I got a bit irritated today. I hate getting irritated, I want to agree with everyone, but sometimes I feel they are wrong. When I feel that I get irritated with myself... why can't I just let it be? So what was all this about?
Well, it may seem trivial but it was about whether Jesus, since he was perfect, could have given in to temptation. The person I was talking with was asserting that since Jesus was God he could not have given in to the temptation and sinned. He is one of the elders of a local structural church and he was saying he would have to correct one of the other elders of this church who had been 'preaching' this morning and had asserted that Jesus did have choice and could have given in to temptation.
Now this is something that comes to the heart of being on a relational journey. The heart of a relationship is two or more personalities relating to each other. To be a being with a personality you must have choice. It's to communicate face-to-face. It's why God gave us choice so we could relate to each other and to Him. Without giving us choice we would have been like puppets or automata unable to truly relate to Him.
Satan was created perfect, had choice, decided to reject God and fell into sin. Adam and Eve were created perfect, had choice, decided to reject God and fell into sin. To be perfect doesn't imply the impossibility of doing something wrong. To have personality implies choice.
That choice is something God has too, otherwise He would not have a personality and be able to relate to us. Abraham talked with God and changed God's mind. God enjoys us talking with him. That's what it's all about, a two way relationship between God and man. Something enjoyable. Something that pleases our Father's heart. God loves this relationship. It's the most important thing to Him.
So, if God has the ability to chose then Jesus also has the ability to chose. To imply that since He is perfect He had no choice demeans God to being less than He is. He could have chosen to give into those temptations but he chose not to. He has a personality. Since he is perfect, the probability of Him choosing to give in to temptation was so unlikely as to be almost impossible, but we know from the record of the time before and during Gethsemane that he was troubled and wished for the cup to be removed. The scriptures talk of perspiration like blood on His body since He was so troubled. Yet He chose to go forward in His father's will.
To suggest that He could not have given in to temptation because He is perfect reduces God to an automata without personality and choice. It makes Him part of a mechanistic system. Religion. And that's what I believe to be the antithesis to being on a relational journey with our Father. The example this elder gave was like the Forth Bridge which they apparently load tested with way more than would ever be expected to prove it would stand not to test whether it would.
And that's why I got irritated. I don't like it when God's changed from a relational being to a systematized force. He cannot be compared to a structure like a bridge. He has personality and choice. It misleads people back into religion to imply that since we are created in His image, our choice doesn't reflect His choice, our personality doesn't reflect his personality. We are now fallen beings, but created in the image of a perfect God. We are not God or gods, we are created beings with personality and choice. Just as Jesus, our Father and the Spirit are eternal beings with personality and choice.
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I find it very comforting to think that Jesus had a choice. He made a choice to save me by going to the cross. The bible says he was tempted in every way, but yet without sin. That doesn't say to me, he couldn't sin. It says to me that Jesus understood something that I don't just yet. He lived in Fathers love and knew there was something so much better, and he also understood the horrible cost and distruction of sin. If Jesus lives in me, and knows these things then one day maybe as I learn to trust his life in me,I'll get free of sin too.
ReplyDeleteTo say Jesus couldn't sin takes away from Him and deglorify's him. Makes it seem like he was a robot, doesn't fit at all with my perception of Jesus.
I feel sorry for the person who thought that way...I guess he still has to learn as well how much God loves Him, I'm hoping to learn more about that too.
I guess the nice thing is knowing that we've been deceived too and we are all growing and the Holy Spirit is guiding so we don't have to feel the pressure to sort any one eles out. Its nice to know that Holy Spirit will guide us all into all truth eventually.
Heres to an amazing journey.
Heather trying to learn how to enter His rest.
Yes, I would agree with you totally, I think you are right - there is a difference between could not sin and did not sin. Could not sin does deglorify Jesus - I hadn't really thought about that - if he could not sin, it was no problem not to sin.
ReplyDeleteAnd this question I think goes wider than just 'Did Jesus have a choice or not?' It is about the nature and personality of God and man.
But what I was struggling with is exactly the 'we don't have to sort any one else out'. If someone in leadership is teaching something about God that is not only not true (God has no choice and is therefore more like a robot than a personality) and misleading people, do we stand aside and do nothing or do we speak up?
At this point I would quote 'All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing' - normally attributed to Edmund Burke. However, he never said it, nor is it a real quote. And, therein lies part of the crux of what is happening in people's perception of God. People want God to be the way they want Him to be and so they create quotes or twist Scripture to fit what they want.
Here's me somewhat weary on the journey.