did Jesus have a choice to sin while on earth?

[gekko]

hey.

did Jesus (being God in flesh and bones) have a choice, while on earth, to sin?

was it possible for Jesus to sin? he was tempted after all in the desert by satan.

Jesus was able to be tempted - or was he tempted? was satan only trying to tempt Jesus? (that's a whole other topic)

my question is this: was is possible for Jesus (being God), to sin?

if it was possible for Jesus to sin - was He God?

scripture does say that "God cannot lie" - lying is a sin. God cannot sin. (does that work even?)

is there any scripture that says that God cannot sin - or anything close to it?
is there any scripture that says that it is possible for God to sin but that He chooses not to?

thank you for your replies.
i just got into an argument with a friend about this.
please help. cause now i'm frustrated...

God bless.

 

[TaterTot]

I think He had to have been able to, or temptation wouldnt have been temptation, and the Bible tells us that He was tempted in every way as we are, yet remained strong.

 

[gekko]

well - if Jesus was 100% God and 100% man - yet there was a possiblity to sin - would he be God?

if it's possible for God to sin- God would be just like us.
God is pure righteousness - nothing else. can't be anything else.

peace

 

[pinoybaptist]

I do not think he would have had an inclination toward sin. Remember that while he was carried by a woman in her womb, he was not conceived by a man, but by the Spirit, unlike you and I who had human beings for parents, created from the earth, and possessed with the same fallen nature as Adam.
Our whole inclination, therefore, is towards sin, and away from God.
Jesus, on the other hand, was exactly our opposite in that regard.

 

[DQuixote]

gekko ....... He didn't sin. Go with what is, not what you think up.

 

[BobRyan]

hey.

did Jesus (being God in flesh and bones) have a choice, while on earth, to sin?

was it possible for Jesus to sin? he was tempted after all in the desert by satan.

Yes it was possible.

But of course - He did not sin.

Phil 2 says that "he learned obedience" and was perfected by those things He suffered.

In Christ,

bob

 

[bmerr]

gekko,

bmerr here. Yes, it was possible for Jesus to sin. As noted by others, if there is no possibility for sin, there is no temptation to sin, and the Scriptures tell us that Jesus was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:15).

All God, and all Man. Jesus' temptation to sin was rooted in the same thing our temptations are: the physical body has desires, appetites. It is in the will that the battle between sin and righteousness is fought. Jesus had perfect control of His will, and thus chose righteousness over the desire to gratify the desires of the flesh.

Unlike pinyobaptist, I do not subscribe in the whole "fallen sinful nature inherited from Adam" thing. If we look at Rom 5:12, we will see that it was death that was passed to all men, not sin. Heb 12:9 says that God is the "Father of spirits". I don't see God being the Father of spirits that are stained with sin, as Calvinism teaches.

I believe the fact that all men sin is due to the fact that the knowledge one has is all that a person has to make decisions by.

Think about it: Adam and Eve knew two things, what God had commanded, and what they wanted. Yet, with full knowledge of what God had commanded, they chose what they wanted, and thus, sinned.

Infants and little children only know what they want. When a small child tells a lie, he does so in order to get what he wants, to avoid a spanking, for example. He does not know that God has commanded us that we should "Lie not to one another" (Col 3:9).

I didn't mean to get off topic. Just something for us to consider.

Yes, Jesus could have sinned. Praise God that He didn't!

In Christ,

bmerr

 

[gekko]

Yes, Jesus could have sinned. Praise God that He didn't!

yeah - praise God he didn't - otherwise christianity would be obsolete. nullified. worth jack all.

God cannot sin - if God can sin, then he is not God. just a mere man posing as God.

God cannot lie. (that is scripture there) - if God cannot lie - that brings us to the assumption that God cannot lust. that God cannot steal. that God cannot covet.

not 'God will not lie, steal, lust...' --> God Cannot lie, steal, lust.. etc.
"cannot" being the word i'm emphasizing.

"God cannot lie" -what else does that tell us of what God cannot do? God is Sovereign - he can do anything.

anything except for be the opposite of what he is. Sin.
good cannot choose to be evil - because it is good.
righteousness cannot choose to be unrighteousness - because it is righteous.

just like Jesus. Jesus is God. God is Jesus. (that whole Trinity thing)
if God cannot lie, steal, lust... - we must assume that Jesus cannot lie, steal, lust... etc.

again - God cannot choose the opposite of himself - because he is so righteous.

am i limiting God on what he can do? no. simply using common sense with scipture. (now i know i havn't put any references - only because i don't have a bible in front of me)

so - Yes, Jesus was tempted. of course. why? to teach us how to resist temptation. Jesus was baptized. why? to teach us obedience. Jesus prayed to the Father. why? to teach us obedience and how to pray.

but Jesus is God - did Jesus have to go through all that? no of course not. but he did because of obedience to his Father.

Jesus and his Father are one in same. (trinity remember?) - Jesus cannot disobey his own commands - his Fathers commands. He'd essentially be disobeying his own commands. he'd be disobeying his Father. and that is sin. and God cannot sin - not "God chooses not to sin", no. >> God cannot sin - otherwise he would not be God.

we as humans have a choice to sin.
not God.

again, i'm not limiting God. just look into it.

God bless.

 

[BobRyan]

yeah - praise God he didn't - otherwise christianity would be obsolete. nullified. worth jack all.

