Scripture: Matthew 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13. The second and third temptations were switched in Luke Gospel from the sequence in Matthew’s Gospel. Hostile critics and readers pounce on the differences and conclude that the Gospel are unreliable. Are the critics right?

Here is the best explanation that I have come up with, with the help of commentaries.

The translations are mine. If you would like to see other ones, please go to biblegateway.com. If you don’t read Greek, scroll past it for the commentary.

I don’t know whether the goal of allaying the criticisms of hostile readers is even possible. They are too eager to turn little molehills into mountains and then gloat before uniformed Christians who needlessly panic. But maybe we can explain things to curious or semi-friendly readers and nervous, uninformed Christians.

I quote respectful scholars because I learn many things from them and they respect the Bible. I place friendly scholars on the same or higher level than hostile critics. Hostile critics cannot claim objectivity compared to friendly scholars.

Let’s begin.

The Temptation of Jesus (Matt. 4:1-11 and Luke 4:1-13)
Matthew 4:1-11	Luke 4:1-13
1 Then Jesus was led up into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after he had fasted forty days and forty nights, then he was hungry. 3 And approaching him, the tempter said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread!” 4 But in reply, he said, “It is written: ‘Not by bread alone shall humankind live, But by every word coming out of the mouth of God.’” [Deut. 8:3] 5 Then the devil took him into the holy temple and stood him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself below! For it is written: ‘He shall command his angels concerning you,’ and ‘in their hands they shall lift you up, and in no way will you strike your foot against the stone!’” [Ps. 91:11-12] 7 Jesus told him, “However, it is written, ‘You shall not test the Lord your God!’” [Deut. 6:16] 8 Again the devil took him on a really high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “I will give you all these things, if you fall down and worship me!” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Go, Satan! For it is written: You shall worship the Lord your God, and him alone shall you serve.’” [Deut. 6:13] 11 Then the devil left. And look! Angels came and were ministering to him.	1 Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River and was being led by the Spirit into the desert 2 for forty days to be tempted by the devil. He ate nothing for those days, and when they were completed, he was hungry. 3 The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread!” 4 And Jesus replied to him, “It is written, ‘Humankind shall not live by bread alone’” [Deut. 8:3]. 5 After he led him up to a high mountain, he showed him every kingdom of the world at one moment, 6 and the devil said to him, “I shall give you all this authority and their glory because it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I will! 7 Therefore if you bow down before me, everything shall be yours!” 8 In reply, Jesus said to him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve only him’” [Deut. 6:13]. 9 He led him into Jerusalem and stood him on the summit of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here! 10 For it is written that ‘I shall command my angels concerning you, to protect you,’ [Ps. 91:11] 11 and that ‘they shall lift you up in their hand, and you shall not strike your foot against the stone!’” [Ps. 91:12]. 12 In reply, Jesus said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not test the Lord your God’” [Deut. 6:16]. 13 Completing his temptation, the devil departed from him until the right time.
1 Τότε ὁ Ἰησοῦς ἀνήχθη εἰς τὴν ἔρημον ὑπὸ τοῦ πνεύματος πειρασθῆναι ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου. 2 καὶ νηστεύσας ἡμέρας τεσσεράκοντα καὶ νύκτας τεσσεράκοντα, ὕστερον ἐπείνασεν. 3 καὶ προσελθὼν ὁ πειράζων εἶπεν αὐτῷ· εἰ υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰπὲ ἵνα οἱ λίθοι οὗτοι ἄρτοι γένωνται. 4 ὁ δὲ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν· γέγραπται· οὐκ ἐπ’ ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος, ἀλλ’ ἐπὶ παντὶ ῥήματι ἐκπορευομένῳ διὰ στόματος θεοῦ. 5 Τότε παραλαμβάνει αὐτὸν ὁ διάβολος εἰς τὴν ἁγίαν πόλιν καὶ ἔστησεν αὐτὸν ἐπὶ τὸ πτερύγιον τοῦ ἱεροῦ 6 καὶ λέγει αὐτῷ· εἰ υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ θεοῦ, βάλε σεαυτὸν κάτω· γέγραπται γὰρ ὅτι τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ ἐντελεῖται περὶ σοῦ καὶ ἐπὶ χειρῶν ἀροῦσίν σε, μήποτε προσκόψῃς πρὸς λίθον τὸν πόδα σου. 7 ἔφη αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· πάλιν γέγραπται· οὐκ ἐκπειράσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν σου. 8 Πάλιν παραλαμβάνει αὐτὸν ὁ διάβολος εἰς ὄρος ὑψηλὸν λίαν καὶ δείκνυσιν αὐτῷ πάσας τὰς βασιλείας τοῦ κόσμου καὶ τὴν δόξαν αὐτῶν 9 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· ταῦτά σοι πάντα δώσω, ἐὰν πεσὼν προσκυνήσῃς μοι. 10 τότε λέγει αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς· ὕπαγε, σατανᾶ· γέγραπται γάρ· κύριον τὸν θεόν σου προσκυνήσεις καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις. 11 Τότε ἀφίησιν αὐτὸν ὁ διάβολος, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἄγγελοι προσῆλθον καὶ διηκόνουν αὐτῷ.	1 Ἰησοῦς δὲ πλήρης πνεύματος ἁγίου ὑπέστρεψεν ἀπὸ τοῦ Ἰορδάνου καὶ ἤγετο ἐν τῷ πνεύματι ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ 2 ἡμέρας τεσσεράκοντα πειραζόμενος ὑπὸ τοῦ διαβόλου. Καὶ οὐκ ἔφαγεν οὐδὲν ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις καὶ συντελεσθεισῶν αὐτῶν ἐπείνασεν. 3 εἶπεν δὲ αὐτῷ ὁ διάβολος· εἰ υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ θεοῦ, εἰπὲ τῷ λίθῳ τούτῳ ἵνα γένηται ἄρτος. 4 καὶ ἀπεκρίθη πρὸς αὐτὸν ὁ Ἰησοῦς· γέγραπται ὅτι οὐκ ἐπ’ ἄρτῳ μόνῳ ζήσεται ὁ ἄνθρωπος. 5 Καὶ ἀναγαγὼν αὐτὸν ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ πάσας τὰς βασιλείας τῆς οἰκουμένης ἐν στιγμῇ χρόνου 6 καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ διάβολος· σοὶ δώσω τὴν ἐξουσίαν ταύτην ἅπασαν καὶ τὴν δόξαν αὐτῶν, ὅτι ἐμοὶ παραδέδοται καὶ ᾧ ἐὰν θέλω δίδωμι αὐτήν· 7 σὺ οὖν ἐὰν προσκυνήσῃς ἐνώπιον ἐμοῦ, ἔσται σοῦ πᾶσα. 8 καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς εἶπεν αὐτῷ· γέγραπται· κύριον τὸν θεόν σου προσκυνήσεις καὶ αὐτῷ μόνῳ λατρεύσεις. 9 Ἤγαγεν δὲ αὐτὸν εἰς Ἰερουσαλὴμ καὶ ἔστησεν ἐπὶ τὸ πτερύγιον τοῦ ἱεροῦ καὶ εἶπεν αὐτῷ· εἰ υἱὸς εἶ τοῦ θεοῦ, βάλε σεαυτὸν ἐντεῦθεν κάτω· 10 γέγραπται γὰρ ὅτι τοῖς ἀγγέλοις αὐτοῦ ἐντελεῖται περὶ σοῦ τοῦ διαφυλάξαι σε 11 καὶ ὅτι ἐπὶ χειρῶν ἀροῦσίν σε, μήποτε προσκόψῃς πρὸς λίθον τὸν πόδα σου. 12 καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν αὐτῷ ὁ Ἰησοῦς ὅτι εἴρηται· οὐκ ἐκπειράσεις κύριον τὸν θεόν σου. 13 Καὶ συντελέσας πάντα πειρασμὸν ὁ διάβολος ἀπέστη ἀπ’ αὐτοῦ ἄχρι καιροῦ.

