The Ecology of the New Testament by Bredin Mark;Bauckham Richard;

Author:Bredin, Mark;Bauckham, Richard; [Bredin, Mark]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
Published: 2014-01-30T00:00:00+00:00

Temptation and Evil

Jesus acknowledges that humanity can be led into the power of the evil one through temptation, especially temptation associated with suffering, which can lead humans to disobey and curse God and thus become servants of evil. Jesus himself had struggled with temptation associated with suffering in the wilderness and throughout his ministry. But despite this he trusted God and was thus delivered from evil.

Jesus experienced great temptation on account of his suffering in the wilderness. At the heart of the Devil’s modus operandi was to lead Jesus to be tempted by worldly success. This is reflected in the three temptations Jesus experienced but that the Gospels make clear he did not succumb to, either in the wilderness or in his ministry.

Similarly, Jesus, while waiting in Gethsemane to be delivered into the hands of Judas and the authorities, prayed to avoid the sufferings of humiliation, beatings, betrayal, and painful death that he knew were about to come upon him (Matthew 26:39). But the narrative tells us that Jesus did not give in and flee from the suffering that his faithfulness to God was leading him toward. Jesus was tempted but was not delivered into the hands of evil.

Jesus is also tempted by Peter (Matthew 16:23). Peter wants success, and this desire leads him to evil and to doubt Jesus’s understanding of God’s way. We find in Matthew 16:26 Jesus instructing his disciples: “For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?” Jesus teaches how mad it is to give one’s life to gain profit in money and success. The nature of temptation is to lead people to want these things. Carter writes, “ To invest oneself in maintaining or increasing power, wealth, and status, even to the point of owning the world, is loss because it is not the means of participating in God’s purposes now or in the eschaton.”9

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus urges his disciples to pray to be delivered from the evil one. We must observe that Jesus doesn’t teach his disciples to pray to be delivered from temptation or suffering. They are to pray to their heavenly Father to have the strength to face the temptations and sufferings that lead to distrusting God. Jesus teaches his disciples to acknowledge their inability to resist the evil one and thereby rely on God.

The disciples in following Jesus reject the way of the world with its temptations to remove suffering by succumbing to greed and self-interest. The disciples in following Jesus would indeed face temptation because they would expect suffering through confronting a world that hated Jesus. This is what Jesus means when he says, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me” (Matthew 16:24). Jesus is saying that God will lead the faithful through times of temptation so that healing to the world can occur through faithfulness. We pray,

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