“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15 HCSB).
In addition to what we read here in Hebrews 4:15, the Scriptures emphasize Jesus’ sinlessness in other passages such as 2 Corinthians 5:21, 1 Peter 2:21-22, and 1 John 3:5. One commentator explains how this reality should influence our view of Christ…
“The fact that Jesus was without sin means that he knew depths and tensions and assaults of temptation which we never can know. So far from his battle being easier it was immeasurably harder. Why? For this reason–we fall to temptation long before the tempter has put out the whole of his power. We never know temptation at its fiercest because we fall long before that stage is reached.
But Jesus was tempted far beyond what we are; for in his case the tempter put everything he possessed into the assault. Think of this in terms of pain. There is a degree of pain which the human frame can stand–and when that degree is passed a person loses consciousness so that there are agonies of pain he can not know. It is so with temptation. We collapse in face of temptation; but Jesus went to our limit of temptation and far beyond it and still did not collapse.
It is true to say that he was tempted in all things as we are; but it is also true to say that no one was tempted as he was.” (1)
Another source explains the relationship between 2 Corinthians 5:21 (“He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us…”) and the fact that Jesus was “yet without sin“…
“How could Jesus be made sin when He was sinless?
PROBLEM: Paul asserts here that Jesus was ‘made to be sin.’ However, many other Scriptures insist that Jesus was ‘without sin’ (Heb. 4:15; cf. 1 Peter 3:18). But how could Jesus be without sin if He was made sin for us?
SOLUTION: Jesus was always without sin actually, but He was made to be sin for us judicially. That is, by His death on the Cross, He paid the penalty for our sins and thereby cancelled the debt of sin against us. So, while Jesus never committed a sin personally, He was made to be sin for us substitutionally. The issue can be summarized as follows:
|
CHRIST WAS NOT SINFUL |
CHRIST WAS MADE TO BE SIN |
|
In Himself |
For us |
|
Personally |
Substitutionally |
|
Actually |
Judicially (2) |
(1) Barclay, William. William Barclay’s Daily Study Bible, “Hebrews 4, The Perfect High Priest (Heb_4:14-16)”
(2) Geisler, N. L., & Howe, T. A. (1992). When critics ask : a popular handbook on Bible difficulties. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books. Page 54.