The Pulpit Commentary — Matthew — Volume 1 — Section 151

APPETITES AND PABBIONB. 'l'he force of the first temptation lies in the natural cravings of hunger and thirst; these set men on intense endeavour to satisfy the craving. With the consciousness of possessing miraculous power, our Lord was tempted to use his trust for the relief of his own needs. Illustrate by the hungry man who is tempted to steal. 'l'he claims of the flesh may urge us to do what we know is wrong. II. THE LUST OF THE EYES. 'l'emptaUon through the intellect. Conscious mental superiority may lead men to deceive their weaker fellows, and deceive themselves, by persuading themselves that such deception is for their good. There is a special tempta- tion for the intelligent. III. TnE PRIDE OF LIFE. Pride in the command and use of worldly forces, state, class-privilege, equipage, soldiers, etc. To Christ the temptation came in this form: "You are superior; you know you are superior; assert your superiority, and men will bow down to you."-R. T. Ver. 3.-Temptation thrO'U!]h physir,a,Z conditiona. In this and two later homilies the several temptations are to be more precisely treated. The four homilies will be suggestive of a series of sermons on the" Lord's temptation." The temptation must be closely associated with the baptism. The one thing necessary to the understanding of it is our apprehension of the fact, that Jesus had become suddenly conscious of the trust of miraculous powers; and he had to fix the principle on which alone he would use those powers. The first question to decide wa.s-Would he use them to supply his own necessitie~? Meeting the deepest sense of bodily hunger, a passionate craving for food after a prolonged fast, came the consciousness of possessing miraculous power. He heard, as if in the depths of his soul, a cry sayin~, "Why do you suffer? Make the stones bread. You can do it." The force of the temptation lay on one Bide in the cravings of bodily appetite, and on the other side in this new sense of power.· I. HUMAN TEMl'TATION THROUGH BODILY CRAVINGS. It is the first form that human temptation took. Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was pleasant, and good for food. It is the universal form of temptation, but it is the lowest; it belongs to man as an animal. Beneath the temptation of bodily appetite, the glutton, the drunkard, and the sensualist have fallen in all the ages. The first sphere of conflict for the spiritual being man is that animal nature in which he is set in order to sustain earthly relations. That bodily organization ought to be hi.a servant; it is ever striving to be his master, and seeks to secure its end by subtleties of craving and allurement. Easily men have been led to think that the body itself is evil. But the wrong lies in the unbalanced will, which fails to restrain and control bodily appetite. II. 'J.'HE LAW OF TRIUMPH OVER TEMPTATION COMING THROUGH BODILY CRAVINGS. 'l'he soul is of more value than the body. A man is not a body; all that is true is that he has a body. A man'a life is not the material thing, eating and drinking; that only sustains the animal nature. A man's real life consists in obedience to the will of God, as he may come to know it; and if that means starving the boo;,", the body must be starved.-R. T. Ver. 4.-The ti-ue food of a spiritual being. "Man shall not live by bread alone." Observiug the original connection of the words quoted, we find an illustration of the fact that God could sustain life by other means than ordinary food. "Such an answer must have peculiar force and meaning, as it comes from the lips of Christ. He tells Satan that obedience to God is better than bread; that if either is to be given up there cannot be a doubt, there can hardly be a difficulty, about the decision . . . . Simply as men, we all, the poorest and the greatest of us all together, need the life of obedience, and any sacrifice of the flesh is cheap that wins it for us" (Brooks). I. MAN AS A SPIRITUAL BEING. The older division of the human being was into "body" and" soul;" it is now more precisely divided into" body,"" animal life," and "spirit; " sarx, psyche, pntmma. Body and life we have in common with the animals: and we share with them all the common experiences and needs. But man is a spiri,, an immortal spirit, dwelling in and using the animated body. We are spirits, and have bodies. It is true that we are variously affected by our bodily relations; but even as the eternal Spint dwells in, and controls, the material sphere, so man, the spirit, dwells in, and. controls, the limited sphere of his body. 'l'hen the claims of the spirit which  142 THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW. [Oll, 1v. 1-25.