. . . it is worth mentioning a potential
response that I do not find viable. Some Christians have responded to this objection
by claiming that James 1 is a statement about God being unable to experience an
inward pull toward sin. In contrast, the statements about Jesus being “tempted”
in other passages should be understood merely as Jesus being tested or going
through a trial. The Greek word used in these passages does have a semantic
range that includes both of these options, so this is a lexical possibility.
However, I find this response unsatisfying because it denies that Jesus ever experienced
the inward pull toward sin that you and I are all too familiar with. This, I
think, goes against the central message of the book of Hebrews, which describes
Jesus as becoming like us in all respects so that he could become our merciful,
sympathetic, high priests (Hebrews 4:14-16). The idea in Hebrews is that a high
priest is able to deal mercifully with those he represents because he is beset
with the same weaknesses (Hebrews 5:1-10). Jesus, in becoming like us, has been
tempted as we are, yet without sin. Because of this, we can draw close to the
throne of God with confidence because we have him as our intercessor. (James
Agnew, The Lord Appeared: Jesus as YHWH in the Old Testament [2025], 196)
