Could Jesus have sinned?
Feb 9, 2019 21:04:31 GMT -6
Post by Todd Wilson on Feb 9, 2019 21:04:31 GMT -6
“No one deserves praise for being good who lacks the power to do evil.” – Francois, Duke de La Rochefoucauld.
This is the more true of a perfect Christ who is supposed to save us from our sins, and even the more so when it is said of Him that “He was tempted as we are tempted, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). For where is the overcoming of sin if sin cannot be a true option? If Jesus was not subject to the conditions of sin in such a way as to allow him to commit it, then how was sin "overcome." It was merely defined away, in the same way that physical, individual, natural flight is defined away in my existence. I cannot fly on my own power I lack that ability. So it is patently absurd to say of me that I have been tempted to fly like other mortals but have overcome flight. What nonsense.
The temptation to fly, to do that which I cannot possibly do, is no real temptation; I do not sit by the hour and pine for the sky. Nor do I shake my fist at my creator in a rage because He made me without wings. I simply am not preoccupied with flying the way I am with sin. And I can very well sin. For anyone to overcome what I mean when I say the word “sin,” that is, for anyone to truly identify with me in my weakness, He must be subject to the same weakness. He must be engaged in precisely the same battle in which I am engaged, only He must win where I lose. He must be strong on the same battlefield where I show myself to be weak. He may not offer me exhortation to play better, when by definition He is not even playing by the same rules.
Now if this poses a threat to the traditional definition of Christ given by Christian Orthodoxy, then so much the worse for Christian Orthodoxy. If this makes Jesus appear to be a man instead of God, so what? He was still unique. He is still the Son of God, in a sense that cannot be replicated. He is still the redeemer. In short, He is still the Messiah. and if that is not enough for Orthodox Christianity, then I humbly suggest that Orthodox Christianity take a closer look at what the Messiah was, is, and will always be. I suggest that we learn to live with three categories, God, man, and Messiah. I suggest that Messiah be allowed to be Messiah, rather than forced into any predetermined role or shape (to say nothing of being pressed into two shapes at the same time!).
- Todd
This is the more true of a perfect Christ who is supposed to save us from our sins, and even the more so when it is said of Him that “He was tempted as we are tempted, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). For where is the overcoming of sin if sin cannot be a true option? If Jesus was not subject to the conditions of sin in such a way as to allow him to commit it, then how was sin "overcome." It was merely defined away, in the same way that physical, individual, natural flight is defined away in my existence. I cannot fly on my own power I lack that ability. So it is patently absurd to say of me that I have been tempted to fly like other mortals but have overcome flight. What nonsense.
The temptation to fly, to do that which I cannot possibly do, is no real temptation; I do not sit by the hour and pine for the sky. Nor do I shake my fist at my creator in a rage because He made me without wings. I simply am not preoccupied with flying the way I am with sin. And I can very well sin. For anyone to overcome what I mean when I say the word “sin,” that is, for anyone to truly identify with me in my weakness, He must be subject to the same weakness. He must be engaged in precisely the same battle in which I am engaged, only He must win where I lose. He must be strong on the same battlefield where I show myself to be weak. He may not offer me exhortation to play better, when by definition He is not even playing by the same rules.
Now if this poses a threat to the traditional definition of Christ given by Christian Orthodoxy, then so much the worse for Christian Orthodoxy. If this makes Jesus appear to be a man instead of God, so what? He was still unique. He is still the Son of God, in a sense that cannot be replicated. He is still the redeemer. In short, He is still the Messiah. and if that is not enough for Orthodox Christianity, then I humbly suggest that Orthodox Christianity take a closer look at what the Messiah was, is, and will always be. I suggest that we learn to live with three categories, God, man, and Messiah. I suggest that Messiah be allowed to be Messiah, rather than forced into any predetermined role or shape (to say nothing of being pressed into two shapes at the same time!).
- Todd