10 Then Jesus said to him, "Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, 'You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.'"
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
Depart, Satan. Instead of this, Luke has, Depart behind me, Satan. There is no use for speculating about the phrase, behind me, which Christ addressed to Peter, Go behind me, (Matthew 16:23,) as if the same words had not been addressed to Satan. Christ simply bids him go away; [1] and now proceeds with the same kind of defense as before, employing Scripture as a shield, not of reeds, but of brass. He quotes a passage from the law, that God alone is to be adored and worshipped, (Deuteronomy 6:13; 10:20.) From the application of that passage, and from the circumstances in which it is introduced, it is easy to conclude what is the design of adoration of God, and in what it consists. Papists deny that God only ought to be adored; and evade this and similar passages by sophistical arguments. Latria, (latreia,) they admit, is adoration, which ought to be given to God alone: but Dulia, (douleia,) is an inferior kind of adoration, which they bestow on dead men, and on their bones and statues. But Christ rejects this frivolous distinction, and claims for God alone proskunesis, worship; by which he warns us to attend more to the matter than to expressions, when we have to do with the worship of God. Scripture enjoins us to worship God alone: we must inquire, for what end? If a man takes any thing from his glory, and ascribes it to creatures, this is a heinous profanation of divine worship. But it is very evident that this is done, when we go to creatures, to receive from them those good things, of which God desired to be acknowledged as the only Author. Now, as religion is strictly spiritual, and the outward acknowledgment of it relates to the body, so not only the inward worship, but also the outward manifestation of it, is due to God alone. [2]
1 - "Il vent seulement le rejetter avec son conseil;" -- "he wishes only to reject him with his advice."
2 - "Christ attribue aussi a Dieu seul l'adoration externe, que les Grecs appellent proschunesis: car il use de ce terme qui signifient proprement s'agenouiller ET prosterner par forme de service divin." -- "Christ ascribes also to God alone the external adoration, which the Greeks call proschunesis: for he employs this term, which signifies literally to kneel and bow down, in a form of divine service."
Get thee hence - These temptations, and this one especially, the Saviour met with a decided rebuke. This was a bolder attack than any which had been made before. The other temptations had been founded on an appeal to his necessities, and an offer of the protection of God in great danger; in both cases plausible, and in neither a direct violation of the law of God. Here was a higher attempt, a more decided and deadly thrust at the piety of the Saviour. It was a proposition that the Son of God should worship the devil, instead of honoring and adoring Him who made heaven and earth; that he should bow down before the Prince of wickedness and give him homage.
It is written - In Deuteronomy 6:13. Satan asked him to worship him. This was expressly forbidden, and Jesus therefore drove him from his presence.
Get thee hence - Or, behind me, οπισω μου. This is added by a multitude of the best MSS., Versions, and Fathers. This temptation savoring of nothing but diabolical impudence, Jesus did not treat it as the others; but, with Divine authority, commanded the tempter to return to his own place.
In the course of this trial, it appears that our blessed Lord was tempted,
1st. To Distrust. Command these stones to become bread.
2dly. To Presumption. Cast thyself down.
3dly. To worldly Ambition. All these will I give.
4thly. To Idolatry. Fall down and worship me, or do me homage. There is probably not a temptation of Satan, but is reducible to one or other of these four articles.
From the whole we may learn:
First. No man, howsoever holy, is exempted from temptation: for God manifested to the flesh was tempted by the devil.
Secondly. That the best way to foil the adversary, is by the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, Ephesians 6:17.
Thirdly. That to be tempted even to the greatest abominations (while a person resists) is not sin: for Christ was tempted to worship the Devil.
Fourthly. That there is no temptation which is from its own nature, or favoring circumstances, irresistible. God has promised to bruise even Satan under our feet.
As I wish to speak what I think most necessary on every subject, when I first meet it, and once for all, I would observe -
First, That the fear of being tempted may become a most dangerous snare.
Secondly, That when God permits a temptation or trial to come he will give grace to bear or overcome it.
