Tempted Jesus; Yet Sinless?

We see in three of the four gospel accounts that after Jesus was in the wilderness fasting for 40 days, Satan came and tempted him. What does this mean? Does temptation equal sin? Was Jesus even able to sin if he wanted to? If he was not able to sin, if he was able, what significance does that have, if any? As you can see, and probably know yourself, a lot of questions arise when we talk about the sinlessness of Jesus. In this week’s journey together through theology, we will explore each of these questions and then strive to come to a working conclusion.

            While Jesus probably experienced temptation throughout his life, there is one event during his life that is seemingly the most important time he was tempted. It was so significant in his life that it is recorded in three of the gospel accounts (Matthew 4:1-11; Mark 1:12-13; Luke 4:1-13). The significance is twofold. First, it marks the beginning of Jesus’ ministry. Second, it displays Jesus being tempted by each of the three kinds of temptation. The three kinds of temptation are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. We see these three in two other places in the Bible. “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it” (Genesis 3:6). “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world” (1 John 2:16). I will include a chart to help show the similarities.

Eve	Christ	1 John 2:16
Good for food	Turn stones to bread	Lust of the Flesh
Pleasant to the eyes	See the kingdoms	Lust of the Eyes
Desired to make one wise	Cast down from the pinnacle	Pride of Life

We see, then, that the significance of Jesus being tempted in these three areas is that he was tempted in all ways like we are. He experienced every area of temptation that you and I experienced in our lifetime.         

            There are two main positions that we will discuss here on whether Jesus could have sinned if he wanted to.[1] The first view is Jesus had peccability. In other words, Jesus had the capability to sin, but he never did. They make the argument that if Jesus was not able to sin, then he was not truly human as we are. They also claim that if Jesus was not able to sin, then the temptations were not real and were, therefore, pointless. In other words, why would Satan have tried to tempt Jesus to sin if he knew that Jesus was not capable of sinning?  

            The second view is impeccability. This view holds that Jesus was not capable of sinning and never did. They claim that Jesus’ divine nature meant that sin could have no foothold in him. In other words, he had no desire to sin. If Jesus had no desire to sin, then were his temptations real? They were indeed real. We see the writer of Hebrews discuss this. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15).  We see that Jesus resisted every temptation to the max. He was able to experience each temptation as strongly as he did because he never succumbed to the temptation. This view claims that the peccability view overlooks Christ’s deity because Jesus, as God, could never have sinned. We also see that temptation has a dual nature. There is an external enticement and an internal enticement. It is not sinful to experience external enticement, but it is sinful to experience internal enticement because it is sinful to desire something that is forbidden by God. Jesus was only tempted in the external sense. He was not tempted internally because nothing in him wanted what Satan was offering.

            Which view is correct? Well, either view could be right. However, I think that the impeccability view has better support for it. It is hard to reconcile how Jesus (who is God) would have been capable of sinning in light of the fact that God is not capable of sinning. I think that Jesus was not capable of sinning, yet he experienced every temptation to the max. In closing, Millard Erickson offers a profound thought concerning this issue: “Perhaps the question is not ‘Was Jesus as human as we are?’ but rather ‘Are we as human as Jesus?’”[2]

[1] There is a third position that the theological liberals land. They claim that Jesus was able to sin, and he, in fact, sinned throughout his lifetime. The absurdity of this position did not warrant it space in this blog post.

[2] Millard Erickson, Christian Theology Third Edition, 657.