Could Christ have sinned?

Speaker 1 0:00

we say christ, we believe in christ christians as a rule, I mean the definition of a christian is that we believe that christ is god, and thanks be to god. This is shared belief among shared belief among at least the main Christian denominations. However, when we begin to scratch the surface of how we understand the God man, rather striking points of contrast appear. They manifest themselves, and so we have a curious difference of understanding, manifest in various ways. One way is by thinking of Christ. How should I put it? The question, one key question Could Christ have sinned? The first question is who is Christ? But assuming we have a general sort of understanding on that, that Christ is the Son and Word of God, the second hypostasis of the Holy Trinity, the one who came in the flesh for our sakes, dwelt among us, gave us his example and his commandments, and so on. The question after that is in what way do we understand the twofoldness of Christ? We say in the Orthodox tradition that Christ is true and perfect God and true and perfect man. The God-man exists in two natures the divine and the human. So he's fully divine and he is fully human. Fully divine and he is fully human, but he is one hypostasis, he is a single hypostasis, as we said, the second hypostasis of the Holy Trinity. But although he is one with the Father and the Holy Spirit, he alone became flesh, uniquely, and this is, we mentioned this before. This is how we understand the diversity in God, or the distinctiveness of the three hypostases. One of the hypostases became flesh. Okay, so back to the question. Having established Christ as consubstantial, we've got the Father, the second hypostasis of the Holy Trinity. Could Christ have sinned? And the general tendency in the West is to say and I say general tendency deliberately the general tendency in the West is to say, yes, he could have sinned, but he didn't. And in the Orthodox tradition, by contrast, we say that no, christ could not have sinned, there is no question of him ever sinning. He's not able to sin. First of all, what is sin? Now, some people don't like this, but generally speaking, it's a helpful definition to say that sin is separation from God. But we've already established that Christ is God. How can God separate himself from himself? So that immediately comes into the picture, right? And we have.

Speaker 1 4:41

In his exact exposition of the Orthodox faith, book three, st John Damacy puts together a seemingly cleverly worded phrase where he says the human will of Christ always willed what the divine will willed it to will. What does that mean? It was always in harmony with his divine will. His divine will is the very same will of God the Father, and God the Holy Spirit. If you remember, we said that the three divine hypostases act in unison. They operate in unison. Every operation of the Most Holy Trinity is from the Father, through the Son, and perfected in the Holy Spirit, and that is an expression of their one single will. We do not have three wills in God the Holy Trinity. We do not have three wills in God the Holy Trinity. We have one will Because we have one essence and one nature, and the essence, nature of God has its natural and proper will and energy and energy. So the human will of Christ was always in harmony with the divine will of Christ and there is no question of them diverging at any point whatsoever.

John Climacus: “Though Christ feared death, He was not terrified by it”

Speaker 1 6:43

You know we have that movie of the passion of christ by mel gibson, which actually opens with christ in the garden of gethsemane agonizing over his impending death, over his impending death, the passion and his crucifixion, and it depicts him as in conflict with himself. Something is taking place within him which is clashing right the two wills, the human and the divine. The divine wants him to be sacrificed, the human doesn't want to, but the divine is seeking to prevail over the human, and so on and so forth. So the divine will eventually does prevail and the passion follows. And then the passion is this excruciatingly graphic depiction of Christ suffering one torment after another voluntarily.

Speaker 1 8:07

And there is a very interesting and important line, a phrase from the Ladder of Divine Ascent of St John Scholasticus, in which John of the Ladder says Though Christ feared death, he was not terrified by it. What does that mean? We have to remember. We have to begin always by reminding ourselves that we are speaking of God. We're speaking of God himself. Speaking of god, we're speaking of god himself. God is not subject to death. God has no fear of of anything. He has no fear of death. He has no fear of anything.

Speaker 1 9:00

So what is the character of this fear? So what is the character of this fear where Christ sweats drops of blood, as the passage referring to his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane? Why is that? What is taking place? Taking place as life itself, as the author of life? Christ naturally and properly shied away from death. He shrank from death. He shrank away from death, as St John Damascene describes it.