God cannot sin - if God can sin, then he is not God. just a mere man posing as God.

God cannot lie.

God can not get hungry.

God can not be exhausted.

God can not ....

that is not how you find out if Christ is God or if Christ can be tempted.

Phil 2
6 who, although He existed in the form of God[/b], did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7 but emptied Himself, [b]taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.

8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Heb 5
7Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;

 

[Gerhard Ebersoehn]

No one has ever had 'the choice to sin', you ----!

If it were a matter of choice sin would not be sin.

 

[gekko]

God can not get hungry.

God can not be exhausted.

God can not ....

that is not how you find out if Christ is God or if Christ can be tempted.

wow. those don't have anything to do with morals...
"that is not how you find out if Christ is God or if Christ can be tempted"

well not by what you said. lol. obviously. hahahahahaa.

and the verses you supplied support what i've said even further. thank you.
----

as for you Gerhard... what's with the language??

 

[Gerhard Ebersoehn]

No one has ever had 'the choice to sin', you wish / hope / dream!

If it were a matter of choice sin would not be sin.

If a choice is given to sin then it's a permission to sin -- for which one would be unblameable. It's where you land if you believe in 'free-will' - in a fool's paradise.

 

[Gerhard Ebersoehn]

Sin is to come short of the glory of God. Everybody comes short in the glory of God -- except Jesus Christ the only One who was not a sinner.

To come short of the glory of God is to be disobedient -- by nature be disobedient. To see visible acts only for sin is real bad eyesight. It's part of our sinfulness.

Jesus never in any such way, even as much as desired or willed or inclined, to sin; not for moment. 'Choice' for Christ, meant to reveal the glory of God fully through Himself. He saw it as His work here on earth, the sole purpose the Father sent Him for, the end of His life. "God raised Christ in the glory of the Father. As He began, Jesus ended -- God in God both willing and doing righteousness, "EVEN the righteousness NAMELY of God". No one was higher than Christ or holier than He, to give Him a 'choice'.

'Choice' is the concept human reason cannot get over -- upon which it gets stuck ... in the mud.

 

[Shiloh]

The Lord Jesus had no sin nature. Joh 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. So He could not sin. To say He wouldn't be God if He couldn't sin is ignorance of the Word of God. What would you do with,Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began; Does this make Him "not every bit man"? Our Salvation is based in Christ, if He can sin then we have to pray for eternity that He doesn't!

 

[gekko]

Sin is to come short of the glory of God. Everybody comes short in the glory of God -- except Jesus Christ the only One who was not a sinner.

To come short of the glory of God is to be disobedient -- by nature be disobedient. To see visible acts only for sin is real bad eyesight. It's part of our sinfulness.

Jesus never in any such way, even as much as desired or willed or inclined, to sin; not for moment. 'Choice' for Christ, meant to reveal the glory of God fully through Himself. He saw it as His work here on earth, the sole purpose the Father sent Him for, the end of His life. "God raised Christ in the glory of the Father. As He began, Jesus ended -- God in God both willing and doing righteousness, "EVEN the righteousness NAMELY of God". No one was higher than Christ or holier than He, to give Him a 'choice'.

'Choice' is the concept human reason cannot get over -- upon which it gets stuck ... in the mud.

i agree.

God bless

 

[webdog]

I do not think he would have had an inclination toward sin. Remember that while he was carried by a woman in her womb, he was not conceived by a man, but by the Spirit, unlike you and I who had human beings for parents, created from the earth, and possessed with the same fallen nature as Adam.
Our whole inclination, therefore, is towards sin, and away from God.
Jesus, on the other hand, was exactly our opposite in that regard.

Was Adam created with a sin nature? Why did he sin?

For Jesus to be 100% man as well as 100% God, the option to sin would have had to be the same as any other 100% man, Adam included.

 

[webdog]

The Lord Jesus had no sin nature. Joh 14:30 Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. So He could not sin. To say He wouldn't be God if He couldn't sin is ignorance of the Word of God. What would you do with,Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;Does this make Him "not every bit man"? Our Salvation is based in Christ, if He can sin then we have to pray for eternity that He doesn't!

I'll ask you the same thing...Was Adam created with a sin nature? If not, the option to sin still existed (obviously).

 

[bmerr]

bmerr here. There's no question as to whether or not Jesus was tempted to sin. Heb 4:15 could not be any plainer.

"But the text doesn't say 'Jesus was tempted to sin in all points like as we are'", one might say.

True enough. What was Jesus tempted with, then?

If sin is not possible, then temptation does not exist.

In Christ,

bmerr

 

[BobRyan]

Was Adam created with a sin nature? Why did he sin?

For Jesus to be 100% man as well as 100% God, the option to sin would have had to be the same as any other 100% man, Adam included.

True - Christ is the "second" Adam according to Romans 5 in that BOTH stand at the head of humanity - BOTH were created directly by God in their human form (Adam of course only being human while Christ is the God-man) both with sinLESS natures - both having a CHOICE!

Heb 5
7 In the days of His flesh, He offered up both prayers and supplications with loud crying and tears to the One able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His piety.
8 Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
9 And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation,

 

[BobRyan]

Luke 2:52
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.

How does God "increase in wisdom"?

Answer that and you know how "real" temptation could be for Christ,