Question: Was Jesus
Able to Sin or Not Able to Sin?
Answer:
There are two important questions people ask, “Did Jesus sin? Could
Jesus sin?”
The Bible is absolutely clear about this matter. It
says that Jesus, “... has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet
without sin” (Hebrews 4:15, NIV). Peter, a close friend and apostle,
said Jesus was “the Holy One of God” (John 6:69, NIV). John said
about Jesus, “In him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5, NASB). The
writer to the Hebrews stated Jesus is “a high priest, holy, innocent,
undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens”
(Hebrews 7:26, NASB).
Concerning His sinless life, Jesus even went so far
as to challenge those who were opposed to Him. He was not afraid to ask,
“Which of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46, NASB). No one replied.
Contrary to the lying, lustful, sinful, rebellious Jesus of Martin
Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ, the true Jesus of
history maintained, “I always do what pleases him [the Father]” (John
8:29, NIV).
After thinking about Jesus, Pilate’s wife warned
her husband, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man”
(Matthew 27:19, NASB). Also, contrary to the Judas depicted in The
Last Temptation, who accused Jesus of being a coward and traitor,
the real Judas of history said about Jesus, “I have sinned by betraying
innocent blood” (Matthew 27:4, NASB).
Examining Jesus’ life, one finds there are biblical
reports of His being tempted, but none of sin. No one reports hearing
Jesus confess any sin of His own to the Father, even though He taught
His disciples to confess their sins. We must conclude from this evidence
that Jesus lived a sinless life.
But if He didn’t sin, why didn’t He sin? And if He
didn’t sin, was He truly human? First, we must note, that although Jesus
was fully human, He did not have a sinful nature. Rather, He had
a sinless nature—like Adam and Eve when they were first created. This is
why the supernatural birth of Jesus is so important in the Scriptures:
At the critical moment of conception, when God the Son
entered into the unfertilized egg of Mary, she was prevented by the
Spirit of God from passing to the living fetus her sin nature. The
virgin conception, pregnancy, and birth manifested a sacred, sanctified
mystery. No man knows all that happened in that historic moment, but the
fact that Jesus Christ possessed two natures (human and divine) apart
from sin, argues back to the virgin conception.
Who was Jesus? The Scriptures and all the Creeds
have agreed that He is:
... undiminished Deity—none other than the Second
Person, whom He eternally is—incorporated into His Being that perfect
humanity which He acquired and ever will retain. Of these two natures it
may be affirmed from the evidence which Scripture provides, that they
united in one Person, and not two; that in this union, that which is
divine is in no way degraded by its amalgamation with that which is
human; and, in the same manner and completeness, that which is human is
in no way exalted or aggrandized above that which is unfallen humanity.
But the next question people ask is, “What kept
Jesus, in His humanity, from sinning, from giving into temptation?
Here the fact of the unity of His Person is
involved and becomes in a large measure the key to the solution of the
problem. There are those who, desiring to accentuate the reality of
Christ’s humanity, have taught that He could have sinned.... Some have
taken the ground that, because of His infinite wisdom and power, He
would not sin. Others contend that, being God, He could not
sin....
It is essential to recognize that, as demonstrated in
the case of the first Adam, an unfallen human being may sin; and from
this it may be reasoned, were there no other factors to be considered,
that the unfallen humanity of Christ could have sinned.
It is at this point that error intrudes. If isolated
and standing alone, it is claimed that the humanity of Christ, being
unsupported, could have willed against God as Adam did.
The misleading fallacy is that the humanity of Christ
could ever stand alone and [be] unsupported by His Deity. With Adam
there was but one nature and it could stand in no other way than
unsupported and alone. The humanity of Christ was not, and could not be,
divorced from His Deity, nor could it ever be in a position of
uninvolved responsibility.... a wire may be bent by human hands, but,
when welded into an unbendable bar of steel, it cannot be bent.
If it be argued that Christ’s humanity seemed to act
separately in matters of knowledge, human weakness, and limitations,
this may be conceded; yet not without a reminder that, though His
humanity might seem to act independently in certain ways which involved
no moral issues, because of the unity of His Person His humanity could
not sin without necessitating God to sin....
This vexing problem is thus reduced to the simple
question whether God could sin; for Jesus Christ is God. If it be
admitted that God cannot—not merely would not—sin, it must be
conceded that Christ could not—not merely would not—sin.
It remains only to observe that... He is “the same yesterday, and today,
and forever” (Hebrews 13:8)....
When thus viewed, there could be no ground for further
discussion on the part of those who honor the Son as they honor the
Father (John 5:23).... [quoting Charles Feinberg] It is not enough to
say Christ did not sin; it must be declared unequivocably that He could
not sin.... Because He was man, He could be tempted, but because He was
God He could not sin, for there was no sin principle in Christ that
could or would respond to solicitation to sin.
But if Christ was unable to respond to temptation,
then some say that the temptations must not have been genuine. But there
is a basic error in this approach. The assumption here, namely, that if
it is not possible to commit sin, there is no genuine temptation, is
wrong.
First, the Bible says Christ did experience
genuine temptation (Hebrews 4:15). We will argue that it was possible
for Jesus to experience genuine temptation, yet at the same time was
impossible for Him to ever give in to the temptation and sin. How?
A moment’s reflection on one’s own struggle with
genuine temptation will prove this point to be true. Each one of us is
fully human. Each one of us has been genuinely tempted. Yet, all of us
have successfully resisted temptation at one time or another and not
sinned. But because we did not sin, would any of us argue that our
temptation was not genuine? Because Jesus did not give in to temptation
does not mean that the temptation He faced was not genuine. The reason
He did not give in to temptation was because He was God and it was
impossible for Him to sin. But Jesus both understood and experienced
genuine temptation, yet He did not sin.
We are told in Scripture that God is infinite,
holy, righteous, omnipotent and immutable. Since He is immutable (never
changes), then He is always holy and righteous. He will never change. It
is impossible for God to sin or to do evil. Again, the writer of the
book of Hebrews says, “Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever”
(Hebrews 13:8). That means He is unchanging (immutable). Therefore, if
He also is God and man in one person, and Scripture says He never
changes, then He could not ever sin.
(This discussion found in John Ankerberg, John
Weldon,
The Facts on “The Last Temptation of Christ”
(Harvest House, 1988), pp. 15-18)
See additional information and resources in:
What ABC, NBC, CBS and FOX Won’t Tell You About
Jesus.
