The Bible says that God cannot be tempted:
James 1:13 – “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
Yet Jesus was tempted for 40 days:
Matthew 4:1 – “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.”
So how can Jesus be God if He was tempted?
Different Uses of “Temptation”
James 1:2–4 mentions multiple types of temptations:
James 1:2-4 – “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations (πειράζω);
Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”
Let’s have a look at how scripture makes this clearer.
1. External Temptation
The Same Greek Word Is Applied to God in the Old Testament (LXX)
The Septuagint (LXX), the Greek Old Testament, uses the same word (πειράζω) repeatedly to describe people tempting God.
Numbers 14:22 (KJV) – “Because all those men which have seen my glory… have tempted (ἐπείρασάν from πειράζω). me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice.”
Deuteronomy 6:16 (KJV) – “Ye shall not tempt (ἐκπειράσεις) the LORD your God, as ye tempted (ἐξεπειράσασθε) him in Massah (Πειρασμῷ).”
Greek: ἐκπειράσεις, ἐξεπειράσασθε, Πειρασμῷ — all from πειράζω. Here the place is even named Massah (πειρασμός in Greek) — “testing.” This refers back to Exodus 17.
Exodus 17:7 (KJV) – “And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?”
Psalm 106:14 (KJV) – “But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted (ἐπείρασαν) God in the desert.”
Psalm 78:40–41, 56 (KJV) – “How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert!
Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.”…“Yet they tempted and provoked the most high God, and kept not his testimonies.”
God even tempted Abraham.
Genesis 22:1 (KJV) – “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt (ἐπείραζεν) Abraham…”
Hebrews 11:17 (KJV) – “By faith Abraham, when he was tried (πειραζόμενος)…”
So Scripture frequently speaks of God being “tempted” or “tested,” and “tempting” others.
This alone shows the objection misunderstands the biblical language.
2. Internal Temptation — Inclination to sin (James 1:13–15)
This is temptation from within, rooted in a sinful inclination or internal desire.
This is what James is talking about contextually:
James 1:13–15 (KJV) – “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.
Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
Notice here what James counts as “temptation”: “…when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.” The word “lust” here is ἐπιθυμίας which means
passion, desire, lust
From epithumeo; a longing (especially for what is forbidden) — concupiscence, desire, lust (after). (Biblehub)
Other translations put it: “evil desires”. Here James presupposes an evil inclination to sin to describes the inner process where desire becomes distorted, lures the will, and produces sin. If one does not even have “evil desires”, it is impossible for him to be tempted in this way as that is the bedrock and foundation for this temptation. God has no sinful desires, no inner corruption, and therefore cannot be tempted in this way.
In James, “temptation” is not merely an outward invitation, but the inner distortion of good desire into a wilful act of the will, a rebellious desire. Temptation becomes sin when desire becomes sinful by luring, enticing, dragging, controlling.
Jesus’ unique case of Temptation
Intrestingly, Jesus falls into a unique category. Yes, He had external temptations like God did in the Old Testament. And yes, He had internal temptations like all of us. But, unlike all of us, Jesus’ internal temptations are not sinful. Heres what I mean:
Matthew 4:1–10 (KJV) records Jesus being tempted by Satan.
Matthew 4:1 (KJV) – “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.”
Jesus fasted for 40 days. He felt hunger — deep, painful, consuming hunger. He really wanted to eat. There’s nothing sinful about wanting bread when you haven’t eaten for forty days. The line gets crossed if the desire becomes the engine for disobedience. Jesus’ hunger simply created the conditions in which Satan could propose a shortcut. Satan thinks this is his opportunity and attaches a proposal. He knows that Jesus has that desire for food but will not succumb to eating because He is trusting the Father to provide for His strength. And so Satan, and this is the special part, asks Him to stop relying on the Father for His strength and succumb to His fleshly desire:
Matthew 4:1–4 (KJV)
1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Notice Jesus’ mission: to rely on His Father’s strength rather than His fleshly desires.
