THIS MIGHT SURPRISE YOU

Matthew and Luke both tell of Jesus' three temptations. Do they put them in the same order?

The answer

Both open with stones-to-bread. Then they diverge: Matthew 4 ends on a high mountain with all the kingdoms of the world; Luke 4 ends on the temple pinnacle in Jerusalem. The second and third temptations are reversed.

Why it’s interesting

Each order serves the Gospel telling it — Luke, whose whole story drives toward Jerusalem, saves the Jerusalem temptation for last. The three scenes are the same; the sequence is the storyteller's.

Scholarly consensus

You can know the Bible.

Not just the stories, but the history, authorship, and scholarship behind it.