Not by bread alone meaning of phraseology. Man does not live by bread alone

The American destroyer John McCain, assigned to the Yokosuka naval station (Japan), collided with the merchant ship Alnic MC. The incident occurred on August 21 near Singapore east of the Strait of Malacca, the press service of the US Navy's Seventh Fleet reports. Ten sailors from the destroyer's crew are listed as missing. A ship that has sustained damage to its stern moves under its own power to the repair site. Senator John McKay, after whose father and grandfather the ship was named, said he was praying for the fate of the missing sailors...

Gothic!
As they say, whatever you name the yacht, that’s how it will float!
Let me remind you that the current McCain was not just unlucky militarily, he was a walking disaster, whose appearance on the lists of any unit drove the command into a stupor. And there was a reason!

To begin with, McCain sank his plane off the coast of Texas, but he himself escaped, ready for new exploits. The loss of expensive equipment was hushed up thanks to dad and his admirals. And out of harm’s way, the hero himself was transferred to serve in Europe, in the Mediterranean wing of the US Air Force. But even there he continued his exploits: he accidentally flew into a restricted area over British Gibraltar, where, mistaking him for an unidentified stranger, he was almost shot down.

Later, during one of the flights in Spain, he caught a power line with the wing of a fighter, ruining another combat vehicle. Usually in such a situation the pilot does not have time not only to pull the catapult handle, but even to say: “Mom!” For McCain, everything is like water off a duck's back.

But the apotheosis of McCain's career was a fire on an aircraft carrier. On July 29, 1967, at about 11 a.m., the largest fire since World War II occurred in the Gulf of Tonkin on board the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal. Evil tongues claim that McCain, who was preparing to take off on the Phantom, accidentally pressed the firing button and the launched missile hit the fuel drop tank one of the attack aircraft standing on the deck, after which a fire started in which 134 sailors and 21 aircraft burned. The official cause, however, was declared to be a “voltage surge in the on-board network.” At the same time, McCain himself, who was at the helm, escaped with only minor burns.

The Soviet S-75 air defense missile was next on McCain’s list of “achievements.” In October 1967, he was shot down during one of the raids on Hanoi. John was relatively lucky here too: out of several thousand striking elements of the rocket, John did not catch a single one in his memory! True, during the ejection he severely injured his arm and leg, but in the end he successfully splashed down in the city lake. The Vietnamese usually beat such “dear guests” with hoes, making it clear that they were not too happy about being bombed, burned with napalm, and also rained down from the sky with all sorts of poison. But not only was McCain not debugged, but he was pulled out of the pond and put in a hospital...

The last point of it military career was another plane crash. Despite doctors' prohibitions, he again sat at the controls of a combat aircraft. Needless to say, he fell. McCain himself ejected...

So is it any wonder what happened to the destroyer John McCain?

St. Maxim Turinsky

He answered and said to him, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

The Savior defeats the devil's cunning with an amazing answer. He does not do what the devil says, so that it would not seem that He is manifesting the glory of His power at the will of the enemy, but He does not answer that it is impossible to do, because He could not deny what He had already done more than once. Therefore, the Lord does not agree with what the devil offers Him and does not reject his questions, but thereby retains His decision to demonstrate His power and exposes the enemy’s cunning with divine eloquence. Therefore He answers him: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God, - that is, not with earthly bread, not with material food with which you deceived the first man Adam, but by the word of God, in which lies the food of spiritual life. The Word of God is Christ the Lord, as the evangelist says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God(John 1:1) . Therefore, anyone who feeds on the word of Christ does not need earthly nutrition. For he who is strengthened by the bread of the Savior cannot desire the bread of this age. After all, the Lord has His bread, and moreover, this bread- The Savior Himself, as He taught, saying: I am the bread that came down from heaven(John 6:41) . The prophet also speaks about this bread: And the bread that strengthens the heart of man(Ps. 104:15)

Sermons.

St. Isidore Pelusiot

He answered and said to him, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Stones were not turned into bread by Christ, my dear, not because the time for miracles had not yet arrived, as the idle talkers proclaim, but because the request was vain and befitting only the one who asked. God gives everything in number, and in measure, and in accordance with the need, but here what was asked was unnecessary, and the working of miracles was completely untimely.

