# How was Christ tempted in every way as we are?



## nwink (Feb 24, 2012)

Heb 4:15 "For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."

Christ was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. This gives me great comfort, but today I thought of something that confused me. When I think of sin (whether lust, envy, pride, etc), what makes it most alluring and tempting to me is as result of my flesh. When I am tempted, there is the Gal 5:17 and Rom 7 war going on inside me. There is a "traitor" in me like a trojan horse, which is my flesh, and my flesh is enmity against God. But since Christ did not have a sinful nature, how could he be tempted like I am tempted? If he had no sinful nature, what would make the external temptations of the world and devil possibly be actual temptations he faced?

(If I am misunderstanding any of these verses, please help me understand more correctly. Or if I am misunderstanding sinful nature vs flesh or anything about Christ's person, please enlighten me.)


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## KMK (Feb 24, 2012)

It is not specifically sinful nature that is able to be tempted, but human nature in general. Adam was not created with a sinful nature, yet he was tempted.



> LBC 8:2 The Son of God, the second person in the Holy Trinity, being very and eternal God, the brightness of the Father's glory, of one substance and equal with Him who made the world, who upholds and governs all things He has made, did, when the fullness of time was complete, *take upon Him man's nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities of it*,9 yet without sin;



Christ took upon Himself all of the essential properties of human nature, including the infirmities that make temptation possible. Being also fully God Christ did not succumb to sin. It is important to keep temptation and sin separate. Temptation and sin are not the same thing.


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## Rev. Todd Ruddell (Feb 24, 2012)

Larger Catechism 48: How did Christ humble himself in this life?
Christ humbled himself in his life, by subjecting himself to the law, which he perfectly fulfilled; and by conflicting with the indignities of the world, temptations of Satan, and infirmities in his flesh, whether common to the nature of man, or particularly accompanying that his low condition.

The point of the Apostle there is to show, as Ken said above, that Christ was (and is) fully human, and submitted Himself to being tempted in the same way that all men are, yet without sin.


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## FenderPriest (Feb 24, 2012)

I'd really recommend reading Tempted and Tried: Temptation and the Triumph of Christ by Russell Moore. He really helps explain this point from the temptation of Christ in the Gospel Accounts.


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