eceding temptations.

And Christ resisted these temptations by quoting the authority of the
Law, not by enforcing His power, "so as to give more honor to His
human nature and a greater punishment to His adversary, since the foe
of the human race was vanquished, not as by God, but as by man"; as
Pope Leo says (Serm. 1, De Quadrag. 3).

Reply Obj. 1: To make use of what is needful for self-support is not
the sin of gluttony; but if a man do anything inordinate out of the
desire for such support, it can pertain to the sin of gluttony. Now
it is inordinate for a man who has human assistance at his command to
seek to obtain food miraculously for mere bodily support. Hence the
Lord miraculously provided the children of Israel with manna in the
desert, where there was no means of obtaining food otherwise. And in
like fashion Christ miraculously provided the crowds with food in the
desert, when there was no other means of getting food. But in order
to assuage His hunger, He could have done otherwise than work a
miracle, as did John the Baptist, according to Matthew (3:4); or He
could have hastened to the neighboring country. Consequently the
devil esteemed that if Christ was a mere man, He would fall into sin
by attempting to assuage His hunger by a miracle.

Reply Obj. 2: It often happens that a man seeks to derive glory from
external humiliation, whereby he is exalted by reason of spiritual
good. Hence Augustine says (De Serm. Dom. in Monte ii, 12): "It must
be noted that it is possible to boast not only of the beauty and
splendor of material things, but even of filthy squalor." And this is
signified by the devil urging Christ to seek spiritual glory by
casting His body down.

Reply Obj. 3: It is a sin to desire worldly riches and honors in an
inordinate fashion. And the principal sign of this is when a man does
something wrong in order to acquire such things. And so the devil was
not satisfied with instigating to a desire for riches and honors, but
he went so far as to tempt Christ, for the sake of gaining possession
of these things, to fall down and adore him, which is a very great
crime, and against God. Nor does he say merely, "if Thou wilt adore
me," but he adds, "if, falling down"; because, as Ambrose says on
Luke 4:5: "Ambition harbors yet another danger within itself: for,
while seeking to rule, it will serve; it will bow in submission that
it may be crowned with honor; and the higher it aims, the lower it
abases