Could Christ Have Sinned?
I know this isn’t exactly what ya’ll were expecting in terms of a topic at this blog, but I just remembered that I had wanted to post something about it and so here it is!
Anyway, I recently was talking with a friend and a very interesting topic came up that dealt with the compatibility or non-compatibility of Jesus’ sinless God-nature and his human nature. The question at hand was essentially whether or not Jesus could have yielded to temptation and actually committed a sin. This may sound blasphemous and/or completely pointless in nature, but nevertheless, once I’ve shown you the reasoning behind this question, I doubt whether any of you will condemn us for asking it of ourselves. :) So to start off, allow me to quote the passage of Scripture that first got me and him thinking about this:
Hebrews 2:16-18 reads, “For indeed He does not give aid to the angles, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”
It’s the “in all things He had to be made like His brethren” in verse 17 that really stuck out at first. This phrase seems to infer that, upon becoming “in all things…like His brethren” Christ then had the ability or rather, the nature to commit sin. But, obviously, since Christ was a perfect, Godly being as well, he didn’t actually do any sinning during his time here on earth, but nevertheless the question is raised, Was is ever feasible for Him to have committed a sin? In other words, did He either simply successfully resist all temptations that came His way, or could He just not have sinned period? I personally found it confusing to even think that Jesus, who is by nature a completely perfect being, could even have the possibility of sinning ever present in his life on earth. It seemed like a blatant paradox to me while under, of course, the not-necessarily correct assumption that Christ couldn’t possibly possess the ability to commit a sin due to His pre-incarnate existence of complete perfection. And yet there had to be some logical explanation of Hebrews 2:17-18 since I know that there is no such thing as a biblical paradox.
So I continued reading and came to Hebrews 4:14-16 which says, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 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.”
I call your attention to the latter part of verse 15 where is it clearly stated that although Christ was “in all points tempted as we are,” He was tempted without a speck of sin. So my question then was, How can somebody come to be in all points tempted as I am, and yet not have the option of possibly giving in to those temptations? As far I as I can see, there are only three decently conclusive answers to this question: (1) Either Hebrews 2:17-18 is wrong (not a particularly promising option due to the universally accepted inherency of the Scriptures), or (2) Jesus did actually have the ability to sin (a slightly possible, although apparently contradictory option), or (3) perhaps He had two natures: one human, and one divine (which is a perfectly possible option). Without selecting one of these choices, what other way is there to reconcile the statement, “in all things He had to be made like His brethren” and then not having the possibility of sinning?
Also, think about God’s plan as a whole for mankind through Christ’s Incarnation. I mean, if Christ had had the ability to say “yes” to any of the temptations which He encountered, God’s whole plan of redemption would have been rather seriously jeopardized. Christ couldn’t have sinned because it wasn’t God’s will for Him to do so. And just as importantly, although Christ felt the strong human want to give into temptations, there was no way, because of His Godly nature, that He could have ever given in. If He could, He wouldn’t and couldn’t be the God of the Bible or Second Person of the Trinity who must by very definition maintain a state of complete perfection.
On the whole, then, when Christ took upon himself the same attributes of a human man, it made it so his physical body went through all the normal temptations and even some extraordinarily difficult ones (Mark 1:12-13 also Matt. 4… Satan’s tempting of Christ in the desert), but I believe the God nature (for lack of a better reference) which was still present made it impossible for Him to actually commit a sin. Christ didn’t undergo a type of metamorphosis which completely changed him from fully God to fully man. He still retained his Godly nature here on earth as well (Matt. 3:13-17), and since God cannot sin by nature, it was impossible for Christ to do so even though he felt the same temptations we do. So it wasn’t like there was this small chance that He might give in and God’s whole plan for mankind would come crashing down or anything. It’s kind of weird thing to think about having two natures which are contrary to each other and yet enjoying a co-existence in one bodily form at the same time. As Calvin says in volume 22 of his Commentaries on the Bible under Hebrews 2:16, “And the Apostle speaks of nature, and intimates that Christ, clothed with flesh, was real man, so that there was unity of person in two natures.” Perhaps the human mind isn’t meant to fully grasp it… And maybe that’s the most likely answer to these questions. :) (As a side note, as I got into this whole topic, I realized how much it has to do with the Incarnation and one’s perspective on this issue actually has a lot to do with one’s outlook on the Incarnation… But that’s another topic for another day, I suppose. :)
So anyway, I thought it was kind of an interesting thing to think about...:) Anybody have any thoughts? Do you completely disagree with me, David? :)
Anyway, I recently was talking with a friend and a very interesting topic came up that dealt with the compatibility or non-compatibility of Jesus’ sinless God-nature and his human nature. The question at hand was essentially whether or not Jesus could have yielded to temptation and actually committed a sin. This may sound blasphemous and/or completely pointless in nature, but nevertheless, once I’ve shown you the reasoning behind this question, I doubt whether any of you will condemn us for asking it of ourselves. :) So to start off, allow me to quote the passage of Scripture that first got me and him thinking about this:
Hebrews 2:16-18 reads, “For indeed He does not give aid to the angles, but He does give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.”
