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For we have not an high priest which cannot ° be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

New Defender's Study Bible Notes

4:15 tempted like as we are. In His humanity, Jesus was tested in all points like as we are, except for sin. This does not mean He was tempted to commit all kinds of sins, but rather that He was tested and proved in every way. He could not actually have sinned because: (1) He is God, and “God cannot be tempted with evil” (James 1:13); (2) He is “the same, yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8) so that, even in His humanity, He did not cease to be God; (3) because of His miraculous conception, He had no innate sin, so that “in Him is no sin” (I John 3:5); (4) He did not need, as other men, to be converted, telling Nicodemus: “ye must be born again” (John 3:7)—not “we,” or “they;” (5) God cannot fail in His creative purpose, because He is both omniscient and omnipotent; if Jesus had sinned, salvation would have been impossible, and the Creator would have been defeated by Satan, a mere creature; this could not have been possible. Nevertheless, even though He knew (as did His Father) that He could not sin, men and angels did not know this until it had been demonstrated to them. That is why He had to be tested as proof positive.


4:16 find grace. We need mercy for the forgiveness of our sins and grace with which to meet and overcome our trials.


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