A friend and I was talking about the word the other night and he stated "Jesus was not capable of sinning."

I had heard that before and had to ask myself the question "Was Jesus capable to sin?" My answer to him was "Yes, he was capable of sin. However, he was so obiedent to his father in heaven he choose not to." I feel that was because if our goal is to strive to be more like Jesus and he was not capable of sinning then what are we striving to. I know my goal is to be like Jesus so that i can see my father in heaven and he commanded me to do certain things.

But if i am new into the family of Christ and someone say Jesus is not capable of sinning my question would be "What is all this for then?"

Am I wrong in my thinking?

~Tanya~
~Amazed By His Grace~

Hello Tanya,

Theologians have debated the question of whether Jesus Christ could have sinned for a long time. I often wonder why such questions come up and why we allow theologians to place such questions before us in the first place. Much time and energy is used in debating questions that have little to do with our salvation, the great commission, or God Himself.

Tanya, it must never be that we stop inquiring about the truth. We must always search for it, study it, and embrace the truth. God's word is truth, and sometimes, scripture taken out of context may imply interpretation that is not truth. We have seen over centuries past that some people try to use questions like "whether Jesus could have sinned" as a wedge to divide believers. Taken in its extreme, this is how cults and false religions begin, by creating debate within the church where there need not be any.

I do not believe Jesus was capable of sinning. Period. This is my opinion, and many theologians will disagree with me, so will some cults. Jesus was the Son of God, born without sin, without a sin nature as we have. To say that Jesus could be falible is simply an issue that is not truth. This article may be helpful to you:

http://christiananswers.net/q-acb/acb-t003.html

You ask: What are we striving to do then, if Jesus could not sin, and we can?

As a child of Christ, we are adopted into the family of God, into His Kingdom. We are called to strive to live a life holy and acceptable to God, worshiping the Lord with our life. We are called to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, minds, and bodies. Our lives are to be presented as a living sacrifice to God. We strive to do His will. We strive to love Him.

I hear some disillusionment in your question and I hope there isn't any. May your mind be filled with truth and wisdom always as we all grow in Christ. God Bless You, Tanya.

Nick P.

[This message was edited by Nick P. on September 16, 2003 at 03:33 PM.]

Nick,
Thank so much for the information and the link. I know that God's word is the truth and i am standing by that. He said his word stands forever and no one can take that away from me. You always seems to put me on track and i thank God for your wisdom and from him using you to speak to me.

Thanks as always

~Tanya~
~Amazed By His Grace~

If I may be able to offer my opinion....

I do believe that Jesus was capable of sin. The fact that he was a perfect HUMAN BEING (humans who are able to commit sin) made him the ultimate sacrifice. It made him worthy. God will never give a better sacrifice. I believe that if was not able to sin, what was God trying to show us then. I don't think he would have came her knowing that he could not sin. That is what Satin tried to tempt him. So I think that he was capable. God knew what he was doing and putting this perfect human being here on earth gave us an example. We will never amount to what Jesus was. It's impossible. But at least we have our example. So that when we are tempted we can remember of a man who what tempted just like us, but never failed and never gave in. We can ask ourselves, What Would Jesus Do?

To God be the Glory. God Bless to All!

MariaG,
Thanks for your input. I think that is basically what i was thinking and relayed to my friend the other night.

To God all the glory is given.. In your precious name i thank you for all those you speak throught and 2. Thanks you for your son you gave for our sins.

Amen

~Tanya~
~Amazed By His Grace~

TANYA,

We serve an awesome God. We walk daily seeking our Lord asking Him for guidance in all we do. While trying to walk in full submission with God we as humans fall short of the glory many times. I thank God for Jesus that brought many to Glory. The bible says: Inasmuch then as the chidren have partaken of flesh and blood, He himself likewise shared in the same,that thought death he might destroy him who had power of death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For indeed He does not give aid to the seed of Abraham. Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has sufferred, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted. Hebrews 2:14-18 The Lord was sent in Human form to participate in our nature in our suffering on earth so he could be the mediator between God and humanity. I believe that he was capable of sin- my opinion only. Jesus as you know suffered temptation. He experienced the lure of sin but He never surrended Himself to it. He knows temptation and he knows we need help with our temptations. So wheter he was capable or not; In Romans 3:21-26, shows the Lord is completely perfect and sinless, and he voluntarily submitted Himself to the pealty of sin, with His agonizing death on the Cross. This voluntary sacrafice of Himself for the welfare of all satisfied God; that we may all listen to the heavenly calling of salvation and our future glory in Christ.

Praise the Lord!!!

May the Lord continue to minister to your spirit, giving you wisdom, truth and courage.

