Could Jesus have sinned?

Answer

There are two aspects to this intriguing question. It is crucial to note that this is not a debate about whether Jesus sinned. Both sides concur, as the Bible clearly states, that Jesus did not sin (2 Corinthians 5:21;1 Peter 2:22). The issue at hand is whether Jesus could have sinned. Advocates of “impeccability” argue that Jesus could not have sinned. Supporters of “peccability” believe that Jesus could have sinned but chose not to. Which perspective is accurate? The unequivocal teaching of Scripture is that Jesus was impeccable—He could not have sinned. If He were capable of sinning, He would still have the ability to sin today because He possesses the same essence He had while on earth. He is the God-Man and will always remain so, with complete divinity and humanity so closely united in one person as to be inseparable. To suggest that Jesus could sin is to suggest that God could sin. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him” «For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; », (Colossians 1:19). Colossians 2:9 further states, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”

While Jesus is fully human, He was not born with the sinful nature that we inherit. He faced temptations just as we do, with Satan presenting temptations to Him, yet He remained sinless because God is incapable of sinning. It goes against His very nature (Matthew 4:1;Hebrews 2:18,4:15;James 1:13). Sin is essentially a violation of the Law. God established the Law, and the Law reflects what God would or would not do; hence, sin encompasses anything that contradicts God’s inherent nature.

To be tempted is not, in and of itself, sinful. A person could tempt you with something you have no desire to do, such as committing murder or participating in sexual perversions. You probably have no desire whatsoever to take part in these actions, but you were still tempted because someone placed the possibility before you. There are at least two definitions for the word “tempted”:

1) To have a sinful proposition suggested to you by someone or something outside yourself or by your own sin nature.

2) To consider actually participating in a sinful act and the possible pleasures and consequences of such an act to the degree that the act is already taking place in your mind.

The first definition does not describe a sinful act/thought; the second does. When you dwell upon a sinful act and consider how you might be able to bring it to pass, you have crossed the line of sin. Jesus was tempted in the fashion of definition one except that He was never tempted by a sin nature because it did not exist within Him. Satan proposed certain sinful acts to Jesus, but He had no inner desire to participate in the sin. Therefore, He was tempted like we are but remained sinless.

Those who hold to peccability believe that if Jesus could not have sinned, He could not have truly experienced temptation, and therefore could not truly empathize with our struggles and temptations against sin. We have to remember that one does not have to experience something in order to understand it. God knows everything about everything. While God has never had the desire to sin and has most definitely never sinned, God knows and understands what sin is. God knows and understands what it is like to be tempted. Jesus can empathize with our temptations because He knows, not because He has “experienced” all the same things we have.

Jesus knows what it is like to be tempted, but He does not know what it is like to sin. This does not prevent Him from assisting us. We are tempted with sins that are common to man «

There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. », (1 Corinthians 10:13). These sins generally can be boiled down to three different types: “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” «For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. », (1 John 2:16 NKJV). Examine the temptation and sin of Eve, as well as the temptation of Jesus, and you will find that the temptations for each came from these three categories. Jesus was tempted in every way and in every area that we are, but remained perfectly holy. Although our corrupt natures will have the inner desire to participate in some sins, we have the ability, through Christ, to overcome sin because we are no longer slaves to sin but rather slaves of God (Romans 6, especially verses 2 and 16-22).