Spotless Lamb of God.
Of all mankind that ever lived, Jesus was the only One who could have been our Sacrifice because He is the only One who was not born in Adam’s sin. He came as our Lamb without spot or blemish.
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet WITHOUT SIN. (Hebrews 4:15, emphasis mine)1
“Yet without sin” isn’t “yet without sinnING.” Sin in this verse is a noun, not a verb. Jesus was never tempted TO sin, the verb. He was tempted, but WITHOUT sin, the noun! The word “tempted” is the Greek word “peirazo”2 which means “to try whether a thing can be done, to test, to make trial of one, put him to proof.“ Jesus was tested, tried, and proven to be pure and holy. It’s like testing gold to make sure it has no impurities. Jesus was not an alloy. He wasn’t white-washed on the outside and full of sin and death on the inside.3 His testing by the devil was to show that He was our perfect, sinless representative. He was WITHOUT SIN.
Jesus was tested and proved to be without a NATURE to sin. Because Jesus was born of the Spirit from above, He was not born in Adam’s sin like we were. He was born of a virgin with His Father’s divine nature. The reason for the virgin birth was so that Jesus could be our Substitute.
“For the ruler of this world [the devil] is coming, and he has nothing in Me.” (John 14:30, brackets mine)
Jesus was from the bloodline of the almighty God. He was the only begotten Son of the Father, and He became the firstborn among many brethren. The only way that Jesus became sin at the cross was by receiving the sin of others – and He did it willingly!
“No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” (John 10:18)
He went through the testing so that He could take our place, die our death, and raise us up in Him as partakers of God’s divine nature. This is how we became a new creation in Christ! His nature replaced our old nature so that we no longer have a sin nature. The old Adam (the old man) was cut away by the cross. Good News!
(from pages 137-138 of Unveiling Jesus)
Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!
1All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
2G3985 (peirazō), Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, website: http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/Lexicon/Lexicon.cfm?strongs=G3985&t=KJV, accessed 5-23-14
3This is the way that Jesus described the Pharisees in Matthew 23:27″
