Bible Study Series: Mark 1:12-13. We are tempted everyday. How do we overcome it?
The translation is mine, unless otherwise noted. If you would like to see many others, please click on this link:
To read the Greek text, click here:
Mark 1
I offer a little more commentary.
Links in this post are provided for further study.
Let’s begin.
Scripture: Mark 1:12-13
12 Next, the Spirit propelled Jesus into the desert, for forty days, to be tempted by Satan. 13 He was with the wild animals. And angels were ministering to him.
Commentary:
Let’s take it verse by verses
12:
There was a purpose of being led out into the wilderness-desert: to be tempted by the devil.
“Forty days”: it corresponds to Moses being forty day and forty nights on top of Mt. Sinai (Exod. 24:18; 34:28; Deut. 9:9). Elijah spent forty days in the wilderness on Mt. Horeb, the mountain of God, in other words, Mt. Sinai (1 Kings 19:8).
“tempted”: It comes from the verb peirazō (pronounced pay-rah-zoh), and it can mean both “tempted” and “tested” in the right context. Here are the nuanced meanings and their verses: “try, attempt” (Acts. 9:26; 16:7; 24:6); “try, make trial of, put to the test” (Matt. 16:1; 22:18, 35; Mark 10:2; John 6:6; 1 Cor. 10:13; 2 Cor. 13:5; Heb. 2:18; 11:17; Rev. 2:2; 3:10); make trial of God, which is not a good idea (Acts 5:9; 15:10; 1 Cor. 10:9; Heb. 3:9); “tempt, entice to sin (Matt. 4:1; Mark 1:13; Luke 4:2; Gal. 6:1; 1 Thess. 3:5; Jas. 1:13; Rev. 2:10). The context determines the nuanced meanings. Jas. 1:13-14 says God does not tempt people because he cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone in that way. But God will allow us to go through testing and even to be tempted by the devil, as God allowed for his Son. Will we pass the test / temptation as Jesus did? James writes: “Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial [noun of peirazō] because having stood the test [different word]; that person will receive a crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him” (Jas. 1:12, NIV). Will we receive this crown for standing up during our time of trial? The way to pass the temptation is to love the Lord and know Scripture.
Temptation: To provoke you to do evil, in order to ruin and sideline you
Testing: To find out what is in your character, in order to improve and grow you up
When you are tempted and fall, however, God can restore you.
God Is Your Redeemer
What Is Redemption in the Bible?
And so it is reasonable to conclude that the most effective way to resist satanic temptation is to be full of the Spirit and to do spiritual disciplines. No, not legalism, but spiritual disciplines are an effective way to crucify the sin nature (Gal. 5:24) and beat down the body, as Paul encouraged the Corinthians to do (1 Cor. 9:24-27). One discipline is to read Scripture regularly. Another is to limit worldly input, like turning off the TV once in a while. Two other disciplines: regular private prayer and worship and regular public prayer and worship—fellowship, in other words. A really important way to fight the devil, as seen by Jesus’s struggle and victory over Satan, is to know Scripture. It helps sort out the mental battle. It has been truly said that the mind is the battlefield. And if you don’t have God’s thoughts, then you cannot sort out his thoughts from your own or the devil’s awful ideas.
See my posts about Satan in the area of systematic theology:
Bible Basics about Satan and Demons and Victory Over Them
Satan and Demons: Personal
Satan and Demons: Theology
Satan and Demons: Origins
Bible Basics about Deliverance
Magic, Witchcraft, Sorcery, and Fortunetelling
13:
He was with the wild animals. I love the picture of the animals of Israel’s desert coming up to him, like the animals reportedly did to St. Francis, who befriended them. However, this is an assumption, because the text is silent on the details. So let’s not push this lovely picture too far. But I still like to imagine it. It reminds me of the harmony in Eden.
