Was Jesus perfect…or just sinless? I know Jesus was without sin, but did he ever make mistakes, or have accidents?

Did he ever chisel just a little too much off the leg of a table he was building and have to go back and cut all the others down just a bit to even them out?

Did he ever stub his toe when he walked through the house at night?

How about running after a friend or brother while playing tag and just biting the dust?

I mean what kid hasn’t wiped out or tripped over something at least once?

I ask these things because one of the junior youth children asked me once.

What say you?



TJ

_________________
TJ

I'll answer that with a verse. "He was just as much God as though he were not man, and just as much man as though he were not God." I don't know where that verse is found right off the top of my head. I very rarely look up verses unless studying to preach or teach. Also the bible says that he was "touched by the FEELINGS of our INFIRMITIES", so to me that's saying he felt the same pain that we felt. If you cut him he bled. If you punched him he bruised.

Yes, I can picture Joseph wrestling in the floor with his son. And Mary picking him up and dusting him off and kissing his scrapes on his knees. He was a "man of sorrows and aquainted with grief". I'll bet he even got deprressed at times. He felt everything we feel.

Heh funny thing I was contemplating starting a thread of similar nature but decided not to for now...

This is something that I think of often.. we always think of Jesus as perfect in everything. He was in the spirit I suppose but in the flesh, he was human. Part man, part God.. we can't forget. He was without sin yet he faced all types of temptations that we experience.

I mean jeez, he had the body of Adam and the heart and mind of God. Seems like an oxymoron sort of heh.

This guy Jesus... did he know everything by age 0 or did he have to read and study like us? Uh, yes it says in the Gospel of (Matthew? Mark? Forget) that the people in the synagogues marvelled at his speech and understanding of the Law etc. by like age 12. So yeah he was highly intelligent, but did he have to study or not? I dunno heh. My inclination is he grew in the spirit like we do. He started out as a babe, and grew to become the man of God until 30 when he was able to start the ministry God had... set for him, or whatever. Hmm.

Now, my question is,

How did he not give into the temptations? Each single time he was tempted, the Bible says that he abstained.

How?! Excuse my naivety, but it just seems amazingly.. odd. It ain't like it was easy.. or was it? Heh. How did he do it? By God, yes.. but moreso, he had Adam's body, that's just amazing... look at ur self and see how u compare to Him who abstained from giving into all worldly temptations...

Jordan

I believe there are two Greek words for 'perfect', and one of them means [i]complete[/i]. Does anyone know about the other word? Or how often either of them appear in the New Testament?

tjservant, what did you mean by 'perfect', please?


Certainly, I believe Jesus never sinned.

I don't think it's a sin to trip when you're a kid, or to experience the same learning curve (re the chiselling) as any other apprentice.

Regarding whether He had to study or not, I expect He did go through the same as other boys of His age, but, Psalm 22 says this, vv 9 and 10

9 But You [are] He who took Me out of the womb;
You made Me trust [while] on My mother's breasts.

10 I was cast upon You from birth.
From My mother's womb You [have been] My God.

I believe those verses contain a very important statement.

Jesus didnt just waddle out to the woodshop when he was three and build a crib for himself. He had to be taught. Anyone who has ever done woodworking or carpentry knows that it is a skill that must be learned... and that mistakes are very crucial to learning. I'm sure when Jesus was learning the profession there was a pile of scrap wood out back of the shop from mistakes he made in the learning process.

Could Jesus have built a perfect crib for himself as a three year old? Definately... but the point of him coming and living among us (other than being the final sacrifice for our sins) was to identify with us, and understand our struggles. Not to come down here and do miraculous things all of his life, and "wow" everyone with his perfection. Jesus first recorded miracle (unless you're a Catholic) wasnt until he was over 30 years old, at a wedding in Canaan.

He did not sin. But I dont believe scripture teaches that he was perfect, in that he never made mistakes in skill and growing. Of course, he was perfect in wisdom and will.

Krispy

Dorcas

_________________
TJ

dorcas

_________________
TJ

brother TJ,
I don't know if this will help you or not, but I recently studied this topic in my Bible school and here are my review notes (in preparation for my exam) on the Humanity Christ, the Hypostatic Union of Christ, the Kenosis of Christ, and the Impeccability of Christ.
Note, these are just [i]my[/i] notes and a very brief summary of each aspect of Christ's attributes being discussed here. This is a broad topic and I know there are excellent Bible scholars here on SI who are much better equipped to explain all this than I am. But I thought the Scripture references might prove helpful in researching this.
:-)
----
[b]The Humanity of Christ[/b]

Evidence for total humanity:
1. Christ experienced normal human development- Luke 2:40, 52 (growth in wisdom and statute)
2. As a child Christ was in subjection to His Parents- Luke 2:51
3. Christ experienced human emotions- John 11:33 (deeply moved, emotional disturbance); John 11:35 (Weeping); Matthew 9:36 (Pity); Luke 22:44 (Agony)
4. Human Limitations- John 19:28 (thirst); Matthew 4:2; Mark 11:12 (hunger); Luke 8:23; John 4:6 (fatigue); Matthew 24:36 (knows not hour of return)
5. Human Soul and Spirit- Matthew 26:38; John 12:27 (Soul); Mark 8:12; Luke 23:46; John 11:33 (Spirit)
These evidences were manifested in the realm of His Humanity, not the realm of His deity.

