Did Jesus
Have a Sinful or Sinless Nature
page l 1 l 2 l
- 2 -
“The
tempter came to him and said,
‘If you
are the Son of God, tell these
stones to become
bread.’” (Matthew
4:3, italics mine) Lucifer’s
first temptation did not appear
to be a temptation to do anything
evil. What commandment
would Jesus’ have broken if
He momentarily grasped divine
power (which Jesus could have
done at any time) and turn stones
into bread? The temptation
was serious because Lucifer asked
Jesus to violate a covenant which
Jesus had made with the Father
when Adam and Eve sinned. Four
thousand years earlier, Jesus had
promised the Father that He would
come to Earth and die in our
place. The Father accepted
Jesus’ offer on the
condition that Jesus would
not say or so anything on His
own. Jesus would only do
the will of the Father. (John
6: 38; 14: 24) Knowing
this, Lucifer approached Jesus,
and looking upon his frail
target, the devil quietly said, If
you are the Son of God [and you
are, aren’t you?], then
prove it. Let there be no
more doubt about this. Go
ahead, exercise divine power and
settle the question!”
Prior to
this meeting, Lucifer knew three
things about Jesus:
1. Jesus
could grasp divine power at any
time and perform a miracle so He
would have a temptation to
exercise this power.
2. The
Father had granted Jesus the
freedom to terminate His endeavor
to save man at any time. As
long as He did not sin, Jesus
could exit from His efforts to
save mankind by exercising this
divine prerogative. (John
10:18)
3.
Lucifer knew that if Jesus
exercised divine power to save
Himself from starvation, the plan
of redemption would be terminated
because the salvation of sinners
hinged on Jesus’ perfect
submission to the Father’s
will. (John 5:30) The
level of submission required of
Jesus was far more strenuous than
anything God has ever imposed on
human beings. This
explains, in part, why the
righteousness required for
salvation goes beyond anything
that a human being can produce.
Lucifer
had studied Jesus for thirty
years before confronting Jesus
with this temptation. The
devil knew that Jesus was limited
in various ways by His
incarnation as a human being.
Lucifer also knew that after
forty days of fasting, Jesus
would be so weak that He could
hardly speak. If Jesus
succumbed to Lucifer’s first
and best temptation, Jesus’
upcoming ministry would end
before it began. Therefore,
Lucifer tempted Jesus to save
Himself from hunger knowing that
(a) Jesus was very hungry and
fragile, (b) if Jesus had any
doubts about His identity
as “the Son of God,”
this temptation would encourage
Him to prove who He was, and (c)
there was no explicit commandment
forbidding Jesus from turning
tones into bread. BUT, Lucifer
knew such an act would violate
the covenant between the Father
and the Son and this would
immediately terminate the plan of
redemption which had been under
way for 4,000 years. Lucifer
is so sub tile
Do not
treat this temptation as a casual
affair. Lucifer’s
first temptation was perfect and
fit the circumstances. It
was well prepared, sophisticated,
executed at the best possible
time, and clever. The devil
is extremely intelligent. His
first temptation was designed to
appeal to the humanity and the
divinity in Jesus at the same
time. As a human, Jesus
was hungry and weak, and He had
no idea how much longer the
Father would keep Him in the
desert. As a human, Jesus
wanted to escape the painful and
lonely prison where He had been
sent. He was not in the
desert of His own accord. (Matthew
4:1)
Lucifer
also knew that faith in God can
evaporate since doubt can spring
from a suggestion, so he decided
to approach Jesus as though Jesus
was in doubt. Since Jesus
had received little evidence that
He was “the Son of
God,” Lucifer concocted this
temptation so that the humanity
and divinity of Jesus could be
tested simultaneously. There
was genuine hunger (humanity) and
there was honest room for doubt.
Therefore, the devil challenged
the divine side of Jesus by
suggesting that He turn stones
into bread. Jesus had only
to speak the word. The
devil insinuated, “Why not
exercise divine power? Why
not end the misery? Why not
turn stones into bread? Why
not use your own authority and be
filled? Even better, why
endure all of this? Rise
up, show yourself as God, shake
off this bondage and do whatever
you want!” Jesus did
not waver. He saw through
the devil’s game and
terminated the temptation with
twenty-one words.
Second
Temptation
Rejected,
but not defeated, the devil
carried Jesus to Jerusalem and
together they stood on the
highest point of the temple.
“’If you are the Son
of God,’ he said,
‘throw yourself down. For
it is written: “He will
command his angels concerning
you, and they will lift you up in
their hands, so that you will not
strike your foot against a
stone.”’” (Matthew
4:6) The devil quoted Psalm
91 for good reason. History
indicates that many Jews
anticipated Messiah would descend
from the heavens and land in the
temple courtyard unharmed. Given
this expectation, the temptation
makes perfect sense. Once
again, Lucifer was not asking
Jesus to do anything sinful, per
se. Instead, Lucifer
challenged Jesus to miraculously
establish Himself as the Messiah
by descending into the courtyard
below. The devil even
encouraged Jesus with a Bible
text that indicated the angels
would protect Him from being
hurt. Jesus and Lucifer
both understood the ramifications
of this temptation. If
Jesus landed unhurt below, then
from the start of His ministry,
the Jews would greet Him
enthusiastically as the Messiah,
and this daring event would
eliminate the grinding campaign
that Jesus would otherwise face.
