Hebrews 2:18

For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.

The writer of Hebrews makes a powerful claim here. Jesus suffered being tempted. Because of that, He is able to help those who are tempted.

But that raises a question people have wrestled with for centuries.

Could Jesus really be tempted?

Notice what the text actually says. It does not say He only observed temptation. It says He suffered through it. That word matters. Temptation was not something distant or theoretical to Him. It pressed in on Him.

You see, temptation always involves suffering in some form.

Let me give you a simple picture.

If someone placed a hot fudge sundae in front of me, it would pull on my attention. It would look good. It would invite me. And if I were trying to resist it, there would be a certain tension inside. That tension would feel like suffering because something attractive was being resisted.

But imagine something completely different.

Imagine being taken to a sewage treatment plant and being told to stand there and stare into it all day. You would suffer there too. But not because you were tempted to jump in. You would suffer because of how revolting the whole thing is.

Look at that.

Both situations involve suffering, but for very different reasons.

So the question theologians have discussed for centuries is this: when Jesus was tempted, was the suffering the pull of sin’s sweetness, or was it the revulsion of standing face to face with the ugliness of sin?

Because here’s the thing.

Jesus never sinned. His heart was perfectly pure. His love for the Father was completely unbroken. So when He faced sin and temptation in this fallen world, He experienced the pressure of it in ways we probably cannot fully understand.

But this much we know for certain.

He endured it.

And because He endured it, He is able to help us when we face temptation ourselves.

That word succour means to run to the aid of someone crying for help.

So when temptation comes, we are not facing it alone. The One who walked through the fiercest pressure of temptation stands ready to help.

And He understands exactly what the struggle feels like.