September 28, 2025, 12:00 PM

As God, Jesus cannot be tempted, but as man He can be tempted. Jesus unites in His One Person divine and human natures. God, though omnipotent (all-powerful), cannot be tempted or do things that are contrary to His divine nature. God cannot lie, He cannot suffer, He cannot be tempted with evil. God cannot stop being God. He cannot be moved or pressured by temptation. When Jesus, who is God, came to save us, He took on human nature, which can be tempted. James 1:13 says, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one.” In terms of temptation, the Book of James is correct, God cannot be tempted. But as man, Jesus can be tempted, as Scripture records of Him in the temptations in the desert. Exactly how Jesus experiences temptation in His human nature is a mystery. Nevertheless, Jesus is still our example. He is like us in all things except in the degradation of sin and the personal harm it inflicts. He comes to restore humanity to perfection and show us what it means to be wholly and perfectly human. This perfect humanity is fitting since Adam was sinless and perfectly human before he was tempted and then disobeyed. So, it is right that Jesus, as the New Adam, should also be without sin. As perfect man, Jesus faces down temptation and obeys His Father, unlike Adam who was perfectly human but did not. I hope these distinctions help answer that Jesus as God cannot be tempted, but as man, even perfect man, He could be, and was, tempted. Now you know!