1For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2to whom also Abraham divided a tenth part of all (being first, by interpretation, “king of righteousness”, and then also “king of Salem”, which means “king of peace”, 3without father, without mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but made like the Son of God), remains a priest continually.
4Now consider how great this man was, to whom even Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth out of the best plunder. 5They indeed of the sons of Levi who receive the priest’s office have a commandment to take tithes from the people according to the law, that is, of their brothers, though these have come out of the body of Abraham, 6but he whose genealogy is not counted from them has accepted tithes from Abraham, and has blessed him who has the promises. 7But without any dispute the lesser is blessed by the greater. 8Here people who die receive tithes, but there one receives tithes of whom it is testified that he lives. 9We can say that through Abraham even Levi, who receives tithes, has paid tithes, 10for he was yet in the body of his father when Melchizedek met him.
11Now if perfection was through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people have received the law), what further need was there for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, and not be called after the order of Aaron? 12For the priesthood being changed, there is of necessity a change made also in the law. 13For he of whom these things are said belongs to another tribe, from which no one has officiated at the altar. 14For it is evident that our Lord has sprung out of Judah, about which tribe Moses spoke nothing concerning priesthood. 15This is yet more abundantly evident, if after the likeness of Melchizedek there arises another priest, 16who has been made, not after the law of a fleshly commandment, but after the power of an endless life; 17for it is testified,
“You are a priest forever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.”
18For there is an annulling of a foregoing commandment because of its weakness and uselessness 19(for the law made nothing perfect), and a bringing in of a better hope, through which we draw near to God. 20Inasmuch as he was not made priest without the taking of an oath 21(for they indeed have been made priests without an oath), but he with an oath by him that says of him,
“The Lord swore and will not change his mind,
‘You are a priest forever,
according to the order of Melchizedek.’”
22By so much, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.
23Many, indeed, have been made priests, because they are hindered from continuing by death. 24But he, because he lives forever, has his priesthood unchangeable. 25Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, seeing that he lives forever to make intercession for them.
26For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27who doesn’t need, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices daily, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. For he did this once for all, when he offered up himself. 28For the law appoints men as high priests who have weakness, but the word of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son forever who has been perfected.
Jesus Christ was fully God and fully human and these facts raise the question of the potential for sin in the life of Jesus. Since Jesus was fully human, does that mean there was a sinful nature? The issue of the possibility of Jesus Christ yielding to temptation and sinning deals with the theological terms peccability and impeccability and come from the Latin word peccare, “to sin.” If one holds to the peccability of Jesus, then their position is that Christ could sin, but didn’t do so. If one argues for impeccability then the position is that Christ could not sin. The discussion is one regarding the phrases “able not to sin” and “not able to sin.”
In accordance with the teaching of Scripture, both views acknowledge that Christ’s temptations were real (Heb 4:15), Christ experienced struggle (Matt 26:36-46), and Christ did not sin (2 Cor 5:21; Heb 7:26; James 5:6; 1 Pet 2:22, 3:18; 1 John 3:5). Those who argue that Christ could sin contend that it is a logical deduction that if and since Christ was tempted, He could have sinned. To say that He could not sin is to say the temptations were not real and that ultimately He cannot truly sympathize with humanity. They also contend that if the possibility of sinning did not exist then Jesus did not have freedom of the will.
In response, the fact that Jesus could be and was tempted does not mean that He was susceptible to sin. By analogy, we note that just because an army can be attacked, that does not mean that the army can be conquered. Because of Christ’s unique nature (without a sinful nature), that which applies to us (temptation and susceptibility) does not necessarily apply to Christ. Christ can understand and sympathize with human suffering and temptation because although His temptations were not always exactly parallel to those that we experience, His human nature was tried. The temptations of Christ were in every way like ours except that they did not originate in Himself; He was tempted from without, not from within. Jesus Christ manifested His free will by not sinning. Although tempted like us, Jesus never sinned. Because Jesus uniquely had two natures, fully divine and fully human, those natures existed and functioned simultaneously. Had his human nature existed independently then theoretically Jesus could have sinned. However, it did not exist as such. Both the human and divine natures existed fully in Jesus from the moment of conception. Had Jesus sinned, the act would have involved both natures and Jesus would then not have been truly God. Our conclusion must be therefore that it was not possible for Jesus to sin. The temptations of Jesus were real because He did not give in to them. We must always remember that when thinking about issues such as these we are dealing with Jesus as fully God and fully human—something that never has been and never will be true of anyone else. It is also something that we are unable to fully comprehend. We must affirm the teachings of Scripture and do so knowing that our understanding of them is true but incomplete.