Could God sin?

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phil8888

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I know the answer is obviously no, but I need a good explanation for a friend. My friend and I are having a discussion on the sinlessness of Jesus. He acknowledges that Jesus did not commit sin, but he also says Jesus COULD have sinned if he chose to. I posit that Jesus could not sin because Jesus is God and God cannot sin.

There is also debate on the exact meaning of “tempted”, because the Bible says Jesus was tempted. I claim he was tempted in the sense that the devil tried to lure him into something, but that Jesus was not internally tempted to act on that. My friend however claims that the fact that Jesus COULD be tempted internally but chose not to act if one of the things that makes him such a good example for us.

The main I’m wondering is (from his question):

If God is omnipotent, why can he not sin?
 
Sin is defined as an offense against God. Can one offend against themselves?
 
The idea of God sinning is a contradiction in terms, due to how sin is defined. A better question would be, “Could God do something immoral?”
 
Good points you’re all making.

My friend says if Jesus couldn’t sin, then why is it so amazing about the desert and Satan tempting him, etc.
 
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve read that Jesus has two wills: a divine one and and a human one. That’s why Jesus asked the Father at first to “take this cup from me” but then says, “but not my will but yours be done”. Jesus, being human, could also experience hunger and felt the desire for bread during His fast. However, He obviously had the perfect divine will as well to resist the Devil’s offer.

I’ve also read that the Devil, not being omniscient, was testing Jesus to see who He really was - whether He was God or not.

Gem
 
The question is irrational in that it cannot be argued without immediately “lowering” GOD to the level of “human”. Who sins, humans. Your questions begins with and is founded upon that GOD is not divine, but that HE is limited and thus only human.

If your understanding were correct, i.e. GOD is divine, then the point made that GOD cannot contradict HIMSELF would prove true to you.

satan is not divine. satan would not know the timing or sequence of GOD’s plans for man. satan would see a man who is Holy and causes miracles, so satan would test this man, as satan has tested all the saints whom he see’s as being Holy and causing miracles. satan did not know, for certainty, that JESUS was GOD until HE rose from the dead, defeated the evil death and torture which satan had inflicted upon HIM and emptied out purgatory (the bosom of Abraham), returned to walk the earth for 40 days, initiated the sacraments of confession and penance with HIS priests, that were ordained at the Last Supper.
 
Gem said:
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve read that Jesus has two wills: a divine one and and a human one. That’s why Jesus asked the Father at first to “take this cup from me” but then says, “but not my will but yours be done”. Jesus, being human, could also experience hunger and felt the desire for bread during His fast. However, He obviously had the perfect divine will as well to resist the Devil’s offer.

I’ve also read that the Devil, not being omniscient, was testing Jesus to see who He really was - whether He was God or not.

Gem
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Not two “wills” but rather two “natures”, i.e. fully man and fully GOD.
 
i’m no theologian, so this is just a thought: i think a metaphor might help:

if you are driving a car, you can choose to drive it off the road, but why would you? we as humans are fallen and corrupted by sin, so, in the words of this metaphor, it is much more difficult for us to stay driving on the road without getting deterred. Jesus was not fallen and corrupted by sin, so to him it would have been a simple matter to stay on the road.

so, maybe he “could” have sinned, but he would not have, and he did not.
 
God is all goodness. Sin is a lack of goodness, a departure from God. Sin (evil) is not the opposite of God, but rather the lack of God - an incompleteness. Our Lord is pure Spirit and does not have the limitation of a fallen human nature battling against the perfection of His Spirit, as man does. Man tends to ascribe human qualities to God, but the reverse is actually true. We possess our good qualities from God, but not in their completeness. Man demonstrates not only similarity to God in the goodness that remains in us - a reflection of our Creator, but also demonstrates the lack of goodness (sin) that we inherited via the fall in the garden. So, sin, being a lack, cannot be associated with God, but only with man. This very question can only occur to those who are lacking God in some way.

We could conceive of God as a full glass of water that can never be emptied, no matter how much you pour out. Emptiness is not and cannot be associated with Him, since He is the definition of fulness. Man is a partial glass of water that can be made full, but, being an imperfect vessel, empties himself through the evaporation and leakage of sin. If a glass is emptied completely, it does not become the opposite of God, but demonstrates only the absence of God.
 
phil8888 said:
Good points you’re all making.

