[Propertalk] GoodPreacher.com - Matthew 4:1-11

Tue Mar 8 19:09:03 EST 2011

Free Resource from GoodPreacher.com

Matthew 4:1-11 
For some time now, I have been puzzled by the traditional Christian doctrine that Jesus was sinless, even though he was a real human being. My question is not so much whether this is true, but what it actually means. Can one be human at all without missing the mark in some sense at least? The puzzle is compounded when I re-read the story of Jesus' temptations by Satan. Was Jesus really tempted or is this all a theatrical performance? Did Jesus have to struggle with himself so as not to give in to Satan's allure or is the outcome never in doubt to begin with? I suppose the belief that Jesus was not only "fully human" but also "fully divine" answers the question for itself. Insofar as Jesus was divine, there is no problem in understanding how he could overcome temptations to which the rest of us succumb. But insofar as Jesus is really human and not merely nominally so, the question is more difficult. 

The Letter to the Hebrews affirms that Jesus was not someone "unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sinning" (Heb 4:15). What does it mean to be tempted without sinning? I suppose it all depends on how "temptation" and "sin" are defined. One could imagine being in dire financial straits and tempted to cheat the IRS or even to rob a bank and yet refrain from executing the deed for fear of imprisonment. Is that an example of what it means to be tempted yet without sinning? Or what about the temptation to pick up a cigarette even though I know it is unhealthy? Have I refrained from sin by not choosing the guilty pleasure that I know would be mine if I were to light up? What if I am tempted to rail at an insufferable colleague at work but contain my impulse because I know my angry words will be hurtful? We often hear people say that a piece of cake looks tempting (or even "sinfully delicious") but choose not to indulge in eating it either because they are already full or because they are dieting. In these examples, the temptation refers to the inner state of feeling when the mind contemplates doing something, whereas sin refers to the act or deed. Yet these examples show that our use of the words "temptation" and "sin" can be stretched to cover so much ground that their meaning is imprecise. Not all temptations are temptations to commit crimes or acts of immorality. Surely Jesus must have been tempted by the idea of eating bread after forty days of fasting! But this temptation was not of a moral nature. When we ask what it means to say that Jesus was tempted and yet without sin, we have to restrict the meanings of temptation and sin to religious and moral matters.

In the classical Christian tradition sin has been defined as being more than merely deeds or acts. It also refers to the intention or underlying desire behind sinful acts. Shortly after the story of Jesus' temptation in Matthew's gospel, we read in the Sermon on the Mount that anger is akin to murder (Mt 5:22). Then we are told that a lustful thought is a form of adultery (Mt 5:28). These texts lead me to wonder what it means to say that Jesus was really tempted "in every respect.as we are, yet without sinning." Was Jesus tempted to feel anger but never felt it? Was Jesus tempted to feel sexual attraction but never felt it? If Jesus felt neither anger nor desire, how could he know what they are? Someone with no first-hand experience of either feeling would hardly be in a position "to sympathize with our weaknesses." Still, if Jesus did share in these common human feelings, must we conclude that they are always temptations to do something wrong? Perhaps we should view these examples from the Sermon on the Mount as hyperbolic, pointing to the truth that anger is the source of murder and that lust is the source of sexual immorality. But anger can also inspire efforts to rectify situations of injustice and sexual desire can lead to genuine love as in a marriage. In other words, deeds or actions spring from feelings or affections and our moral character is as much about how we respond to our feelings as it is about the acts we commit.

The temptations to which Jesus is subjected by Satan are not the stuff of everyday life: changing stones into bread, jumping off a building in order to be rescued by angels, and worshipping Satan. Jesus is not dealing with ordinary human temptations but rather with temptations arising from his divine status ("If you are the Son of God."). Jesus resists the temptations to be a certain kind of messiah ("king" or "lord" of the world). Unlike Satan who is a fallen angel, Jesus remains obedient to God. Interestingly, Satan tries to mislead Jesus by quoting from scripture, but Jesus knows his Bible too well to be seduced by bad hermeneutics. When we try to understand the temptation narrative from the point of view of Jesus' crucifixion, we can easily perceive that Jesus was not the kind of messiah who subdued evil through an overt display of supernatural power but only through humble obedience to God, even unto death (Phil 2:8). Surely Jesus was tempted to find a way to avoid the pain of the cross (Mt 26:39). Who wouldn't be? The early church's insistence upon Jesus' sinless nature was, in part, an attempt to defend him against the charge that he deserved his punishment by committing a crime (Mt 27:4). Moreover, his death was understood as an atonement for the sins of others, so it was necessary to view him as a sacrifice "without blemish" (Heb 9:14).

Whether Jesus was, in fact, sinless is a question that we cannot answer. Even if we could agree on what we meant by sin, we do not know everything Jesus did in his life, and we are certainly not in a position to ascertain his every thought and feeling. But we should not allow the belief in his divinity to minimize his real humanity, which includes all the temptations with which persons struggle in life. Perhaps the surest thing we can say is that the New Testament presents us with a portrait of a person whose dominant devotion was to God amid trials, tribulations, pressures, and even real temptations. Clearly, the primary purpose of this portrayal is not to report past history but to form our moral and spiritual character in a manner appropriate to a Christian understanding of life before God. We can allow ourselves to be informed (in the sense of "shaped" or "molded") by this portrait of Jesus as steadfast and faithful to God's purposes, in spite of temptations.

Paul E. Capetz

GoodPreacher.com

PO Box 843 | Amelia, VA 23002

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