As the waters of Jordan bisect the Holy Land, so does our Lord's baptism bisect His holy life. In that act He had identified Himself with the world's sin; and now, as the High Priest who was to deal with sin and sinners, He must be "in all points" tempted and tested "like as we are."
He took into the wilderness a perfect humanity of flesh and blood, made in all points like His brethren, though without sin. He elected to fight His great fight, not by the use of the divine attributes, but as Son of man. Where the first Adam fell, the second must stand.
First, He could not use His native power for His own gratification. Second, He would abide strictly within the limitations of the world He had entered, Hebrews 2:16-17. Third, He would win His kingdom by the Cross. [source]
Chapter Summary: Luke 4
1The fasting and temptation of Jesus 14He begins to preach 16The people of Nazareth marvel at words, but seek to kill him 33He cures one possessed of a demon, 38Peter's mother-in-law, 40and various other sick persons 41The demons acknowledge Jesus, and are reproved for it 42He preaches through the cities of Galilee
Greek Commentary for Luke 4:7
Wilt worship before me [προσκυνησηις ενωπιον εμου] Matthew 4:9 has it more bluntly “worship me.” That is what it really comes to, though in Luke the matter is more delicately put. It is a condition of the third class Luke has it “thou therefore if” (συ ουν εαν su oun ean), in a very emphatic and subtle way. It is the ingressive aorist (προσκυνησηις proskunēsēis), just bow the knee once up here in my presence. The temptation was for Jesus to admit Satan‘s authority by this act of prostration (fall down and worship), a recognition of authority rather than of personal merit. [source]
It shall all be thine [εσται σου πασα] Satan offers to turn over all the keys of world power to Jesus. It was a tremendous grand-stand play, but Jesus saw at once that in that case he would be the agent of Satan in the rule of the world by bargain and graft instead of the Son of God by nature and world ruler by conquest over Satan. The heart of Satan‘s program is here laid bare. Jesus here rejected the Jewish idea of the Messiah as an earthly ruler merely. “He rejects Satan as an ally, and thereby has him as an implacable enemy” (Plummer.) [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 4:7
Matthew 4:9All these things will I give thee [ταυτα σοι παντα δωσω] The devil claims the rule of the world, not merely of Palestine or of the Roman Empire. “The kingdoms of the cosmos” (Matthew 4:8) were under his sway. This word for world brings out the orderly arrangement of the universe while η οικουμενη hē oikoumenē presents the inhabited earth. Jesus does not deny the grip of the devil on the world of men, but the condition (εαν ean and aorist subjunctive, second class undetermined with likelihood of determination), was spurned by Jesus. As Matthew has it Jesus is plainly to “fall down and worship me” (πεσων προκυνησηις μοι pesōn prokunēsēis moi), while Luke (Luke 4:7) puts it, “worship before me” (ενωπιον εμου enōpion emou), a less offensive demand, but one that really involved worship of the devil. The ambition of Jesus is thus appealed to at the price of recognition of the devil‘s primacy in the world. It was compromise that involved surrender of the Son of God to the world ruler of this darkness. “The temptation was threefold: to gain a temporal, not a spiritual, dominion; to gain it at once; and to gain it by an act of homage to the ruler of this world, which would make the self-constituted Messiah the vice-regent of the devil and not of God” (McNeile). [source]
What do the individual words in Luke 4:7 mean?
YouthereforeifYou will worshipbeforemewill beYoursall
Greek Commentary for Luke 4:7
Matthew 4:9 has it more bluntly “worship me.” That is what it really comes to, though in Luke the matter is more delicately put. It is a condition of the third class Luke has it “thou therefore if” (συ ουν εαν su oun ean), in a very emphatic and subtle way. It is the ingressive aorist (προσκυνησηις proskunēsēis), just bow the knee once up here in my presence. The temptation was for Jesus to admit Satan‘s authority by this act of prostration (fall down and worship), a recognition of authority rather than of personal merit. [source]
Satan offers to turn over all the keys of world power to Jesus. It was a tremendous grand-stand play, but Jesus saw at once that in that case he would be the agent of Satan in the rule of the world by bargain and graft instead of the Son of God by nature and world ruler by conquest over Satan. The heart of Satan‘s program is here laid bare. Jesus here rejected the Jewish idea of the Messiah as an earthly ruler merely. “He rejects Satan as an ally, and thereby has him as an implacable enemy” (Plummer.) [source]
Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Luke 4:7
The devil claims the rule of the world, not merely of Palestine or of the Roman Empire. “The kingdoms of the cosmos” (Matthew 4:8) were under his sway. This word for world brings out the orderly arrangement of the universe while η οικουμενη hē oikoumenē presents the inhabited earth. Jesus does not deny the grip of the devil on the world of men, but the condition (εαν ean and aorist subjunctive, second class undetermined with likelihood of determination), was spurned by Jesus. As Matthew has it Jesus is plainly to “fall down and worship me” (πεσων προκυνησηις μοι pesōn prokunēsēis moi), while Luke (Luke 4:7) puts it, “worship before me” (ενωπιον εμου enōpion emou), a less offensive demand, but one that really involved worship of the devil. The ambition of Jesus is thus appealed to at the price of recognition of the devil‘s primacy in the world. It was compromise that involved surrender of the Son of God to the world ruler of this darkness. “The temptation was threefold: to gain a temporal, not a spiritual, dominion; to gain it at once; and to gain it by an act of homage to the ruler of this world, which would make the self-constituted Messiah the vice-regent of the devil and not of God” (McNeile). [source]