First Thessalonians was written in 49/50 and even liberal scholars (e.g., Bart Ehrman) concede that this is “proto-Pauline.” It also pre-dates the Gospel of Matthew. In 1 Thess 3:5 we read:
For this reason, when I could not
bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, I was afraid that
somehow the tempter (ὁ πειράζων) had tempted (πειραζω) you and that our labor
had been in vain. (NRSV)
The participial phrase "the tempter" (ο πειραζων) appears
in both 1 Thess 3:5 and Matthew's account of the temptation in the wilderness
in Matt 4:3 ("and when the tempter [ο πειραζων] came to [Jesus] . . .
"). That “the tempter” in 1 Thess is Satan can be seen in (1) the fact
that Paul mentioned Satan previously in 1 Thess 2:18:
For we wanted to come to
you--certainly I, Paul, wanted to again and again--but Satan (ο σατανας)
blocked our way. (NRSV)
and (2) that Paul in 1 Cor 7:5 (another "proto-Pauline"
epistle) "tempting" is one of Satan's functions:
Do not deprive one another except
perhaps by agreement for a set time to devote yourselves to prayer, and then
come together again, so that Satan (σατανας) may not tempt (πειραζω) you
because of your lack of self-control. (NRSV)
Contra Christadelphians who make much of “the tempter” (ὁ πειράζων)
not being attested in literature before the time of Christ for “Satan,” the
fact that Paul would use ὁ πειράζων in his earliest letter for Satan supports
the thesis that ὁ πειράζων in Matt 4:1-11 (cf. Mark 1;12-13; Luke 4:1-13) is Satan,
a personal supernatural being.
