Shawn McCraney suggests that while Jesus was certainly tempted by core appeals such as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, as depicted in biblical accounts like Matthew 4, the idea that he was tempted "in all things" should be contextualized to mean temptations relevant to his time rather than the specific temptations faced in modern society. He emphasizes that understanding Jesus' temptations requires acknowledging their potency and the difference between what was relevant for Jesus as compared to contemporary temptations like those involving modern technology and societal norms.
Jesus, as presented in Hebrews 4:14-15, was tempted in all ways relative to the Law given to the Jews, overcoming these temptations to fulfill the Law and the Prophets without experiencing every temptation that exists throughout history. This indicates that Jesus, through his actions in a specific historical context, demonstrated ultimate mercy and compassion, offering redemption for humanity while understanding universal human temptations, despite not living through the specific challenges of the modern era.
Jesus, in understanding the human experience, empathizes with modern challenges and temptations, recognizing their increased prevalence today, which He did not personally face but fully comprehends. He offers compassion rather than condemnation, emphasizing that overcoming these temptations, both then and now, is possible through His Spirit and the surrender of the flesh.
Heart of the Matter – Examining Temptation in the Christian Life
Live from the Mecca of Mormonism SALT LAKE CITY, Utah. This is Heart of the MatterTGNN’s original show where Shawn McCraney deconstructed religion and developed fulfilled theology. – where we are working through together how to live the Christian life in the Age of Fulfillment – and I’m your host, Shawn McCraneyFounder of TGNN and developer of the fulfilled perspective—calling people to faith outside of religion..
Show 35A: Not Tempted in All Things
Taped August 11th 2020. Aired Monday Night August 18th 2020. In this ministry, we try more and more to pull no punches while we examine and test everything – which scripture says we should do.
What I am going to suggest and explore tonight will be an affront to many believers' ears and sensibilities. I do not present this to offend – in the least – nor to challenge for “challenge sake.” But I present it all to draw as close to the reality of biblical truth as possible.
Understanding Biblical Truth
I say this – “drawing as closely to the reality of biblical truth” – because some people of the faith, and over time by tradition, have a tendency to read into what the Bible says, making, at times, the narrative more amazing, more wonderful, and saying more than it actually does. Sorry for the repeated qualifiers before I teach but if I don’t make them, far too many people mistake my intentions and assign to me characteristics that are untrue. And so the qualifier I want to make is that Jesus is Lord, and King – here in 2020 and going all the way back to the foundations of the world.
I firmly believe that he PAID for the sins of the world. For all of us – believer and not – but especially for those who believe. I also believe that as God with us in the flesh of Jesus of Nazareth, his overcoming sinMissing the mark of faith and love—no punishment, just lost growth or peace. and deathSeparation from God—now overcome. Physical death remains, but it no longer separates us from life with God. and the grave, having victory over Satan and Hell, He took that natural flesh that Jesus of Nazareth was clothed in, and having been “God with us” He then became “God to us” – the ultimate intercessor and mediator between God the Father and Man. However, there is rhetoric about Jesus that I am not so sure is true or correct. And the one I want to address tonight is that he was “tempted in all things.”
I think that line has to be contextualized and seen for what it actually means rather than what it “could mean” when we take it to an extreme in our day and age. There are a few passages that help us understand temptation. One of them is found in 1st John 2:16, which says
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
I believe that Jesus was certainly tempted with the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. In fact, we see scriptural evidence of this in Matthew 4 when He meets up with Satan in the wilderness. There we read a description of the first second and third temptation that Satan levels at him, with the first being:
If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. (Perhaps this temptation represents, “The lust of the flesh”).
And the second being If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down:
Meaning, come on, prove yourself to be the Great one, appealing therefore to “the Pride of Life.” And that leaves the third being, once he was shown all the Kingdoms of the world, and Satan saying
All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. (representing, The lust of the eyes because Satan showed him all the kingdoms of the world).
So, in the general sense of being tempted, Jesus certainly was tempted, and in the specific sense of being tempted (by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life) he was also tempted. But was he tempted in all things, as we often say today, or were his temptations general to his day rather than specific to ours?
I do NOT reject that idea that the potency of his temptations could have been otherworldly – that is entirely possible – and that would have made them far more potent than anything we face. Nevertheless, was he tempted with ALL THINGS? For example, I don’t think Jesus tempted with divorcing a spouse or with the temptation that comes with 24/7 access to porn on his cell phone. I don’t think the desire to escape modern civilization and its discontents through
Jesus and Temptation
Abusing cocaine or ganga was on the list of things he was tempted by?
