The sin of presumption lies close beside the virtue of perfect faith and confidence in God, and Satan endeavored to take advantage of Christ’s humanity and urge him over the line of trust into presumption. He now admitted that Christ was right in the wilderness, when he placed such perfect confidence in the Father, and he now urged that one more proof should be given of his entire faith in God, by casting himself from the temple. He assured him that if he were indeed the Son of God he had nothing to fear, for the angels would uphold him. Satan was well aware that if Christ could be prevailed upon to fling himself from the temple, in order to prove his claim to the protection of his Heavenly Father, he would, by that very act, exhibit the weakness of human nature. {2SP 94.1}

Formastelighedens synd ligger ikke langt fra fuldkommen tro og tillid til Gud, og Satan søgte at opnå sin hensigt ved at trænge sig ind på Kristi menneskelige følelser og føre ham over troens grænser, så at han ville handle formastelig. Han indrømmede nu, at Kristus havde ret i ørknen, da han viste så fuldkommen tillid til sin fader, og han søgte at få ham til at give endnu et bevis på sin fuldkomne fortrøstning til Gud ved at kaste sig ned fra templet. Han forsikrede ham, at dersom han virkelig var Guds Søn, så havde han ikke noget at frygte for, thi englene ville bevare ham. Satan vidste godt, at dersom han kunne få Kristus til at kaste sig selv ned fra templet for at bevise, at han havde ret til sin himmelske Faders beskyttelse, så ville han netop ved denne handling vise den menneskelige naturs svaghed.