Reader question: Is there a difference between the temptations that we face and the temptations that out Lord Jesus Christ faced?

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Transcript

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

temptations, adam, fallen, assumed, sin, god, augustine, book, wilderness, lord, wim, paradise, devil, abraham, jesus, footnotes, tempted, read, son, luke

SPEAKERS

Dr Richard Barcellos, Dr James Renihan, Pastor Jim Butler

Pastor Jim Butler  00:08

Now the next question, it’s a big one, and I think it’s got a lot of historical contours. Wim made a notation. It’s long. It needs to be a bit edited, so I think we’ll save that one for next time. So Jim, is there a difference between the temptations that we face, since we’ve just spoken about heaven, let’s really change directions now. Is there a difference between the temptations that we face and the temptations that our Lord Jesus Christ faced?

Dr James Renihan  00:41

Well, I suppose it depends on what is intended by the word difference, okay, he endured the same temptations that we do not in the same way that we do, because there was no sin in his heart by which they could lay hold of of who he was in his soul and cause him to sin, but certain and nor does it mean that he faced every single temptation that that potentially we could, we could face, but rather that his encounters with temptation were real, and he was able, by the Word of God and by the Spirit of God, to turn them away. So I’m not sure what is meant by that word difference. If it’s simply if it’s meant to say, were they somehow different because he was the Son of God and because he was a sinless human, I want to say, well, he endured what we endure.

Pastor Jim Butler  01:35

Good. Yes, yeah, I would think true humanity means the temptations that are unique or common to true humanity Exactly. If it’s not, then whatever is not, you know, assumed, is not redeemed. So 10 Commandment violations, 10 Commandment temptations. That’s how I would, I would understand it.

Dr James Renihan  01:56

Well, when you look at the devil coming to him in the wilderness and the three temptations, they are all in categories that we can easily relate to.

Pastor Jim Butler  02:04

yes, food, power, yeah, there’s all those consistent things. Yeah, sure. I thought just to make a book plug, it’s always good to make plugs the Stephen Dewby’s book Jesus and the God of classical theism. I thought he dealt with impeccability, and in a really good way, I can’t sing that book’s praises enough.

Dr Richard Barcellos  02:27

He denied that our Lord assumed a fallen human nature. He did. Yeah, so glad. Yeah, yeah. When you think about our Lord as the last Adam, questions come up like, okay, the nature assumed by the Son of God, was it – can we liken it more unto Adam and his fallen state? Or us in our fallen Adam, in his pre fall state created state, or us in our fallen state. Our Scripture and our confession acknowledges he assumed a nature like ours, with infirmities!

Pastor Jim Butler  03:06

essential properties and common ….

Dr Richard Barcellos  03:09

in one sense, he’s he kind of overlaps the two ages, because I think he would did assume a sinless human, no original sin, right in our Lord. So he has different apparati to work with than us, in one sense, but he assumed that this side of the fallen into sin, with everything going on horizontally attacking him, and then, of course, I think his chief enemy was the devil, and more times than once, so it’s the same Adam could be tempted before he fell as a sinless Son of God. In the image of God, Jesus could be tempted, but doesn’t mean he’s a sinner. But Jesus was tempted in a world not like Adam’s world. So it’s, it’s harder for Yeah, way harder. You know, yeah, the fallen to sin. Adam’s fall into sin is just ridiculous. It’s like you’re in paradise. What are you doing? This is a no brainer. That’s easy for us. Okay, it was, it was a great fall. He fell fast, hard, and, I think, relatively quick.

Pastor Jim Butler  04:12

Which all this kind of connects with a previous question. You’ve got Adam in the Paradise, you’ve got Israel in the wilderness. You’ve got Jesus in the wilderness. In a wilderness,

Dr James Renihan  04:23

yeah, yeah, when you look at the temptations connected, yeah, they’re

Pastor Jim Butler  04:27

so much. They’re invokes the same Luke.

Dr Richard Barcellos  04:31

Luke calls Adam, the Son of God. And Luke 3:38 and then chapter four is on temptation. He’s driven out 40 days. Okay? Wilderness, opposite of Adam. Adam was driven out, but after he sinned. But Israel and 40, and, you know, it’s, there’s a lot. There’s one

Pastor Jim Butler  04:48

The same with Matthew, oh yeah, my firstborn passes through the waters of baptism.

Dr Richard Barcellos  04:55

Baptism, all that. There’s, there’s, there’s a lot. I’ve told my students I see. But there’s more connections than we’re going to ever figure out, and most of us aren’t going to feel comfortable with all the connections that are actually there if we do figure at least more out.

Dr James Renihan  05:10

Yeah, yeah. It’s one of those realities that Adam had all of the blessings, the easy road. Jesus had, all of the difficulties, the difficulty, right? He overcame. Adam failed.

Pastor Jim Butler  05:23

That’s right, yeah,

Dr Richard Barcellos  05:24

I was reading somebody was it could have been Turetin. I think it was Augustine, where he said, we, we more applaud somebody’s obedience in a difficult situation, this side of the fallen into sin. Then, then we depreciate or appreciate the magnitude of the fall.

Pastor Jim Butler  05:46

of the fall, yeah, in perfect conditions.

Dr Richard Barcellos  05:49

And he said, We need to go back there and say, Wait a minute. He didn’t have, you know, what Abraham had with Isaac on the mountain. There was a lot of pressures on Abraham, what in the world! And they had his own heart and his own, you know, his family domestic problems, and the Son he loved and and the son he loved.

Pastor Jim Butler  06:08

Where’s the sacrifice, Dad? Yeah, yeah, that’s a tough scene, yeah.

Dr Richard Barcellos  06:11

I think it was Augustine that was saying, we need to go back and look at the fallout of Adam and call it what, what it was, yeah, what it was. It was tragedy, the biggest tragedy of man’s making that and you know who’s behind it, the serpent. Who is? Who is the serpent? The devil, the liar from the beginning, by the way, the liar from the beginning, not that he was created as a liar, but from the beginning of man’s experience with him, all he does is lie right now, go back and read Genesis three, and keep that in your head. These are lies. He’s lying. This is not what God said, Yeah, and it changes the way you… anyway.

Pastor Jim Butler  06:54

I was going to say apparati — You must read big books with lots of footnotes. That was pretty impressive. Apparati!