Tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin
Hebrews 4:15 Knowing that Jesus understands everything I face each day gives me the strength to fight temptations, although I’m not always successful.
Jesus being tempted by Satan in the wilderness. Image generated by DALL-E 3
”For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.“
Hebrews 4:15 NASB1995
After Friday’s detour to testify personally of signs, wonders, prophecy, and revelation, we’re back to God’s course outline for learning more of His Word. Today’s verse comes from the Epistle to the Hebrews. Wikipedia says this about this epistle:
The book has earned the reputation of being a masterpiece. It has also been described as an intricate New Testament book. Some scholars believe it was written for Jewish Christians who lived in Jerusalem. Its essential purpose was to exhort Christians to persevere in the face of persecution. At this time, certain believers were considering turning back to Judaism and to the Jewish system of law to escape being persecuted for believing Christ to be the messiah. The theme of the epistle is the teaching of the person of Christ and his role as mediator between God and humanity.
Chapter 4 predominantly looks at two subjects: a warning to Jewish Christians (those Jews who had professed a faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah) to “enter God’s rest”, and describing Jesus as the new High Priest. What does it mean to enter God’s rest? Puritan commentator John Owen said that God’s rest had five attributes: peace with God, freedom from a slave-like spirit in the worship and service of God, deliverance from Mosaic Law, freedom of worship according to the Gospel, and the rest that God enjoys. The only thing that can keep someone from entering God’s rest (AKA “the peace that passeth all understanding”) is disbelief.
By the time we get to verse 15, the author (originally thought to be Paul, but now thought to be someone else) has taught the Jewish Christians that entering God’s rest gives them the same peace that God enjoys, that they do not need to continue to persist in being justified by works, and that faith is the key to entering God’s rest. The author then develops the idea that Jesus is the High Priest for all Christians. Jesus is the only High Priest who has been called great, has passed through the heavens in His resurrection, and is the Son of God.
Here the author of Hebrews shows that not only is Jesus God, but that He also had compassionate humanity during His time on Earth. Now that He is enthroned in heaven, Jesus — God the Son — sympathizes with our weaknesses. The Greek word συμπαθέω (sympatheō) means “to suffer along with,” showing that Jesus — fully human and fully God — knows and feels what we go through.
Jesus is totally different from us, though, in that He experienced all of the many temptations we are faced with, yet battled through them and was never touched by sin. Enduring Word’s David Guzik says:
Sometimes we think that because Jesus is God, He could never know temptation the way we do. In part, this is true: Jesus faced temptation much more severely than we ever have or ever will. The Sinless One knows temptation in ways we don’t, because only the one who never gives into temptation knows the full strength of temptation. It is true that Jesus never faced temptation in an inner sense the way we do, because there was never a sinful nature pulling Him to sin from the inside. But He knew the strength and fury of external temptation in a way and to a degree that we can never know. He knows what we go through and He has faced worse.
Jesus can sympathize with our weaknesses and temptations, but He won’t sympathize with our sin. Some may think that this makes Him less sympathetic to us sinners, and that perhaps He would understand us better if He himself had sinned. Charles H. Spurgeon’s wonderful response to this thought:
“But listen to me; do not imagine that if the Lord Jesus had sinned he would have been any more tender toward you; for sin is always of a hardening nature. If the Christ of God could have sinned, he would have lost the perfection of his sympathetic nature.”1
Knowing that Jesus understands everything I face each day gives me the strength to fight temptations, although I’m not always successful. I thank Him for His saving grace.
Heaven On Wheels Daily Prayer:
Today’s prayer comes from Knowing Jesus:
Heavenly Father, thank You for the precious gift the Lord Jesus gave to all humanity, coming to earth to live and die as one of us, yet without sin. Thank You that He intimately understands all the trials and troubles that come into every life via the world, the flesh, and the devil. Thank You that I can bring all my cares to Him, knowing that He understands everything that I am facing. In Jesus' name, AMEN.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org.
Spurgeon, Charles Haddon "The New Park Street Pulpit" Volumes 1-6 and "The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit" Volumes 7-63 (Pasadena, Texas: Pilgrim Publications, 1990)