The Impeccability of Christ
11/8 Reading Portions: 2 Kings 21; Hebrews 3; Hosea 14; Psalm 139
Online Bible Audio/Readings Links (ESV)
11/8 Reading Portions: 2 Kings 21; Hebrews 3; Hosea 14; Psalm 139
Hebrews 3:9
“where your fathers put Me to the test and saw My works for forty years.”
TEMPTED
I’ve preached a number of sermons on this topic in the past, but it must be driven into the marrow of our bones (spiritually speaking). A doctrine that has reared its ugly head these past few years is called the “peccability of Christ.” While its origin is approximately 2,000 years old, it was popularized and articulated by theologian, Charles Hodge (1797-1878). What is this doctrine? Simply stated, it is the false notion that Christ, being a Man when He was tempted, could actually succumb to temptation and therefore could possibly sin, yet He didn’t sin. Among the many verses erroneously used to support this position is this:
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin! Hebrews 4:15
This doctrine is preposterous, and is Satan’s attack upon the impeccability of Christ, the imputed righteousness of Christ, and essentially, upon the very core of the gospel. Today’s verse is a refutation of such a ridiculous argument. According to the Bible, Jesus is one Person with two distinct natures, human and divine. He is the incarnate God-Man. His deity and humanity are not a hybrid and melding of the two; they are not separate in operation as if Christ Jesus could turn one off in order to turn the other on; and there is no confusion between the two, so as to denigrate one nature in order to elevate another. It is a divine mystery laid as foundational to Christ’s penal substitutionary atonement. In other words, we could have no true, sufficient, and complete salvation were it not so. If Jesus is God, could He be tempted with a possibility of falling? Of course not? Was YHVH God tempted in the wilderness? Yes, He was. Our verse says “tested” (ESV) because temptations against God would fail because God is complete, sufficient, and unchanging. It is translated from the same Greek root word as temptation used in Matthew 4:1; 16:1; 19:3; Luke 4:2; etcetera, ad nauseam:
πειράζω (pi-RA-dzō)
Likewise, Christ was tested in His temptations, and “proved” (Heb 3:9, KJV) to be the perfect, sinless, and impeccable Son of God. His perfect mind, when tempted with such things from the devil as “All these I will give You, if You will fall down and worship me” (Matt 4:9), stayed with Jesus and were resisted by Jesus all the way to the cross. Why? This wasn’t an example we could follow; this was a truth from heaven for us to believe and trust by faith. The danger of believing the doctrine of peccability is it will provoke you and me, by our corrupt flesh, to trust in our own strength to overcome sin and temptation. This is the acme of foolishness (Psa 20:7; Prov 3:5-6; Jer 17:5-7). Christ’s righteousness alone has been imputed to our account at salvation, and Christ’s sufficient, righteous life, wrathful death, and glorious resurrection are what we hang all our hope upon (Eph 6:10; Col 1:11). Hallelujah! What a Savior! Our salvation is in Christ alone, and we don’t aid Him in that endeavor whatsoever. Jesus alone is our Solid Rock!