It’s the “in all things He had to be made like His brethren” in verse 17 that really stuck out at first. This phrase seems to infer that, upon becoming “in all things…like His brethren” Christ then had the ability or rather, the nature to commit sin. But, obviously, since Christ was a perfect, Godly being as well, he didn’t actually do any sinning during his time here on earth, but nevertheless the question is raised, Was is ever feasible for Him to have committed a sin? In other words, did He either simply successfully resist all temptations that came His way, or could He just not have sinned period? I personally found it confusing to even think that Jesus, who is by nature a completely perfect being, could even have the possibility of sinning ever present in his life on earth. It seemed like a blatant paradox to me while under, of course, the not-necessarily correct assumption that Christ couldn’t possibly possess the ability to commit a sin due to His pre-incarnate existence of complete perfection. And yet there had to be some logical explanation of Hebrews 2:17-18 since I know that there is no such thing as a biblical paradox.
So I continued reading and came to Hebrews 4:14-16 which says, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 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.”
I call your attention to the latter part of verse 15 where is it clearly stated that although Christ was “in all points tempted as we are,” He was tempted without a speck of sin. So my question then was, How can somebody come to be in all points tempted as I am, and yet not have the option of possibly giving in to those temptations? As far I as I can see, there are only three decently conclusive answers to this question: (1) Either Hebrews 2:17-18 is wrong (not a particularly promising option due to the universally accepted inherency of the Scriptures), or (2) Jesus did actually have the ability to sin (a slightly possible, although apparently contradictory option), or (3) perhaps He had two natures: one human, and one divine (which is a perfectly possible option). Without selecting one of these choices, what other way is there to reconcile the statement, “in all things He had to be made like His brethren” and then not having the possibility of sinning?
Also, think about God’s plan as a whole for mankind through Christ’s Incarnation. I mean, if Christ had had the ability to say “yes” to any of the temptations which He encountered, God’s whole plan of redemption would have been rather seriously jeopardized. Christ couldn’t have sinned because it wasn’t God’s will for Him to do so. And just as importantly, although Christ felt the strong human want to give into temptations, there was no way, because of His Godly nature, that He could have ever given in. If He could, He wouldn’t and couldn’t be the God of the Bible or Second Person of the Trinity who must by very definition maintain a state of complete perfection.
On the whole, then, when Christ took upon himself the same attributes of a human man, it made it so his physical body went through all the normal temptations and even some extraordinarily difficult ones (Mark 1:12-13 also Matt. 4… Satan’s tempting of Christ in the desert), but I believe the God nature (for lack of a better reference) which was still present made it impossible for Him to actually commit a sin. Christ didn’t undergo a type of metamorphosis which completely changed him from fully God to fully man. He still retained his Godly nature here on earth as well (Matt. 3:13-17), and since God cannot sin by nature, it was impossible for Christ to do so even though he felt the same temptations we do. So it wasn’t like there was this small chance that He might give in and God’s whole plan for mankind would come crashing down or anything. It’s kind of weird thing to think about having two natures which are contrary to each other and yet enjoying a co-existence in one bodily form at the same time. As Calvin says in volume 22 of his Commentaries on the Bible under Hebrews 2:16, “And the Apostle speaks of nature, and intimates that Christ, clothed with flesh, was real man, so that there was unity of person in two natures.” Perhaps the human mind isn’t meant to fully grasp it… And maybe that’s the most likely answer to these questions. :) (As a side note, as I got into this whole topic, I realized how much it has to do with the Incarnation and one’s perspective on this issue actually has a lot to do with one’s outlook on the Incarnation… But that’s another topic for another day, I suppose. :)
So anyway, I thought it was kind of an interesting thing to think about...:) Anybody have any thoughts? Do you completely disagree with me, David? :)
posted by pete | 8:04 AM
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