Could Jesus sin?

In Hebrews 4(I forget the verse), it says that Jesus was tempted like we are, but He did not sin.

 

Christ Jesus the Lord did not sin, nor could He have sinned, nor does He sin now, nor is it possible for Him to sin now nor ever. There was no internal conflict in the sinless and perfect God-man. He did never even entertain thoughts of sinning. He was tested and being tested it was proven that He was sinless and perfect. Such who may affirm Jesus the Lord may have yielded to sinning are definitely without God (2John 9).

Harald

 

This is the debate of Christ's peccability vs. impeccability. Either Christ did not sin for he could not have sinned, or Christ did not sin but was able to sin.

I believe Christ did not sin, but in his human nature was able to sin. If he was tempted in every way as we are, he must have been able to sin in his humanity. This is why he is the second Adam: he was tempted but did not sin as Adam did. Many say he could not have sinned, in order to protect Christ's sinless life and deity, but this devalues his humanity, IMO.

Oh what a Savior we have! "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Heb 4:15-16

 

I’m going to weigh in with Dr. Bob on this one. I can’t see how a holy God, which Christ is, could act contrary to His holiness.

 

Hebrews 4:15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

When we put these two Scriptures together, to me it says that although the temptation to sin was proffered to Christ and He felt its power (Gethsemane) it was impossible for Him to ultimately succumb to it.

HankD

 

Rick,
After thinking about it, this question is another one for the election/predestination debate. For instance, If God predestined Christ to glory as the sinless Lamb of God, before the foundation of the world, how then would it have been made a part of this amazing plan if in the equation,God allowed for the possibility of Christ sinning. We know scripture states, "without sin, tempted in every way, able to relate to our struggles", yet He was without blemish. In my opinion, it is an *atinomy*. Presdestination is in no way based upon the outcome of a situation but solely upon Gods will alone.

In HIM,
Scott Bushey

 

From Scott Bushey

First of all the word predestination applies only to the elect children in the plan of God. Predestination means a previous destination... We are predestinated to heaven and only Gods elect children. What you are implying is that Jesus was predestinated and how can he be predestinated to the place he came from?... Am I understanding that right... Correct me if I'm wrong?... Brother Glen

 

Revelation 13:8c ...the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Christ was slain outside of the limitations of time. I don't understand how this can be, but I believe this is what this verse implies. Therefore (if this is a proper view of this passage) before He entered the time continuum He was the "lamb slain from the foundation of the world" and therefore had to be the "Lamb without blemish" (sinless) from the foundation of the world and could be nothing less as the Blood Atonement was worked out in the time line of human history.

However, some might say that this makes the question of the sinlessness of Christ related to the fore-knowledge of God rather than of predestination.

God sent His Son because He knew He couldn't or wouldn't sin?

I'm wondering now, is there a real difference between "couldn't" and "wouldn't" with God?

HankD

[ February 24, 2002, 06:48 PM: Message edited by: HankD ]

 

In John 5, Jesus claims to be equal with God (v. 18). Then in verse 19, Jesus says "Most assuredly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son does in like manner". I would argue from this verse that Jesus could only have sinned if the Father ceased to be holy, and that is an impossibility.

 

Glenn,
Thank you for the correction. I meant to use the term, foreordained.
God foreordained the Son for the purposes of God, set forth prior to creation. In that, there could not have been in the equation, the sin *snafu*.
In Him,
Corrected rightly,
Scott Bushey

 

I agree. He could not sin, for he would not sin, yet in his humanity he was able to sin. If he was not able to sin, the he was not tempted in every way as we are. But we know that he never would sin.

 

Yes, Christ was tempted to sin and as a human was capable, yet as God was not. If he has sinned, He would cease to be God. We must remember that Jesus was God first, but was only human by choice. He was doing that for our benefit, not His.

Since He is truly God, He is NOT able to sin, regardless of his human side. He CANNOT sin.

 

Jesus couldn't, wouldn't, didn't sin.

I think I'll go with didn't, its a lot easier.

HankD

 

If Jesus COULDN"T sin, what's the motive of His being tempted?
Having overcome "temptation that is common to man", but not having the CAPABILITY to succumb to that same temptation, really means zilch as it applies to us!
If Jesus did not have to consciously, and deliberately choose NOT TO SIN, just like we do, then all the hype about His temptations sorta ring hollow, do they not?
"--but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin--" is meaningless if He had no choice!

 

<<If Jesus COULDN"T sin, what's the motive of His being tempted?>>

Jesus didn't have to be baptised because He had nothing to repent of but He was baptised to "fulfill all righteousness".

He was tempted to prove a point to the tempter
as well as the whole world. His sinlessness.

HankD

[ February 26, 2002, 08:06 PM: Message edited by: HankD ]

 

HEB 2:18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

HEB 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.

Now I think we both will agree that God is God, and can do as He pleases, but the following is my take on the divinity/humaness potential of Jesus!

2:18 If Jesus was unable to make the choice to sin, why are we told that "He Himself suffered when He was tempted". Without the capacity to sin, and the choice to yield or not, why would there be any suffering?

4:15 "--who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin." Again, if we are to look to Jesus as the ideal, (which I think this phrase is implying), how can we consider Him the "role model" if, unlike us, He did not have a choice?

If Jesus is both fully God, and fully man, then the 'man' could make the choice to yield to temptation; but at the same time, the 'God' would give Him the strength to deny yielding. In my opinion, herein lies the difference! We are fully man and can choose; the God in us attempts to make us reject the temptation, but the man still makes the choice!

The more we, as humans yield to the Holy Spirit's control, the closer we approach the state of Jesus' ability to unequivocally reject the temptations we face; a state we will never realize on this planet!

 

Good post, you brought out an interesting point.