Why did Satan try to tempt Jesus?

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Nelka said:
Arrogance or desperation?

Thanks.
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I remember listening to talk on CAL and he kinda said there is no one answer to this question, but he seemed to lean toward the idea that Satan didn’t know if he was the Son of God or just another profit.

Seems like a reasonable answer to me, because I agree with you. Knowing he is the Son of God, Satan would have already known he was going to fail, therefore any testing would have to be out of desperation.
 
Nelka said:
Arrogance or desperation?

Thanks.
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Hmmm… That’s a good question. Well, Satan **is **arguably not a perfectly logical being (or else he would have sided with God). Like C.S. Lewis’ pointed out by example “The Screwtape Letters,” demons would have to practice a form of self-deception (or else they wouldn’t be demons). Evil is ultimately, in the end, not just a wrong position, but an illogical one. So perhaps he had deluded himself to the point where he thought there was a possibility of success, just like he apparently believes he can win in the end somehow. 🤷

So… My answer – Insanity/Evil.
 
FractalFire said:
Hmmm… That’s a good question. Well, Satan **is **arguably not a perfectly logical being (or else he would have sided with God). Like C.S. Lewis’ pointed out by example “The Screwtape Letters,” demons would have to practice a form of self-deception (or else they wouldn’t be demons). Evil is ultimately, in the end, not just a wrong position, but an illogical one. So perhaps he had deluded himself to the point where he thought there was a possibility of success, just like he apparently believes he can win in the end somehow. 🤷

So… My answer – Insanity/Evil.
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I like your answer. 🙂

I’m wondering if perhaps it was also to show us that was tempted by him just as we are. It was part of sharing our humanity.
 
roseofshannon said:
I like your answer. 🙂

I’m wondering if perhaps it was also to show us that was tempted by him just as we are. It was part of sharing our humanity.
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Thanks!

I think there’s actually a possibility that’s the case, but then it would be a clever gambit on God’s part to trick him, so Satan’s actual personal motivation would have to stem from another source. (Assuming God didn’t just force him to do it, but that seems to defeat the point entirely, in addition to messing up free-will, so…)
 
Jesus was fully human and fully God. He was tempted for the same reason he was baptized to set an example for the rest of us. It’s human nature to feel it’s “unfair” at times when we are tempted but comforting to know we can overcome temptation because Jesus showed us the way.

It’s like during the passion Christ allowed Simon of Cyrene to carry his cross in order to show us that we all have crosses and it’s OK for others to help carry them. Jesus could have carried that cross and could have called upon Angels to do it, but he allowed himself to be frail, suffer and others to share the burden.
 
As for Satan he is the anti-saint of evil loss causes. He had to roll the dice and had he won the world would be vastly different and ugly. I’m sure he made multiply plays at all the disciples and obviously continues to do so with their successors today.

This is why I feel it’s important to pray for the pope everyday because evil is constantly gunning for him as he is the biggest target alive on the planet.
 
WT1 said:
As for Satan he is the anti-saint of evil loss causes. He had to roll the dice and had he won the world would be vastly different and ugly. I’m sure he made multiply plays at all the disciples and obviously continues to do so with their successors today.

This is why I feel it’s important to pray for the pope everyday because evil is constantly gunning for him as he is the biggest target alive on the planet.
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IDK about that, satan was cast down to earth (with us), and not to hell, so I guess the question is, why would God send someone who tried to overthrow heaven, down to run amuck in his creation?
 
Jesus tried to warn everyone of satan, and how he is defeated to the absolute corest ability that he is able to be… satan is defeated once and for all, thats why jesus’s responses were so great when he said them, thats why he had the confidence he had when he said them and thats why he automatically through his divine godly nature said them when he said them becuase he and the father and the holy spirit are one, just as is the body of christ one to the father the son and the holy spirit. thank you, enjoy yourselves, Jacob in Christs name I am , amen.
 
I think satan felt that since Jesus had a human nature, He was weakened enough to fall into sin. If that happened, the devil would triumph over God.
 
truetofaith said:
I think satan felt that since Jesus had a human nature, He was weakened enough to fall into sin. If that happened, the devil would triumph over God.
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Doesn’t that conflict with the Christian belief that Jesus is fully man and fully God? :confused: You seem to be thinking here that He is some sort of mixture that has thereby lost some of the powers of God.
 
jesus didn’t have any sort of “powers”, you can call them that, “powers” but his power is really his divinity in God, which is powerful and almighty, thats the difference.
 
FractalFire said:
Doesn’t that conflict with the Christian belief that Jesus is fully man and fully God? :confused: You seem to be thinking here that He is some sort of mixture that has thereby lost some of the powers of God.
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I 'm not thinking that…I said satan was thinking it.
 
Perhaps Satan was trying to see if Jesus was the Christ. Satan is not omniscient.
 
Just a thought that came in reading through these answers;

I once read where it was stated that Jesus was up against two fronts. One being the ignorant fallen nature of man in trying to convey who He was and the other being the cunning one of Satan who was attempting to make Him fail on His mission. Our Lord apparently only used His divinity to teach who He was and never to aid Himself in the multiple confrontational human situations He encountered in His human life. The old question we’ve heard, 'Why didn’t He just fix everything at the snap of His finger?"

He came into the world to take on our human fallen nature in order to fully rectify its condition, mainly restoring our loss of Sanctifying Grace. However, that may have entailed that He fully experience all that there is to our “fallen nature” and thus He never used His divinity in that sense to mitigate its essence. But Satan knowing it could be fouled up if He did…tried to tempt Him to do so…to use His divinity, which He failed to do by himself or even in influencing those around Him to make Him fail a la dissenters, Pilate, demons, etc.
 
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