Question # 220: Did Christ have the ability to sin?
Answer: The answer to this question has been hotly debated by great thinking theologians for hundreds of years without a consensus. The theological terminology used to make a distinction between whether he had the ability to sin or the inability to sin is peccable and impeccable. The doctrine of peccability states that Jesus did have the ability to sin even though He was able to resist and not sin. The doctrine of impeccability teaches that Jesus did not have the ability to sin.
Throughout church history most of the leading theologians defended the impeccability of Jesus. However, in the last 150 years many theologians have argued that Jesus had to have the ability to sin in order for Him to sympathize with us, His people. They quote Hebrews 4:15 to support their position, “For we do not have a priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.” They state that in order for him to fully understand our temptations, He had to have the ability to succumb to the temptation. However, the impeccable advocates seek to answer the Hebrews 4:15 peccable conclusion with the argument that, as W. G. T. Shedd stated, “The fact that Christ was almighty and victorious in His resistance does not unfit Him to be an example for imitation to a weak and sorely-tempted believer. Because our Lord overcame His temptations, it does not follow that His conflict and success was an easy one for Him…. Because an army is victorious, it by no means follows that the victory was a cheap one.”
Neither side has explicit Bible verses to support their position. That is, neither side can quote a verse that says that Jesus had the ability to sin or that he did not have the ability to sin. But both sides rely on implicit passages. That is, verses whereby one can seek to gain enough evidence to make a reasoned conclusion which supports their belief. Both sides do this.
I tend to support the impeccability of Jesus. I do it in spite of the fact that two of my great theological heroes are on the peccability side. However, a study of church history will reveal that almost all of the recognized great theological minds, like Luther, Calvin, Edwards and Gerstner were strong advocates of the impeccability of Jesus.
One of Jesus’ attributes is that He is immutable, unchanging. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8). If Jesus never changes, it would seem that if He were capable of sinning and if He had yielded to one of His many temptations, not only was our salvation uncertain but He would have changed, no longer being holy. If he is immutable, then He could not have changed which makes it impossible to have sinned.
Christ inability to sin does not make His temptation less genuine. It is likely that Jesus’ temptations were more intense than ours because He never yielded. With our temptations we sometimes withstand them and sometimes give in to them. But Christ never gave in which would seem to made His temptation grow harder and harder as time went by. With our fallen nature, we are attracted to sin, wanting to do our own thing. But Jesus only wanted to please His Heavenly Father and wanting to displease His Father by doing what He wanted to do was disgusting to Him. Christ is able to sympathize with us in our temptations. even though as the God-man, He was incapable of sinning.