THE SINLESSNESS OF CHRIST: “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him THERE IS NO SIN” 1 John 3:5.

How was Christ made "to be sin for us?" He, the Incarnate Son of God, voluntarily assumed the consequences of our sin–CORRUPTION AND DEATH–WITHOUT SINNING HIMSELF. And He submitted to unjust suffering because of the sinful passions of men and of angels. This means salvation is far more than forgiveness of sins. It IS A NEW LIFE: OUR RECONCILIATION TO GOD [vv 18-20] and our becoming NEW CREATURES (v. 17}, participants in the very "righteousness of God" (v. 21). This means our salvation is not just juridical (the static, legal pronouncement of a judge) but IT IS PERSONAL AND RELATIONAL (the dynamic, sacrificial love of a father for his child).

As Man, Jesus Christ, was baptized of John in the Jordan; He went about the cities and villages with the preaching of salvation; not once before His Resurrection did He encounter a need to prove His humanity to anyone. He experienced HUNGER, AND THIRST, THE NEED FOR REST AND SLEEP, AND HE SUFFERED PAINFUL FEELINGS AND PHYSICAL SUFFERINGS.

Living the physical life natural to a man, the Lord also lived the life of the soul as a man. He strengthened His spiritual powers WITH FASTING AND PRAYER. He experienced HUMAN FEELINGS: JOY, ANGER, SORROW. He expressed them outwardly: "He was troubled in spirit" [John 13:21], SHOWED DISSATISFACTION, SHED TEARS–for example, at the death of Lazaros. The Holy Gospels reveal to us a powerful spiritual battle in the garden of Gethsemane on the night before He was taken under guard: "My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death" (Matthew 26:38)–thus did the Lord describe the state of His soul to His Disciples.

The RATIONAL, CONSCIOUS HUMAN WILL of Jesus Christ unfailingly placed all human strivings in submission to the Divine will in Himself. A strikingly evident image of this is given in the Passion of the Lord, which began in the garden of Gethsemane: "O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt" [Matthew 26:39]. "Not My will, but Thine, be done" [Luke 22:42].

Concerning the truth of the Savior’s FULLY HUMAN NATURE, the Holy Fathers of the Church speak thus:

Saint Cyril of Alexandria: "If the nature which He received had not had a human mind, then the one who entered into battle with the devil was God Himself; and it was therefore God who gained the victory. But if God victorious, then I, who did not participate in this victory at all, do not receive any benefit from it. Therefore I cannot rejoice over it, for I would then be boasting of someone else’s trophies."

Saint Cyril of Jerusalem: "If the becoming man was a phantom, then salvation is a dream." Other Holy Fathers expressed themselves similarly. If the word of God says that the Son of God came "in the likeness of sinful flesh" [Romans 8:3], it is thereby expressing the idea that this flesh was true human flesh; RATHER, IT WAS COMPLETELY PURE OF EVERY SIN AND CORRUPTION, BOTH OF THE ANCESTRAL SIN ("ORIGINAL SIN") AND OF VOLUNTARY SIN. When the Son of God became INCARNATEs, He voluntarily assumed the passibility and mortality that were THE CONSEQUENCES OF ADAM’S SIN WHILE REMAINING HIMSELF WHOLLY SINLESS. Christ did NOT assume the corruption of human nature and inclination toward sin that all other people have inherited from Adam. In this sense, CHRIST REMAINED FREE OF ANCESTRAL SIN. While being PASSIBLE (that is, subject to suffering), HE WAS COMPLETELY FREE OF SINFUL PASSIONS AND OF THE DISEASE OF SIN.