The Temptations of Christ

SCAN FOR: Narsai’s Memra 21: On the Temptation of Christ

The words of Gabriel to Mary, and of Simeon, and John, and most of all the voice of the Father pointing out his Beloved, taken together terrify Satan and his hosts, and force him to ask how Christ can be a mere man when he is spoken of in these ways (line 42). The second section of the Memra continues Satan’s perspective and asks a series of questions about how Christ can be either God or man, or both.

This section (paralleled by a hymn in the Christmas Office of the Church of the East attributed to Narsai and discussed in the Introduction) verifies Narsai’s orthodox Christology, since there is a singular Subject spoken of in discussing both the Divine and the human nature of Christ (line 43f).

 This is an important point here, since much of this Memra focuses deliberately on Christ’s humanity, and refers to him as both “the Son of Man” and “the Man.” This focus is necessary in the context of the temptation narrative for several reasons. 

First, Christ enters the arena to fight against Satan precisely as the Second Adam (line 90f) – God sees that his image Adam has fallen and therefore sends Christ to repair what was broken (line 415); second, in his victory, Christ gives the whole human race victory over temptation, since if in the first Adam all of us fell, in the Second Adam all of us rise up (lines 213, 376, 385); third, Christ’s battle against temptation is depicted as an example for us to learn from in fighting our own temptations (line 360). 

These reasons, added to the plain fact that Christ cannot be tempted in his Divinity (line 522), make it clear (on the one hand) that it is Christ the Son of Man who is the focus of the temptation, but also (on the other hand) that it is Christ the Son of God who alone has the Power of the Spirit needed to defeat Satan (line 372). 

Indeed, the baptism of Christ reveals not only the Trinity, but also the Incarnation, since there we witness both the humble virtue of Christ baptized by John as well as the voice of the Father announcing his Eternal Son (line 61).