If Jesus Never Sinned, Can He Understand Our Temptations?

Hebrews 4:15 says our High Priest was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. If Jesus never gave in, did He feel the pull the way we do? Christianity Today calls this the paradox of Jesus' temptations. Jesus is fully human, and humans are tempted. But James 1:13 says God cannot be tempted by evil, and Jesus is God in the flesh.

The magazine notes that the Gospels record temptations many of us find hard to relate to, such as an appeal to jump off a building or a prayer to avoid the cross. Some theologians say Jesus could have sinned and simply never did. Others say He was impeccable, unable to sin at all. The article asks whether such a person can feel the gravitational pull of temptation as we do, and it says the Christian tradition has resources for making headway.

One of those resources is a simple distinction. The Catholic Answers encyclopedia entry on temptation says plainly, "Temptation is not in itself sin." No matter how strong the inclination, as long as the will does not consent, there is no sin. "Attack is not synonymous with surrender." The entry adds that people trying hard to serve God often take the fierceness and repetition of temptation as proof that they have fallen. A wise guide, it says, corrects that error.

So Jesus could be fiercely attacked and never surrender. The Catholic Answers article "What the Devil!" quotes Thomas Aquinas: "Christ wished to be tempted, first that he might strengthen us against temptation." Aquinas says Christ resisted in the desert by quoting the Law, not by using His power. The article adds that the devil returned at the Passion, tempting Christ to dejection and hatred of His neighbor. The assault on Jesus was real, repeated and aimed at His will. He knows its force from the inside.

What should we do with this? The encyclopedia gives three steps: avoid the occasions that stir temptation where you can, turn to prayer, and pair humble distrust of your own strength with unbounded confidence in God. For nagging thoughts, it says, it can help simply to ignore them and quietly turn your attention elsewhere. And the article on the devil reminds us, again from Aquinas, that the help of the Holy Spirit is more powerful than the devil's assault.

That brings us back to Hebrews. Verse 16 invites us to come boldly to the throne of grace. We do not pray to a priest who shrugs at our struggle. We pray to One who stood under the full weight of it and did not bend. When the pull feels strong today, bring it to Him.

Christianity Today, which first ran the piece in its November 2019 issue, traces how Christians have handled the puzzle. Some theologians from the early church fathers onward have said Jesus' human nature was a fallen human nature, a view the magazine weighs against the claim that God cannot sin. Others, it reports, suggest Jesus could feel the pull of some temptations but not others. He could not be drawn toward sins such as murder or lying, which need a person already in a state of sin to find them attractive. In the wilderness, the magazine says, the devil tempted Him to deny God's commands and His messianic mission, and like Adam and Eve, a person can feel the pull of that kind of temptation without being in a state of sin.

The Catholic Answers encyclopedia adds that temptation can be merely external, as it was for Christ in the desert after the forty days' fast, or internal as well, a real assault on the will. God never intends temptation, the entry says, but He permits it so we can practice virtue and self-mastery. Being tempted is no sign of being under God's ban, and those God calls to special heights of holiness may expect more temptations than most. The article on the devil adds, citing Aquinas, that the demons did not know for sure Christ was the Son of God but saw human weaknesses such as hunger and tried to use them, and that the devil can never force the will.

Scripture: Hebrews 4:14-16, James 1:13, Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:13, 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 5:8-9