A hierarchy exists within the creation that positions the heavenly
realm as superior in power and authority to the earthly creation. Scripture
may speak of a future time when believers will judge the angels (1Cor 6:3), but in the current age,
angels have power and authority over mankind, limited only by the providence of
God’s eternal plan. Under the existing
hierarchy, the natural person will continually struggle and ultimately conclude
that it is impossible to resist “the power
of sin”.
In the Garden,
the superhuman power of Satan was able to overwhelm Adam and Eve at a time when
they were separated from God. In a similar
way, the “daughters of man” also
succumb to the superhuman power of the “sons
of God” (Gen 6:4), leaving the
creation of the Nephilim a foregone conclusion once angels abandoned their own
domain and came down to the earth. If evil
and temptation are superhuman in origin, then how can mere mortals resist the power
of sin? Answer that question, and you have
taken a significant step toward living a sinless life.
When Jesus dwelt
on the earth, He was made “like His brethren in all things” (Heb 2:17), “made for a
little while lower than the angels” (Heb
2:9), after
the pattern of Adam (Rom 5:14), “tempted in all things as we are,” (Heb 4:15).
To be “made for a little while lower” is to surrender one’s own power and
authority, as with Jesus Who “did not
regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking
the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men,” (Phil 2:6-7). Yet, in this submissive condition, living with the
same frailties and weaknesses of the flesh as you and I, Jesus lived “obedient to the point of death”
(Phil 2:8), as written, “A high priest…who has been tempted in all
things as we are, yet without sin,” (Heb
4:15).
If Jesus came as a type of Adam who surrendered to sin, and “like His brethren” who “all have sinned”, then how was Jesus
able to resist the superhuman power behind sin?
Surprising to many, the answer cannot be that Jesus was God. If the explanation for Jesus’ sinless life is
relegated to Jesus’ role in the Godhead, then it becomes impossible for any
individual believer to fulfill the commandment to “walk in the same manner as He walked,” (1John 2:6), and “Resist the
Devil” (James 4:7). We are not individually gods with power in
the heavenly realms, despite the insistence of Satan (Gen 3:5), and the attitude of secular humanists. So what power did Jesus, made “like His brethren in all things”, draw
upon to resist the temptation of Satan?
It seems reasonable to surmise that a superhuman force can only be
resisted by the application of an opposing and more powerful supernatural
force, a bigger stick, a larger engine, more horsepower, or greater thrust. In scripture, the superhuman force given to
resist sin is “the Helper, the Holy
Spirit,” (John 14:26). The Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus at His baptism (Matt 3:16), was the power behind His resurrecti0n (Rom 1:4), and remained on Jesus
through His ascension, (Acts 1:2). It is the power of the Spirit, and not Jesus’
position in the Godhead that empowered Him to live a sinless life, as written, “God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with
power,” (Acts 10:38).
The death of Jesus was the payment required for each of our sins,
but the life of Jesus empowered by the Spirit is the pattern given in scripture
for believers to overcome sin, to “walk in
the same manner as He walked,” (1John
2:6). If sin is likened to the waves
that drive our ship toward the rocks, it is the wind (Spirit) that can be captured
in our sails to overcome the negative forces of the waves.
Happy 4th - Scott
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