Primary Source of Christ's Temptations
"Jesus Tempted From Without and From Within"
This phrase, and its attendant emphases, bothers me. Most of the postlapsarian books and articles I've read tend to emphasize Christ's temptations from within, almost ignoring His temptations from without. I think the emphasis is misplaced. Let me explain.
"His strongest temptations will come
from within; for he must battle against the inclinations of the natural
heart." {BEcho, December 1, 1892 par. 4}
"There is in his nature a bent to evil, a force which, unaided, he cannot resist." {Ed 29.1}
"There is in his nature a bent to evil, a force which, unaided, he cannot resist." {Ed 29.1}
This is our natural condition. Not only is our nature bent to evil by inherited tendencies to wrong, but we cultivate that tendency and make the bent worse. (See YI, November 8, 1900 par. 3; PP 268.3) Because of this, inspiration warns, "The warfare against self is the greatest battle that was ever fought." {SC 43.3} Since none can be forced by external sources to sin, James can summarize our primary struggle succinctly: "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of HIS OWN lust, and enticed." (James 1:14)
Did Christ have to stand against such strong temptations? Here's the inspired answer:
"It is impossible for man to know the
strength of Satan's temptations to the Son of God. Every temptation
that seems so afflicting to man in his daily life, so difficult to
resist and overcome, was brought to bear upon the Son of God in as much
greater degree as his excellence of character was superior to that of
fallen man." {Con 31.1}
"The Son of God placed Himself in the sinner's stead, and passed over the ground where Adam fell, and endured the temptation in the wilderness which was a HUNDRED-FOLD STRONGER than was or ever will be brought to bear upon the HUMAN RACE." {6MR 334.2}
"The Son of God placed Himself in the sinner's stead, and passed over the ground where Adam fell, and endured the temptation in the wilderness which was a HUNDRED-FOLD STRONGER than was or ever will be brought to bear upon the HUMAN RACE." {6MR 334.2}
The answer is a resounding YES, and then some. No matter the strength of temptation any man may have to face, Christ's temptation was at least 100 times stronger. Does that include those who make their situation worse by willful sin? Absolutely, since there are no qualifications in the above statements.
We have already seen that our strongest temptations will come from within, from the natural inclinations of our hearts. Did Christ's "hundred-fold stronger" temptations come from within His natural heart, from a nature that is "bent to evil"? Let's analyze that.
Did Jesus have to suffer the degrading effects of CULTIVATED tendencies to wrong? I trust we all agree that such was not the case.
Did Jesus have to suffer the degrading effects of INHERITED tendencies to wrong? There are two parents from whom He can inherit such tendencies. I'm sure we all agree that He could not have received tendencies to wrong from the Holy Spirit. The only other option is a genetic inheritance from his human parent.
"Like every child of Adam He accepted
the results of the working of the great law of heredity. What these
results were is shown in the history of His earthly ancestors. He came
with such a heredity to share our sorrows and temptations, and to give
us the example of a sinless life." {DA 48.5}
We're all familiar with that last statement. It says that Christ's heredity is governed by the law that the rest of us must deal with. He accepted its results as the rest of us must.
What kind of heredity did Jesus receive from His ancestors? First, we can see from the inspired genealogy that it was certainly not the best - Jesus' hereditary inheritance was not the best possible. But we also see from that same genealogy that it was certainly not the worst - Jesus' hereditary inheritance was not the worst possible. How bad was it?
"For four thousand years the race had
been decreasing in physical strength, in mental power, and in moral
worth; and Christ took upon Him the infirmities of degenerate humanity.
Only thus could He rescue man from the lowest depths of his
degradation." {DA 117.1}
This defines more specifically the extent of Christ's genetic inheritance - about 4000 years' worth of degradation from Eden. Obviously, considering the "succession of falls" since Adam, that's not a good thing. But since His heredity was governed by natural law, it was limited to about 4000 years of decrease in "physical strength, in mental power, and in moral worth."
Where does that leave us?
Since Christ's genetic inheritance was not as bad as the "worst-ever" and the strength of His temptations was 100 times stronger than the "worst-ever" person's, we see that Christ's temptations from WITHIN contributed less than 1% toward the strength of the temptations He faced; therefore, the rest - more than 99% - must have come from WITHOUT.
This is why the great emphasis on Christ's internal temptation bothers me. It is effort spent nailing the gnat while the camel sits in the living room!
I believe that the greater truth is that even with our inherited propensities to disobedience compounded with cultivating these propensities, all our temptations from within and without, put them all together and JESUS' TEMPTATIONS WERE STILL ONE HUNDRED TIMES STRONGER. Even with such a disparity in strength of temptation, not even by a thought did Christ yield to temptation; SO IT MAY BE WITH US.
If fairness requires that Christ be tempted just like we are tempted, then I rejoice in the unfairness of the hundred-fold strength of Christ's temptations. He was tempted more than I will ever be tempted, and overcame using a power that is as available to me today as it was to Him. If He could stand up under that level of temptation, regardless of anybody's nature, nobody has any excuse to fall. Yielding to temptation is shown to be what it truly is: an act of the will, not a weakness of the flesh.