Identifying the Adversary

Matthew and Luke’s temptation accounts both consistently refer to Jesus’ adversary as ‘the devil’, whereas Mark’s account only refers to Jesus’ adversary once, as ‘Satan’ (Mark 1:13).

In addition, Matthew refers once to ‘the tempter’ (Matthew 4:3), and has Jesus address his adversary once as ‘Satan’ (Matthew 4:10). The Synoptic writers introduce these terms early in their gospels, without explanation of their meaning, indicating the original audience of the text was expected to be familiar with them.

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Author: Jonathan Burke

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Bible reference(s): Matthew 4:1-11, , Mark 1:13, Luke 4:2-13

Source: “Identifying the Adversary,” Berea Portal.

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