Commentary on a Harmony of the Evangelists Matthew Mark and Luke John Calvin (continued)
Matthew 4:1-4;Mark 1:12-13;Luke 4:1-4
MATTHEW 4:1-4; MARK 1:12-13; LUKE 4:1-4
Matthew 4:1-4
Mark 1:12-13
Luke 4:1-4
1. Then Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Spirit, that he might be tempted by the devil; 2. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he at length was hungry. 3. And when he who tempteth had approached to him, he said, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones may become loaves. 301 4. But he answering said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceedeth from the mouth of God.
12. And immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness, 13. And he was in the wilderness forty days and forty nights; and was tempted by Satan, and was with the wild beasts. 302
1. And Jesus, full of the Holy Ghost, returnined from Jordan, and was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness. 2. Forty days he was tempted by the devil; and he ate nothing in those days, afterwards he was hungry. 303 3. And the devil said to him, If thou art the Son of God, command this stone that it may become bread. 4. And Jesus replied to him, saying, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
Matthew 4:1. Then Jesus was led. There were two reasons why Christ withdrew into the wilderness. The first was, that, after a fast of forty days, he might come forth as a new man, or rather a heavenly man, to the discharge of his office. The next was, that he might be tried by temptation and undergo an apprenticeship, before he undertook an office so arduous, and so elevated. Let us therefore learn that, by the guidance of the Spirit, Christ withdrew from the crowd of men, in order that he might come forth as the highest teacher of the church, as the ambassador of God, — rather as sent from heaven, than as taken from some town, and from among the 301"Ut lapides hi panes fiant;" — "Que ces pierres devienent pains." 302"Et estoit avec les bestes sauvages." 303"Mais apres qu'ils furent passez, il ent faim;" — "but after that they were past, he was hungry."