Athanasius the Great: Christ not subject to death

Speaker 1 9:49

St John, by the way, is summarizing the theology of his predecessors. We have this scene where Christ is naturally shying away from death, because who is he? He's God. Yes, he's come in the flesh, but, as St Athanasius the Great tells us in his seminal work on the incarnation of the Logos, on the incarnation of the Word of God, christ could only have died by a voluntary and violent death.

Speaker 1 10:42

Christ was not subject to death. How is that? We have to remember that the Lord was conceived in his mother's womb by the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary. So, while he received his flesh from the mother of God, he was conceived without seed of the Holy Ghost. And at the moment of his conception, at the moment when he assumed our human nature, body and soul, he deified our human nature. Our human nature was deified in him. There was no preexistent human nature. It came into being at the moment of conception and in that coming into being, as I said, it was deified and thereby he completed in himself what he had purposed originally for Adam.

Speaker 1 11:57

What was the divine purpose for Adam, for the human race? It originally was to make us in his likeness. It says let us make man in our image and after our likeness. I like to say in Hebrew as well. I would say it in Greek first Katikona, imeteram ke kath would say it in Greek first κατ' εικώνα η μετέραν και καθομοίωσιν.

Two natures, wills and energies in Christ existing in One single Hypostasis

Only one “subject” in Christ

Speaker 1 12:28

In Greek, πετσαλμένου και δμοθένου, says in the Hebrew, after our likeness. And it says a little later and God made man in his image, not in his likeness. That's where St Irenaeus of Lyon comes in a spiritual grandchild of the apostles and says ah, here we have a distinction image and likeness. We're created in the image of God in order to grow into the likeness, and that is precisely what was interrupted, what was obstructed and prevented when Adam fell by a sinful act of will, by a sinful act of will. But there's no such thing in God himself, who takes upon himself and makes his own our human nature. Our human nature in him is deified and perfected from the very moment in which he is conceived in his mother's womb, as we said, of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary. So the fact that the Lord is true and perfect man as well as true and perfect God in his single hypostasis.

God is willing and acting, now in a divine way, now in a human way

Speaker 1 14:12

We don't have two subjects in Christ, right, we have one, and in fact it's not very helpful, ultimately, to talk about subjects and objects when it comes to God. God is not a subject and he's not an object. These are terms which are appropriate to the created order. God is uncreated and so all categories are in fact transcended when it comes to God. But let us say, for argument's sake, in order to make clear the fact that there are not two subjects, there are not two principles, two separate aspects of Christ, the mystery of the God-man. There is one God is the one who is willing and acting, now in a divine way, now in a human way.

Limitations of our created human nature

Christ voluntarily accepted blameless passions

Speaker 1 15:22

God allows himself to exist in a human way. When he comes in the form of a servant, as St Paul says, he's accepting the limitations of our created human nature. There are cultural limitations, there are cultural limitations, there are geographical limitations, there are linguistic limitations and so on and so forth. Right, he assumed. The Fathers say the blameless passions, not the blameworthy passions. The blameless passions, not the blameworthy passions, the blameless passions, the adhiavlita pathi, the passions that are not the product of Adam's sinful act of will, but they accompanied the fall. So we grow tired, we hunger when we grow tired, and when we grow hungry it's not a sin, okay, but it is the consequence of being separated from God. I mean, it is the consequence of the fall, it's a secondary consequence, but it's a consequence.

Christ’s increase in knowledge

“Let this cup pass from me…” (Matt. 26.39)

Maximus the Confessor

Speaker 1 16:52

Now. Christ voluntarily accepted those consequences, and he did so voluntarily because he didn't have to right, but he did so in order to live a human life among us. He grew, he increased in knowledge, although the way that he increased in knowledge is quite different to how we increase in knowledge. You see, the point is that he is God. We're talking about God himself existing in a human frame, making our human nature his own. So when the Lord says, father, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. St Maximus the confessor, who was a champion of the two wills in Christ, the orthodox understanding of the two wills in Christ, explains to us that when the Lord says, not my will be done, he's referring to his human will. When he says, but thy will be done, he's referring to the divine will of God, the Father, which is his very own will as well. Christ always willed what his divine will willed him to will because he's gone. The one willing is the same.

