Les Feldick Bible Study

What Scripture did Jesus quote when Satan tempted Him with bread?

When Satan tempted Him with bread, Jesus answered from the written Word: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." He went back to Scripture rather than yielding to the fleshly desire, showing that the Word is the believer's guard against the evil one.

Les explains that Satan attacked Christ at the point of His hunger, mentioning bread because it appeals to fleshly desire. Christ, though God, was also man, and He never let the one interfere with the other. He answered in verse 4, "It is written," going back to the Word. Les applies this to believers: to maintain our guard against the evil one, we must stay in the Book, the Word that washes us. Jesus confronted Satan by quoting the Scripture: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."

Matthew 4:4

But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.