Paragraph 4:3–4

This paragraph is about one way that the devil tempted Jesus. The devil tempted him to show that he was the Son of God by performing a miracle in order to feed himself.

The events in this paragraph occur after the events in 4:1–2. In some languages, it may be natural to begin this paragraph with a time word or phrase. That would reflect a connecting word that is in the Greek. For example:

Then (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
After this

4:3a

If You are the Son of God: Satan said the words If You are the Son of God to challenge Jesus to prove that he really was the Son of God. Another way to translate this is:

If you really are the Son of God (Phillips’ New Testament in Modern English)

the Son of God: This is the second time that the phrase the Son of God occurs in Luke. It also occurs in 1:35c. Translate it the same way in both places.

The Bible uses the title Son of God to express the fact that Jesus has the same nature as God. This title also indicates that the relationship between God and Jesus, his Son, is similar in some way to the relationship of human fathers and sons. God does not have a physical body, and he did not create/produce Jesus the way a human father produces a son. Before Jesus was born, he already existed from eternity as the Son with his Father.

In areas where people do not understand the term Son of God in this way, you may wish to include a footnote. For example:

God the Father is the Father of his Son, Jesus Christ, in a different way than human males are fathers of their sons. The Bible gives Jesus Christ the title Son of God to express the fact that Jesus has the same nature as his Father. It also indicates that the relationship between the Father and Jesus Christ, his Son, is similar in some ways to the relationship between a human father and son.

In some languages, it is natural to speak of a Son as a “child,” without specifying male or female. If that is true in your language, you may translate Son of God as:

Child of God

The context will usually make it clear that “Child of God,” when speaking of Jesus, refers to a male child. If you decide to use a phrase such as “male Child of God,” be sure that it does not imply there might also be a “female Child of God.”

God: For help in translating the word God, see the note at 1:6b.

4:3b

tell this stone to become bread: There is some implied information here. Satan did not simply want Jesus to tell the stone to become bread. Satan wanted Jesus actually to cause it to become bread for Jesus to eat. So you could translate this as:

speak to this stone and cause it to become bread ⌊for you⌋
-or-
change this stone into ⌊a loaf of⌋ bread ⌊that you can eat⌋

this stone: Satan probably pointed at one of the stones or perhaps picked up one of them.

bread: In Jesus’ time, bread was the most common and basic food. The bread that the Jews ate was made of wheat flour. It was round and flat.

If you do not already have a word for bread in your language, some ways to translate bread are:

• Use a generic term such as “food.”

• Borrow the word for bread from the national language or major language in your area.

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