My friend says if Jesus couldn’t sin, then why is it so amazing about the desert and Satan tempting him, etc.
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These are only some of my impressions about this…the Lord Jesus as truly like us in all things except sin was like us fully in temptation, yet still as the true man who relys on and obeys his Father in heaven, out of love and obedience to Him He never in any way contracted, that is comitted actual sin. Remember he shared our sinful nature in his body, He became thirsty on a hot day, like we do, he sweated, he experienced all the emotions we experience, except shame for it is actual sin which causes us to be ashamed, and He truly died as we truly die.
It is very amazing in a certain way that Our Lord did not fall to the temptation of the devil in the dessert, not directly, but by trick because when for instance he saw all the kingdoms of the world He saw all of all time including ours and the future; with all of the people in them, and all of the suffering and pain and misery and yes, the sins of the World. He could have taken all matters in His own hands, right at that time and brought about the kingdom by His own decision, yet he never deviated from His Father in Heaven.
 
I could see one making an argument that God did sin. A sin of omission. He was complicit, and did nothing to prevent the murder of an innocent man, his own son.
 
Lutheranteach said:
I could see one making an argument that God did sin. A sin of omission. He was complicit, and did nothing to prevent the murder of an innocent man, his own son.
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That would require God to have broken His own commitment to our free will. It would also mean that God would remove the very means by which He planned to save humanity–His very own personal sacrifice for His creatures.
 
Lutheranteach said:
I could see one making an argument that God did sin. A sin of omission. He was complicit, and did nothing to prevent the murder of an innocent man, his own son.
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This is a denial of God’s love of us, is it not? God formulated His perfect plan of salvation, which included the shedding of blood - the denial of the Divine Self, for the sake of sinful man. God’s ways are inscrutable, but always generated by love. To first formulate a plan, then deny it would be to deny the love which formulated that same plan.
 
phil8888 said:
I know the answer is obviously no, but I need a good explanation for a friend. My friend and I are having a discussion on the sinlessness of Jesus. He acknowledges that Jesus did not commit sin, but he also says Jesus COULD have sinned if he chose to. I posit that Jesus could not sin because Jesus is God and God cannot sin.

There is also debate on the exact meaning of “tempted”, because the Bible says Jesus was tempted. I claim he was tempted in the sense that the devil tried to lure him into something, but that Jesus was not internally tempted to act on that. My friend however claims that the fact that Jesus COULD be tempted internally but chose not to act if one of the things that makes him such a good example for us.

The main I’m wondering is (from his question):

If God is omnipotent, why can he not sin?
Click to expand...
Sin means to miss the point of human existence - to live unskillfully, blindly, and thus to suffer and cause suffering. It is a condition of humans, not of God.
 
Lutheranteach said:
I could see one making an argument that God did sin. A sin of omission. He was complicit, and did nothing to prevent the murder of an innocent man, his own son.
Click to expand...
If Jesus was actually God, then this could not be a sin of omission as it is an act of personal sacrifice.
God allowing his own life to be taken rather then the lives of humanity.
 
Simply put, God is ‘unsin’, i.e. all that is Good and Holy. All that departs from Him is sin. No sin can be found in Him because nothing that is sin is in Him or near Him. Sin, by definition, is “unGod”. If God is in any way associated with sin, we must then know that we are simply wrong in our humanness.
 
Actually “Jesus” committed several “sins”.

He refused to give an answer in court. That was against Jewish law.

He stole several thousand pigs from a pig farmer and drowned them.

He was rude and disrespectful to the non-Jewish lady who asked for help.

He told his followers to steal a colt from the rightful owner.

He caused a disturbance at the Jewish temple. If this really happened (not a mythical story) he would have been arrested on the spot by the temple guards.

Granted I know these things are all made up stories but the character as described could be a nasty fellow in between the “love your neighbor” lines.
 
Clcwmt said:
Actually “Jesus” committed several “sins”.

He refused to give an answer in court. That was against Jewish law.

He stole several thousand pigs from a pig farmer and drowned them.

He was rude and disrespectful to the non-Jewish lady who asked for help.

He told his followers to steal a colt from the rightful owner.

He caused a disturbance at the Jewish temple. If this really happened (not a mythical story) he would have been arrested on the spot by the temple guards.

Granted I know these things are all made up stories but the character as described could be a nasty fellow in between the “love your neighbor” lines.
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You are clutching at straws! How do you know these are invented stories? The trial by the Sanhedrin was illegal because it was held at night. The Temple guards would not have arrested Him because they must have known of His reputation as a prophet and a healer who attracted crowds of people. They must also have known how the poor were being exploited in the House of God…
 
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