Letters. Book I

Right John of Kronstadt

He answered and said to him, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

Know now, when you fast physically, that man, a spiritual and immortal being, can live not from bread and various foodstuffs alone, but from the word of God, and much more from the word of God than from bread. Eating material food is the most common way of satiation for all sensual creatures, as gross as the body; it is adapted to our planetary life, subordinate in everything to the planet on which we live. But since our life is not limited only to existence on earth, but will continue after it burns up - forever and ever, it is natural for a person to desire and demand food other than planetary, coarse food - namely, eternal food, adapted to an immortal being , the spiritual-intelligent nature of our soul. What kind of food is this? This is the food by which immortal spirits - Angels - live, the food by which all the worlds of the universe are sustained in their entire composition and in all their parts - that is, this is the word of God.

Diary. Volume I. 1856.

Blzh. Hieronymus of Stridonsky

He answered and said to him, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

The evidence is taken from the book of Deuteronomy (Deut. 8:3). And the Lord answers this way because He meant to win victory over the devil not through His power, but through His humility. At the same time, it should be noted that if the Lord had not begun to fast, then the devil would not have had the opportunity to be tempted, according to what is written: My son, when you begin to serve before the Lord, stand in righteousness and fear, and prepare your soul for the test(Sir. 2:1). But the very answer of the Savior shows that the man was the One who was subjected to temptation: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. So, whoever does not feed on the word of God does not live.

Blzh. Theophylact of Bulgaria

He answered and said to him, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

This testimony is taken from the Old Testament, for these are the words of Moses. And the Jews ate manna, which was not bread, but according to the Word of God it satisfied every need of the Jews, it was everything that anyone wanted to eat. Whether the Jew wanted fish, eggs, or cheese, manna satisfied his taste.

Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew.

Evfimy Zigaben

He answered and said: It is written: Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Seeing his wickedness, Jesus did not perform the required sign. Signs were usually performed for the benefit of those who contemplate; but the devil could not gain any benefit from here. And subsequently, seeing everything that Christ created, he did not change at all. But Christ responds to his hidden thoughts and silences him with Scripture from the book of Deuteronomy (8:3), as if saying: why are you ordering me to make bread out of stones? Of course, because of the hunger that torments Me, so that when I see them, I will be tempted to eat. But not alone only man shall live by bread, and there is another type of food. Every word that comes from the mouth of God to the hungry, like food, it sustains his life and satisfies him. Thus, He generously repelled the temptation to gluttony. It should be noted that Matthew said in plural: stones, and Luke in the only one: stone. Such harmless differences can often be found among evangelicals. The evidence comes from the Old Testament: these are the words of Moses. And the Jews ate manna, which, although it was not bread, but according to the word of God satisfied every need of the Jews and became everything that anyone wanted to eat. Whether a Jew craved fish, or eggs, or cheese, manna gave him just that taste.

Interpretation of the Gospel of Matthew.

Origen

He answered and said to him, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

What has been said has already been said by the Savior, and for those in the know it becomes clear that before manna, which is heavenly food, one must suffer and starve, using up one’s fat as food. For it is thus written: And remember all the way that the Lord your God led you through the wilderness, to humble you, to test you and to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you, made you hungry and fed you with manna, which your fathers did not know, to show you that man does not live by bread alone.(Deut. 8:2, . And the fact that the manna, as He says, was a word, becomes clear from the answer of Moses to the question of the children of Israel, when they said to each other: what is this?(Ex. 16:15) . What did Moses say? This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. This is the word that the Lord commanded(Ex. 16:15-16) . After this, the devil moves on to another [temptation to suffer a new] defeat.

Fragments.

Lopukhin A.P.

He answered and said to him, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

(Luke 4:4) . Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God(Deut. 8:3) Let us first explain, as far as possible, what meaning these words, the first words spoken by the Savior after baptism, could have had. The body is supported by food. But a person does not consist of only one body. The body cannot nourish itself or nourish itself; it, so to speak, transmits information about its needs and requirements to the spirit, and only with its help receives what it needs for its continuation and existence. The spirit provides for the body and its needs; it would perish without such provision. In tempting Christ, the devil therefore did not turn to the main source human life. Wanting to achieve his goal, he turned to the slave (body) instead of his master (spirit), and tempted the body to dominate its master, to subjugate him to his will. But this order was not normal. It is not the spirit that is dependent on the body, but the body on the spirit. For the body to be alive, the spirit must be alive. But the life of the spirit does not depend on bodily nutrition. It just seems that way. The spirit feeds on different food. Since the image and likeness of God lies not in the body, but in the human spirit, then the food that nourishes the spirit is given by God - this is the word of God. The devil represented man primarily as a physical being, the Savior represents man primarily as a spiritual being. The Lord seemed to forget about feeding the body while feeding his spirit. The devil forgot about feeding the spirit, expressing outward concern for the body. The error was exposed and the temptation was repelled.