I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. Romans 1:11-12

John Trevino

[This message was edited by JOHN TREVINO on September 17, 2003 at 02:52 PM.]

John thank you for your wisdom, knowledge and letting God speak through you.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

~Amazed By His Grace~
~Tanya~

Jesus is the incarnate Son of the Living God...something we are incapable of fulling understanding. He was fully man and fully God. The questions then naturally comes up "If he was fully man, then He must have been able to sin," but "if He was fully God, he could not sin." ....the answer will never be clear to us on this earth. It's like explaining the internet to an ant...as someone once said...just suffice it to say that God has the answer and He is fully trustworthy. Jesus is our Savior, hallelujah...now we see as through a glass darkly, but then we shall see face to face all that He has for us clearly and intimately.....

Aloha & God bless you - I pretty much aggree with signsalot, where I find different scriptures that support both views, well at least doctrines if not scriptures - namely in romans 8:3 it states that (in the KJV) God sent his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh - that statement sounds like it was possible for Jesus to have sinned & it makes sence for some ppl to think that way because if it were impossible for Jesus to have sinned then he would also not be able to be tempted & another passage says that he was in all ways tempted just like us, but without sin. However there is another side to the issue namely the perfection of Jesus - My doctrine is this: There is only 1 perfect being in the universe (or multiverse or beyond the universe or whatever - all reality) & that is why Jesus has to be part of the one true GOD, because anyone else sent in his place would have failed his mission - if any one human could have lived a sinless life, then Jesus would have not needed to come here to save us. I use that argument to try & convince Jehovah's Witnesses of the diety of christ along with a stack of scriptures that proove that Jesus is GOD - one of my favorites being in Zech 12:10 wich states that Jehovah said "they shall look upon me whom they have peirced" so an argument can be placed that if Jesus was perfect, he had no possiblity of sinning... I suppose this is similar to the 2 pillars of freewill vs predestination - seemingly diametrically opposed doctrines, however both are true & although they can never touch down here on earth, they are somehow connected up in heaven - we must remember that God's ways are higher than ours & his thoughts also. I believe that this is an issue that we should be allowed to aggree to dissagree because it is logical for it to be either way - perhaps the human side of Jesus was able to sin & the god side was not - I am unsure how it works it is a good question but we shouldn't allow it to divide the church - I heard it said in the fundamentals unity & in the periphreals liberty (or something like that) We gotta realize that God is infinite & we are finite - so we will never understand all there is to know about him while we are here on earth, but take heart there is a promise in the scripture that says something about how I am looking in a glass darkly (clouded mirror) but when Jesus comes back I shall know even as I am known (I will have all information about God like he has about me). There is another promise - that we have the mind of christ & that we need not that any man teach us because the anointing that we have recieved of him teaches us (1 Jn 2:27) so some mysteries can be revealed to us here on earth - if it is that important to you pray about it & seek council & the matter may be revealed by his spirit. One last thing - I once read a passage that I never found again that gave me the idea that everyone believes what they believe for a reason - taking that idea with rom 8:28 god can use ppl with different views in different situations for different purposes but all for his glory as rom 14:4 says (in the KJV) - "Who are you to judge another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth" & that whole chapter is dealing with a difference of opinion on 2 issues, (vegitarianism & observance of holy days) so try to remember if you have one opinion it is possible for someone else to have another & you both be right - or at least accepted by GOD. Thank you for your time =)

Slade,

You make some good points here. My initial thought about if Jesus was capable of Sin is not clear. On one hand I would say that we know for sure that He was tempted. Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil.(mathew 4:1) On the other hand we know that He has never and will never sin. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin. (Hebrews 4:15) On the third hand, it does seem like one of those questions that God will have to explain to us when we meet Him in heaven. God writes the rulebook.

The question is certainly interesting; however it is important to recognize that all that Jesus fulfilled, all that he accomplished, he accomplished as the "man" Christ Jesus. Although he was God manifested in the flesh, he laid aside his deity to become as we are.

Heb 2:9 But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

Ga 4:4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

What is important to remember is that Christ was born without the nature of sin that we are all born with. Essentially, Christ's humanity was as Adam's was before the transgression: He was without sin. However, as we know from the Biblical account of Adam, being without sin is not the same as being incapable of sin. What Christ did was to fulfill the law and live sinless, but he did that as Jesus the man, not as Jesus, second person in the Godhead. Hence we can see and understand Hebrews 4:15, (see Shawn's reference above), how when our Savior was tempted, He could have chosen sin, but did not because it was more important that he obey his father which was in Heaven. He was sent exclusively for this purpose, (to fulfill the law for the redemption of mankind), but it had to be accomplished by Christ the man.

MTA,

That was a well-thought-out and Scripture-based commentary. Thank you!