Thirdly, That our spiritual interests shall be always advanced, in proportion to our trials and faithful resistance.
Fourthly, That a more than ordinary measure of Divine consolation shall be the consequence of every victory.
Then saith Jesus to him, get thee hence, Satan..... In Luke 4:8 it is "get thee behind me": and so some copies read here, and is expressive of indignation and abhorrence; see Matthew 16:23 rebuking his impudence, and detesting his impiety: he had borne his insults and temptations with great patience; he had answered him with mildness and gentleness; but now his behaviour to him was intolerable, which obliged him to show his resentment, exert his power and authority, and rid himself at once of so vile a creature; giving this reason for it;
for it is written, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. The place referred to is in Deuteronomy 6:13
thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him: to fear the Lord, and to worship him, is the same thing. Worship includes both an internal and external reverence of God: the word "only" is not in the original text, but is added by our Lord; and that very justly; partly to express the emphasis which is on the word "him"; and in perfect agreement with the context, which requires it; since it follows,
ye shall not go after other Gods. Moreover, not to take notice of the Septuagint version, in which the word "only" is also added, Josephus (q), the Jewish historian, referring to this law, says, because God is one, , "therefore he only is to be worshipped". And Aben Ezra (r), a Jewish writer, explaining the last clause in the verse,
and thou shalt swear by his name, uses the word "only"; and which indeed, of right, belongs to every clause in it. The meaning of our Lord in citing it is; that since the Lord God is the alone object of worship, it was horrid blasphemy in Satan to desire it might be given to him, and which could not be done without the greatest impiety.
(q) Antiq. Jude. l. 3. c. 5. sect. 5. (r) In Deut. vi. 13.
Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan--Since the tempter has now thrown off the mask, and stands forth in his true character, our Lord no longer deals with him as a pretended friend and pious counsellor, but calls him by his right name--His knowledge of which from the outset He had carefully concealed till now--and orders him off. This is the final and conclusive evidence, as we think, that Matthew's must be the right order of the temptations. For who can well conceive of the tempter's returning to the assault after this, in the pious character again, and hoping still to dislodge the consciousness of His Sonship, while our Lord must in that case be supposed to quote Scripture to one He had called the devil to his face--thus throwing His pearls before worse than swine?
for it is written-- (Deuteronomy 6:13). Thus does our Lord part with Satan on the rock of Scripture.
Thou shalt worship--In the Hebrew and the Septuagint it is, "Thou shalt fear"; but as the sense is the same, so "worship" is here used to show emphatically that what the tempter claimed was precisely what God had forbidden.
the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve--The word "serve" in the second clause, is one never used by the Septuagint of any but religious service; and in this sense exclusively is it used in the New Testament, as we find it here. Once more the word "only," in the second clause--not expressed in the Hebrew and the Septuagint--is here added to bring out emphatically the negative and prohibitory feature of the command. (See Galatians 3:10 for a similar supplement of the word "all" in a quotation from Deuteronomy 27:26).
Get thee hence, Satan. As the tempter was revealed Jesus rebukes him. The word, "Get thee hence," "begone," expresses abhorrence. The adversary is called by name and bidden to depart. Then his reason is added, in the words of Scripture, found in Deuteronomy 6:13.
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. This passage forbids every kind of religious adoration to any other object than Jehovah, whether it be idols, false gods, popes, Virgin Mary, saints, or angels. The three temptations had been met, three times the tempter had been baffled, three times the victory had been won. The first assault had been made through the door of appetite, "the lust of the flesh;" the second through vain glory, "the lust of the eyes;" the third through ambition, "the pride of life." All had appealed to Jesus to turn away from the pathway of self-denial and suffering marked out for him. All had been met by the shield of faith, and the tempter beaten back by the word of the Spirit.
Get thee hence, Satan - Not, get thee behind me, that is, into thy proper place; as he said on a quite different occasion to Peter, speaking what was not expedient. Deuteronomy 6:13.
*More commentary available at chapter level.