Christ's answer to the devil is taken from Deut. 8:3. According to the LXX translation, this passage reads literally like this: ... “to proclaim to you that man will not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes through the mouth of God, man will live.” Lit. from the Hebrew: “...that man does not live by bread alone, that man lives by everything that comes from the mouth of the Most High.” Our Russian text of Deuteronomy, apparently, deviates from both the Greek and the Hebrew, and is closest to the Latin Vulgate. It is difficult to say from what text the quotation in the verse in question in Matthew is given. But it is certain that Matthew deviates here from both the Hebrew text and the LXX translation, which is already evident from the fact that “a man lives,” repeated in both the Greek and Hebrew texts, is not repeated by the evangelist. But the true and exact meaning of the original is preserved in the Gospel, and instead of the Hebrew “lives” it is said “will live,” as in LXX. In Deut. 8:3 its writer reminds the people of his wanderings in the wilderness and says that there God “humbled you, made you hungry and fed you with manna... to show you that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from mouth of the Lord." How a person lives by the word of God was demonstrated by the life of the Jews in the desert. Despite the famine, Israel remained alive there because the Lord commanded him to live, and in necessary cases, according to the word of God, manna fell. Consequently, the Savior did not need to worry about bread. God will give Him food when He needs it. He will not die if he does not turn stones into bread. Luke's speech is shortened.

Trinity leaves

He answered and said to him, “It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

What about Christ the Savior? He speaks directly about what the devil has kept silent about; He is not ashamed that he is hungry; but he does not want to obey the devil in anything, so as to teach us not to obey him even when he suggests something useful. So later He commanded the demons to remain silent when they called Him the Son of God. He answered and said to him: It is written: (in the book of Deuteronomy) Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God(Deut. 8:3). And besides bread, God has many ways to feed a person. You want Me to perform a miracle for My pleasure, but I will not do it. If such a miracle was needed, then God Himself would have created it for Me. But He does not create: that means it is not needed. I will endure hunger until God pleases to satisfy Me. I will work miracles, but not for Myself, but for the glory of God, for the salvation of people. If a hair does not fall from a person’s head without the will of God, then much less will God allow Me to die of hunger; you just need to surrender yourself to God’s good care in everything. And God can satisfy our hunger with His single word. A person has needs that are more important than food: spiritual food is more important than physical food. My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me and to complete His work.(John 4:34). And conversation with God, prayer, is sweeter for Me than any food. So the devil wanted to convict Jesus Christ of unbelief in God’s Providence, but Christ the Savior placed his hope entirely in His Heavenly Father and did not want to please His flesh in a miraculous way. He conquered temptation from the flesh through abstinence.

Trinity leaves. No. 801-1050.

