Hebrews 2 and the temptation of Christ

At church we have started a series on the book of Hebrews. This book is so focused on the nature of Christ, and how he is the ultimate fulfilment of all of God's Old Testament promises. It speaks of not only who Christ is, but of who he is to us, and what he has done for us, once for all.

This week we looked at Hebrews 2. It is a wonderful passage that speaks of how Jesus was made human, to become like us, his brothers and sisters. Jesus suffered death for us, in order that we might be brought to glory. Although he suffered on earth, he has now been crowned with glory and honour, with everything subject to him. This same Jesus is the one who is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters. The fact that the glorious king and judge unashamedly calls me sister is an amazing thing to think of.

I've just finished a subject at uni that looked at various heresies of the early church. The heresy of Docetism taught that Jesus only appeared to be human, and that he only appeared to suffer on the cross. But this passage clearly says that Jesus needed to be human in order to save his human brothers and sisters, to free us from the power of death and the devil. He was perfectly human, and perfectly divine. Verses 17 and 18 are such a reassurement when I am struggling with sin or weakness. Because Jesus lived as a human and experienced human frailty, he is a merciful and faithful high priest. Because he was tempted and because he suffered, he is able to sympathise with us, and is able to help us when we are tempted. This is such a wonderful God that we serve!

One question that came to my mind from this passage relates to verse 19, and the idea of Jesus being tempted. The gospels say that Jesus was tempted by the devil in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, Luke 4:1-13). If Jesus was tempted, that raises questions as to whether he had the capacity to sin. I have no doubt in my mind that Jesus did not sin. He lived a perfect life when we were unable to. Temptation, however, suggests the desire to sin. Jesus stood against this temptation, but does this mean that he could have sinned if he had chosen to?

I've talked to a few people about this and have got some differing responses. Some people have said that Jesus was capable of sinning because he was fully human and like us in every way.
I think I lean towards the side of the argument that says Jesus was incapable of sinning. Sin is not just bad things that we do. The biblical concept of sin is about an intrinsic problem with our souls. We are born inherently sinful and the bad things we choose to do are a result of this sinful nature. Because of this nature, we also sin unintentionally. If we say that Jesus was capable of sinning, does this mean that he had that same intrinsic problem? I can accept that Jesus possibly was capable of doing sinful things (although he didn't) but I can't accept the idea of Jesus being inherently sinful from birth. I suppose, therefore, your response to this question depends on your concept of what sin is.

But, if Jesus was incapable of sinning, how do we interpret the passages about him being tempted? I don't think these passages prove that Jesus was capable of sin. It may be possible to feel temptation without actually being able to follow through on that temptation. I heard one argument that said Jesus felt temptation, like he was holding the weight of temptation, but he was unable to drop that weight. That's a possibility but I don't know if we can prove it definitely. Sometimes I really want to do something I'm incapable of doing, and that can be really frustrating. I suppose the desire can be there even without the capability. I don't know how much of this to attribute to Jesus though. After all of this discussion and thought, it is still largely speculative. I think this might be one of those concepts that our human minds cannot fully grasp.