I heard a preacher on the radio Friday claim that Jesus was tempted sexually. The basis for that claim is Hebrews 4:15 “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.” The speaker was encouraging young people toward purity. "You can make it. If Jesus was tempted in every way He must have been tempted sexually. So Jesus knows what you are going through."
But does this verse really mean that Jesus encountered every temptation that we face? Is being tempted in all points the same as being tempted with every specific enticement? If the answer is yes, would we not have to agree that Jesus was tempted to drink too much, eat too much? Smoke marijuana? Do cocaine? I will not diminish the reality of Jesus’ temptations. He experienced them just as aggressively as Satan introduces them into our lives. But to say that Jesus was tempted sexually goes far beyond the intent of Hebrews 4:15.
The verse says that Jesus was tempted in the same way that we are. Not that He faced every temptation that we face. In every point that He was tempted He was tempted just like we are. The temptations were real. The discipline to reject them was applied humanly with difficulty
The surrounding passage, verses 14-16, is meant to encourage believers that Jesus is a greater High Priest than any other. He is a High Priest who went far beyond the earthly curtain of the Holy of Holies. He’s in heaven. While He was on earth He was tempted in the same way as we are. And now since He is heaven we can come boldly to Him in prayer about our deepest concerns and scariest temptations. He knows what it is like to be tested. But He need not have been tempted in every single way in which we are tempted to understand our ordeal.
Must he have been tempted to do cocaine to know the lure of narcotics? Must he have been tempted sexually to understand the enticement of that pleasure? Had He only been tempted in three ways, as Matthew 4: 1-11 reports, wouldn't He still be an able and sympathetic comforter?
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