By What Means . . .

can He help us when we are tempted? Heb. 2:17-18. The answer to that is given in verse 18:

“For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.” We find the basis for this in the previous verse: He had to be made like His brethren in all things. And the basis for this is written in verse 16. He was going to help people with flesh and blood like ours; it was for them that He came to open a way.

“Therefore, since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God.” 1 Pet. 4:1-2.

This does not refer to Christ’s physical sufferings, for we have by no means ceased from sin by having suffered physically. Not at all! Christ suffered in the flesh by being tempted, by denying His human will, constantly saying “No” to it. The formidable help which He is now able to give us when we are tempted is this: Christ Himself was tempted and suffered just as we do; He always faithfully resisted temptation in the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus sin in the flesh was condemned. When, in the power of the same Spirit, we faithfully suffer in the flesh by always saying “No” to each temptation, we, too, will cease from sin.

When we have resisted sin faithfully for a considerable length of time, a form of death sets in over sin, point for point. If this death does not set in, it is because we have allowed sin to be nourished; we have not been faithful. We are no longer tempted on those points where death has set in; unless we fall away from the stand we have taken. In this way we can actually cease from sin. The apostle Peter says that we are to arm ourselves with this mind. This weapon is a powerful help. Then we needn’t have the same experience as a “minister” who said that after being converted for 18 years, he was still struggling with his smoking habit.

With what can He help us when we are tempted? In that He Himself suffered when He was tempted, just like we do, and yet He was always victorious: in that He had a flesh and a self-will just like we have, and yet He was always victorious; this strengthens us in believing that by God’s grace we, too, will gain the victory.

So, our motto must be: The same power to overcome the same difficulty. The same Spirit to overcome the same flesh.