Christ The Sinless One

“For we have not a high priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Three words in that verse define the humanity of Jesus that makes Him qualified to serve as our Redeemer: “Yet without sin.” Everything about Jesus’ earthly sojourn culminates in this one amazing statement. William Moorehead is credited with having made the following observation about the manhood of Jesus: “At every stage of His development, in every relation of life, in every part of His service He is absolutely perfect. To no part of His life does a mistake attach, over no part of it does a cloud rest, nowhere is there defect” (The Fundamentals, Volume 2, page 61). One reason why Jesus lived such an extraordinary life is seen His humility. Jesus came to do the Father’s will, and He never lost sight of that supreme goal. Paul tells us that He “emptied himself, taking upon himself the form of a servant” (Phil. 2:7a). The gospels paint a picture of Someone Who never drew attention to Himself, never demanded His “rights,” or desired fame or fortune.  Again, from the words of Moorehead: He receives ministry from the lowly and the lofty; He is sometimes hungry, yet feeds the multitudes in desert places; He has no money, yet He never begs, and He provides the coin for tribute to the government from a fish’s mouth. He may ask for a cup of water at the well, but it is that He may save a soul. He never flies from enemies; He quietly withdraws or passes by unseen. Hostility neither excites nor exasperates Him. He is always calm, serene. He seems to care little for Himself, for His own ease or comfort or safety, but everything for the honor and the glory of the Father.The very character of Jesus declares His divinity. Even if the word of God never declared in so many words the deity of Jesus, His life would stand as a testimony to that undeniable truth. Consider the words of the Hebrews writer for a moment.First, “one that hath in all points been tempted like as we are.” Temptation is not sin; if it were then it could not be said that Jesus was “without sin.” The devil attacked the woman in the Garden using the “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the vainglory of life” (2 John 2:16b). “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food [“lust of the flesh], and that it was a delight to the eyes [“lust of the eyes”], and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise [“the vainglory of life”], she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat” (Gen. 3:6). I dare not minimize the sin of Adam and Eve, but it should be pointed out that the devil threw all he had at her; unfortunately, she caved in, “and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat” (Gen. 3:6b). All men since have been tempted in one of those three ways, and in every case the outcome was that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Fast forward some 4,000 years. The devil again uses the same avenues in an attempt of seduce Jesus to sin: “If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread” (Matt. 4:3) – the “lust of the flesh.” “If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down” (Matt. 4:6) – the “vainglory of life.” “Again, the devil taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them” (Matt. 4:8) – “lust of the eyes.”  Don’t tell me that Jesus was not tempted. Don’t tell me that He did not face what we have to face in our everyday, rat-race world. Don’t tell me He never felt what we have felt when it comes to the power of temptation.

Now focus on those three words that sets Jesus apart from all men: “yet without sin.” Those words could not have been written had Jesus not demonstrated that sinless nature throughout His life. The gospels bear witness to one unique fact of Jesus’ life, and that is that He lived a sinless life. Consider the following evidence.

First, there is the testimony of His enemies. Throughout Jesus’ earthly ministry the Pharisees were watching His every move. If there were any “skeletons in the closet” they would surely have dug them up. Someone once pointed out: “There was the Pharisee mingling in every crowd, hiding behind every tree. They examined His disciples, they cross-questioned all around Him. They looked into His ministerial life, into His domestic privacy, into His hours of retirement. They came forward with the sole accusation they could muster – that He had shown disrespect to Caesar. The Roman judge who ought to know, pronounced it void.” To that list of enemies we could add Judas, who after betraying Jesus to the Jewish and Roman authorities, confessed that he had betrayed innocent blood.

Second, there is the testimony of the friends of Jesus. Do we think for a moment that had they found some flaw, some sin in the life of Jesus that they would have dedicated their life to following Him? They would have turned away in utter disgust, seeing in this person nothing more than a charlatan, fraud, and hypocrite. Even John the Baptist, perhaps one of the purest of men, realized that when compared to Jesus, he paled in comparison.

Third, there is the very life of Jesus, recorded in the Gospels, and, like an open book, ready for examination. Jesus never prayed for forgiveness. In fact He never asks His disciples to pray for Him in any fashion whatsoever. Once more from the pen of Moorehead:

“There is about Him an air of superior holiness, of aloofness from the world and its ways, a separation from evil in every form and of every grade, such as no other that has ever lived has displayed. Although descended from an impure ancestry, He brought no taint of sin into the world with Him; and though He mingled with sinful men and was assailed by fierce temptations, He contracted no guilt, he was touched by no stain. He was not merely undefiled, but He was unrefillable. He was like a ray of light which parting from the fountain of light can pass through the foulest medium and still be unstained and untouched. He came down into all the circumstances of actual humanity in its sin and misery, and yet He kept the infinite purity of heaven with Him. In the annals of our race there is none next to or like Him.”

I once observed that when God created this universe, He created it perfect. Even after the fall of man, and the universal flood, the beauties of creation astound the imagination. One example will suffice here. Have you ever seen any of the colors of a mountain side, or a setting sun clash? The colors of the rainbow blend in exquisite beauty. Now apply that same principle to the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. In every way, and in every situation, our Lord lived a balanced life. Moorhead picked up on this wonderful aspect of our Lord: “In Jesus there is the most perfect balance, the most amazing equipoise of every faculty and grace and duty and power. In His whole life one day’s walk never contradicts another, one hour’s service never clashes with another. While He shows he is master of nature’s tremendous forces, and the Lord of the unseen world, He turns aside and lays His glory by to take little children in His arms and to bless them. While He must walk amid the snares His foes have privily spread for His feet, He is equal to every occasion, is in harmony with the requirements of every moment. He never speaks where it would be better to keep silence, He never keeps silence where it would be better to speak; and He always leaves the arena of controversy a victor. His unaffected majesty, so wonderfully depicted in the Gospels, runs through His whole life, and is as manifest in the midst of poverty and scorn, at Gethsemane and Calvary, as on the Mount Of Transfiguration and in the resurrection from the grave” (Moorehead, The Fundamentals, Volume 2, page 69).How blessed is mankind that Jesus lived the life He lived, “tempted in all points…yet without sin.” May we never take that for granted, but praise our Father for sending His Son, “Christ the sinless One!”

[Note: I borrowed and adapted many of the thoughts presented by Moorehead in his chapter in The Fundamentals, Volume 2. If you have never read that chapter, you owe it to yourself to do so.  TW]