Commentary

So which one is the “true” sequence?

Matthew uses the more specific time marker tote (pronounced toh-teh), “then” and palin (pronounced pah-linn) “again,” while Luke does not have those words. This means that Luke was not going for strict chronology. Most commentaries (I’ve read) accept that Matthew’s version was original (See, e.g, Fitzmyer, vol. 1, pp. 507-08), though Robert Stein is not sure (see below)..

However, a hostile objector can still claim that the two temptations are switched and demand that they must not be. Another possible answer: Luke had a different source. However, a hostile objector could further point out that Luke’s source still does not match Matthew’s account. Round and around the objections go.

Many postmodern critics read these ancient documents in bad faith, believing that the authors were liars and plagiarists (I have heard them on youtube.) The critics employ no subtlety or finesse and look for ways to put these ancient texts down. It seems they belong to their own hyper-skeptical age.

What Is Postmodernism?

The Skeptical Sneering Age

The best answer to these objections is that it just does not matter. We get the main point of the two passages: Jesus was led in the wilderness by the Spirit–for testing / temptation–he used Scripture to rebuke Satan–Jesus won. Jesus is launching an attack on the kingdom of Satan, and as the Son of God ushers in the kingdom of God. Jesus is binding the strong man or Satan (Matt. 12:29-32).

Go for the spirit and essence of this passage, even in their switched sequence. In this way, Matthew’s and Luke’s versions are the same and do not contradict each other.

