The Highway Forums General Discussion Theology Discussion Forum Is Jesus the Only Way?

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Well, if you work perfectly, you'll never sin, and won't need grace---although you're liable to be crucified . . .

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Actually, I did not say OUR works, but I was referring to HIS works. We have a bad record in sin and we are saved by Christ's perfect record as well...........thus Christ saved us not only by His grace, but His perfect works as well. Something to think about. [img]http://www.the-highway.com/w3timages/icons/grin.gif" alt="grin" title="grin[/img]

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do we say Christ desired to commit sin?

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To "desire" to commit sin is to sin:

James 1:13-15 (KJV) "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death."

Hebrews 4:15 (KJV) "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as [we are, yet] without sin."

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To be "enticed" is to give attention to the temptation, i.e., to "consider" it as a matter to be desired. Lot's wife sinned in that she "looked back"; there was a "desire" in her heart for Sodom; to return to the place which she had been delivered.

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Perhaps the dilemma in the modern English is that "temptation" and "enticement" are so often conflated? For instance, one on a diet might say of a fattening dessert, "It is tempting, but I must not eat it," and will be understood to mean that he desires to eat the dessert, but is refraining. We certainly don't say this of Jesus being tempted, so what do we mean? Do we mean by "temptation" simply that a sinful option was laid before Christ? It seems that this is the only choice.

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Being human, Jesus could not conquer temptation without a struggle

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If we say that it is sin to desire to sin, and we say that Christ could not sin, what was the struggle He faced in being tempted? How does one resist temptation if he does not desire the thing with which he is being tempted? I think this may be difficult for me to conceive because of the fallen nature in me; I don't know that I can honestly say that I have been conscious of being tempted without having a desire---at least in my flesh---to give in.

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Do we mean by "temptation" simply that a sinful option was laid before Christ? It seems that this is the only choice.

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I think this is correct; i.e., that myriad choices were brought to Christ and/or He encountered such choices throughout His life on earth. In each and every instance, not unlike ourselves, He had to make a conscious decision to obey His Father or give in to something which was a transgression of the law. Now, at the risk of inciting a riot, , I do believe it had to have been possible for Christ to sin, else the temptations would have been simply "tokens" and not real. If Christ was not "sorely" tempted, i.e., He did not experience the "pressure" of the choice(s) set before Him, then He could not be said to be a true representative of His people. His incarnation was to be a substitute for human beings. A "automaton", basically a living machine would not qualify. Am I saying that would have sinned? NEVER!! Because of His love for the Father and by a conscious decision to reject each and every temptation, He would not sin. The Lord Christ came as the "Second Adam" and thus was given the task to accomplish that which the first Adam failed to do. If He was not "in all ways like us", then the "without sin" would be meaningless, IMHO. Thus, I must respectfully disagree with the author of the footnote which Wes quoted from his study Bible.

In His Grace,

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If Christ was not "sorely" tempted, i.e., He did not experience the "pressure" of the choice(s) set before Him, then He could not be said to be a true representative of His people.

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Here my question comes again---and as I said in response to Wes' post, perhaps it's just difficult for me to conceive because of my sinful nature---, but, if He had no desire (no inclination?) to give in to temptation, what was the nature of the "pressure" which Christ experienced in being tempted?