Jesus and His temptations

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I know Jesus was tempted in the desert and I believe scripture says He was tempted several times and the ones talked about are more of just the main ones I guess.

Now I know being tempted is not a sin in itself, but something in me is a little frightened at the thought of Jesus being tempted. Like, how could Jesus even think about or consider doing something evil? Although He never did, the fact that He may have wanted to scares me for some reason.
 
Whenever the devil tempts us he makes it appear that we will receive some good by doing bad. He never tells us that we will end up sinning and in sorrow for our sins. Jesus could see the good in Satan’s temptations, but he knew that the ends do not justify the means, no matter how good the results might appear to be at the moment.

Each time Jesus refuted the argument that he would receive something good from doing something bad by citing Scripture and relying, as a man, on the Holy Spirit within him to see through the wiles of the devil to his real goal–which was to get the Second Adam to fall into sin as the first Adam did, thus ensuring that mankind would not be redeemed and saved. Jesus, being both God and man, could not be fooled nor ever give into such blandishments, but the devil still had to try and Jesus still had to let him try so that we could be certain that Jesus was who he claimed to be and that he would experience all that we do except without sin.
 
Della,

I agree with what you have said for the most part, but temptation is basically desire or wanting to gravitate toward something evil and sinful. Even if it was the devil himself tempting Jesus, I dont think he approached Jesus with claws and teeth, but more sparking desire in Jesus to do evil. That part of Jesus maybe desiring to do evil is a scary thought in a way, because Jesus is God and God is all that is good- how could He even considered it for a second?

The part I disagree with in you post, is that there was good in Satans temptations. It was all based on pride and selfishness, definitely not good things.
 
All temptations contain something that we want, but by taking a shortcut or by not doing what we know we should do. That is the nature of temptation. Only those who are depraved love evil for the sake of evil. We are not totally depraved, but fallen. That is the difference. We simply are not able to always see the pitfalls in our decisions and actions, which is why we need the Church and the Holy Spirit acting within us to keep us from doing bad things.

Ask your pastor if what I have written about temptation is right or not. Jesus never could/would have desired anything evil. And Satan didn’t tempt him by appealing to any desire for evil but rather tried to get Jesus to do things that a fallen man might think good to get what he wanted–or at least what Satan thought Jesus would want, such as power, glory and the praise of men. But Jesus knew that his way led to the cross before he could claim the crown.

We fall to temptations not because we want what is evil but because we think we are going to get what we want sooner/easier by doing what is wrong. Think about it and pray about it and I believe you’ll see that this is what temptation is.
 
Thanks for elaborating, and it makes much, much more sense that way.

Just one question between depraved and fallen though. Say a person knows what their sinful actions lead to, because theyve done those things before, but fall into that sin again? Would this make the person depraved since they know where their actions would lead and acted upon them out of selfishness anyway? Surely the person mustve realized there was no real good in the sin the first time, so by the second time did they act for love of evil for the sake of loving evil?

I realize that was slightly off the main thread topic but I believe its indirectly relevant.
 
It depends on the circumstances. Some people have fallen into bad/evil habits that can be hard to break. In such cases their culpability is lessened because it’s become habitual and hard to stop, such as gambling and other such vices. Oftentimes we think we will receive what we want even though we know we won’t–it’s part of having a fallen nature to fall into the same old traps again and again. We need patience with ourselves and others in such cases. As long as we intend to do good and are working at it, in time we do learn to give up our old habits because we reform our minds and hearts by being renewed by the truth. This is where regular confession is particularly needed.
 
Fulton Sheen says that Satan was not 100% sure that Jesus was the Christ, that’s why he kept saying, “IF” you are the Son of God…" Fulton Sheen also explained that the temptations of Jesus were all from the outside, unlike us who struggles from the inside, and it was in His humanity that He suffered temptation, not in His Divinity. He had to be subject to all the things common to man, so that we would know we have a God who understands. He also said that Jesus was being tempted AWAY from the cross. Satan was trying to get Jesus to succumb to His desire for His people and win popularity. But Jesus came to save souls. What good would it have done us if Jesus became a be a “bread king,” filling peoples bellies but not saving their souls? What good would it have done the people He wanted to save if he wooed them with miracles but would not redeem them? What good would it have done for lost souls if Jesus became ruler of the world, yet left us dead in our sin?

Jesus was not capable of sin but in light of the great love and desire He had for His people, these temptations were very real. Of course, Jesus could not do anything other than the will of His Father but it does not mean that He couldn’t have considered His options for a brief moment. Even in the Agony in the Garden Jesus wrestled with His humanity saying, “Father, if it is possible, take this cup from me.” His Divinity wanted to suffer but His humanity shrank at the idea of such great agony. We know how it all ends…
 
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