Though the NT clearly affirms that Jesus was fully human
just as we are, it also affirms that Jesus was different in one important respect:
He was without sin, and He never committed sin during His lifetime. Some have
objected that if Jesus did not sin, then He was not truly human, for all humans sin. But those making that objection
simply fail to realize that human beings are now in an abnormal situation. God did not create us sinful, but holy and
righteous. Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before they sinned were truly human, and we now, though human,
do not match the pattern that God intends for us when our full, sinless
humanity is restored.
The sinlessness of Jesus is taught frequently in the NT. We
see suggestions of this early in His life when He was “filled with wisdom” and
the “favor of God was upon Him” (Luke 2:40). Then we see that Satan was unable
to tempt Jesus successfully, but failed, after forty days, to persuade Him to
sin: “And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until
an opportune time” (Luke 4:13). We also see in the synoptic gospels (Matthew,
Mark, Luke) no evidence of wrongdoing on Jesus’ part. To the Jews who opposed
Him, Jesus asked, “Which of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46), and received
no answer.
The statements about Jesus’ sinlessness are more explicit in
John’s gospel. Jesus made the amazing proclamation, “I am the light of the
world” (John 8:12). If we understand the light to represent both truthfulness
and moral purity, then Jesus is here claiming to be the source of truth and the
source of moral purity and holiness in the world – an astounding claim, and one
that could only be made by someone who was free from sin. Moreover, with regard
to obedience to His Father in heaven, He said, “I always do what is pleasing to
Him” (John 8:29; the present tense gives the sense of continual activity, “I am always doing what is pleasing to Him”).
At the end of His life, Jesus could say, “I have kept my Father’s commandments
and abide in His love (John 15:10). It is significant that when Jesus was put
on trial before Pilate, in spite of the accusations of the Jews, Pilate could
only conclude, “I find no crime in Him” (John 18:38).
In the book of Acts Jesus is several times called the “Holy One”
or the “Righteous One”, or is referred to with some similar expression (see
Acts 2:27; 3:14; 4:30; 7:52; 13:35). When Paul speaks of Jesus coming to live
as a man he is careful not to say that He took on “sinful flesh”, but rather
says that God sent His own Son “in the
likeness of sinful flesh and for sin” (Rom. 8:3). And he refers to Jesus as
“Him….who knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21).
The author of Hebrews affirms that Jesus was tempted but
simultaneously insists that He did not sin: Jesus is “one who in every respect
has been tempted as we are, yet without
sin” (Heb. 4:15). He is a high priest who is “holy, blameless, unstained,
separated from sinners, exalted above the heavens” (Heb. 7:26). Peter speaks of
Jesus as “a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Pet. 1:19), using OT imagery to
affirm His freedom from any moral defilement. Peter directly states, “He committed no sin” (1 Pet. 2:22). When
Jesus died, it was “the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us
to God” (1 Pet. 3:18). And John, in his first epistle, calls Him “Jesus Christ
the righteous” (1 John 2:1) and says, “In Him there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). It
is hard to deny, then, that the sinlessness of Christ is taught clearly in all
the major sections of the NT. He was truly man yet without sin.
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