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Summary
- The New Testament says Jesus was tempted “in every respect” as we are, yet was “without sin” (Hebrews 4:15; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 Peter 2:22; 1 John 3:5).
- In the wilderness the devil tempted him, and he answered each temptation with a verse from Deuteronomy (Matthew 4:1–11; Luke 4:1–13).
- His baptism, his anger in the temple and his cry from the cross are sometimes raised as objections, but the Gospels never show him confessing a sin.
- The New Testament ties his sinlessness to his death: he is the lamb “without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:19), a high priest with no sins of his own to offer for (Hebrews 7:27).
- The Council of Chalcedon (451) confessed Christ “like us in all things but sin,” and the Catholic Church quotes that definition (CCC 467) while the Orthodox Church receives the council.
- The Protestant confessions, among them the Thirty-Nine Articles, the Westminster Confession and the Baptist Faith and Message, teach the same.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version: Exodus 12:5; Deuteronomy 6:13, 16; 8:3; Psalm 4:4; 22:1, 22; 69:9; Isaiah 53:9; Matthew 3:11, 14–15; 4:1–11; 27:46; Mark 2:17, 25–27; 3:5; 10:17–18; 11:15–17; Luke 4:1–13; 22:42; 23:4; John 2:17; 8:29, 46; 18:38; 19:4, 6; Romans 5:19; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Ephesians 4:26; Hebrews 4:15; 5:7–8; 7:26–27; 1 Peter 1:19; 2:22; 1 John 3:5. https://www.esv.org/
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 467 (quoting the Council of Chalcedon, 451). https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1J.HTM
- Orthodox Church in America, The Orthodox Faith, vol. 3, “The Fourth Ecumenical Council.” https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/church-history/fifth-century/the-fourth-ecumenical-council
- Church of England, Articles of Religion (Thirty-Nine Articles), Article XV, “Of Christ alone without Sin.” https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/book-common-prayer/articles-religion
- Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 8, section 2. Orthodox Presbyterian Church edition. https://opc.org/wcf.html
- Martin Luther, Small Catechism, part 2, explanation of the Second Article. https://bookofconcord.org/small-catechism/part-ii/
- Southern Baptist Convention, The Baptist Faith and Message (2000), article 2B. https://bfm.sbc.net/bfm2000/
- Irenaeus of Lyons, Against Heresies, book 3, chapter 18, section 7, in Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0103318.htm
- Thomas Aquinas, Catena Aurea on Mark 10:17–27 (quoting Theophylact). https://www.ccel.org/ccel/aquinas/catena2.iii.x.html
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