I was recently asked a question by a friend of mine that I thought would be good for all of you budding scholars of theology. It is one that people have asked for ages…

Could Jesus have sinned? (give in to temptations)

Most people just say "no" and leave it at that and walk away, but is it intellectually honest to say no without wrestling with the issue?

Jesus, in the incarnation, was fully God and fully man (we call this the Hypostatic Union). While God, as God, can never sin or be tempted…could Jesus, as a man, in human flesh, be tempted. I think the honest answer would have to be yes. In His humanity Jesus knew temptation. In Hebrews 4:15 we are told that our great High Priest (Jesus) was tempted in every way that we are yet was without sin. This is something we are told…it is not guessed at or inferred, it is plain in the text.

We are comforted because Jesus knew temptations but never gave in to them. He knew greater temptation than anyone who has ever lived precisely because He never gave in to make it stop. Jesus remaining sinless is an amazing feat, which, in my opinion, reinforces His claims to be God.

The long-winded discussions that actually wrestle with this question of "was Jesus able to sin?" is called, "peccability" (or impeccability), from the Latin meaning "sin."

Jesus (in His humanity) grew and matured; Jesus could "grow in wisdom" (Luke 2:52) and He could "learn obedience" (Hebrews 5:8) during when he took on human flesh. This seems to lead credence to the idea that Jesus could be tempted…but could Jesus sin?

Most of this argument can go back to the understanding that Jesus was not merely a man. He was (and is) also God the Son. Since God cannot sin (Titus 1:2; Heb. 6:18; James 1:13, 17), we can conclude that from the standpoint of His deity, Jesus was not able to sin (or impeccable). But, I personally, don't think Jesus overcame temptation by simply relying on His divine nature. As a man, Jesus knew the filling of the Spirit "without measure" (John 3:34). But He resisted the devil and became obedient unto death as a man.

Wayne Grudem says it well in his great book on Systematic Theology, “The moral strength of [Jesus’] divine nature was there as a sort of 'backstop' that would have prevented Him from sinning in any case (and therefore we can say that it was not possible for Him to sin), but He did not rely on the strength of His divine nature to make it easier for Him to face temptations.” (pg 539).

So, could Jesus be tempted? Yes. Could Jesus sin? No. At least that is my humble opinion. Next week in the blog we will look at the ramifications of what this truth actually means for those who call themselves Christians.