Human needs and desires create pressure points. They don’t create sin, but they create openings where sin can propose itself. Think of needs like hunger, safety, belonging, rest, intimacy, purpose. Each of these is good in itself. They’re part of being a human with a body, emotions, and a purpose. But when a need grows and becomes sharper — like hunger after forty days, exhaustion after a long day, loneliness that grows— it creates a vulnerability in so far as we seek the need to fulfil these even more. The longer you hold something heavy, the more your muscles ache. Jesus never caved, so He felt the full intensity — more than any sinner ever has. That means He understands how temptation feels at its worst.
Sin enters not through the need itself, but through the suggested ways of meeting the need. For us, the same structure exists, but we also have concupiscence — an inner leaning toward the wrong shortcut. The inner leaning makes the sinful suggestion attractive in a way that distorts the will. If Jesus had what James 1:13-15 was talking about, an internal evil desire, an evil inclination to sin, He would have that sinful impulse and inclination to actually lean towards Satan’s advice, which the texts nowhere mentions.
As a matter of fact, Matthew 4 presents Jesus being led by the Spirit into the wilderness for a direct confrontation with Satan. This setting is not incidental. The wilderness is a dry, waterless region, and Scripture often associates such arid places with the dwelling of unclean spirits. Jesus Himself teaches this in Matthew 12:43–45:
“When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none.
Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out; and when he is come, he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Then goeth he, and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. Even so shall it be also unto this wicked generation.” – Matthew 12:43–45
Water, on the other hand, stands as a symbol of the Holy Spirit. John 7:37–39 makes this explicit:
“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)” – John 7:37–39
The imagery reinforces the idea that demonic beings cannot inhabit the presence of the Spirit. In this way, the narrative uses real geography to express deeper spiritual meaning. Jesus enters the enemy’s own territory, guided deliberately by the Spirit, and withstands every assault for forty days, demonstrating His complete victory over Satan from the very beginning of His ministry.
Additionally, the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John make the idea of an inward, sinful inclination in Him impossible. In John 5:19, Jesus declares the perfect unity of His will with the Father:
“Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”
If the Son can only do what the Father does—and nothing apart from Him—then the notion of Jesus being inwardly drawn toward evil collapses. An internal inclination toward sin would mean a desire the Father does not share, which contradicts Jesus’ own testimony of perfect alignment.
Jesus reinforces this union in John 8:28–29, stating:
“Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.”
If Jesus “always” does what pleases the Father, then the idea of Him harboring an evil desire—the very thing God hates—is impossible. A sinful inclination would not only fail to please the Father; it would oppose Him. Jesus’ inner life is therefore entirely and uninterruptedly aligned with the holiness of God.
These passages make it clear that whatever temptation Jesus experienced in the wilderness, it could not have been an internal lure toward evil. It was an external testing—just as God Himself was tested throughout the Old Testament—never an inward pull of corruption.
Proverbs 6:16–18 (KJV)
“These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief.”
If Scripture says that God hates “an heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,” then Jesus—who is God the Son—could not have possessed even a single sinful imagining. To say otherwise would imply that Jesus carried within Himself something God declares an abomination.
This is the human condition, not Christ’s. Our hearts naturally generate sinful imaginations, impulses, and inward desires. Because of this, God promises to transform His people from the inside out.
Ezekiel 36:26 (KJV) says:
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you.”
Our natural heart is corrupt:
Jeremiah 17:9 (KJV) says,
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.”
Jesus echoes the same moral standard in Matthew 5, where even inward desires are judged as sin. Matthew 5:27–28 (KJV) reads:
“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
If inward lust is already sin, then Jesus—being sinless—could never have entertained inward sinful thoughts. Any “inclination,” “pull,” or “imagination” toward sin would itself be a violation of the Father’s will. Yet Jesus says in John 8:29 (KJV):
“…for I do always those things that please him.”
