Are you familiar with the doctrine of
Impeccability?
Impeccability: Could Jesus, because He was tempted, have possibly sinned? Theologians have disagreed on this question, but the answer must be "no." There are two reasons why Jesus could not sin..... [First] The human will cannot be contrary to the divine will in Christ, but only subject to it. Second, because of the unity of the person, Christ could not sin without implicating God. Christ's human nature may be "peccable" (able to sin); but since in His constitution He is the God-man, He is therefore an impeccable person.[/i] (from
Ligonier)
Furthermore, if Jesus could sin then he would not be perfect in all ways. His potential for not being the perfect, blemish-free sacrifice would exist and if that possibility was ever acted upon then he'd instantly forfeit his perfect, blemish-free ontology and we'd have no Savior.
What the author of Hebrews is telling his readers is that Jesus experienced all the thoughts, emotions, and choices that a healthy,
sinless human would experience. This is important because the moment an appeal to James 1:13-14 is made we must ask ourselves what desire, specifically, would Jesus have had that might have enticed him and dragged him away to sin? We know sinful man has a variety of desires that entice him, but what desire of Jesus does scripture ever report Jesus has that might entice him to sin?
Jesus has no untoward desires. If he ever had a single bad, evil, and/or ungodly desire then that would instantly disqualify him from being Savior.
The word "tempted," (Gk. =
peraizo) can be understood in two ways. It can mean the internal experience of conflict within us testing our own internal values but the ordinary, normal meaning of the word is external. It means to test or try, or to be exposed to testing or trial. Think of it like bait. If you've ever been fishing, then you know dangling a piece of bait may not persuade a fish to bit at all. A fish could like at a floating bottle cap all day and think, "
Meh," and swim away. Conversely, a starving fish might bite the bottle cap (I know because I had a trout in Colorado do exactly that). Chicken livers will catch catfish but they're not much use to a bluegill. I could test bluegill all day long with liver and catch nothing. The bluegill is exposed to the liver, he is tested or tried by the exposure to the liver, but he does not desire the liver so the exposure, the testing, the trying, the baiting of the liver has no power over him because the desire is lacking. The moment we say Jesus has a desire like that we have denied his ability to save.
There's no partial view on this because the Hebrews text says he was tempted. tested in ALL ways common to humanity. The word "all" means all. That means Jesus truly, genuinely, sincerely gave consideration to raping little boys, eating their brains while the boys were still alive, and then murdering them in the process as he gave in to his desires. Either Jesus experienced all the desires, or he did not. He either experienced everything Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy experienced, or he didn't. It cannot be said Jesus experienced only the ordinary desires and not the really bad ones. Jesus made it very clear that
everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If Jesus has ALL the temptations known to
sinful man then he lusted, he lusted for women who were not his wife, and he lusted for little boys and all the rests of the lusts sinful humans have. It's all or nothing.
Lastly, Jesus is the logos of God who is God, the word of God made flesh in whom there is no sin. Jesus knows this about himself. He knows he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped. He knows he laid all that aside to take on the form of a bondservant. He knows before Abraham I Am. In other words, Jesus' knowledge of himself is much, much, much different than any human who has ever lived. That is the context in which every single tempting episode occurs. When he is tested by the devil Jesus knows he is the anointed one of God. He knows Moses was on Sanai for forty days without bread, so he knows it can be done. He knows his death is coming on Calvary, not in the wilderness due to starvation. He's not actually feeling enticed to make rocks turn into bread. Likewise, when the devil selectively uses scripture to appeal to the neat experience of having angels violate the rules of gravity and carry Jesus safely to the ground (who wouldn't want
that experience?) Jesus knows the entirety of God's word because he is the logos of God. He knows Satan is lying. Likewise, Jesus knows everything has not been given to Satan. Jesus knows the heavens are God's throne and the earth is His footstool. Jesus knows it is his name that is above all names. Jesus knows Satan is a liar and Jesus came to undue the devil's works. Jesus knows the devil is a created creature who will one day bow before Jesus and confess Jesus as Lord to the glory of God. In other words, Jesus' experience in the wilderness was not identical to what Moses, David, Peter, Paul, Herod, Pilate or you and I would experience.
So, James 1:13-14 does not apply to Jesus in the same way it applies to sinful people. His desires are not the desires of sinful people. His desires are holy and righteous. He was exposed to all the conditions known to humanity, but he was without sin and that means his personal experience of all that exposure was different.
