Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Matthew
Chapter 4: It Is Written
Fresh from His baptism, Jesus is led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Where Israel failed in the desert and Adam failed in the garden, the Son of Man stands firm, answering every temptation with the word of God: it is written. Then, victorious, He begins His ministry with the same cry John raised, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and calls ordinary fishermen to follow Him and become fishers of men. Matthew 4 shows the King overcoming the tempter by the word and gathering His first disciples.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Matthew chapter 4. For each section you will find the KJV text, word studies that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Matthew shows the King tested and triumphant, then beginning to preach and call disciples. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
Led Up to Be Tempted
After His baptism, Jesus is led by the Spirit into the wilderness and fasts forty days, then faces three temptations from the devil, meeting each with Scripture.
It Is Written
Jesus answers every temptation not with argument or power but with the written word of God, showing us how to overcome the tempter.
The Ministry Begins
Victorious over temptation, Jesus begins to preach repentance and the kingdom, and calls His first disciples to leave their nets and follow Him.
The Faithful Son
Where the first Adam and Israel failed, Jesus stands firm. He is the faithful Son who overcomes the tempter and begins to gather His people.
Man Shall Not Live by Bread Alone (Matthew 4:3-4)
The first temptation strikes at physical need, and Jesus answers with the priority of God's word.
By Every Word of God
"Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. 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. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me."
Greek Study
The adversary is named "the tempter" (ho peirazon), and the verb peirazo means both to tempt and to test. Each assault begins "If thou be the Son of God" -- an attempt to make Jesus prove or exploit His sonship apart from the Father's will. Jesus answers each time with gegraptai, "it is written," wielding Deuteronomy as a sword. "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word... of God" -- He meets the tempter not with divine displays but with the written Word, as any believer must.
Explanation
The parallel with Israel is exact and deliberate. Israel was led into the wilderness, tested forty years, and failed over bread, testing God, and idolatry; Jesus is led into the wilderness, tested forty days, and prevails at the very points Israel fell -- each answer drawn from Deuteronomy, Israel's wilderness book. He is the true Israel and the last Adam, succeeding where the first Adam and the nation both failed. His victory is won as a man, trusting the Father's word, so that His triumph can become the pattern and power of ours.
Gospel Focus
Hungry after forty days, Jesus is tempted to use His power to turn stones to bread, to meet a real need in His own way rather than the Father's. He answers with Scripture: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God" (quoting Deuteronomy 8:3). This teaches us how to face temptation: with "it is written." Jesus did not debate the devil or rely on feelings; He wielded the written word. Notice also the priority He sets: God's word is more essential than bread. We can survive without food far longer than our souls can survive without the word of God. The Son who is the living Word overcame by the written word, and so must we. Fill your heart with Scripture, for it is the sword by which the tempter is defeated.
Worship the Lord and Serve Him Only (Matthew 4:10)
The final temptation offers the world in exchange for worship, and Jesus draws an absolute line.
You Shall Worship the Lord Your God
"Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; And leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the borders of Zabulon and Nephthalim: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon, and the land of Nephthalim, by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles; The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up. From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea: for they were fishers."
Greek Study
Jesus ends the contest with a command of authority: "Get thee hence, Satan" (hypage, Satana) -- and grounds it in "thou shalt worship (proskyneseis) the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." The same worship the magi rightly gave the child (2:11), Satan wrongly demands for himself, and Jesus reserves it for God alone. Then, moving to Galilee, His own first sermon takes up John's word exactly: "Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (v. 17).
Explanation
Matthew frames the start of the ministry with Isaiah's prophecy of light dawning on "Galilee of the Gentiles" (v. 15-16) -- the Gospel's reach to the nations announced again at its outset. Jesus settles in Capernaum, calls His first disciples, and the great light begins to shine on people "which sat in darkness." The kingdom does not arrive with armies but with a preacher walking by a lake, calling ordinary fishermen. The King has entered the darkness Himself to be its light.