Theological and Literary Reasons for the Switch

Ian Paul, a vicar in the Anglican church in the UK and NT scholar, offers these theological reasons for the switch:

But it is also clear that Luke has changed the order of the three temptations from Matthew. I think we can see that Luke acknowledges this, though the evidence is hidden in most English translations. Matthew uses the connections ‘then’ (tote) and ‘again’ (palin) in the second and third temptations, but Luke avoids these temporal succession markers, and simply says ‘and’ (kai) to link them. This reminds us that the gospel writers are not always offering us a chronological account of events, but are happy to organise their material in thematic and narrative ways that communicate something not just of the events of Jesus’ life, but of their significance.

Matthew’s order is the most natural, reaching a climax in relation to the nature of the kingdom that Jesus is bringing, reflecting the centrality of the ‘kingdom of God/the heavens’ within Jesus’ teaching in Matthew. Jesus’ response is also climactic, in that he is moving back through Deuteronomy in his citations, ever closer towards the central Jewish confession of the Shema (Deut 6.4): ‘Hear O Israel, the Lord your God is one/the only’. The rejection of idolatry, and the worship of God alone, is the central theological call of the Old Testament narrative. And this final conflict happens on a ‘high mountain’, just as Jesus begins his ministry on a mountain in the next chapter, and hands on his ministry to the disciples on a mountain in Matt 28.

For Luke, the central place of ministry and conflict in his narrative is the temple. The first revelation of the gospel happens to Zechariah in the temple; the final conflict for Jesus takes place in the temple precincts in Luke 19; and the life and ministry of the apostles continues after the resurrection in the temple (Luke 24.53), with the temple remaining the focus of the early community of Jesus’ followers in Acts 2.46.

I add: Luke is the only Gospel writer who clearly says that the temple will be destroyed when armies surround it (21:20).

This is excellent, as Ian Paul’s work usually is.

Source: Ian Paul, “Why Is Jesus’s temptation in a different order in Luke?” Psephizo, 8 Mar. 2019, accessed 11 Feb. 2024.

Robert Stein agrees, writing more succinctly:

The order of the three temptations differs from the order in Matt 4:1–11. In Matthew the final temptation took place on a high mountain and involved worshiping the devil, whereas in Luke the last temptation took place on the pinnacle of the temple in Jerusalem. This fits well with each of their theological interests, for Matthew preferred the mountain motif (5:1; 28:16–20), whereas Luke was deeply concerned with Jerusalem. Which order is the original is uncertain (comments on Luke’s Gospel).

Fitzmyer also says that Luke’s interest is in Jerusalem and the temple (vol. 1, p. 507).

The view of the world from a high mountain must be a visionary experience, scholars say, because one cannot look at all the kingdoms of the world from this high place.

I note also that the other printed commentaries I have available to me do not cover the switched sequence. In other words, it is not an issue with them, as I believe it should not be for us who believe in the divine inspiration of the inerrant Gospels.

Conclusion and Recommendation

The Gutenberg printing press was invented in the mid-1400s, so the Gospel writers researched their stories or wrote them from memory. The Gospels breathe with authenticity and real-life because of the differences. They do not feel fake to me.

But even if Matthew and Luke had had access to a printing press, it seems Luke would have switched his order, anyway, to culminate his version in Jerusalem and at the temple, as the commentators suggested. The Gospel writers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, gave themselves permission to rearrange their material for theological or other reasons.

We must not let our faith be so brittle that it snaps in two when these differences present themselves. It would be foolish to throw out the entire Bible, as some uptight pastors and teachers and even theologians and Christian philosophers demand. “If the Bible were to be wrong in one historical detail, then we cannot trust it about God and theology and our faith and practice!” That’s an overreaction.

The Bible is not brittle, and nor should your faith be. We could still learn wonderful truths from the Bible about God and his redemptive plan of salvation in Christ and how we can live our lives with the Spirit leading and cleansing us. The American church of the more restrictive variety needs to relax a lot more.

My view of Scripture: It’s very high, but I don’t believe in “total inerrancy” or “hyper-inerrancy” as they define things at this link. I allow for the inspired authors to rearrange the material, without hurting the main meaning.

‘Total’ Inerrancy and Infallibility or Just Infallibility?

Recommendation

Begin a series on the reliability of the Gospels. Start with the Conclusion which has quick summaries and links back to the other parts:

15. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels: Conclusion

See this part in the series that puts differences in perspective (a difference ≠ a  contradiction):

13. Are There Contradictions in the Gospels?

The Gospels have a massive number of agreements in their storylines:

14. Similarities among John’s Gospel and the Synoptic Gospels

Celebrate the similarities, and don’t obsess over the differences.

Personally, I celebrate the Gospel writers’ inspiration to rearrange material and do not lose focus on the main message. My faith is not brittle after I realize they did what they did. Am I greater than Matthew or Luke? No, so I accept their differences and purposes.

SOURCES

For the bibliographies, click on these links and scroll down to the bottom.

Matthew 4

Luke 4