Was Jesus born with a sinful nature?

[vsedriver]

I was told that based on scripture Jesus was born with a sinful nature that he received from Mary.

“Jesus Christ was born with the Sin Nature/ability to sin of humanity. (Heb 4:15, Heb 2:18, Luke 22:28, Heb 5:2) Otherwise, the Holy Spirit would not have led Him into the wilderness to be TEMPTED (Matt 4:1) Jesus did NOT get the Sin Nature from His Father (James 1:13) So that just leaves…… mary.”

Can anyone help shed some light on this interpretation?

 

[Mintaka]

Adam and Eve were not born/created with a sinful nature, and they were living in Paradise with God as their drop-in neighbor.

But they were tempted. Obviously.

Jesus was born without any concupiscence or sinful nature. He never suffered from original sin in any way whatsoever. He chose to take on our sins in order to get rid of them (and in that sense alone, He “became sin”), but He never committed even the smallest sin. He was the New Adam Who chose rightly instead of wrongly, as well as being God Himself. Sin is the opposite of Jesus. He stomps on the Serpent.

(And the whole point of Mary’s Immaculate Conception was that she got to be the New Eve. She was a human born from humans, but from the first moment of her conception as a human being, God made her “virgin earth” without any sinful nature or concupiscence, although still fully human and capable of sinning. But like her Son, and with God’s help, she chose not to sin like Eve, despite being as subject to temptation as Eve had been.)

 

[TimothyH]

Temptation is not the same as sin.

Temptation is not sin.

Someone can be tempted to sin and not sin.

Jesus did not sin.

-Tim-

 

[R_H_Benson]

Our Lord was not tempted by any defect of His perfect will. The temptations of Our Lord that the Gospels speak of do not come from His interior, but are exterior acts of Satan which Christ perfectly resists. Therefore, at NO moment was Our Lord’s will ever compromised in the slightest. He is entirely immune to the interior temptations suffered by men conceived in sin, such as temptations of the flesh or any other vice.

 

[fhansen]

I was told that based on scripture Jesus was born with a sinful nature that he received from Mary.

“Jesus Christ was born with the Sin Nature/ability to sin of humanity. (Heb 4:15, Heb 2:18, Luke 22:28, Heb 5:2) Otherwise, the Holy Spirit would not have led Him into the wilderness to be TEMPTED (Matt 4:1) Jesus did NOT get the Sin Nature from His Father (James 1:13) So that just leaves…… mary.”

Can anyone help shed some light on this interpretation?

There’s no such thing as a “sinful nature”. The term is generally, correctly, translated “flesh”, which He was born with, as all humans are, but which He had complete control over, which all other humans don’t. To the extent that we’re not in communion with God, as Jesus always was, we lack complete control over our appetites. “Apart from Me you can do nothing”, He tells us in John 15:5. This is the basis of the New Covenant.

 

[epostle]

Was Jesus born with a sinful nature?
The question pre-supposes that the “sinful nature” is normal for all human beings. This is false. Adam and Eve were created sinless. Being sinless is a normal state that we are supposed to be in, having a sinful nature is not normal and not what God intended for his children. Being in a state of sanctifying grace is normal, the struggle is getting back what was lost. I think Mary is sinless because she is much like Eve before the Fall, and she is the Ark of the New Testament. God didn’t have to make Mary sinless, but he chose to because it is fitting.

 

[Dorothy]

I was told that based on scripture Jesus was born with a sinful nature that he received from Mary.

“Jesus Christ was born with the Sin Nature/ability to sin of humanity. (Heb 4:15, Heb 2:18, Luke 22:28, Heb 5:2) Otherwise, the Holy Spirit would not have led Him into the wilderness to be TEMPTED (Matt 4:1) Jesus did NOT get the Sin Nature from His Father (James 1:13) So that just leaves…… mary.”

Can anyone help shed some light on this interpretation?

The “interpretation” above is not Catholic teaching. It obviously was constructed by the evil one and someone repeated it.

Catholics are not strangers to such twisting of truth.

You have received excellent responses.

 

[vsedriver]

well I thought I had given a good argument for Christ not being born with a sinful nature but then I get this back:

“Adam and Eve were not BORN under the Curse of the Fall, or BIRTHED by a woman under the Curse of the Fall. The Son of Man was BORN with the Sin Nature/ability to sin, be tempted The Son of GOD could NOT be tempted, therefore did NOT sin WHY? So that Jesus Christ could be our sympathetic High Priest, understanding exactly what Fallen Man is going thru because He experienced it…… Heb 4:15 For we have not a High Priest which can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in ALL points tempted LIKE AS WE, yet without sin.”

James 1:13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of GOD for GOD can NOT be tempted with evil …." Heb 2:16-18 "Wherefore in ALL things it behooved Him to be made LIKE unto his brethren that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things to GOD, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself being tempted, He is able to help them that are tempted.

Heb 5:2-3 “Who can have compassion on the ignorant and on them that go astray; for that He Himself also is compassed with infirmity.” You reject the words of GOD because they do not line up with your ‘traditions of men’ (Mark 7:5-9,13).

I noticed that you did NOT use ANY Inspired Scripture to back up your erroneous claim…. In order for these Words of GOD to be correct, that would mean that mary was a sinner which gave birth to Jesus who also had the Sin Nature/ability to sin……"

so what am I missing here? is there a named heresy for this idea? is there scripture that proves that Jesus was not born with the sin of Adam? I just feel like I’m not getting it.

 

[grannymh]

Jesus Christ is True God and True Man. Jesus Christ is one Divine Person Who assumed human nature per se. Therefore, Jesus was not born with a sinful nature. This difficult doctrine is known as the Hypostatic Union. (*CCC *Glossary, Hypostatic Union, page 882)

Because Jesus Christ *assumed *human nature, He could be tempted like humans can be tempted. That is part of ordinary human life.

For Catholic information, there are paragraphs 456-483 in the universal Catechism of the Catholic Church, Second Edition. Check footnotes for Scripture references and the major Catholic Church Councils.

Links
usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catechism/catechism-of-the-catholic-church/

scborromeo.org/ccc.htm

 

[thistle]

I was told that based on scripture Jesus was born with a sinful nature that he received from Mary.

“Jesus Christ was born with the Sin Nature/ability to sin of humanity. (Heb 4:15, Heb 2:18, Luke 22:28, Heb 5:2) Otherwise, the Holy Spirit would not have led Him into the wilderness to be TEMPTED (Matt 4:1) Jesus did NOT get the Sin Nature from His Father (James 1:13) So that just leaves…… mary.”

Can anyone help shed some light on this interpretation?

Jesus was not only born free from original sin but was conceived free from original sin.