Study of First Peter Chapter 2 Lesson 39

Review:

Next we need to examine the Doctrine of Impeccability

If Christ’s hypostatic union means He had true humanity, and if His kenosis means that this true humanity met every trial without reliance upon His divine nature, then what was the situation whenever Christ was tempted? Was He always successful? If so, how?

Biblical Documentation for Impeccability.

That Christ was morally perfect without sin is central to the Christian faith and one repeatedly mentioned in the NT.

The following verses are just a few that confirm the point: John 8:46; Rom 8:3; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 1Peter 1:19; 2:21; and 1 John 3:5.

Problem that must be dealt with:

Having all these statements of the sinlessness of the person of Christ yet at the same time in the Gospels we have many other verses that seem to show Christ behaving in a fashion considered today as rude, impolite, and even eccentric.

The gospel of Matthew particularly notes this behavior. Jesus calls His opponents “snakes,” “hypocrites,” ”adulterers,” ”children of hell,” and “whitewashed tombs” (Matt. 12:34; 15:7; 16:4; 23:15, 27).

Some other examples:

In spite of His own teaching not to call people fools in Matthew 5:22, Jesus calls His enemies fools in Matthew 23:17, 19.

Point that must be remembered.

Modern observers, so heavily conditioned by present day psychological models of the “ideal” personality, are upset by this discrepancy.

Psychologist Paul Vitz is right when he notes “Certainly Jesus Christ neither lived nor advocated a life that would qualify by today’s standards as ‘self-actualized.’”

The problem, therefore, doesn’t lie with Jesus; it lies with present-day personality theories so widely accepted as the norm.

Jesus’ personality is disturbing because it is perfectly holy and in active contact with the sinful, unholy world. [not operating from the same std]

Being “Christ like” is not necessarily, therefore, being conformed to what modern psychological theory regards as the ideal or healthiest personality as it is so often assumed.

The Biblical data supply not only a clear picture of Jesus’ holy and sinless personality, but they provide other clear light on His human nature.

1. Matthew 4:1-11 related how Jesus explicitly refused the use of His divine nature to meet temptation.

2. Matthew 26:36-46 tells how Jesus struggled in Gethsemane without using His divine nature to meet the temptation to avoid the Cross.

3. On the other hand, in the same situation John 8:58 made a statement that could only apply to His divine nature, …"before Abraham was born, I am." (cf. Exod. 3:14).

4. In James 1:13 makes it plain that Jesus, to be tempted by these trials at all, had to have been tempted through His human nature exclusively, never through His divine nature.

5. Finally, Hebrews 4:15 insists that Jesus was tempted in every part of His true humanity—His spirit, His body, and His soul.

The Doctrine of Impeccability Stated.

To understand the doctrine of impeccability, we need to examine these two expressions:

(1) “not able to sin” (non posse peccare); and

(2) “able not to sin” (posse non peccare).

The first statement means that one is not able to sin at all, while the second statement means that one is able to avoid sin although he is able to sin as well.

The major question in discussing Christ’s impeccability is to determine which statement applies to Christ.

Charles Hodge, for example, thought that statement (2) must apply to Christ because he held that it must be possible for one to fall or sin in order to insure that any temptation would be real.

On the other hand William Shedd, held that statement (1) applies to Christ because he observed it was impossible for Christ as God-man to sin without fracturing the hypostatic union and the sovereign plan of God.

To clarify matters we must dig a little deeper into the language and logic being used to discuss the question, using our knowledge of the Creator-creature distinction.

To phrase the question as though free will and determinism are locked in mortal combat, implies that both categories are universal and apply to all existence, including the Creator and the creature, in the same way.

Saying that, however, puts the speaker solidly in the pagan camp believing in the Continuity of Being.

The question rather is: how do the analogous qualities of the Creator’s choice and the creature’s choice coexist?

One expresses the incomprehensible nature of God; the other describes human design in His true humanity.

As undiminished deity, Jesus possessed divine sovereignty; as true humanity He possessed human responsibility.

Must recognize:

That in the first statement above “not able to sin” refers to the uncreated divine nature. Therefore the verb “able” then takes on its meaning from its link to divine sovereignty. [volition/determinism]

The second statement “able not to sin” refers to created human nature. In this statement the verb “able” takes on its meaning from its connection to His human experience.

Because of the hypostatic union, both terms must apply to Jesus Christ.

In the case of Jesus Christ, however, we must ask about whether temptation under the “not able to sin” condition is somehow less of a problem than temptation is for fallen beings like ourselves.

Some have concluded that Jesus, did not really enter in to the struggles we face! But is that true? Is that what Heb 4:15 states?

B. F. Westcott, who lived in the nineteenth century along with Hodge and Shedd, gives us insight into what it means for a sinless being to be tempted.

His classic commentary on the epistle to the Hebrews puts the matter well: “Sympathy with the sinner in this trial does not depend on the experience of sin but on the experience of the strength of the temptation to sin which only the sinless can know in its full intensity.”

Summing up!

The doctrine of impeccability, therefore, states that Jesus Christ, though genuinely tempted beyond anything any other creature ever experienced, could not sin.

As the One having true humanity and undiminished deity coexisting in one Person forever, Christ would always be victorious, even though kenotic during His life on earth.

He did not rely on His attributes of deity to deal with the temptations but relied on the empowering of the Holy Spirit and the truth He knew always willing to fulfill the will of the Father!

Therefore setting the example we are to follow.

Summary Observations:

1. As a Man, Christ was always filled with the Spirit (see Luke 4:1). He always walked in complete dependence upon His heavenly Father always entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.

2. As a Man, Christ always stood firmly upon the Word of God. "IT IS WRITTEN" was His constant plea! The devil must flee from those who stand firmly on the Word.

3. As a Man, Christ always had His full armor on! He was fully prepared there was no way the enemy could get to Him! This same armor is available to us! (see Ephesians 6:10-18)

4. As a Man, Christ always was alert to temptations. He always put Mark 14:38 into practice (though the holy Son of God had no weakness of the flesh as we do). He always "submitted" and "resisted" (see James 4:7).