the following translation:

"Remember the path by which the Eternal One led you through the wilderness for forty years, that he might humble you, try you, and know whether you observed his commandments. He humbled you, and tormented you with hunger, and fed you with manna of which neither you nor your fathers knew, that he might teach you how man lives, not by bread alone, but by all that proceeds from the mouth of God. Your garments did not wear out all these forty years, and your feet did not swell. Know, then, that your eternal God watched over you, even as a father watches over his son" (Deut. viii. 2–5).

1. In Luke we have here the word ort, because; and Jesus says, “I do not throw myself down, because it is written: Thou shalt not tempt the Lord.""

2. 'Eкπеiρáσεis signifies literally, shalt question by

torture; but in connection with the passage in Exodus (xvii. 2, 7) from which it is taken, it signifies here: shalt mistrust :—

The people began to murmur against Moses, because there was no water. And Moses addressed himself to the Lord. And the Lord bade him come near the rock in Horeb, and smite it with his rod, so that water might come out of it, and the people might drink. And he called the name of the place Massah-Meribah, because the people mistrusted the Lord, saying, Is Jehovah for us or against us?”

Luke iv. 5: Καὶ ἀναγαγὼν αὐτὸν And the tempter led him up ὁ διάβολος εἰς ὄρος ὑψηλὸν, ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ πάσας τὰς βασιλείας τῆς οἰκουμένης 1 ἐν στιγμῇ χρόνου

6: Καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ διάβολος Σοὶ δώσω τὴν ἐξουσίαν ταύτην ἅπασαν καὶ τὴν δόξαν αὐτῶν· ὅτι ἐμοὶ παραδέδοται, καὶ ᾧ ἐὰν θέλω, δίδωμι αὐτήν.

to the top of a high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in the twinkling of an eye.

And he said to him: I will give thee all this sovereignty and their glory, for they have been given over to me, and to whom I will I give them.

1. Οἰκουμένος, inhabited. The word earth is understood, and we must translate, all the peoples living on the earth.

Luke iv. 7 : Σὺ οὖν ἐὰν προσκυ νήσῃς ἐνώπιόν μου, ἔσται σου πάντα.

If thou wilt worship me, all shall be thine.

Then Jesus answered and said: Avaunt, (evil spirit,) enemy: for it is written, Honour thy God,

8: Καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς αὐτῷ εἶπεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς· Ὕπαγε ὀπίσω μου, Σατανα1 γέγραπται γάρ Προσκυνήσεις Κύριον τὸν θεόν σου, καὶ and work for him alone (Deut. αὐτῷ μόνῷ λατρεύσεις.

vi. 13).

1. Satan: a word having a definite meaning. In Hebrew it signifies an enemy, and I have so translated it.

2. Aатρеúw, I work for hire. The meaning of this word, very seldom used, and only once employed in this sense, is of great importance. It does not mean I serve, or I work, in our sense of the word; but I work for a reward; that is, "I work unwillingly, with effort; not for the sake of the work itself, but with some other aim."

Luke iv. 13: Καὶ συντελέσας πάντα πειρασμὸν ὁ διάβολος, ἀπέστη ἀπ ̓ αὐτοῦ ἄχρι καιροῦ.

Matt. iv. 11 : Καὶ ἰδοὺ, ἄγγελοι 1 προσῆλθον, καὶ διηκόνουν αὐτῷ.

Then the tempter departed from him for a while,

And the power of God came upon him, and served him.

1. As by the word ayyeλos is understood a messenger, God's messenger, I have translated it, the power of God.

Luke iv. 14: Καὶ ὑπέστρεψεν ὁ And Jesus returned in power ̓Ιησοῦς ἐν τῇ δυνάμει τοῦ Πνεύματος of spirit to Galilee. εἰς τὴν Γαλιλαίαν

The whole story of the Temptation is particularly deserving of attention, inasmuch as it has always been. a stumbling-block to Church commentators: the very idea of God being tempted by God is an inherent difficulty in the narrative, from which there is no escape.

I transcribe at length, and word for word, the Archimandrite Michael's commentary on this episode in the life of Christ :