“A Good Choice”

Friday, May 29, 2020

     My wife and I are having a debate.  I think it's a debate on the definition of sin.  My wife asserts that because Jesus was a sinless human, He was therefore an appropriate sacrifice for mankind, and the only thing that allowed Him to not sin was that He was God.  I, on the other hand, state that anything God does is, by default, not sin (or anti-sin).  Therefore, anything He does is not sin.  It sounds the same, but my wife says He had the option to sin but chose not to while I say whatever He did would be anti-sin no matter what He chose to do.  Any thoughts?

Sincerely,
Right By Default?

Dear Right By Default,

Your wife is right; Jesus had the option to sin, but He chose not to.  Heb 4:15 says that Jesus was tempted in all ways like we are, yet without sin.  If Jesus was incapable of sinning, He couldn’t be tempted to do it.  You can’t be tempted to turn into a fish because that would be impossible, but you can be tempted to eat too much, be lazy, lose your temper, etc.
Jesus was actually tempted to sin, but He simply chose not to.  A great example of this is when the devil tempted Jesus in the wilderness in Mat 4:1-11.  The devil tried to get Jesus to sin (which tells you that the devil believed it was possible), but Jesus answered each temptation with Scripture and firm conviction.

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