Is He Perfect?

3 Pages 720 Words

It is vital to our theology that Jesus was sinless. For only if Jesus was sinless
could his death have been a vicarious substitution and fulfill God’s redemptive plan
for man. If Jesus had not been sinless, then it would mean that he died for his own
sins and not those of mankind. Had Jesus died for his own sins then his death could
not have been accepted by the Father as a vicariously substitution for the
punishment and judgment each of us are entitled to receive. Even though there is
no serious debate that Jesus was anything but sinless, theologians have discussed
the question of whether Jesus could have sinned if He had wanted. This is called the
peccability of Christ. The opposing argument, i.e., impeccability, being that even if
he had wanted, Jesus could not have sinned. Upon first consideration, one might
view this question as being trivial; something to simply keep the theologians “out of
mischief” when they have nothing better to do. However, there are some very
appropriate reasons for examining this assumed perfection..

Examining the issue of Christ’s peccability/impeccability is so
that we might obtain a better understanding and a more in depth knowledge about
both Jesus Christ and God, just as God has invited us. This is the same reason that
we as a society study Theology proper. When we arrive at an answer to this
question, we will have additional knowledge about Jesus’ preincarnate state and a
better understanding of the meaning of the statement “Jesus Christ is the same
yesterday, today, and forever.”

Some theologians have argued that the peccability of Jesus has a
direct impact on the humanity of Christ. That is, if Jesus was not peccable then just
how “human” was he? Could he have been “true man” if he were not able to sin like
the rest of mankind? Morris indirectly asks if Jesus’ impeccability implied that he
was lacking a part of the human ...