Speaker 1 19:03

Now, this raises all kinds of questions. One question is well, we mentioned that Christ did not have to die right, but that his death was voluntary and necessarily violent. If he was not killed he would not have died. He is the source of life, but again, voluntarily. He died, not in his divine nature, but the same one died according to his human flesh.

Speaker 1 19:39

Secondly, we have the question of the knowledge of God, the knowledge of Christ, which I mentioned just briefly a moment ago. Of the knowledge of god, the knowledge of christ, which I mentioned just briefly a moment ago. Somebody once asked me could christ have invented the transistor radio? And the answer is yes, of course he could have, but he didn't. But he didn't. Why didn't he? He accepted the historical context of his time. He didn't come as Superman. He could have, but he didn't.

The Godman is One

Speaker 1 20:22

Why? Because his purpose was to reveal the humble way of Christ to us. He saved us in the most humble way possible, the best way, revealing his self-sacrificial love for us and his extreme humility. So, as God, even as God in the flesh, the one that we are looking at is God. When we touch him, we're touching God. Yes, we're touching God in his assumed human flesh, but there is only one person.

Speaker 1 21:11

One hypostasis right when we venerate the icon of Christ, we're not venerating the human nature of Christ, we're venerating Christ. When we receive the body and blood of Christ, we receive the body and blood of Christ. We receive the body and blood of Christ the second hypostasis of the Holy Trinity, not just his human nature, as though his human nature is something abstract and distinct and separate from him. He is one. He has grafted our human nature onto his own person and that is why the incarnation is real and that is why the incarnation is not in appearance only. We mentioned the sinless passions, characteristics of the form. He came to live among us.

Christ’s human mind “enriched”

Speaker 1 22:20

Now, what I was saying was that I think it was in reference to the Lord's knowledge, which increased over time, but it didn't increase as our knowledge increases. Our knowledge, human knowledge, increases by increments. We learn one thing and then we learn another, and we may learn them in rapid succession, but there is this incremental, successive understanding of knowledge. The human nature of Christ, the human mind of Christ was, st John Damascene tells us, enriched by the knowledge of God. It was enriched. So there's this stream of the knowledge of God enriching his human mind.

The greatest mystery: the Incarnation of the Word

Speaker 1 23:28

We are speaking of a great mystery. We are speaking of the greatest mystery of all. Sometimes we think well, the Holy Trinity, god, the Holy Trinity is the greatest mystery. Holy trinity, god, the holy trinity is the greatest mystery. Actually, even greater than that, is the mystery of how the great god became flesh. There is nothing greater than that. Why?

All heresies deny reality of the Incarnation

John Chrysostom’s Paschal Homily: disbelief of the Enemy

Speaker 1 24:00

This is precisely what dumbfounded and scandalized the heretics. When you look at all the heresies, basically they have one thing in common, and that is a refusal to accept the reality of the incarnation, a refusal to accept the permanent reality of the Incarnation that God would take upon himself, make his own our puny, insignificant frail. I mean, we are like ants crawling upon the surface of the earth, right in this vast universe. Why would god do that? And this is precisely what saint john chrysostom refers to in his paschal homily when he says when the lord suffered death according to the flesh on the cross and descended into Hades, the enemy still could not believe that this was God. So he went to take his human soul the way that he had taken every human soul up to that point.

Enemy, death and hades destroyed by the Lord’s humility

We escape the Enemy by following the humble Way of Christ

Speaker 1 25:28

And saint john says, and found himself face to face with god, and that is the moment of the resurrection, that is the moment of the destruction, the, the harrowing of hell, of Hades, hell, the enemy and death were in an instant destroyed. The power of hell, of the enemy, of death, was destroyed, was overcome by death. By the death, though, of God, god himself. Why? Why did the enemy disbelieve? Even at that very moment, he still could not accept, because it's extreme humility. He could not believe that God would humble himself to that degree, and so he was destroyed. He was destroyed by the power of the Lord's humility. And that's how we escape, even now, right, if you want to escape the wiles of the enemy, humble yourself, humble your mind, learn the humility of Christ, and then the enemy cannot touch you. It is the fundamental spiritual rule, in fact.