Keep in
mind that like the first
temptation, this temptation broke
no commandments or laws. The
devil had done his homework.
In response, Jesus said fourteen
words, “It is written:
‘Do not put the Lord your
God to the test.’” (Matthew
4:7) Those words
reveal a profound point. There
is a great gulf between faith and
presumption: Faith
surrenders to obedience,
presumption justifies wrong
doing. If Jesus had acted
on the devil’s temptation
and descended from the highest
point of the temple, Jesus
would have acted on His own
because the Father had not given
Jesus instructions to carry out
such an act. To make his
temptation sizzle, the devil
threw in a “proof text”
to entice Jesus. Lucifer
knew that Jesus desperately
wanted Israel to hear what the
Father would speak through His
lips and knew Jesus knew that the
leaders of Israel would be
astonished if He landed in the
courtyard without injury. Jesus
knew, however, that He had not
come to convince the leaders of
Israel, but that He had come to
convince those who love God and
His truth with all of their
hearts. Jesus told Lucifer
that presumption is no substitute
for faith. It is offensive
to put “the Lord your
God” to any test. (Note:
It is interesting that Jesus
identifies Himself to Lucifer as
“the Lord your God.”
I am sure the devil did not
appreciate being reminded of
this.)
Third
Temptation
After
suffering two failures, the devil
played his last card. He
carried Jesus to a very high
mountain and showed Him the
kingdoms of the world and all
their splendor. Then,
Lucifer presented a fantastic
offer. “’All
this I will give you,’ he
said, ‘if you will bow down
and worship me.’ Jesus
said to him, ‘Away from me,
Satan! For it is written:
“Worship the Lord your God,
and serve him
only.”’” (Matthew
4: 9, 10) I would like to
paraphrase this temptation using
contemporary English. Lucifer
speaks: “Jesus, we both know
why you have come to Earth.
We both know that you are the Son
of God, as well as the Lamb of
God. You came here to die.
We also know that should you fail
to perfectly carry out the will
of the Father, which is
excessively harsh; the Father
will not resurrect you. We
also know that you want to redeem
sinners, but if you do something
which the Father does not like,
your endeavor will fail. Therefore,
I am making you an offer which
you should not refuse. Bow
down and worship me, acknowledge
that my ancient claims against
the government of God have
validity and I will give the
world to you. Everything
will be yours and you will not
have to die. I took this
planet from you, fair and square,
and I can give it to whomever I
want. Simply acknowledge
that my standing arguments
against the government and the
ways of the Father have
validity.”
A weak
and suffering Jesus rebutted
Lucifer’s ridiculous offer
without hesitation: “You
are evil! You are a liar, a
thief, and the enemy of a
generous and loving God. You
are not worthy of any honor or
worship. The first
commandment forbids worshiping
any other God and it condemns you
to death. Get away from
me.” “Then
the devil left him, and angels [from
the Father] came and attended
him [brought Him food and
water].” (Matthew
4: 11, insertion mine)
Summary
If you
think perfection (sinless living)
is possible, then you will need a
savior with a sinful nature as
your model. If you believe
that perfection (sinless living)
is possible until the carnal
nature is removed, then the
sinless nature of Jesus aligns
with a much better paradigm.
When Lucifer’s three
temptations are properly
understood, we know that Jesus
was tested as follows:
1. Jesus
was tempted to save Himself by
exercising divine power
(something that human beings
cannot do). This was
a test to see if Jesus would die
of starvation (per the
Father’s orders) or save
Himself by turning stones into
food.
2. Jesus
was tempted to act
presumptuously. If He
landed unhurt in the temple
courtyard below, the leaders of
Israel would have immediately
recognized His Messiahship.
However, Jesus had promised the
Father (when Adam and Even
sinned) that He would not say or
do anything other than what the
Father wanted. This was a
test to determine if Jesus would
live by faith or act out of
presumption.
3.
Finally, Jesus was tempted to
avoid the cross. Both
Lucifer and Jesus knew there was
a possibility that Jesus could
fail in His efforts to redeem
mankind, but Jesus would rather
risk failure for the sake than
avoid the inevitable death that
faced Him. This was a
test to see if Jesus loved
Himself more than He loved
sinners.
Jesus
(having a sinless nature) was
tested far beyond anything Adam
and Eve encountered when they had
a sinless nature. The
second Adam went on to recover
all that the first Adam lost.
After considering the perfect
life of Jesus and His
righteousness, the topics of
justification and sanctification,
the curse of sin, and the severe
temptations which Christ faced
after forty days of fasting, I am
overwhelmed with the lengths to
which God has gone to save
sinners. To God be the
glory, great things He has done.
Larry
Wilson
page l 1 l 2 l
- 2 -
