The New Testament teaches that Jesus was entirely free from sin (John 8:46; 2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 1 Pet. 2:22; 1 John 3:5). This assertion means not only that He never disobeyed His Father, but that He loved God’s law and found whole-hearted joy in keeping it. In fallen human beings there is always some reluctance to obey God, and sometimes resentment amounting to hatred at the claims He makes on us (Rom. 8:7). But Jesus’ moral nature was unfallen, as was Adam’s prior to his sin, and in Jesus there was no prior inclination away from God for Satan to exploit, as there is in us. Jesus loved His Father and His Father’s will with all His heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Heb. 4:15 says that Jesus was “in every respect … tempted as we are,” though without sinning. The temptations we face—temptations to wrongfully indulge natural desires, to evade moral and spiritual issues, to cut moral corners and take easy ways out, to be less than loving and sympathetic to others, to be self-centered and lost in self-pity—all these came upon Jesus, but He yielded to none of them. In Gethsemane and on the Cross He fought temptation and resisted sin to the point of death. Christians must learn from Him to do likewise (Luke 14:25–33; Heb. 12:3–13).