“In All Points Tempted as We Are”

“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” Heb. 4:15.

Temptation is not sin. Therefore He was tempted exactly as we are. “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.” Jas. 1:14. All of us have a desire to do our own will and are tempted to do it. Jesus also had this desire, because He voluntarily partook of the same flesh that we have.

If He had not partaken of the same flesh, if He had not had this human desire and a human will, then Hebrews 4:15 would be utterly false. In that case, Hebrews 4:15-16 would have to read something like this: “But He was not tempted like we are in anything whatsoever, because He was completely different from us, having neither a flesh nor a self-will like we have. Therefore it is useless for us even to contemplate receiving grace to follow in His steps; instead, we must rest all the more in the atonement, in the full assurance of the forgiveness of our sins.”

Either/Or. Either it is true what the Scriptures say, that He was made like His brethren in all things (in which case, as the Scriptures also clearly point out in many places, we both can and shall, by faith and in the power of the Spirit, follow His steps, overcoming sin in the same way that He overcame), or it is true that everything was completely different for Him, so that none of us can possibly overcome sin or follow His steps. If the latter is true, then all the many and various words of Scripture must be incorrect, being just a lot of fancy expressions. But they are correct! Glory to God!