All Christians agree that the Lord Jesus did not sin while He was on the earth, but sooner or later most Christians face the question, “Could He have sinned?” This is an important question and, as we consider it, reverence reminds us that “the place whereon [we] stand is holy ground.” There is no more sacred a subject than God’s beloved Son.
What is temptation? The issue of whether or not the Lord Jesus could have sinned goes hand-in-hand with the issue of temptation. When the Bible tells us that Christ was tempted (Heb. 4:15), what does it mean? It is at this point we encounter our first danger: we must be very careful that we do not impute to Christ the experiences and feelings we have as fallen creatures. Too often when considering this issue men start not with the Bible, but with their own personal experiences with temptation (as fallen men) and reason back to Christ. This is the course of disaster.
The word used of the temptations of Christ means “to make proof of, attempt, test, tempt.” This word is frequently used of the Pharisees’ testing of Christ (Mt. 16:1), of Israel’s testing of the Lord (Heb. 3:9) and of God’s testing of Abraham (Heb. 11:17). These are external temptations–they come from outside of the person. External temptations are the tests that others can make of us. Most of the instances of the word for “temptation” in the Bible refer to external temptations–tests or trials that a person is put through by others.
But there is another kind of temptation with which we are all too familiar: internal temptation. This is a desire born in our hearts to surrender to the pressures brought to bear on us. The first kind of temptation comes from the outside; the second from the inside.
An example may help. The advertising world is constantly tempting us to buy various products. We may see fifty ads a day that offer us external temptation. But not all of those ads produce an internal temptation because not all of the products actually appeal to us. External temptation is constant but it can only affect us if there is internal temptation to respond to it.
This is where we must keep in mind the warning not to assume that, because we experience something as fallen human beings, Christ experienced it, too. Sadly, in our lives external temptation and internal temptation are usually partners. This can cause us to automatically assume that all temptation is internal. As soon as someone says he was tempted, we assume he means that he felt an inner desire to surrender to the pressure to sin. So it follows that when we read Christ was tempted, we might jump to the conclusion that this refers to internal temptation. But we have seen that the Bible frequently (in fact, usually) uses the word temptation in the external sense.
So it is with the temptation of Christ. Our Lord was tested by the devil and tested by the Pharisees, but there was never anything in Him that answered to those temptations. In fact, Hebrews 4:15 tells us that the temptations that Christ experienced were “without” or “apart from” sin. This doesn’t only mean that Christ didn’t sin, but that the temptations themselves had nothing to do with sin. Our Lord Jesus can empathize with our non-sinful infirmities (hunger, weariness, thirst, etc.), but certainly not with an inner struggle or desire to give in to sin!
It is not possible that our Lord experienced inner temptation, for He Himself made it clear that the inner desire to sin is sin, in and of itself. In the Sermon on the Mount the Lord said that not only is adultery sin, but a desire, however fleeting, to commit adultery is sin; not only is murder sin, but a passing malicious thought is sin. Not only our actions but also our inner desires are sinful. Man may look on the outside but the Lord looks at the heart.
When the Father looked on the heart of the Lord Jesus He saw perfection. Was this not the Father’s testimony concerning His Son? “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Mt. 3:17). And is it not significant that the very next words are: “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil”? The Father declared His complete satisfaction in His Son, then He sent His Son into the wilderness to be tested by the devil. The Father declared that Christ was the Son of God and then the devil tested Him to see if it was so.
The devil began his tests with, “If Thou be the Son of God…” But in spite of the devil’s motives for the tests, we see the Father’s motives clearly enough. The Father wasn’t “experimenting” to see if Christ was capable of sin. The Father was demonstrating to everyone that Christ is the Son of God, and that God’s delight in Him was completely justified. This is the significance of the testings of Christ: they proved that He was who He claimed to be. Just as a jeweler may scratch a diamond across glass to prove that it is a diamond, so the Father sent His beloved Son to be tested by the Enemy in order to manifest His Son’s perfection.
Be very clear from the start: our glorious Lord knows the full extent of external temptation, for the devil and men tested Him in every way they could devise. But Christ never experienced internal temptation, and never will. There was never anything in Christ that could possibly respond to the testings and enticements of the Enemy. Is this not exactly what He said? “For the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me” (Jn. 14:30). When the Enemy comes to tempt us, he finds an ally within. But when the Enemy came to tempt the Lord Jesus, he found there was absolutely nothing in the Saviour that would respond to him.
“But He was a real man!” At this point some object, maintaining that Christ could have sinned because He was a real man. While defending the humanity of Christ is a commendable exercise, it does not require us to believe that Christ could have sinned. Is Christ a real man today? Yes! And yet we all agree that it is impossible for Him to sin now. Furthermore, will we be real men when we get to glory? Yes! Yet we agree that it will be impossible for us to sin in glory. From this we see that the ability to sin is not a necessary part of begin human.
