Results 1 - 5 of 5
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Is incomplete temptation real temptation | Heb 4:15 | RWC | 823 | ||
That is one of the common answers to this question, but it seems to me to fall short of really answering the question. If Jesus' divine nature prevents His human nature from being "tempted to the point of sin," then would it not also prevent Him from being truly tempted at all? | ||||||
2 | Is incomplete temptation real temptation | Heb 4:15 | Reformer Joe | 4524 | ||
I hold that the reason for his temptation was to outwardly demosntrate what was inwardly true, i.e. the complete obedience and moral perfection of Jesus Christ. Christ could not successfully be tempted to sin because he is eternal God. However, if he was kept from any opportunity to sin, how could he have truly demonstrated perfect obedience to God and thereby be an acceptable sacrifice for OUR sins? A good point of comparison would be Adam. Adam began in moral perfection, and God's only command to him was not to eat of that tree over there. Now if God had a 20-foot high, barbed-wire fence erected around the tree, how could Adam have demonstrated his obedience? For complete and total obedience to God, the avenue to disobedience must be available in some form. Now, while Adam chose to sin, being morally corruptible, Jesus would not and could not. The Father and the Spirit knew this, of course, but obedience without the opportunity to sin is not really obedience, just existence. In this way, Christ demonstrated both inward and outward obedience at every moment, and it is this obedience which was lived out in order that it could be credited to us once we are regenerated as believers. I would love to hear any feedback on this one! --Joe! |
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3 | Is incomplete temptation real temptation | Heb 4:15 | RWC | 4766 | ||
Hmmm.... When God created humans, He made us significantly different from the rest of the animal world: He gave us the ability to make choices (the ability to exercise will). Whether that will is free or not or to what degree it might be free we will leave for another discussion! That ability to exercise will is the primary ingredient in what God wants most from us: love (agape love!). In order to love with God's kind of love (agape), we need to have BOTH the ability AND the opportunity. If either of those two things are removed, then we cannot love with God's love. And, as you said in part at least, that is precisely what God did in the Garden: He gave Adam and Eve both the ability to choose and the opportunity to choose. This brings me back to this discussion, and to the issue with which I wrestle. There is no doubt that Jesus had the opportunity to sin. He was tempted (externally) in every way that we are. But did He have the ability to do anything other than obey? If not, how does that qualify as an act of obedience or real temptation? The only explanation that I have been able to come up, thus far at least, is that when Jesus became a human being, He set aside all of His divine nature (not character, but power and abilities - see Php. 2.6-8 where we are told that Christ "emptied Himself" in order to prove His obedience) and became totally dependant upon the Holy Spirit, just as we are. In so doing, I wonder if Jesus was just as capable of disobeying as Adam had been. And yet, suggesting that this might be true sounds like it might be blasphemous! Thus my struggle! |
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4 | Is incomplete temptation real temptation | Heb 4:15 | Lionstrong | 4886 | ||
I agree with you RWC. The man Christ Jesus was truely tempted. To be tempted is to be exposed to that which you find desirable though wrong. You are not sinning if you are tempted. The sin is when you say yes in your heart to the temptation. The man Christ Jesus was truely tempted, but by the power of the Spirit, who fully dwelt in Him, He said no to the temptations. But I don't believe "emptied himself" means Jesus' devine nature was any less devine. After all Col 2:9 says, "For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form." It means, I believe, that his human nature was not a mixture of the devine, as our confessions say. His human nature was not only fully human, but it was only human. I guess you could say Jesus' human nature was "empty" of the devine. Jesus could fully represent us because his fully human nature was only human, not more than human. It was not mixed with his devine. How's that for an explanation? Lionstrong |
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5 | Is incomplete temptation real temptation | Heb 4:15 | RWC | 4907 | ||
Just brief reply. I have posted a question under the verse that we now seem to be discussing (Phil. 2.7). It might be good if you could copy your note above and make it a response to the question on that verse. I think that this is a pretty good explanation. I do not believe that Jesus' divinity was in any way reduced by His becoming a human being. I am just wondering if (and even of the opinion that) Jesus had set aside the use of the power that is His because of Who He is. (See my question on Phil. 2.7 for a little further expanation.) |
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