Speaker 1 27:10

So, yes, we're referring to the knowledge of God and how the human mind of God was enriched by his divine mind, was enriched by his divine mind. Why? Because the divine mind and the human mind are now both the mind of the single Logos. This is the Logos, thinking and doing and willing and so forth, not two separate entities, but the one prosopic union, unified logos. So I wanted to say that as a kind of introductory comment, and also ah comment and also ah, okay.

Identification of freedom with choice - but there’s no choice in God

Speaker 1 28:11

So contained in all of this is a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be free. When we say, could Christ have sinned? Oh, yes, he could have sinned, the West will tend to say that because they identify freedom with choice the more choices you have, the freer you are. This is the basic assumption that we have. In fact, the opposite is the correct answer. In fact, the opposite is the correct answer.

Speaker 1 28:49

No, he could not have sinned, because in God there is no choice, and there is no choice in God because God always wills the best, always wills the one thing that is best. There's no process of choosing. Choosing involves a process of deliberation, no matter how brief, and choosing also implies uncertainty and hesitation, if you will. Uncertainty and hesitation, if you will, but with god there's only the best. There's no act of choosing, there's no imperfection. So there's no process of deliberation.

Maximus the Confessor: Saints in perfect harmony with will and energy of God

Doctrines of the Church have practical pastoral and ascetic significance

Example of intrusive thoughts (logismoi): “the moment the will wavers…” (Sophrony)

Speaker 1 29:35

There's no equivocation and this is also very important vis-a-vis the saints, because, as Saint Maximus the Confessor says, god and those counted worthy of God have one and the same energy. So God and those counted worthy of God have one and the same energy means that their will, the will of those counted worthy of God. The will of the saints is in perfect harmony with the will of God, because they share the same life. They contain the life of God, they have received the grace of God, they are in God, god is in them, his life becomes theirs, and this is of paramount significance that what is characteristic of god by nature becomes characteristic of his saints by grace, which means that it's a gift, grace is a gift, but the result is that we become godlike. This is how we understand salvation in the Orthodox tradition deification, theosis, glorification, growing into the likeness of Christ, which knows no end, because the perfection of Christ is infinite. So what is characteristic of God becomes characteristic of his saints, and so this is precisely why all of these doctrinal points have practical, pastoral and ascetic significance. Pastoral and ascetic significance, for example and this was in my most recent video on intrusive thoughts Saint Sophrony talks about the development of intrusive thoughts, which is important for us to know something about, because when a thought reaches a certain stage, after that stage it becomes a sin and we need to confess, we need to repent, we need to confess it, we need to ask for forgiveness and healing.

Speaker 1 32:24

So that point in Saint Sophrony is identified as the moment the will wavers. The moment the will wavers, he says, sin enters in. So it's not a sin when we are presented with certain thoughts or concept-bearing images. That in itself is not a sin. Thoughts approach us. There are thoughts which come from the enemy, there are thoughts which come from the spiritual world of man. There are thoughts that come from God.

Speaker 1 33:09

We have to acquire the discernment course to accept the thoughts that come from God and not to be concerned with the thoughts that come from elsewhere. Of course, this initially for beginners. We are advised not to accept any thoughts, just to clear our minds and to focus on the one thought, which is jesus Yahweh saves. So you see there the practical significance of knowing that wavering signifies imperfection and through our imperfection sin is able to enter into our heart. So all of this has practical significance.

The Jesus Prayer: “prayer of a single thought”

Reference to example of St. Paisios the Athonite

Appeal

Speaker 1 34:05

If it didn't have practical significance, it wouldn't be orthodox. This is the distinctive character of the orthodox spiritual life the ethos of repentance, the Christ-like humility, understanding something of the spiritual struggle, at the center of which is ologismos. And the fact that the Jesus prayer is also known as the prayer of a single thought is by no means a coincidence. And in that video video you'll see I talk a little bit about saint basis as an example of characteristics, which are divine, that are shared by the saints. It's amazing. It's it's really amazing. Please subscribe to our channel and share with your friends. Click on the notification bell and on the join button below our video and become a friend or reader of the Mount Tabor Academy. Support our drive to introduce the theology and spiritual life of the Orthodox Church to the wider community.