did jesus know he was sinless

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Jesus was a man like us, born of a woman, living like a man, eating, drinking, sleeping, being tired and dirty – just like us.

Except for one thing: he was sinless.

But you wonder. Did Jesus realize he was sinless? Did he think about it? Each morning when he got up, did he remind himself that he had to be sinless that day or everything was lost? Was it a constant struggle like it is with me, only he won? I don’t think anyone, human or divine, could have lived under such a stress for 33 years.

And you have to remember that he was around for 30 years before he received his instruction from God at his baptism. In all that time he never sinned. Hebrews 5:8-9 says, Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him. He learned quickly from his parents. And it took.

The fact of his sinlessness is at the heart of his sacrifice. That was why the church was founded on him and the fact that he was Messiah (Matthew 16:18). He was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. The devil says you die because you sin. Jesus did not sin, yet he died. The devil says now you are in my territory and there is nothing you can do about it. Jesus is brought back to life, declared with power to be the Son of God, the Messiah (Romans 6).

But I do not believe he necessarily thought about being sinless. He may not have even been aware of it. Really good people are hardly ever aware of the fact that they are good.

Oh, he knew the power of sin. He could see it everywhere. He knew the pain of sin. He could see that, too. He could probably also see clearly how sin could creep into someone’s life without their wanting it to. Yet he himself didn’t sin.

Jesus was that perfect fusion of God and man that we could be but aren’t. He had enough God in him to overcome the man, but not so much God that he couldn’t understand the man.

Otherwise, how could he possibly understand or sympathize with our weaknesses. If he had not been able to sin, the whole thing was a sham. It would be like a man  wearing a false stomach and pretending to know what a woman went through in pregnancy.

Hebrews says that Jesus was tempted like us in every way but was without sin.

And the point of all that is simple. God is holy and without sin of any kind. We are sinful creatures. We could no more touch God or come into his presence than I could plug my toaster into a high-wire line. Yet Jesus was, as Hebrews 4 says, without sin. He could touch God. Since he was also human, he could touch us. Through him, the perfect Mediator, we can touch God.

The Son of God was not some creature walking around laughing at our attempts to be good, or for that matter feeling sorry for us. He knew the pain of loss. His father, Joseph, the one who raised him, had died more than likely. There was a good chance that he had lost brothers or sisters and friends. Life was hard and life expectancy was short.

At the funeral of his good friend, Lazarus, he wept openly. He knew he was going to raise Lazarus up, but he wept. He knew that God never intended for death to be in the world in the first place.

And don’t forget, he died a pretty gruesome death, nailed to a cross.

He knew pain and he knew suffering. But he was also without sin. And he loved those who were because he knew how they felt.

I don’t know if he knew he was sinless. I doubt it. I don’t think it would have occurred to him. He just did what he was supposed to do and lived in the will of God.

Of course, one thing he did. He spent a lot of time in prayer. That probably had a lot to do with it.