“…and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, “ ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’ and “ ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ”
The devil now quotes Scripture.
for it is written,
Since Jesus used Scripture to resist temptation in the first temptation, the devil used Scripture to appeal to temptation in the second temptation. This is an attack on the Word by appealing to the Word! He quoted a passage not pertinent to Jesus’ situation.
The devil quoted Psalm 91:11-12 in the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) to strengthen his point. By quoting Scripture, he picked up Jesus’ method of dealing with temptation.
The devil carefully omitted the words in Psalm 91 “to guard you in all your ways.” The reason the devil left these words out is that this is the way God sustains the Messiah in His humanity. An attempt at sensation is the sin of presumption of trust rather than trust itself.
PRINCIPLE:
Sincere but invalid use of Scripture violates principles of God’s Word.
APPLICATION:
Misquotation and misapplication of Scripture is rampant today. Just because a television preacher lives in luxury does not mean that his followers will have financial prosperity. The mere reference to Scripture does not guarantee its truthfulness.
Satan is always the source of misquotation and misapplication of Scripture. Taking passages out of context has led many astray. People think that “sincerity” is the all-important principle for determining whether something is true. This is a deadly mistake because biblically there is no inherent value in sincerity for determining truth. Truth is truth, and error is error, regardless of how sincere people are. To trust in sincerity without truth is gross stupidity.
