“. . . yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15)
The doctrine of the sinlessness of Jesus has interested me for some time. I think it’s a difficult teaching of the Church because it makes me ask the question, “How can Jesus really be human if he never committed a sin?” One day I decided to find how often this teaching is mentioned in the Book of Common Prayer. I did a computer search, and I was surprised by the number of instances it is mentioned in the BCP 1979.
There are five places:
1. Among the Proper Prefaces for Lent, Rite I,
2. Among the Proper Prefaces for Lent, Rite II.
3. Within Eucharistic Prayer D,
4. Within the Definition of the Union of the Divine and Human Natures in the Person of Christ by the Council of Chalcedon (451), and
5. in the Articles of Religion (1801).
All but the last of these texts came into the Prayer Book with the 1979 revision! I had just assumed that the 1979 prayer book was entirely innovative, and here was an instance in which a traditional doctrine was given even more prominence than in previous editions. Lately I’ve been having the thought (maybe a prayer) that this may be the work of the Holy Spirit, helping the Episcopal Church maintain faithfulness.
But this greater emphasis on the sinlessness of Jesus demands a thoughtful response regarding the meaning of the doctrine. The teaching has always been tough because, in it’s typically Calvinist interpretation it grants Jesus unique status, but it is also one that distances him from the rest of humanity.
. . . for we must ever remember this difference between Christ's feelings or affections and ours, that his feelings were always regulated according to the strict rule of justice, while ours flow from a turbid fountain, and always partake of the nature of their source, for they are turbulent and unbridled. (John Calvin, Commentaries on Hebrews and I & II Peter, 1549, Eerdmans, 1970)
Here Calvin suggests that Jesus always had his feelings under control. Again, this affirms Jesus’ divinity but tends to make him rather stoical, which is at odds with the biblical account. Theologians mostly avoid the issue today. A few modern theologians have tried writing on the subject, generally making a distinction between Jesus earthly life and his death/resurrection.
Here are two examples:
John Macquarrie thinks Jesus matured and developed over his life-span, up to the point when his divine perfection is earned through his death on the cross. The problem with this view is that it assumes that Jesus is in possession of his own personality, which at his death suddenly becomes a sinless personality. It makes of Jesus a heroic figure whose last sacrificial act obliterates (makes up for) anything he thought, felt or did on his spiritual journey toward developing into the perfect person who could actually offer his life up for us. (Christology Revisited, 1998, 41-42.)
On the other hand, Wolfhart Pannenburg locates the Resurrection as an historical miracle which objectively proves that Jesus was divine and perfect, even if the historical evidence of his earthly life (if we had access to it) might have shown otherwise (Jesus - God and Man, 1968, 283-292).
Inherent in both of these perspectives is a tacit acceptance that it was not possible for Jesus to have been “truly God and truly man,” (Chalcedon, BCP, 864) if this means he never did anything wrong.
The New Testament book Hebrews has been influential in helping me develop another way to affirm the traditional teaching of the sinlessness of Jesus. First of all, the book (uniquely) contains two emphatic assertions of the doctrine (4:15, 7:26). Secondly, Hebrews contains a wonderful definition of faith (11:1). This particular verse became for me a new way to understand how Jesus is “yet without sin.”
I came to see that the relationship that Jesus has with his heavenly Father is the primary factor in the reality of his sinlessness. This relationship is characterized by complete openness and vulnerability to God's will. And then I came to see that the dynamic, progressive quality of Jesus' relationship to his disciples was completely directed toward imparting to them the Spirit-fed relationship he experiences with his heavenly Father.
The sinlessness of Jesus is the relational openness that the Father has always desired for us. God has called us into being for appreciation of life as a total gift and God as totally giving. We are called to an intimate relationship with our neighbors and God, in which God's deepest desires are made immediately known to us, which then become our own desires as well.
A difficulty with Hebrews 11:1 is the way it is usually translated: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (RSV/NRSV/ESV). In an effort to isolate the objective reality and benefits of faith, these translations miss out on the relational (Spirit-fed) aspect of faithfulness.
Here is my own somewhat clumsy attempt at a paraphrase of the same verse, which I believe the original Greek supports:
“Faithfulness is the empowerment for hope, because it continues to grant God's exposure of what we cannot see for ourselves.”
This is how I see life in the Spirit (Romans 7:6) operating to continue to provide blessings to all of us. This paraphrase also suggests a way into understanding Jesus’ sinlessness, which is embodied in his unique relationship with his heavenly Father, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Fr. Gorchov is the rector of St. Paul’s Church in Troy, NY.