Help in our temptations
Minister’s Letter – 9 July 2026
Dear Friends, sometimes, people who are very good at something are not so good at teaching it.
During my business degree, I did a mathematical economics subject taught by an incredibly gifted Russian mathematician who was still in his late 20s. While he was clearly a genius, I noticed he was not very good at explaining things or answering clarifying questions from the class. He would often skip several steps by doing things in his head, and found it very difficult to relate to people who couldn’t, people like us! He often looked dumbfounded that the class were unable to keep up with him. He could not relate to people who couldn’t do what he could.
What, then, should we do with the fact that Jesus lived a sinless life? That he never gave in to temptation? In what way is that helpful to us?
Hebrews certainly says it is helpful! In Hebrews 4:15, we read:
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (ESV).
I’ve often been much more comforted by the first two parts of the verse. I love the fact that Jesus is both fully God and fully man, and that because he is fully man, he can sympathise with what it is to be a human. He has been tempted “as we are,” so he knows what it’s like.
Or does he? The final phrase, “yet without sin,” seems to challenge that. Does this not mean that because Jesus is God as well as man, he didn’t really experience temptation the way we do? Doesn’t this mean Jesus isn’t really able to sympathise with us?
I don’t think so! I’ve been helped greatly by a commentator who explains that “without sin” is not a description of the sinlessness of his preincarnate nature, but as a verdict on his incarnate life.
Put differently, the verse isn’t saying he wasn’t really tested; it’s saying he was really tested, he just passed the test! Unlike my extraordinary lecturer, Jesus really can relate to our experience of temptation. He is fully God, but his human nature is fully human! He knows exactly what it is like to be tempted, and to be tempted in every way.
In fact, it is only because he never gave in that he knows how difficult our temptations are. C.S. Lewis explains, “only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is... Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means.”
Jesus is not confused or dumbfounded by our struggles and temptations. He knows them full well.
What a High Priest we have! His knowing our struggles enables us to draw near “with confidence,” not because we have it all together, or because we don’t need help, but precisely because we do.
Because Jesus was tempted but never gave in, “let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16).
Warmly in Christ,
Ben Gibson
Student Minister