Gospel Focus
The devil offered Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if He would only bow down and worship him, a shortcut to glory that bypassed the cross. Jesus refused with force: "Away with you, Satan!" and again, "it is written." The line He draws is the heart of the first commandment: "Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him" (Deuteronomy 6:13). Worship belongs to God alone. Every temptation, at bottom, is an invitation to give to something else the devotion that belongs to God, whether comfort, power, or approval. Jesus would not take even the whole world at the price of misplaced worship. And there is no shortcut around the cross to the crown. Worship God only, serve God only, and refuse every offer that would put anything in His place.
Fishers of Men (Matthew 4:19-20)
His ministry begun, Jesus calls His first disciples with a summons that reorders their lives.
They Immediately Left Their Nets
"And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and followed him. And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people. And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatick, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them. And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judaea, and from beyond Jordan."
Greek Study
The call is two words and a promise: "Follow me" (deute opiso mou, come after me) -- the very phrase a rabbi's disciple used of joining his teacher, not to sit and take notes but to walk literally behind him, watching, imitating, becoming like him by nearness. "And I will make you fishers of men": poieso, "I will make," is a maker's word, the same kind of verb used of God's own making in creation -- what Jesus does to a follower is not instruction but new creation. And the response, "they straightway (eutheos) left their nets," uses the same word of headlong urgency that gives Mark's Gospel its famously fast pace: the call meets no delay, no negotiation, only an immediate leaving. Discipleship in Matthew begins not with a course of study but with a leaving and a following.
Explanation
The men Jesus calls are not scholars or priests but working fishermen, and the summons reorders their whole lives in an instant -- nets, boats, and father left behind. This is the shape of the kingdom: an authoritative call and a wholehearted leaving. As the chapter closes, "great multitudes" gather from every region (v. 25), drawn by His healing and His word. The King who conquered the tempter alone now begins to gather the people He will save, one glad, immediate "yes" at a time.
Gospel Focus
Having overcome the tempter and begun to preach "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand" (verse 17), Jesus calls His first disciples with two words: "Follow Me." He did not call the trained or the powerful but ordinary fishermen, and He promised to remake them: "I will make you fishers of men." Discipleship is both a following and a transformation; Jesus takes us as we are and makes us into something new for His purposes. And notice their response: "they immediately left their nets and followed Him." True discipleship answers the call of Christ without delay and without holding back, leaving even a livelihood to follow. The King who conquered temptation now gathers those He will send to gather others. His call still comes to ordinary people: follow Me, and I will make you a fisher of men.
Chapter 4 in Review
Matthew 4 shows the King tested and triumphant, then beginning His work. Led into the wilderness after His baptism, Jesus meets three temptations from the devil and overcomes each with the written word: "It is written." He refuses to meet His needs apart from the Father, to test God presumptuously, or to gain the world by misplaced worship, declaring, "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." Then He begins to preach repentance and the kingdom, and calls ordinary fishermen who immediately leave their nets to follow Him.
For the Apostolic reader, this chapter is a school of victory and discipleship. Jesus shows us how to overcome the tempter, not by argument or power but by the word of God hidden in the heart. He shows us the absolute claim of God on our worship: Him only. And He shows us what following Him means, an immediate, whole-hearted answer that leaves the old life to be made new. The faithful Son who conquered where Adam fell now calls us to follow Him, meet temptation with His word, worship God alone, and become fishers of men.
- We overcome temptation the way Jesus did, with the written word: "it is written."
- God's word is more essential to us than bread (Deuteronomy 8:3).
- Worship belongs to God alone; every temptation is finally about misplaced worship.
- Following Christ is an immediate, whole-hearted answer that leaves the old life to be remade.
Questions for Reflection
- Jesus met temptation with Scripture. Is God's word hidden in your heart, ready as your sword?
- Every temptation is an invitation to misplaced worship. What competes with God for your devotion?
- The disciples left their nets immediately. Is there anything you are holding back from following Christ fully?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- Overcoming temptation by the word of God: Matthew 4:1-11; Deuteronomy 8:3.
- Worship and serve the Lord only: Matthew 4:10; Deuteronomy 6:13.
- The beginning of Jesus' preaching: Matthew 4:17; Mark 1:15.
- The call to follow and become fishers of men: Matthew 4:18-22.
- The word of God as the sword of the Spirit: Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12.