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QUESTION 7:
How could Jesus be tempted and not be able to sin? Could He have sinned? It seems to me His temptation would be meaningless if He could not sin.

ANSWER:
This is most serious because it involves our salvation. Let me ask you a question, "If Jesus could have sinned when on earth, could He not still sin today?"

Before considering His temptations I want to give you reasons why He could not sin:

• Because of who He was, He was God incarnate."And without controversy great is the mystery of Godliness: God was manifest in the flesh..." 1 Timothy 3:16. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:1. "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory of as the only begotten of the Father), full of grace and truth." John 1:14. God is the Almighty. He is all powerful. But there are some things He cannot do. He cannot lie. "In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;" Titus 1:2. Likewise, He cannot sin. He is perfect in His Being. Jesus was God in the flesh and could not sin.
  
  
• He could not sin because of the way He was born. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, Luke 1:35. He was born of God. We sin because we have a sinful nature. He did not have a sinful nature. He was God man in one person. "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;" Hebrews 7:26. He "knew no sin," 2 Corinthians 5:21; there was "no sin in Him," John 3:5.
  
  

His temptations were real. The devil tempted Him in Matthew 4, just as He did Eve and us. The devil appealed to the "lust of the flesh, of the eyes and the pride of life, 1 John 2:16-17. As far as the devil was concerned He tempted Jesus, but what he likely didn't know was that there was nothing in Him that wanted or could respond to the temptation. "...for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:" James 1:13.

You cannot believe that He as God, can be tempted with evil. IMPOSSIBLE!

All comments and questions to: Harold Smith

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Updated July 2009, by Shelly Allen