Man does not live by bread alone
She had been in the hospital for a month now and kept wondering how she would continue to live. A month ago everything was fine, and she was full of bright dreams, but now this is it. Who needs her now without legs?
Nadezhda Valentinovna lay there and thought and thought. She became somehow indifferent to everything. She lay with her face turned to the wall, and dark thoughts overwhelmed her. Sometimes she was the only one who winced unbearable pain. It was dark in her eyes, and sometimes the yellow wall pressed on her. She almost did not answer the questions of the nurses and doctors. She didn't care. “If this tram had crushed me to death then, it wouldn’t have hurt so much now,” she thought.
Relatives and neighbors came to see her, some felt sorry or sighed silently. And some tried to console her and even seemed to be having fun, but it was difficult to bring Nadezhda out of the darkness in which she was. She looked at her visitors completely indifferently. For her forty years, she knew how to distinguish sincerity. And she did not see sincere people among the visitors she knew. Everyone is deceitful, and everyone lies to her. Everyone who visits tries to console her. Why are they so deceitful? She doesn’t understand now how she didn’t notice this before. And today an acquaintance came and Nadezhda Valentinovna did not greet her very warmly. She knew the deceitfulness of people, even her family. What can this not a close friend say in consolation? She sat down by the bed, putting the hated oranges and sweets on the nightstand. Nadezhda had seen her quite often before in the courtyard or in the garden near the Hermitage. That woman went to church, and all her conversations came down to God. Nadezhda was not interested in this topic and she got up and, having come up with a reason, left. And today, too, the conversation turned to God. Hope heard that God is the main Comforter, and He is hope. “Everything will be okay,” she said, “The Lord will help you!” Just believe!” To interrupt this unnecessary conversation, Nadezhda told the visitor, pointing to the bedside table: “Why did you bring it? I have a bedside table full of all sorts of fruits and sweets, and a lot of food in the refrigerator, but I don’t eat them. Take it back." But she smiled and said in response: “But you need to eat.” –
-Have you come to console me too? – Nadezhda told her coldly, “and don’t try, nothing will help me.”
“And God will help,” she said, smiling slightly and seriously.
There was nothing special in this smile and in her phrase, but Nadezhda suddenly saw that sincerity in the eyes that she had not yet noticed in previous visitors. But she muttered: “Where was your God when I got hit by a tram, and why didn’t He save me?
- Did you ask Him?
- No, why? That He doesn’t see what’s happening on earth. You said earlier that God is All-Seeing and Almighty. I do not believe in that. And I don't know why people go to church? I was once in church. So boring! Candles are burning everywhere, there is a smell of wax, everyone is crossing themselves, and for some reason they are kissing the icons. Some grandmothers are wearing scarves. Explain why you go there?
- Listen to the Word of God, and you come and find out everything yourself. Believe, God will heal you!
- What, will He give me new legs?
- When you know the Word, you will understand that this is not the main thing. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by the Word that comes from God.” I’ll also tell you in the words of Scripture: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom!”
- And what do you mean by this? Don't pretend to be a saint! Here it is, the only truth, I’m lying here without legs and no one needs me. And you say that the Lord creates the truth! Why, what sins did He punish me for? Tell me, who needs me now?
- God needs you all. And no one can say why He punished you, God is not a man and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Maybe He didn’t punish you, but shook you up so that you could be saved for eternal life. Maybe He decided to save you and take you into His kingdom. After all, no one will get there unclean. May the Lord cleanse you from your sins. Someday you will understand and thank God for being left without legs. - Well, I do not! – the angry Nadezhda answered with a crooked grin. She yawned, letting Zhenya, that woman, know that she was tired and wanted to sleep. “She stood up and said goodbye. - Come see us after the hospital!

“Man cannot live by bread alone” (Matt. 4:4)

How do our contemporaries understand this phrase?

This quote has a continuation. That is, if we hear God, trust His providence, do His will - this will be life. Because the bread is also from Him.

Svetlana, 41 years old, refugee from Lugansk region, Lipetsk:

For me it is when my son is nearby. When your loved one came home. When the "animal" is with me. When the sister and nephew express a desire to be together.

Maria, 24 years old, temporarily unemployed, Aachen (Germany):

Bread identifies material things. And for life, a person needs spiritual food, communication with God and knowledge of God. This is necessary for the salvation of the soul. People know how to live on “bread” alone, especially in European society, but I think this is not enough for the life of the soul.

Daria, 26 years old, civil servant, Sevastopol:

For a person’s life, spiritual food is much more important. This is what distinguishes us from animals.

Anton, 29 years old, employee of a real estate agency, Kiev:

I take this as cruel banter modern values society. Although, if you consider that the expression appeared long before it took shape modern society, - I want to cry. People have had, at a minimum, sketches of a constructive path of development for thousands of years, but “things are still there.” The phrase hints that a person is something more complex and higher than a simple animal with a set of physiological needs. There must be recharge and constant growth internal, spiritual world. With the ability to empathize, love, forgive, think. Otherwise, a person risks sliding to the level of an animal, or entering into confrontation with his own inner world.

Patristic interpretation:

Moses, calming his people, tired of the long return from Egyptian captivity, said that it was not in vain that God subjected the people of Israel to such trials: “He humbled you, tormented you with hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know and your fathers did not know, in order to show you that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. A man lives."

In the New Testament, in the Gospel of Matthew, this expression is also found. When Jesus was in the desert and holding a long fast, “the tempter came to Him and said: If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. He answered and said to him: It is written: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”

IN modern Russia the expression gained additional popularity after the publication (1956) of the novel “Not by Bread Alone” by Vladimir Dudintsev (1918-1998).
The meaning of the expression: for a person to be completely happy, material well-being is not enough; he needs spiritual food and moral satisfaction.