How Was Jesus Tempted?

When Jesus was tempted we cannot think of it like how we do. When we feel tempted we have already lost to it at least in part. I may lust after a woman for a split second and then pull myself from that temptation in a quick prayer. I would say I was tempted but I overcame it. I say overcame because I did not indulge it more than I felt was possible for me. As soon as I saw the sin I left it, for us that is how we define temptation and the overcoming thereof.

We only define temptation based on what triggers our sins, women are generally not tempted to lust over other women so they would say they are not tempted only the things in our lives that do trigger sin for us are temptation.

But Jesus could not have experienced that involuntary moment of sin that we consider the beginning of temptation for that in itself is sin. When the Bible says Jesus overcame temptation it means he was put into all the situations where we fall into sin and he did not.

As Bavinck says he was put into the midst of temptation (not internally feeling temptation which already is sin). Bavinck says Good fruit grows from a good tree but the goodness of the tree still has to be shown in the goodness of the fruit. He says Jesus’ temptations came from without, not from within (p. 421). Jesus needed to go through these challenges that would tempt us and yet not be tempted.

In the early church to debate against those who fought against Jesus’ full humanity they used this slogan. “What is not assumed, is not saved” that is, any portion of Jesus that lacks a part of our humanity is not able to die for that part of humanity.

Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics (abridged), p. 416

Jesus, in his life before the cross, had to go through all aspects of human trial but one, that is, the shame and guilt of falling into sin and the self hatred and striving to be better than we are that comes from that. In this way it was impossible for Jesus to experience “all” the experiences we as sinners have for he did not sin. Our Lord faced the world of sin and hatred but he walked through it clean until the cross where he completed the knowledge of what it is to be human by taking not just one person’s sin and temptations on himself but all of his elect.