Survey Says!!!

(never really got into that show, btw) So how do we go about answering this question of Christ's ability to sin. (His peccability/impeccability) Well, first things first. Lets start with what we know.

1) Christ was sinless... If you can read through the New Testament and somehow come away with any other idea about Christ, throw that Bible away and find a real one. I mean, if you want to argue that the Bible teaches anything else, then stop reading, your wasting both of our time.

2) Christ's Temptations were real... The real deal for sure. If they weren't real, then passages like the ones we find Matthew 4:1-11 are so bogus that once again I would ask that you take your Bible and throw it away. Well don't do that... better yet, get on your knees, beg God for Mercy and Grace and read like your life depended on it. (eternally it does)

3) God cannot be tempted with sin... Jesus was God. 100% God. And so begins the rub with what we can clearly say is defined for us in Scripture. James 1:13 and Col 2:9

But that didn't really get us anywhere did it? I mean all it did was confirm that the question we are faced with in the person of Christ isn't something lame Bible teachers come up with to mess with their students. It's a real problem!

So what are we to do now? Well lets continue the consideration BUT FIRST let me just say that we are now leaving what is clearly, 100%, undeniably taught by scripture, and we are making some "observations" that still may help us come to some sort of conclusion.

Observation 1: If Jesus was only Human, and was still born in the miraculous way that He was, then we would be able to say that it was in fact possible for Christ to sin. Why? Because if you read Genesis 1-3, you will notice that there were 2 other humans in the same state and we all are aware of what they decided to do when faced with temptation.

Observation 2: The problem we have with our first observation is that it seems more likely that Jesus, from conception until death, never was simply just God, or just man. His natures were always apart of Him all the time. Thus we have to consider a different option if we are going to affirm that indeed Christ was tempted and could sin.

Observation 3: While we have observed that it seems safe to say that the two natures of Christ were never separated from one another, there are certainly things that Christ did experience only in His humanity. One example would be sleep. Jesus, being a man, slept. He even got so tired, that at one point he was sleeping through a violent storm while in a small boat in the middle of a large lake. But it is also clear from numerous passages like Psalm 121:3-4 that God never sleeps. So it would be safe to say then, that while the human Jesus slept, the divine nature did not experience the same state. SO... could it be then that Christ could have sinned and experienced temptation only in His humanity? Well not so fast... because we also observe at this point that it seems clear from Scripture that sin effects the entire being of the one that is committing it.

Observation 4: It is impossible for God to sin. Well duhhh, right. But the reason that it is impossible for Him to sin is because He is both infinite and holy. So there is no end to his holiness, which equals no sin.

So then, with these 4 observations in place. Understanding that Jesus was both 100% God and 100% Man, when we ask the question of whether or not it was actually possible for Jesus to sin; we must answer with an emphatic NO!!

See that wasn't so bad. "Ok", you say, "but what about Hebrews 4:14-16?" Doesn't seem to me that the author of Hebrews can really make a claim like that if the guy that was being tempted never really had ability to sin. I mean lets be honest, the thing that is so hard about temptation is that there is this pressure, tension, and mental/spiritual battle going on between what we know we should do, and what we shouldn't do (and there is a distinct possibility/probability that we could in fact do the thing we know we shouldn't do).

Glad you asked!!