In order to see the life of Jesus as proof of our ability to live a sinless life, it is essential to understand more about sinlessness and what he faced than most people do.
To be sinless is not the same as being as God actually is, only how you understand him to be. There is a difference between fully knowing good and evil and choosing good over evil, based on what you presently know.
Jesus was born sinless, but he was not born flawless. Jesus was always perfectly reconciled to his understanding of the Father, but his understanding of the Father grew over his lifetime.1 As his understanding of the Father increased, he immediately and consistently lived according to what he learned. Jesus was the only man who has ever lived his whole life without violating his conscience. He never acted contrary to what he thought the Father would do in his place. Jesus was perfectly obedient to his understanding of what was best from the beginning, and his understanding of what was best improved over time.2
Some denominations teach that Jesus had to be miraculously conceived to be free from original sin. Our ability to sin comes from the moral judgment that we gain as our bodies grow from infancy,3 not the inheritance of judgment passed upon Adam.4 Sin is a question of whether we choose against our capacity to judge what is best. Jesus did not inherit sinlessness as an invariable quality of his godhood. Jesus had the choice to sin, just as we all do. Jesus wasn’t sinless because he had to be, and none of us are sinful except because we want to be. Jesus was sinless because he did what no one else was willing to do, not what no one else was able to do. While all of us have chosen to sin in the past, we can adopt the example of Jesus from this point,5 choosing to be sinless in the present and future.6
Some erroneously think that Jesus was born free from any temptation to sin as evidence that we cannot follow his example of being sinless. If this were true, it would mean the scriptures are lying when they speak of how he was tempted by Satan,7 the pain he endured,8 the loneliness he suffered,9 the disappointments he endured,10 and by Peter’s suggestion that he did not have to seal his sacrifice with his life.11
Jesus did not have magic power to avoid temptation. Instead, he faced and conquered a lifelong series of temptations,12 proving that we could do the same and showing us how by doing so.13 He was subject to all the temptations that we are, but he yielded to none of them.14 The difference was not how difficult it was for him, but that, unlike all of us, he actually “suffered the will of the Father in all things from the beginning.” (3 Nephi 11:11) He wasn’t immune from temptation, he simply chose to follow the Father instead.
Too many disregard Jesus’ life as proof that they can live without sin by claiming that he somehow had it easier than we do. None of the temptations we face are worse than what Jesus experienced.332 Jesus didn’t operate under greater privileges than us. Rather, he operated under harder conditions than anyone.333 Even in comparison to the two thieves who were crucified with him, he faced substantially worse conditions, being innocent of any crime and having been beaten nigh unto death. God only allows us to be subjected to temptations for which he has provided us the power to conquer or flee.334 The Lord inherited this promise from the Father, just as we do.335 The Father protected Jesus from temptations beyond what he could bear, just as he does for you and me.336 His tribulations were present from the beginning and escalated in intensity337 throughout his life.338
Jesus was sinless because he loved the Father more than sin. When presented with the option of continuing in the Father’s love or preferring sin, he always chose to love the Father. Whenever you sin, it is because your love for sin is stronger than your love for God. From this point forward, you can choose to follow the example of Jesus by loving God more than sin.
Footnotes
- 1. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man. (Luke 2:52) ↩
- 2. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good. For before the child shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, the land that thou abhorrest shall be forsaken of both her kings. (Isaiah 7:14-16) ↩
- 3. And the Lord spake unto Adam, saying: Inasmuch as thy children are conceived in sin, even so when they begin to grow up, sin conceiveth in their hearts, and they taste the bitter, that they may know to prize the good. (Moses 6:55) ↩
- 4. Every spirit of man was innocent in the beginning; and God having redeemed man from the fall, men became again, in their infant state, innocent before God. (D&C 93:38) ...little children are whole, for they are not capable of committing sin; wherefore the curse of Adam is taken from them in me, that it hath no power over them... (Moroni 8:8) Hence came the saying abroad among the people, that the Son of God hath atoned for original guilt, wherein the sins of the parents cannot be answered upon the heads of the children, for they are whole from the foundation of the world. (Moses 6:54) ↩
- 5. Make my burden your own, and in me you will find freedom from the burdens of this world. As I seek and do the Father’s will in all things, he teaches me more of how he is, and in him, I overcome the world; Live as you understand me to be, I will teach you more about myself, and the truth will make you free. Dedicate yourself completely to my service, for everything I ask of you is for your greatest benefit, and there is no easier way to overcome every challenge you face than by living according to my will. (Matthew 11:29-30, Author’s Reflection) ↩
- 6. The definition of righteousness is recognizing, desiring, and emulating the superiority of Jehovah; it is through seeking and becoming like him that the righteous find the strength to overcome all that presently overcomes them. (Psalm 37:39, Author’s Reflection) ↩
- 7. And he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan; and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him. (Mark 1:13) ↩
- 8. And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. (Luke 22:44) ↩
- 9. Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. (John 16:32) ↩
- 10. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me (Matthew 27:46) ↩
- 11. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (Luke 4:8) ↩
- 12. It was fitting for him—for whom are all things and by whom are all things—to make himself perfect through suffering—to bring many sons to glory as the archetype of their salvation, having all things, yet condescending to suffer all things that he might show the greatest example, and illustrate the way by which others can likewise become as he is. (Hebrews 2:10, Author’s Reflection) ↩
- 13. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted. (Hebrews 2:18) ↩
- 14. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15) ↩