“In All Points Tempted as We Are, Yet Without Sin”
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Listen to the "Verse by Verse" episode covering this scripture.
These verses pack so much meaning. The high priests of the Old Testament were a physical type of the spiritual role Jesus Christ played and is playing. They presented animal sacrifices at the temple as a reminder of sins, but Jesus presented Himself as the real sacrifice that can take away the penalty of sin.
As the Son of God, His life was worth more than all other lives combined, and He presented Himself as a sacrifice directly to God in heaven.
Yet in spite of the fact that He is our God and Creator, Jesus came to earth to live as we live so He can sympathize with our human failings, facing the full extent of temptation yet always choosing to not sin.
“In fact, the Sinless One knows the force of temptation in a way that we who sin do not. We give in before the temptation has fully spent itself; only he who does not yield knows its full force” (Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary, Vol. 2, 1994, p. 959).
Jesus understands our weaknesses and temptations and is ideally equipped to help us overcome them.
For more about overcoming temptation, see the articles “Temptation” and “Seven Steps for Overcoming Sin.” To learn more about Jesus Christ’s role as High Priest, read “Jesus Christ, Our High Priest: What Is the Meaning of Hebrews 4:15?”
