Luke 4:3-4

Luke 4:3-4

[3] the devil  said  unto him,  If  the Son  of God,  command  stone  that  it be made  bread.  [4] And  Jesus  answered  him,  It is written,  That  man  not  live  by  bread  alone,  but  by  every  word  of God. 

What does Luke 4:3-4 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

All three of the tests recorded enticed Jesus to abandon His dependence on God. The first one was a temptation to gratify self but not by doing something wicked since eating is necessary. The devil attacked Jesus where He was vulnerable since He was then hungry. To continue to exist in the wilderness, Jesus, and the Israelites before Him, had to believe that God"s word was trustworthy ( Deuteronomy 8:3). God had revealed a plan for both that assured them that they would not die in the wilderness. Satan assumed that Jesus was the Son of God, as is clear from the first class condition in the Greek text ( Luke 4:3; cf. Luke 3:22).
Human welfare does not depend primarily on food or even physical provisions. It depends mainly on obedience to God"s will even though that may mean physical deprivation. By applying this passage to Himself Jesus put Himself in the category of a true "man" (Gr. anthropos). Luke had special interest in the testing of Jesus" humanity, and he presented Jesus as the example for the Christian to follow.