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Jesus Christ's Temptation Jesus Christ’s Temptation John E. McKinley nd he was in the wilderness for forty days, Jesus was tempted, Scripture says, “in all ways “A being tempted by Satan” (Mark 1:13). as we are, yet without sin” (Heb 4:15). This decla- Like many topics in theology, the temptation ration marks the closeness of Jesus’ experiences to of Jesus Christ requires that we think about sev- ours. The reminder is given to encourage us that eral doctrines simultaneously In this case, our he truly understands our situation from the inside. thinking about Jesus’ temptation involves us in Having endured temptations firsthand, as a true the doctrines of God (can God be tempted or man, Jesus knows temptations that we suffer. That commit sin?), humanity (what is temptation to he is God the Son did not protect him from feeling sin for humans? how much was Jesus like us in his the strain of the pull to commit sin, or from any human life?), sanctification (how is Jesus a model of the suffering he endured. Instead, these suffer- for withstanding temptation to ings were his training to learn obedience through John E. McKinley is Associate sin and obeying God as a man?), suffering (Heb 5:8-9) and to become perfected to Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Biola University. and, of course, the complicated function as a sympathetic priest who reconciles us reality of the Incarnation. This to God (Heb 2:17-18). Dr. McKinley has served on the staff inter-doctrinal situation makes Jesus was tempted for our sakes. This means of Campus Crusade for Christ, where he worked in urban ministry in Los matters messy when we seek for both that he withstood the pressure by his tri- Angeles. He has also served as youth easy answers. Unfortunately, the umph over sin for us (where we have all failed), minister in Floyds Knobs, Indiana, theological tradition is little help and that he was credibly tempted so that we and currently leads an AWANA to resolve the issues on this ques- would believe he is truly a fellow sufferer with us class in his local church. In addition, he is the author of Tempted for Us: tion, having supplied us with in temptation. We are told that he is compassion- Theological Models and the Practical many different explanations and ate and ready to lend us the help we need when we Relevance of Christ’s Impeccability and not provided us with the broad are caught in temptation’s thrall. Hebrews 4:16 Temptation (Paternoster, 2009). consensus we might wish for.1 urges us to approach Jesus for the help that he is 56 SBJT 16.2 (2012): 56-71. uniquely qualified to offer as the only one who has life, including temptation to sin. Thus, Jesus was been tempted as we are, has succeeded against it, tempted as a man, that is, he could not be tempted and possesses the ability to assist us in our battle. apart from the Incarnation, and he was tempted This is good for us, since the temptation to sin is for us as an example and true model of the ideal the battle of the human condition. God the Son human life. The many exhortations that Jesus is made this human fight his own when he invaded the pattern for us to imitate only make sense if his his hostile creation to rescue it from sin. Accord- experience corresponds closely to ours.3 ingly, I will address the topic of Jesus’ temptations One difference of Jesus’ temptation experiences by laying out two questions of practical relevance: is that he is God Incarnate, which means that, What was temptation for Jesus (as compared with since God cannot sin, he cannot sin.4 The early us); and, how did he succeed against temptation church condemned one prominent theologian, (as compared with how we can succeed against Theodore of Mopsuestia (ca. 350-428), for claim- it, with him as our example)? I will argue that ing that Jesus was not impeccable until after the Jesus was tempted for us in a variety of ways that resurrection.5 More recently, some scholars have equipped him to be our reasonable human model argued that Jesus could sin (peccability), whether in resisting temptation, and our sympathetic ally because of his true humanity, or because the real- in the fight. ity of a true temptation requires that he was able to commit evil (but he never did so).6 This pecca- WHAT WAS TEMPTATION FOR bility proposal assumes definitions of humanity JESUS (AS COMPARED WITH US)? and temptation that are unwarranted; we would Jesus was tempted as a man, in his human do better to start with Jesus’ experience and nature. The humanness of his temptation experi- define from there the meaning of temptation (see ences warrants the truth of Hebrews 4:15 and the below). By contrast with peccability, most teach- similarity to our temptations. This is in contrast ers throughout the tradition have held tightly to to the false notion that he was tempted as God, the unity of the Incarnation and denied that Jesus according to his deity, since, as James 1:13 affirms, could have sinned because of his deity (impecca- God cannot be tempted by evil. This divine immu- bility). The hypostatic union of the Son of God to nity to temptation follows from God’s transcen- his deity and humanity requires that being eternal dence, omnipotence, and omniscience (among God, Jesus could not sin even as a man. According other attributes) by which God cannot be threat- to Chalcedonian Christology, the natures cannot ened with harm (he cannot be harmed), lured to be separated in a way to allow such contradiction obtain something that he lacks (he owns every- of his deity at the level of his moral action.7 Thus, thing), or deceived by evil as a means to accom- everything that Jesus does as a man must be con- plishing some good (he knows the truth). For sistent with his impeccability as God. Were this Jesus, then, temptation must come through his not so, if Jesus ever sinned, this would mean that humanity. The Chalcedonian definition helps here God had sinned, a self-violation and failure of his to remind us that the divine and human natures omnipotence, goodness, and immutability (among are not mixed with each other (“inconfusedly, other attributes). unchangeably”), and the properties of each nature Another way of understanding Jesus’ impec- are preserved in their union to the person, God cability (because he is fully God) and temptation the Word.2 This distinction and conservation of as a man is by considering the virtual impeccabil- each nature means that his human nature is not ity that many people experience with reference to divinized in any sense. As a man, the Son became a particular action. The ability to do something, fully vulnerable to the pains and strains of human abstractly considered, is not possible in some cases 57 because of the agent who possesses the capacity which were true of Jesus and ourselves. Fourth, I for action. For example, to illustrate the difference want to think through five basic kinds of tempta- between potential capacities and actual powers, tions that we all have which will help us explain consider how I possess the physical capacities to how Jesus was truly tempted in all ways as we are. strangle my dog, Lilly, a five-pound Chihuahua. Let us now turn to these four areas. Being who I am, with strong commitments to the well being of my dog, and my relationships with JESUS’ TEMPTATIONS AND HIS my wife, my children, and God, I will never use KNOWLEDGE my capacities to strangle the dog. Indeed, I cannot When we consider the reality of Jesus’ temp- do so because of who I am.8 Thus, I am function- tations, several proposals have been offered to ally impeccable with regard to this evil act. Even make sense of this difficulty. Scripture does not so, I can be tempted to strangle the dog in a weak explain an answer for us, so we are left to formulate moment, though I remain never fully able to carry the options and ponder how to understand it all through with it. Similarly, Jesus is impeccable with (which may make us feel dizzy). Several theolo- regard to every act because, while he possesses gians have agreed in recent years that Jesus could the created capacities to commit evil as a man, so be truly tempted to sin while remaining impec- long as these capacities belong to him, the eternal cable just so long as he was uncertain or unaware Son, he will never use his human abilities to com- of his impeccability.10 That is, he was uncertain mit sin.9 Being who he is, with the strong commit- in his human mind, just as he learns things as a ments he maintains to his Father and the program developing creature (Luke 2:40, 52), and he claims of salvation, he will never sin (despite our ability not to know the time of his return (Mark 13:32). to consider his abilities in abstraction from who he While affirming the absolute impossibility of sin, is as the agent of the Incarnation). Being God the uncertainty at the level of Jesus’ beliefs about his Son, he is impeccable even in his life as a true man. capacities as a man would be sufficient for him to That Jesus cannot sin need not dismay us in suffer the strain of temptation alongside the rest view of the report that he was truly tempted.
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