And earlier in John 5:19 (KJV), Jesus says:
“…The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do.”
If Jesus always does what pleases the Father, then He could not have possessed an inward sinful inclination, because such an inclination is itself displeasing to God. Internal sinful desire belongs to fallen humanity—not to the sinless Christ.
Christ truly faced temptation, but as Hebrews explains, it was temptation from the outside, not from inward corruption. He felt the pressure of hunger, exhaustion, danger, opposition, and Satan’s invitations. Yet none of those pressures found anything inside Him that could be enticed. As Jesus Himself says in John 14:30 (KJV):
“…for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me.”
Not “less,” not “weak,” not “suppressed”—nothing.
Because His heart was perfectly pure, the temptations He endured were real trials, real tests, but never inward seductions. They pressed upon Him from without, but there was no inner corruption for them to latch onto. That is why He alone could be the spotless Lamb.
Conclusion – Hebrews 4:15
Hebrews 4:15 (KJV) declares:
“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.”
With all that has been said, when Hebrews 4:15 affirms that Christ was “tempted in all points like as we are,” this cannot include concupiscence—that inward inclination, pull, or craving toward sin. The verse itself adds the qualifying phrase, “yet without sin.” In Scripture, concupiscence is not neutral; it is itself a form of sin. Paul teaches in Romans 7:8 (KJV):
“But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence.”
Sin produces concupiscence; concupiscence does not merely lead to sin—it is the inward working of sin. A person who experiences concupiscence would not be “without sin.” Therefore Hebrews excludes it by definition.
Hebrews is teaching that Jesus experienced every category of testing common to humanity, both internal and external. External such as:
- hostility, as people mocked Him, plotted against Him, and pressured Him to abandon His mission (John 10:31; John 8:59).
- suffering, including emotional anguish and physical pain, culminating in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:38–39).
- fear-inducing danger, like storms, threats, and impending crucifixion (Mark 14:33–36).
- misunderstanding and betrayal, as His own disciples failed Him repeatedly (Mark 14:50).
Internal too. But under internal itself, we have 2 subcategories: sinful and non-sinful proclivities. Those which, though are internal proclivities, are without the internal corruption that causes us to be “drawn away of our own lust, and enticed” (James 1:14–15 KJV). Internal lust is precisely what Jesus lacked, and James explicitly identifies it as the birthplace of sin. .Jesus experienced only non-sinful internal temptations such as:
- hunger when fasting, but not greed (Matthew 4:1-11).
- exhaustion after preaching but not sloth or laziness (Mark 4:38; John 4:6).
- pain, be it emotional or physical, but not resentment (John 11:33-35; Luke 22:44).
- fear of suffering, but not cowardice (Luke 22:41-44; John 12:27).
- the natural pull to preserve His life, but not rebellion (Matthew 26:39; John 10:18).
Concupiscence belongs to the fallen heart. Christ’s heart was not fallen.
He could feel the full weight of human suffering and the full pressure of external temptation, yet He never possessed the inward inclination that turns pressure into sin. That is why He could say, “the prince of this world… hath nothing in me” (John 14:30 KJV), and why He could “always do those things that please Him” (John 8:29 KJV).
So Hebrews 4:15 means that Christ experienced every form of human testing, except the one thing Scripture identifies as the inner source of sin itself. He shared our weakness, not our corruption. He bore our humanity, not our inward fallenness. His temptations were real because the pressures were real, but they were sinless because His heart was perfectly pure.
If Hebrews 4:15 is to include both external and sinful internal temptations, one of the ways that we humans are tempted is with internal lust. If Jesus underwent internal lust, this would contradict the verse itself which calls Jesus “without sin” because Matthew 5 regards internal lust as sin. This obviously is nonsensical.
Hence the ways/points that we and Jesus are tempted with are temptations which are external and internal non-sinful proclivities.