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The Holy One of God |
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True Christians hold that Christ was sinless, but there are sometimes differences of opinion as to exactly
what this means. There are a number of relevant Scriptures and, in particular, the three following:- |
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The first reference shows that Christ was sinless as to his acts and speech and is quoted from Isaiah 53:9;
the second shows that he was sinless in his thoughts and the third that sin had no place in his heart, that is, he was perfectly free from all taint of sin. The first quotation refers to what is outward but, as we know, what underlies what we say and do is what is in our minds and what underlies that is what we are essentially. |
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The reference to guile in connection with speaking probably has a wide meaning and includes all evil speaking. Psalm 34:13 reads: "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile" (evil and guile are put as alternatives). This passage is quoted in 1 Peter 3:10. Further, the pure mental milk of the word in 1 Peter 2:2 is literally; "the guileless mental milk of the word". Applying the change of word to 1 Peter 2:22 we get "neither was impurity found in his mouth". |
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As to the second quotation: "knew not sin" does not mean he was ignorant of sin (he knew about it - It was all around him when on earth), but that he in no way gave place in his mind to sin - his thoughts were entirely free of it. It is similar to what we get in John 1:10 where it says: "knew him not", which means acknowledged him not - gave no place to him. I do not state this dogmatically but draw attention to it and the meaning of guileless above for the consideration of Christians. |
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The difficulty that some may feel is that though Christ did no sin he could have sinned. The confusion here may be between will and power. Christ never had the will to sin, but he had the power. A man in prison has not the power to commit a felony such as a bank robbery because he is restrained by his circumstances from doing so. Whatever he may contemplate doing he is stopped from carrying out his purposes because of where he is. God can similarly stop a person from sinning even inadvertently as in the case of Abimelech (Genesis 20). However, in the case of Christ he did not need anyone or anything to stop him from sinning because sin was abhorrent to him. This does not mean that he was never tempted by things without. Hebrews 4:15 tells us he was tempted as ourselves, sin apart. Note: sin apart. As "God cannot be tempted by evil things" being holy (James 1:13), neither can Christ. As the passage in James goes on to say: "But everyone is tempted, drawn away, and enticed by his own lust". There was no lust in Christ. Had he lusted he would have broken the tenth commandment which says:" Thou shalt not desire" certain things (Exodus 20:17), that is, lust after them (Romans 7:7). |
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The difference between having the will (volition) and the power (ability) to do something applies to God as it does to Christ. God is Almighty. He has the power to do anything (Job 42:2), but some things are morally impossible to him. For instance, He cannot lie (Hebrews 6:18). It is worth noting that the statement in Job 42 (just referred to) is followed by the words: "Thou can'st be hindered in no thought of thine". The point is that God can do what he will, that is, what is in his mind to do. However, wrong thoughts are never in his mind so that wrong speech or wrong actions are never attributable to God. See for instance Jeremiah 19:5 & 32:35 where God says that certain abominations he never commanded, spoke of and, indeed, never came into his mind. |
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To illustrate what has been said above one might cite a man who is wrecked on an isolated island with only
a little child for company and little hope of being picked up for many years, if ever. The child would be an additional burden. It would have to be cared for, fed etc. It would be much easier to drown it. No one is likely to ever find out. However, most people would abhor such an idea and never entertain it in their minds. This is like God and Christ. Evil thoughts would never be entertained by them. However, if the shipwrecked man had as his shipwrecked companion an attractive young woman, there would be a great temptation for him to live with her as his wife even if the woman was already married and had a husband far away. Many who would not have entertained murdering the child would not perhaps have real qualms about committing adultery. Both the murder and the adultery are abominable to God. In both cases the shipwrecked man would have the power to commit the crimes, though whether he would have the will to do so is another matter. |
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The danger with saying that Christ could not sin, or that he could but didn't, is that Christians may be
speaking at cross purposes, one thinking of sinning as a matter of will (volition); the other as a matter of power (ability). The matter could generate a lot of hot air with the opposing parties calling each other heretics. |
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September 1999 |