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The Temptations of Jesus: pride

...p through pride. “Thus, if the first Adam fell from God by pride, the second Adam has effectually taught us how to overcome the devil by humility.” George Leo Haydock (1774–1849) As the quote above points out, Jesus demonstrates to us how to overcome the temptation to think of ourselves too highly, or to flaunt our status (Romans 12:3), by doing the opposite and humbling himself and pointing back to Scripture. Whereas Jesus did have every right to say “I am the Son of God – there’s no ‘if’ about it!” and use his abilities to create a miracle for his own sake, that would also have been selfish and another path to the sin of pride and arrogance...

Lent 2018: The Temptations of Jesus

...Lent is just around the corner, and so this year I've decided to write a short series over the next 40 days looking at the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness, and the temptations he faced. I'll post a new blog each Sunday of Lent looking at each temptation, and then finish the series just before Easter Sunday looking at “how was Jesus a sacrifice?”. Series outline: Temptation one: pride (1st Sunday of Lent, February 18, 2018) Temptation two: Worship and Glory (2nd Sunday of Lent, February 25, 2018) Temptation three: Testing God (3rd Sunday of Lent, March 4, 2018) Temptation four: Complacency (4th Sunday of Lent, March 11, 2018) Topical: W...

Was there death before the Fall?

...produces pride, which is shown throughout Scripture to be something that sets us against God, and puts us into disharmony with our Creator - this is what happens at Babel (Genesis 11:1-10). Looking across all of Scripture, it does seem like the idea of Sheol being more than just a physical grave develops and becomes an actual spiritual 'abode' for a spiritual aspect of humanity. This is often called "Progressive Revelation", and is "the concept that the sections of the Bible that were written later contain a fuller revelation of God compared to the earlier sections", which in this case would assume that we've always had a spiritual state, but that earlie...

Lent Day 24: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 31-40

...point of pride for us which could make us stumble, “for the working of signs is not ours but the Saviour's work”; so we should keep in mind what Jesus said to his disciples on this matter: Luke 10:20Nevertheless, do not rejoice at this, that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. Those who boasted in their works rather than in Christ who has sealed them (2 Cor 1:22; Eph 1:13; 4:30) were those who will be turned away by Jesus in judgement (Matt 7:22); and so because of this, Anthony urges that we seek the gift of discernment as John wrote in his letter (1 John 4:1) that we may not be deceived. Anthony goes on to...

Lent Day 29: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 81-94

...d up with pride over the status of men. After meeting and seeing the various people who would visit, Anthony would retreat to the “inner mountain” where he resided and spent much of his time in prayer. It was here that those who accompanied him would often see that Anthony was “wrapped in a vision” and would not speak or move. Anthony foresees persecution At one time while Anthony was working, he fell into a trance with loud groans and trembling. Those with him “trembling and terrified, desired to learn from him what it was” that he saw, and after a while, Anthony explained that persecution was coming upon the Church from the Arian heretics. Athan...

The Temptations of Jesus: Worship and Glory

...eyes, the pride of life (or in riches) comes not from the Father but from the world.   The sin that separated Adam and Eve from God in the beginning is the same in essence as what John says comes from the world and not the Father. These are the same areas of sin and temptation that the devil was using on Jesus in the desert too — and no wonder since Satan is the god/prince of this world, that he would use the same tricks and things that are of this world against us. In the passage from Luke which details the temptation Jesus faced, we get another glimpse of this power over the world that Satan had when he says that authority “has been given over to me,...