This lesson addresses Jesus as sinless but also includes His virgin birth. This is an extremely important topic. Christian Answers reported, “Larry King, the CNN talk show host, was once asked who he would most want to interview if he could choose anyone from all of history. He said, ‘Jesus Christ.’ The questioner said, ‘And what would you like to ask Him?’ King replied, ‘I would like to ask Him if He was indeed virgin-born. The answer to that question would define history for me.’”
1. Who would you like to meet from history? Why?
2. What would you ask them?
Isaiah 7:14 records this amazing miracle, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Never before did the words “virgin” and “conceive” coincide. Conceive implies that she is no longer a virgin.
N. T. Wright observed, “First-century folk knew every bit as well as we do that babies are produced by sexual intercourse. When, in Matthew’s version of the story, Joseph heard about Mary’s pregnancy, his problem arose not because he didn’t know the facts of life, but because he did.”
3. Were your parents comfortable talking about “the birds and the bees”?
There is a tendency or movement within our “Christian” society to downplay the virgin birth. J.A. Medders listed seven questions to ask anyone who does not believe the virgin birth was important.
4. Jesus was, or was not, miraculously placed in Mary’s womb by the Holy Spirit?
5. If he was not, why would Matthew (Matthew 1:18-25) and Luke (Luke 1:26-38) say so? Are they liars or hype-men for Jesus?
6. If Jesus was not born of the Virgin Mary, how did the eternal Son of God enter this world?
7. If he was not virgin-born, when and where did the divine nature of the man Jesus come from? Joseph’s sperm? Mary’s egg? Or the divine nature Jesus always had from eternity, via the virgin birth?
8. If Jesus was not divinely placed in Mary’s womb, it was an ordinary conception—normal fertilization—do you think Jesus became God at some point? What other option is there?
9. If Jesus was not placed in Mary’s womb by the Spirit, how is Jesus free from the stain of Adam’s sin? Without the virgin birth, we don’t have a sinless substitute, we have no atonement, and we have no resurrection.
10. Why pick one miracle over another? Why believe in a dead man coming back to life, never dying again, and reigning over the Universe—and not the virgin birth?
John F. MacArthur, Jr. adds, “The virgin birth is an underlying assumption of everything the Bible says about Jesus. To throw out the virgin birth is to reject Christ's deity, the accuracy and authority of Scripture, and a host of other related doctrines that are the heart of the Christian faith. No issue is more important than the virgin birth to our understanding of who Jesus is. If we deny Jesus is God, we have denied the very essence of Christianity.”
Jesus was not born with a sin nature. From the start, He was perfect. Every day He chose to keep it that way. Scripture is very clear that He never sinned. If He had sinned, He could not be the sacrificial lamb for us.
“Going By Faith” lists ten sins that people often overlook or accept in their daily walk:
- Holding grudges
- Justifying wrong attitudes
- Putting your desires first (before God)
- Feeling annoyed over the success of others
- Getting hurt easily and reacting out of the hurt
- Underpaying (taking advantage of others’ work)
- Skimping on the work you are being paid to do
- Criticizing and finding fault — secretly or outwardly
- Focusing on the cares of the world — putting your full attention and trust in the “things” of the world, like money, power, possessions, and image. When we allow that to define us, we lose focus of who we are in Christ. This does not mean not caring about what happens in the world.
- Gossiping or speaking unkindly of those not present
11. Are all of these sins?
12. Which is most common?
The Bible is very clear about Jesus living a perfect life. He never sinned through inappropriate actions. He never sinned with inappropriate words. He never sinned with inappropriate thoughts. He never sinned!
Peter writes in 1 Peter 2:22, “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.”
13. Who is this verse discussing?
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
14. What does this verse mean?
The author of Hebrews writes (4:15), “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
15. How are temptation and sin different from each other?
John writes in 1 John 3:5, “You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.”
16. Why did Jesus come to earth?
17. Why is it important that “in him there is no sin?”
John 19:4 Pilate went out again and said to them, “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him.”
18. How many different people recorded that Jesus was sinless?
Isaiah 53:9 contains valuable prophecy, “And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.”
19. How was Jesus’ grave with the wicked?
20. How was Jesus’ death with a rich man?
21. What else does this prophecy say about Jesus (the Messiah)?
1 Peter 1:18-19 “Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”
22. How is Jesus described here?
James 4:17 takes sin to a whole different level, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”
23. What are some sins of commission?
In talking about the impeccability (whether or not Jesus could sin) of Christ, Charles C. Ryrie describes both sides, “One says that He was able not to sin while the other states that He was not able to sin. In either case He did not sin.”
Jesus did not sin; therefore, He could and did die for our sins. Thank You, Jesus!