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Objection 1: It would seem that it was not becoming for Christ to
be tempted. For to tempt is to make an experiment, which is not done
save in regard to something unknown. But the power of Christ was
known even to the demons; for it is written (Lk. 4:41) that
"He suffered them not to speak, for they knew that He was
Christ." Therefore it seems that it was unbecoming for Christ to be
tempted.
Objection 2: Further, Christ was come in order to destroy the
works of the devil, according to 1 Jn. 3:8: "For this purpose
the Son of God appeared, that He might destroy the works of the
devil." But it is not for the same to destroy the works of a certain
one and to suffer them. Therefore it seems unbecoming that Christ
should suffer Himself to be tempted by the devil.
Objection 3: Further, temptation is from a threefold
source---the flesh, the world, and the devil. But Christ was not
tempted either by the flesh or by the world. Therefore neither should
He have been tempted by the devil.
On the contrary, It is written (Mt. 4:1): "Jesus was led by
the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil."
I answer that, Christ wished to be tempted; first that He might
strengthen us against temptations. Hence Gregory says in a homily
(xvi in Evang.): "It was not unworthy of our Redeemer to wish to
be tempted, who came also to be slain; in order that by His
temptations He might conquer our temptations, just as by His death
He overcame our death."
Secondly, that we might be warned, so that none, however holy, may
think himself safe or free from temptation. Wherefore also He wished
to be tempted after His baptism, because, as Hilary says (Super
Matth., cap. iii.): "The temptations of the devil assail those
principally who are sanctified, for he desires, above all, to
overcome the holy. Hence also it is written (Ecclus. 2): Son,
when thou comest to the service of God, stand in justice and in fear,
and prepare thy soul for temptation."
Thirdly, in order to give us an example: to teach us, to wit, how
to overcome the temptations of the devil. Hence Augustine says (De
Trin. iv) that Christ "allowed Himself to be tempted" by the
devil, "that He might be our Mediator in overcoming temptations,
not only by helping us, but also by giving us an example."
Fourthly, in order to fill us with confidence in His mercy. Hence
it is written (Heb. 4:15): "We have not a high-priest, who
cannot have compassion on our infirmities, but one tempted in all
things like as we are, without sin."
Reply to Objection 1: As Augustine says (De Civ. Dei ix):
"Christ was known to the demons only so far as He willed; not as the
Author of eternal life, but as the cause of certain temporal
effects," from which they formed a certain conjecture that Christ was
the Son of God. But since they also observed in Him certain signs
of human frailty, they did not know for certain that He was the Son
of God: wherefore (the devil) wished to tempt Him. This is
implied by the words of Mt. 4:2,3, saying that, after "He was
hungry, the tempter" came "to Him," because, as Hilary says
(Super Matth., cap. iii), "Had not Christ's weakness in
hungering betrayed His human nature, the devil would not have dared to
tempt Him." Moreover, this appears from the very manner of the
temptation, when he said: "If Thou be the Son of God." Which
words Ambrose explains as follows (In Luc. iv): "What means
this way of addressing Him, save that, though he knew that the Son
of God was to come, yet he did not think that He had come in the
weakness of the flesh?"
Reply to Objection 2: Christ came to destroy the works of the
devil, not by powerful deeds, but rather by suffering from him and his
members, so as to conquer the devil by righteousness, not by power;
thus Augustine says (De Trin. xiii) that "the devil was to be
overcome, not by the power of God, but by righteousness." And
therefore in regard to Christ's temptation we must consider what He
did of His own will and what He suffered from the devil. For that
He allowed Himself to be tempted was due to His own will. Wherefore
it is written (Mt. 4:1): "Jesus was led by the Spirit into
the desert, to be tempted by the devil"; and Gregory (Hom. xvi in
Evang.) says this is to be understood of the Holy Ghost, to wit,
that "thither did His Spirit lead Him, where the wicked spirit
would find Him and tempt Him." But He suffered from the devil in
being "taken up" on to "the pinnacle of the Temple" and again
"into a very high mountain." Nor is it strange, as Gregory
observes, "that He allowed Himself to be taken by him on to a
mountain, who allowed Himself to be crucified by His members." And
we understand Him to have been taken up by the devil, not, as it
were, by force, but because, as Origen says (Hom. xxi super
Luc.), "He followed Him in the course of His temptation like a
wrestler advancing of his own accord."
Reply to Objection 3: As the Apostle says (Heb. 4:15),
Christ wished to be "tempted in all things, without sin." Now
temptation which comes from an enemy can be without sin: because it
comes about by merely outward suggestion. But temptation which comes
from the flesh cannot be without sin, because such a temptation is
caused by pleasure and concupiscence; and, as Augustine says (De
Civ. Dei xix), "it is not without sin that 'the flesh desireth
against the spirit.'" And hence Christ wished to be tempted by an
enemy, but not by the flesh.
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