Further, in his commentary on this verse France points out that in popular Jewish thought wild animals are aligned with Satan. He quotes from an intertestamental writing: “The devil will flee from you; wild animals will be afraid of you, and the angels will stand by you.” Animals were part of the opposing forces, not Edenic harmony (Lev. 26:21-23; Ps. 22:12-21; Is. 13:21-22; Ezek. 34:5; Dan. 7:1-8). “The beasts are malevolent and are the natural confederates of evil powers (Ps. 91:11-13)” (Garland).
Commentator Mark Lane also writes of the significance of the desert and the wild beasts, as enemies and danger:
But as soon as it is recognized that the dominant motif of the prologue is the wilderness, Mark’s distinctive reference to the wild beasts becomes intelligible. In the OT blessing is associated with inhabited and cultivated land; the wilderness is the place of the curse. In the wilderness there is neither seed nor fruit, water nor growth. Man cannot live there. Only frightening and unwanted kinds of animals dwell there. Significantly, when the wilderness is transformed into a paradise, no ravenous beast will be in it (Isa. 35:9; Ezek. 34:23-28). Mark’s reference to wild beasts in 1:13 serves to stress the character of the wilderness. Jesus confronts the horror, the loneliness and the danger with which the wilderness is fraught when he meets the wild beasts. Their affinity in this context is not with paradise, but with the realm of Satan. (comment on 1:9)
So according to Lane, in the desert, Jesus entered the realm of the curse. I add that he took on this curse so that we don’t have to take it on (Gal. 3:13). It is on him, not us.
And then angels ministered to him, while he was suffering in the desert and being in danger.
Here is a multi-part study of angels in the area of systematic theology, but first, here is a summary list of the basics:
Angels:
(a) Are messengers (in Hebrew mal’ak and in Greek angelos);
(b) Are created spirit beings;
(c) Have a beginning at their creation (not eternal);
(d) Have a beginning, but they are immortal (deathless).
(e) Have moral judgment;
(f) Have a certain measure of free will;
(g) Have high intelligence;
(h) Do not have physical bodies;
(i) But can manifest with immortal bodies before humans;
(j) They can show the emotion of joy.
Bible Basics about Angels
Angels: Questions and Answers
Angels: Their Duties and Missions
Angels: Their Names and Ranks and Heavenly Existence
Angels: Their Origins, Abilities, and Nature
Why did Mark not write of the ultimate defeat of Satan in the desert?
Lane again:
It is significant that Mark does not report the victory of Jesus over Satan, nor the end of the temptation. It is the evangelist’s distinctive understanding that Jesus did not win the decisive victory during the forty days nor did he cease to be tempted. Jesus is thrust into the wilderness in order to be confronted with Satan and temptation. It is the confrontation which is itself important, since it is sustained throughout Jesus’s ministry.
To conclude …..
The Spirit propelled Jesus to go out and be tested in the wilderness, which speaks of the testing of Israel in the wilderness for forty years. It introduces us to the spiritual battles that Jesus is about to wage against Satan. In every case, Jesus defeated Satan. We too can defeat him in our lives.
And sure enough, Mark writes often of demons confronting Jesus, or Jesus confronting them. A few examples: when Jesus sends out the apostles, he gives them authority to expel demons (3:15). Healing is not mentioned in the commissioning (though it is in Matthew and Luke). As we shall see, in Mark 1 Jesus confronted a man with a defiling or unclean spirit (vv. 21-28). The crowd marveled that he could command demons (v. 27). In Mark’s first summary statement, Jesus is recorded as expelling many demons (v. 34). Even Christ’s defeat of Satan on the cross (Col. 3:14-15) has to be continually fought for and sustained, until the Second Coming.
GrowApp for Mark 1:12-13
1. Study Jas. 4:7. What is the best way to resist Satan?
2. How did you overcome a recent temptation? Tell your story.
RELATED
10. Eyewitness Testimony in Mark’s Gospel
2. Archaeology and the Synoptic Gospels
2. Church Fathers and Mark’s Gospel
14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels
1. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Introduction to Series
SOURCE
To see the bibliography, click on this link and scroll down to the very bottom:
Mark 1
