"This book is about the difference between the true God and the false God.
"It is a classic of our time that sharply illuminates the inner workings of humans at a crossroads of choice!"
- Recommended by Kang Young-an, Kim Young-bong, and Park Young-ho

Between God and the Devil is Helmut Thielicke's masterpiece, which persistently explores questions about humanity in the face of the unimaginable evil of the Nazis.
Tillich turns his gaze to the wilderness where Jesus was tempted.
As I reread, meditate on, and write down the story, I discover the impatience, distrust, and doubt within me.
He sees through the devil's scheme to subtly instigate cynical atheism on the one hand, and superstition and blind faith on the other.
Above all, we must look to Jesus Christ as the only way to overcome the devil's temptation.

This book is a 'trenches of the soul' built in preparation for a decisive battle against a powerful evil.
Tillich lay down in the trench, facing the devil in all his might, and sought to strengthen the Church of Jesus Christ, which was in the midst of a severe trial.
The format of the test has changed today, but the examiner remains the same.
He comes back to us with a new appearance and plots a new temptation.
But those who study the temptations of Jesus thoroughly will see through the various masks that hide the same being.

This story of Christ and the devil confronting each other is actually a story about ourselves.
So we want to look closely at what this wilderness story is telling us and what is happening to us within it.
Because our fate depends on this story.
Jesus Christ, who is fighting here, is not only “the mirror of God’s mind” (Martin Luther), but also the mirror of our hearts (Philippians 2:7).
---「Prelude: Bread, the Temple's Peak, Nations Glittering in the Desert Sands

The desire to escape from God is the deepest longing of human beings.
That longing is greater than the longing for God.
Yes, that's right.
Even in our longing for God, in our devout religious life, in the words of God we carefully utter, we can say that in all of this there is a cold rejection of God, a desire to escape from Him.
---「Prelude: Bread, the Temple's Peak, Nations Glittering in the Desert Sands

This world is between God and His enemies.
But he is ready to jump to the enemy's side at any time.
This is the secret of this world.
This is the time of testing.
This is the time of the earth and the time of this generation.
So God had no choice but to die because of this world.
So the cross signifies the boundary between eternity and time.
God and the world meet 'at the crossroads.'
This is the truth.
All images and likenesses of other gods are false.
---From "Prelude: Bread, the Temple's Peak, and the Nations Glittering in the Desert Sands"

Ultimately, it is not the apple with its mystical power of seduction that is 'responsible' for the fall of humanity.
Who but humans could be held responsible? At the moment of humanity's fall from paradise, the real problem was not apples, but humans.
The problem was human greed to become like gods.
Not being satisfied with being a pure image of God and an 'image' like God, man's excessive desire to attain a 'status' equal to God brought about disaster.
---From "Prelude: Bread, the Temple's Peak, and the Nations Glittering in the Desert Sands"

We learn all this from Jesus' first temptation.
Tests don't come from thoughts.
Rather, ideas come from concrete reality.
It is in one reality, the reality of hunger, that thoughts arise that always test us.
Hunger is the most important reality of our lives.
It is a reality that determines whether we are in an intimate relationship with God or whether that relationship is broken.
---From "The First Test: The Reality of Hunger"

The only absolute reason why the words Jesus spoke against the devil have greater authority is because they are authority itself to Jesus himself, and Jesus himself is under that authority.
The Word of God is the Word of God only to the extent that we ourselves, as 'captives' of Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:1), obey it and humbly bow down before it.
If we 'use' the Word in our own way and call it "Lord, Lord!" with some clever purpose (Matthew 7:21ff.), then the Word becomes not the Word of God but the Word of the devil.
---From "The Second Test: The Encouragement of Self-Display"

God became human in Jesus Christ.
He is attacked by the forces of evil on our behalf, but also with us, as our brother and fellow worker.
This is the mystery that reveals why God must appear so defenseless in this world.
It is a mystery that reveals why He gave Himself up to His enemies on the cross without resistance or complaint, and was spat upon and killed.
This is the mystery by which He was able to reject all powers and kingdoms in the wilderness.
His vulnerability is the profound essence of his mission.
---From "The Third Test: Jesus' Kingdom of This World"

Lord and brother, King and companion, Ruler and sufferer.
This is the great miracle of the Savior Jesus.
Just as we live under the sky that hangs over us wherever we are, we live under that very miracle.
We live in the name of that miracle.
Jesus, our Savior, our Brother! His miracles give us peace.
A high and lofty peace that transcends all thought!

---From the "Epilogue"