When people argue that Christ could have sinned because he was a real man, they mean Christ was a man like us. Yet the Bible says that although Christ was and is a “real man,” He is not just like us. He is unfallen. His temptations were “apart from sin.” He is absolutely holy.
Our understanding of what constitutes true humanity is skewed by the fact that we are fallen humans. We must avoid the temptation to conclude that everything we experience is a result of our humanity. We must distinguish between what we experience as a result of being human and what we experience as a result of being fallen. Some things (e.g., thirst, weariness, etc.) we experience because we’re human. Christ shared in these. But some things (e.g., sickness, fear, desire to sin, making mistakes, etc.) we experience because we’re fallen. Christ shared in none of these–not because He wasn’t a real man but because He wasn’t a fallen man.
But there are other reasons why we know it was impossible for Christ to sin:
It was impossible for the Lord Jesus to sin because He is God. The Bible makes it clear that God cannot sin. For instance, God cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18). Furthermore we read in James 1:13 that “God cannot be tempted [internally] with evil.” It is impossible for God to feel any desire to sin. Since “in [Christ] dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2:9), it is impossible for Christ to sin or be tempted (internally) to sin. Christ is not two people–a man who could sin and God who could not. In Christ we see deity and humanity united in one glorious Person.
Also, the Lord Jesus is a member of the Godhead and therefore it is impossible for Him to act independently of the Father and the Holy Spirit. He said that “the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise” (Jn. 5:19). How could anyone say that Christ could have sinned when Christ said that He can only do those things which He sees the Father doing?
It was impossible for the Lord Jesus to sin because He is completely holy. This is the testimony of the Father, the Holy Spirit, the seraphim, angels, men and demons. Being holy means more than simply not sinning. Since Christ is holy He hates sin: “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity” (Heb. 1:9). Sin could not possibly appeal to Christ in any way. When God gave the Law He did not make up commandments at random.The commandments He gave flowed from His character. How could Christ even desire to sin when sin is the antithesis of His nature?
Acknowledging the holiness of Christ helps us to answer another question sometimes raised: “If Adam was unfallen and he sinned, couldn’t Christ have sinned even though He didn’t have a sin nature?” This question may seem troubling at first, but not when we consider the holiness of Christ. Again we must be careful to recognize that the humanity of the Lord Jesus was not like Adam’s humanity, even before Adam fell. Adam was innocent, not knowing good and evil (Gen. 3:5), but Christ knew the difference between good and evil, and loathed evil (Heb. 1:9). In fact, when we examine the two passages in the Bible that compare Adam to Christ (Rom. 5 and 1 Cor. 15), we note that the focus in both those passages is not the similarities between Adam and Christ, but the differences! Imagine our desperate plight if the humanity of the Lord were no greater than Adam’s unfallen humanity. He would still be able to sin today, and we would be able to sin in eternity for “when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is” (1 Jn 3:2).
It was impossible for the Lord Jesus to sin because He is unchangeable. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Heb. 13:8). This tells us that since it was impossible for Christ to sin before His incarnation, then it was impossible for Him to sin during His incarnation. But it cuts another way, too. If Christ could have sinned when He walked the earth, then it is still possible for Him to sin since He is unchangeable! Such a thought is too terrible to countenance. It would mean that our salvation would be forever in doubt since our Saviour could fail at anytime. Thankfully our salvation is eternally secure since the Lord Jesus is now and always has been completely immune to sin.
Does this really matter? We all agree that Christ didn’t sin, so isn’t this all just hypothetical? What possible difference could this make to our daily lives? Let me suggest a few reasons why it’s important for us to stand up for the impeccable holiness of Christ.
1. As we begin to appreciate how detestable sin is to God–so detestable that He went to the Cross to do away with it–we will also begin to appreciate what an insult it is to Him to suggest that He could ever have even desired to sin. To reconcile Christ and sin requires us to have very little comprehension about either.
2. Believing that Christ felt the inward desire to sin allows us to feel comfortable about our lusts as long as we don’t act on them.
3. Believing that Christ could have sinned leads us to conclude that God’s entire plan of redemption was (and still is) at risk; that both God and our redemption could have failed at any time. and still might. We can only have confidence in God and our salvation as we recognize that our Lord is absolutely trustworthy with no possibility of failure.
4. Those who suggest it was possible for Christ to sin tell us that it ought to encourage us in our temptations to remember that Christ was “just like us.” The problem is that when we’re feeling tempted the last thing we need is someone just like us. We’re the problem! Victory over sin in our life comes in recognizing the supremacy of Christ. Believing that Christ could have sinned weakens us.
5. Our view of Christ affects our Christian walk (2 Cor. 3:18). A low view of Christ will inevitably have a negative influence on our lives, and will cheapen our worship of Him.
6. We are all quick to defend the reputation of those we love, whether family or friends. Ought we not be even more quick to defend the reputation of the One who died for us? There are many good reasons for defending His impeccability, but the greatest of these is love.