He Was Tempted as We Are

Jesus knows what it is like to be tempted. But how could the Son of God really be tempted? Today, Sinclair Ferguson expresses the consolation we find in Christ’s true humanity and the hope that His complete sinlessness brings.

Last week on Things Unseen, we were thinking briefly about a series of passages in the prophecy of Isaiah, passages that shaped the life of our Lord Jesus. And I thought that this week we should perhaps continue this focus on Jesus, but this time focus on His temptations.

I imagine when I say “the temptations of Christ” most of us think instinctively of the forty days at the beginning of His ministry—and we are going to think about those days. But, you’ll remember, He also spoke about the whole of His life as being a time of testing. And remember how toward the end of His life, He said to the Apostles, “You are the ones who have stayed with Me in My temptations,” or “trials,” or “testing” (Luke 22:28). So, throughout His whole life, as Hebrews emphasizes, Jesus was being tempted in every way just as we are (Heb. 4:15).

Now, how can that be? And what does it mean? After all, the Scriptures teach us that Jesus is the Son of God, He’s divine. And you’ll remember that James says that God neither tempts, nor can He be tempted (James 1:13). So how could Jesus really be tempted?

Well, this is where our theology—our Christology—helps us, isn’t it? Incidentally, I wonder if you’ve read R.C. Sproul’s great book titled Everyone’s a Theologian. The title is fascinating, isn’t it? We are all theologians, but the point of that book is that we need to learn to be good ones. Because if we are not clear on our theology and here on our Christology—our understanding of the Lord Jesus—if we haven’t seen how the biblical teaching about Him fits together, then we’ll be all at sea.

Well, I think you probably know the answer to the question, How could God the Son be tempted? It’s because He was truly man—truly human—as well as truly God. He was as truly human as you and I are. He had flesh and bones and blood. He grew physically. He grew mentally. He felt pain. He needed sleep. He had emotions. At times, He was filled with joy. Other times, He was deeply distressed.

You’ll maybe remember how the Chalcedonian Creed, or Definition, helps us here. It explains that Scripture teaches us that Jesus is a divine person and, therefore, has a divine nature. He also assumed our human nature. But these two natures were never mixed or confused. There was no point in Jesus’ life where His human nature was given a little injection from His divine nature so that it, for example, could withstand special pressures or be immune to temptation. No, our Lord Jesus knows what it’s like to be tempted.

And since He always withstood that temptation the way we don’t, He knows what it’s like to be tempted to the extremity. When Hebrews says God’s Son was tempted in all points as we are, obviously it doesn’t mean that He experienced every single temptation in every situation of the sum total of Christians who have ever lived. It means there’s no dimension of temptation and testing He didn’t experience to the full.

But of course, there is a very important difference between the Lord Jesus and ourselves, and without this difference, Jesus could never have become our Savior. There are temptations that come to us from outside—from the world and from the evil one—and Jesus experienced these in full. He never gave in. He must have experienced their force to the maximum. But there are also temptations that are sourced from within us. They may be heightened by the world and the devil, but they’re rooted in our own nature, in our flesh—and that was never true of Jesus. You remember how He once said, “Satan is coming, but he has nothing in Me” (John 14:30), meaning: “There’s nothing in Me he can land on—no fifth column within Me, no loose thread of sin that he can pull on to unravel Me.”

If Jesus had been tempted by His own desires, it would mean He had sinful desires; He wouldn’t be holy and undefiled and separated from sinners. And then He would never be able to act as our sinless substitute and sacrifice, and He could never clothe us in His own perfect righteousness. And in addition, He’d need help Himself. You see, someone who has failed can’t really give me the help I need. I need someone who has never failed; only such a person can help me not to fail. And Jesus is exactly that kind of Savior because He faced temptation and overcame it. And we’ll think more about that tomorrow.