Biblical Wisdom
If You Are
The first temptation in Matthew starts by putting a condition on something God said one verse earlier.
Scripture Matthew 4:1–4 · Matthew 3:17
At the end of Matthew 3 a voice from heaven says it plainly. This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
The next verse begins with then. Jesus is led into the wilderness, goes forty days without food, and the first words the tempter speaks are: If You are the Son of God.
The subject is bread, but bread is only the occasion. The temptation opens by attaching a condition to something God had just said out loud, and asks for a demonstration to settle it.
Jesus proves nothing. He quotes Deuteronomy and leaves the if where it is.
A good deal of temptation still arrives in that shape. Not an obvious invitation to do wrong, but a small doubt about what you were told you are, and the suggestion that you had better prove it.
Scripture in English is from the Berean Standard Bible, placed in the public domain by its publisher on 30 April 2023.