Taking the scripture and reading what it actually describes, Hebrews 4:14-15 says, speaking about Jesus:
Hebrews 4:14 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.
15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Of course, we could recite this passage to each other and say, “see, in all points he was tempted like we are, yet without sin.” But to whom was the book of Hebrews written? Jews, right? And wasn’t the writer then contextually saying that Jesus was tempted in all points as THEY were tempted too, with all the points referring to “the points of the Law” which was given to them?
The Context of Temptation
This would mean that relative to the temptations of that age – AGAIN – temptations relative to the LAW, Yeshua had been tempted and walked away overcoming what was placed before Him in his call to fulfill the Law and the Prophets. That makes sense to me, and that is a fair and reasonable interpretation. But I wonder about the idea, the repeated teaching, that Yeshua was tempted in ALL things that have existed through the history of the world?
Was it necessary for him to be tempted with joining a wife-swapping club out of Vegas in order for him to be able to understand the lust behind that? I don’t think so. I think lust is lust – in whatever form it takes, and for him to be presented with lust of his day and to reject it was enough to fulfill the Law and to then to die perfectly for it.
As a comeback to this some believers may cite Hebrews 2:18, which says:
“For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.”
But again I would point out that this was an epistle written to the Hebrews, and I would point out that this certainly does not mean he directly experienced the temptation to directly do something evil that is going on today.
Common Temptations
Paul wrote something interesting in 1st Corinthians 10:13 to the believers then that says:
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
In other words, he is telling the believers then was that whatever temptation they have fallen prey to THAT temptation is common to the human experience. And I think that is true. The lust for what’s under a robe of a person in Jesus' day would be the same lust people might have today for what comes through their computer or phone.
But I do want to point a few things out. God had Jesus come to earth in a very specific age. It was NOT our age or day, but at the right time when the confluence of Judaism and the Roman Empire was prime. Certainly, there was sin and temptation all around – some in ways maybe we can’t even imagine. But He came to His own, and I can’t help but wonder if the temptations he experienced, while applicable to all human sin, were a direct product of His day and age and culture, and purposefully they did not include the actual temptations humans face today.
This does not demean his victory over sin and death, but it does suggest a few things to us today living in this age of fulfillment that I see as important considerations. See, I view Jesus as ultimately CONSUMATELY merciful and compassionate. He entered the world in what some call “the meridian of time,” and overcame all that was placed before Him from that age in which He lived, fulfilling the Law and the prophets, sacrificing himself and then through his shed blood, which was perfect, redeemed the WORLD in that time and age.
Hebrews 4: A Continuing Principle
I concur with the principle laid forth in Hebrews 4 which says
“For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted.”
And that this continues on into this day and age even after everything was completed by Him. But combining his experience in flesh, and
Understanding Jesus' Relatability to Human Temptation
His compassion and mercy for the human experience in all ages, I think Jesus looks to this age and just might think something to the effect of:
The feelings I had and the temptations I had as a human being were imposing but even I am stunned by the preponderance of things you people are facing in your live today.
I doubt very much that Jesus as an eight to ten year old boy was tempted to look at porn like children and adolescents are today. But he certainly understands the draw people have to such things by lust but was the proliferation and relentlessness of it on Him? I don’t think so. And for this reason I think He was born in THAT specific age, in the community of those specific people, under their specific laws (given them by GOD himself) so that through His obedience to all of that, he was able to not only save them, but the world along with them, through the shedding of his innocent blood.
Modern Failures and the Human Struggle
I think it is unbiblical and therefore detrimental to teach that “Jesus was tempted and tried in all the same ways, quantities, and persuasions that people are tempted today.” I think that leads to an unhealthy response to our modern failures in the flesh, which can lead to desperation, despair, depression and even the walking from the faith all-together.
To me the better approach is to say that Jesus faced the temptation to lust and be proud and to allow his flesh to reign over his spirit relative to His day. And having gone through that he completely understands what is at play in the human experience now – perhaps at times with amazement. And that looking into our world he is not condemning people but more than ever understanding us, and is empathic with us, and filled with mercy in His desire is to help each one of us know that the solution to temptation and sin in His age, and the solution to temptation and sin in ours, was, is and always will be, Him via the Spirit, and the resultant death of the flesh.
Reflection
Some things for your consideration tonight!
WRITE YOUR COMMENTS BELOW and we will get to them tomorrow night, HERE on HEART OF THE MATTER!
