The point being, how tempting is it to be tempted when you can’t sin? From the beginning let me clearly say that God cannot sin. Thus, because Jesus is God, Jesus could not have sinned (1 John 3:9; Titus 1:2).

The Lord Jesus Christ is called the “Holy One” and the “Holy One from God” several times (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34; Acts 2:27; 3:14; 4:27; Rev 3:7). We are told that Jesus “knew no sin” (2 Cor 5:21), and that “in him is no sin.” (1 John 3:5) This is a critical doctrine because it takes us to the question, for whose sin did Jesus die if He had none of His own? The answer is our sin. Christ died for you and for me.

Related to our question, the Bible makes two statements that some think are contradictory. On the one hand the Bible says God cannot be tempted (James 1:13). But then it turns around and says that Jesus was “in all points tempted” (Hebrews 4:15). Is this a mistake? Does this apparent contradiction prove that Jesus is not God?

It is important to remember that when Jesus was miraculously conceived in Mary’s womb, God literally became a man. Undiminished deity and full humanity were united. So, while Jesus’ humanity could “feel” temptation, His deity gave no place for the temptation to “attach” (James 1:15). That is how Jesus, “in all points” (that is, “in every kind of way”) could be tempted and feel the temptation and yet never sin.

Because Jesus really was tempted and yet without sin, there is hope for you and me! By inheriting Adam’s sin nature, we have “sinned already.” But by Christ’s example and with His Spirit we can have future victory over sin: “For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted” (Hebrews 2:18).

Let me ask you a question, does a person have to fail a temptation in order to say they felt a temptation? Haven’t you ever felt temptation and not yielded?  I sure hope so.

Who would ‘feel’ a 100-pound weight more, a 10-year-old, or a seasoned Olympic weight lifter? The trained athlete might make it look easier, but 100 pounds is still 100 pounds. The Lord Jesus Christ has literally overcome every weight of sin. In the gym of Christian living, Jesus is the Christian’s “spotter.” Because of Calvary, we can now “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us…” (Hebrews 12:1)

And it gets better. God routinely steps in and tells Satan, “No, no, he can’t handle that right now.”  God “will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13) We don’t have to sin. The weight of “doing right” in this wicked and perverse generation isn’t always easy, but it brings with it a special, godly comfort.