Empty Arguments and the Temptation

The Ephesians Study

Ephesians 5:6-7 

Amplified Bible (AMP)

Ephesian 5:6 Let no one deceive you with empty arguments [that encourage you to sin], for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience [those who habitually sin]. 7 So do not participate or even associate with them [in the rebelliousness of sin]. 

The first text reminds me of the empty arguments that were of Satan in the Garden of Eden.  It also reminds me of the forty days of temptation of our Lord in the wilderness.  Again, empty arguments.  Perhaps not in the way that we generally view an argument, but a trying to persuade the Lord to that which was a violation of His TRUE identity all the while saying: "If thou be the Son of God."  

Empty arguments are so subtle.  You have to know what the Word says in order to know that these arguments are empty.  For instance.  The Lord’s temptation was so much more than food.  When He said that man should not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeded from God, He was going to the core of the argument. Basically, He was tempted to presumption.  “If you be the Son of God…”  It was always about proving himself.  Are not all arguments involving temptation really just that?  Here, at His baptism, the Father had given verbal acknowledgement that Jesus was the Son of God.  That did not stop Satan from using this taunt.  Even when Jesus hung on the cross, the words: If you be the Son of God, save yourself.  His identity as the Son of God was not to save Himself but to save us.  

Have you ever considered that perhaps the greatest hurt in the temptation was that a fallen angel was questioning His status as the Son of God.  He was basically saying that God’s Son would not be facing all this.  Unless you believed the Voice from heaven that said, “this is My Son…” you will be relying upon the evidence which Satan intimates is suspect....just as he did in the Garden of Eden.  You have to know what the Word says.  

In the temptation, we can see the foundation of all empty arguments.  

If You be the Son of God, save Yourself.  Bread has to do with appetite which Adam and Eve faced and fell.  It’s more than about food, although that is important.  There are many appetites…physical, emotional, spiritual.  Jesus said that man should not live by bread alone.  He could have quoted: The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want (be dissatisfied, be discontent, have a need, etc.)"  Before they took the fruit, whatever that was, they had a thought that they were lacking something…that God was holding out on them.  

Identity is at the core of the empty arguments.  Who you believe you are is completely tied to your doing…obedience.  When you feel you are lacking...I am not enough...you will be compelled to clothe yourself with fig leaves.  Enter all the vain, empty arguments.

The second temptation or empty argument was again prefaced by “If you be the Son of God…”  This time, we have an example of distorted scripture.  In the Garden of Eden, God’s word was distorted.  Jesus gives us an example of what to do when faced with the distortions.  You quote exactly what the scripture does say.  Jesus was being tempted to presumption…taking the Scripture out of its context.  This is huge and is so prevalent today.  Vain, empty arguments happen when God’s word is taken out of context.

The third temptation is about the love of the world.  Jesus was shown the world and all that He could have.  He had come to save the world, and He was offered an easy way…worship the Accuser.  The love of the world is very different than the “God so loved to world” that Christ fulfilled.  What are our empty arguments that play themselves out in the love of the world…making us prostitute ourselves in shortcuts?

We are given two paths.  Be sons of disobedience by being taken in by these empty arguments.  Or, avoid participating in the rebellion of sin.    That is a strong sentence.  We do not think of empty arguments as participation in rebellion, and we are told that witchcraft is the sin of rebellion.  God's word gives us all the guidance that we need.  

Empty arguments promise that “you shall be as gods.”  In this, we are participating in idolatry.  If you be the son/daughter of God…prove yourself.  Identity is so crucial…to us, to God, to squelching the rebellion.  It is not argument that we need.  It is the Word, knowing the Word, and living by that Word of truth.