[b]The Hypostatic Union of Christ[/b]

The term “hypostasis” refers to the true essence of something.
1. Jesus Christ is a theanthropic person, a God-Man; He has a complete divine nature and a complete human nature united as one. This union has been called a “Hypostatic Union”, for it is the true essence of the incarnated Christ.
a. Isa. 9:6-7 – Mighty God (deity), ‘is born’ (humanity).
b. Daniel 7:13- Son of Man (humanity); coming in the clouds (deity)
c. John 1:1, 14- Word (deity) was made flesh (humanity)
d. Romans 1:3-4- Descendent of David (humanity); God’s Son (deity).
e. Galatians 4:4-5- God’s Son (deity); made of woman (humanity).
2. A nature is a unique combination of attributes that determines the kind of a thing or being. The union of a human nature and a divine nature in the incarnated Christ makes Him God-Man kind of being. He thereby is totally unique.
3. The two natures were united without loss of identity. There was no mixture of the two natures. Christ’s divine nature always remained divine. Christ’s human nature always remained human. Neither nature lost any of it’s attributes. Christ would sometimes act in the realm of his humanity (tiredness) and also in the realm of his divinity (omnipotence).
4. The importance:
a. Christ was the Perfect Revealer of God to man. Only deity can reveal deity, and only humanity can reveal it in a way humans can grasp it. John 1:18 (only the Son has seen God); John 14:7-9(if you’ve seen the Son you’ve seen the Father); Colossians 1:15 (the image of God); Hebrews 1:3 (express image of God).
b. The Redeemer had to be theanthropic. Human to die, and to die as man’s substitute. Deity to die for all men and that his death might have infinite value. I Timothy 2:5-6 (ransom for all); Hebrews 2:14-17 (took on flesh to die for men).


[b]The Kenosis of Christ[/b]

Kenosis means to empty. When Christ became incarnated He emptied Himself of something.
1. Wrong view- Christ emptied Himself of all or some of His deity. This is wrong because in Christ is all the fullness of the Godhead (Col. 2:9), and because to lose one attribute of the divine nature would abolish it, thus this would destroy the deity of Christ.
2. Correct view- Christ emptied Himself of the outward form of His deity (Phil. 2:6-7). This involved two things:
a. Christ veiled His glory, and displayed it only once at the mount of Transfiguration. Matt. 17:1-4; John 1:14 (we beheld His glory); Isaiah 53:2 (His outward form had no comeliness).

[b]The Impeccability of Christ[/b]

Impeccability means the inability to sin. Christ claimed He never sinned (John 8:46)
[b]Problem:[/b]
Adam was a sinless being before the Fall, but was susceptible to sinning. Why wasn’t Christ, a sinless and perfect being susceptible to sinning?
[b]Solution:[/b]
Christ had a divine nature, something Adam didn’t have. Because deity is more powerful than humanity, Christ’s divine nature overruled any susceptibility to sin.
[b]Problem:[/b]
If Christ’s divine nature overruled His human nature was not His human nature violated and Christ ceased to be human?
[b]Solution:[/b]
Since Adam had a complete sin nature before the fall then sin is not an essential attribute of the human nature. Thus if a divine nature prevents a human nature from sinning it isn’t violating the human nature. The reverse however would not be the same. One of the attributes of the divine nature is holiness, thus if the human nature were to overrule the divine nature and cause Christ to sin than Christ would cease to be divine.
[b]Problem:[/b]
If Christ was not able to sin, then are not the Scriptures wrong to say that Christ was tempted by Satan (Mk. 1:13) and that Christ was tempted in all things as we are (Hebrews 4:15)?
[b]Solution:[/b]
Temptation is the invitation to sin, not the capability to sin. Christ’s impeccability, an attribute of His divine nature, overruled his ability to accept the temptation to sin. Christ did not have a sin nature inside Him. (Hebrews 4:15). Mark 1:12-13 was God’s way of demonstrating Christ’s impeccability (inability to sin).
Proof of Christ’s Impeccability:
1. His immutability requires it. One of His attributes is holiness which makes it impossible for God to sin. Since Christ was unable to sin before His incarnation, He was also unable to sin after His incarnation.
2. His omnipotence requires it. Christ's omnipotence could keep Him from sinning.
3. His sovereignty requires it. If Christ had been capable of sinning than it would have made God’s future plan of redemption uncertain and based on Christ sinning or not sinning.