the very moment of His existence as man so in the desert, for good reasons: (a) to bear, at Could Jesus Sin? united in one person with the Word of God, least outwardly, all that his followers have to that the very person who was Son of man endure; (b) to show us, and warn us, that not Christ’s Sinlessness and Impeccability was at the same time Son of God, and the even perfect sanctity is immune from the very person who was Son of God was at the assaults of the devil; (c) to set us an example The perfection of our Lord before His same time Son of man; and by the adoption of prompt and unhesitating rejection of birth. of His human nature into the divine, the temptation; (d) to show up, for our benefit, The human soul of Christ was sanctified grace itself became in a way so natural to the devil’s method of assault, namely, first in the first instant of His conception by its the man as to leave no room for the entrance suggesting something apparently good or at union with the Word of God. From the first, of sin.” least harmless (“make these stones bread”). Christ as man had the fullness of grace And moving quickly on to what is most vile, sanctifying both his body and his soul. The temptation in the desert. even to devil-worship; (e) to assure us that From the first instant of his conception, Temptation is a test or trial. Specifically, it all temptation can be successfully resisted, Christ had a perfect human nature and is an invitation or an allurement to sin, and to make us turn to him with confidence complete use of reason, that is, with perfect which manifests the moral fiber of one who in our own temptations. intellect and will. experiences it. Temptation is, either (a) Therefore, the sanctification of Christ’s external only, and then it is an invitation or References: human nature included the complete suggestion from without, with no tendency Ott, Ludwig, Fundamentals of Catholic conforming of his human will to the divine whatever, in the person tempted, to respond Dogma, H. Herder Book Co. 6th ed. 1964, will, this act is meritorious; hence, Christ to it; or (b) internal, and then it is a pp. 168-169. merited perfectly in the first instant of his weakness, passion, or tendency in the person Glenn, Paul J., A Tour of the Summa, B. conception. And this perfect merit is tempted. Now the temptation of Christ in the Herder Book Co, 1960, pp. 340-341; 347- complete. God made man cannot possibly desert (Matt. Chap. 4) was entirely external. 348. increase in merit. Our Lord’s human nature was perfect and Deferrari, Sources of Catholic Dogma, B. From the first instant of his conception without unruly tendencies, and his Person is Herder Book Co. 1957, p. 228. Christ’s human nature was taken into the divine. The temptation of Christ was a test Van Noort, G., Dogmatic Theology, Vol. unity of Person. Therefore, from the first, or experiment on the part of the devil. The The True Religion, The Newman Press, Christ was a comprehensor, that is, he had devil wished to know for sure whether this 1955, p. 141. perfect beatitude in the possession of the man Christ was God Incarnate; for the beatific vision of God. divinity of Christ had been manifested to the The Evangelization Station demons only in so far as Christ willed it to Hudson, Florida, USA Jesus Christ was free from all sin, from be made known to them. Satan suspected; he E-mail: [email protected] www.evangelizationstation.com original sin as well as from personal sin. wished to be sure. In making his proposals (De fide.) or temptations, Satan twice employed the Pamphlet 565 Christ’s freedom from original sin is phrase, “If thou be the Son of God…” It is expressed in A Decree in Behalf of the interesting to note that our Lord, in rebuffing Jacobites of the Council of Florence (1441); the tempter, did not tell him what he was “it firmly believes, professes, and teaches eager to know. Now, our Lord endured what that no one conceived of man and woman may be called the indignity of the temptation was ever freed of the abomination of the St. Augustine declared, “Let everyone The Fifth General Council of Devil, except through the merit of the that believes that the flesh of Christ revolted Constantinople (553) condemned the mediator between God and men, our Lord against his spirit, be excluded” (Opus teaching of Theodor of Mopsuestia, which Jesus Christ; He was conceived without sin, imperfectum c. Iul, IV 47). asserted that Christ only became completely was born and died, through His death alone Christ’s freedom from all personal sin impeccable after the Resurrection. (D224). It laid low the enemy of the human race by (and at the same time from original sin) is follows from this that He was already destroying our sins, and opened the entrance expressed in the 10th Anathema of St. Cyril: impeccable. to the kingdom of heaven, which the first “for He did not need oblation who was The intrinsic reason of Christ’s man by his own sin had lost with all entirely free from sin” (D 122), and in the impeccability lies, as the Fathers stress, in succession; and that He would come decision of faith of the Council of the Hypostatic Union (The union of Christ’s sometime, all the sacred rites of the Old Chalcedon: “similar to us in all things, human nature to the hypostasis or person of Testament, sacrifices, sacraments, and except sin” (D148). God the Word). Since the Word is the ceremonies disclosed.” principium quod (operating source) of his According to Luke 1:35, Christ entered Christ was sinless. human activity, it follows that his human into his earthly existence in a state of It is not perhaps so remarkable that actions are actions of a Divine Person. holiness, “And the angel said to her, ‘The Judas, Pilate, and Pilate’s wife declared that Obviously, it is incompatible with God’s Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the Christ was a holy man (Matthew 27:4, 19, absolute sanctity that a Divine Person should power of the Most High will overshadow 24); but even the Apostles who had lived be the responsible subject of a sinful deed. you; therefore the child to be born will be familiarly with Him for a long time, and had Further, the Hypostatic Union effected an called holy, the Son of God.’” As original Him continually under their observation, intrinsic penetration and control of Christ’s sin is propagated by natural generation, and openly testified to His perfect sinlessness human will by the Divine Will. (D 291). since Christ entered life in a supernatural (Acts 3:14; 1 Peter 1:18-19, 2:22; 1 John From the Hypostatic Union there arises a manner through conception by the Holy 2:1, 3:5; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 7:26). physical impossibility of sinning and from Spirit (Matt. 1:18; Luke 1:26) it follows that Finally, Christ Himself, who taught all men the Beatific Vision a moral impossibility he was not subject to the general law of to pray: forgive us our debts, never that is, it involves such a close connection original sin. displayed any consciousness of sin, or asked with God in knowledge and love that a From freedom of original sin there flows forgiveness for His sins; even though He turning away from God is actually excluded. the freedom from concupiscence. As Christ was utterly humble. He confidently stated, The Fathers and the early councils of the was not subject to original sin, there was no “Which of you can convict me of sin?” Church unanimously uphold the need for him to take on himself this (John 8:46), and “the prince of the world is impeccability of our Divine Redeemer and consequence of original sin, nor was it coming, and in me he has nothing” (1 John trace it to the Hypostatic Union. demanded by his redemptive task. Christ’s 14:30), and elsewhere He exclaimed, “I do St. Cyril of Alexandria, e. g, says, “All sensual nature was, therefore, completely always the things that are pleasing to him those who maintain that Christ was able to subordinate to the direction of reason. The [the Father]” (1 John 8:29). commit sin — I know not how — are Fifth General Council of Constantinople foolish and destitute of reason.” St. (553) rejected the teaching of Theodor of Christ has not merely not actually sinned, Augustine teaches that the Hypostatic Union Mopsuestia, that Christ “was burdened with but also could not sin. (Sent. Fidei makes it impossible for Christ to sin. "It was the passions of the soul and with the desires proxima.) by this [the grace of God]," he says, “that a of the flesh” (D 224). man without any antecedent merit, was at