Theologians have used two terms to describe Jesus’ ability to sin or not as ‘peccability’ and ‘impeccability.’ 

Those who consider that Christ was peccable believe that He could have sinned but did not. Those who say that Christ was impeccable believe Jesus did not sin and could not have sinned. 

The impeccability of Christ (His utter holiness and separation from sin) is biblically supported; here are a few scriptures:

• 2 Corinthians 5:21 says that He “knew no sin”; 
• Hebrews 4:15 that He “has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin”; 
• Hebrews 7:26 describes Him as “holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners”; and 
• 1 Peter 2:22 affirms that He “committed no sin.”

It is also essential to the Christian faith that Jesus is impeccable, allowing Him to become the ultimate sacrifice for our sins. Jesus is called the spotless Lamb of God who took on our sins so that we might become righteous.  

2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, 

that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

A person who believes that Jesus could not have sinned might ask how Jesus could have been tempted in all of our ways if He could not have sinned. This is a fair question.

But ask yourself this – can an undefeatable army still be attacked? Yes, but the undefeatable army will always come out victorious.

To elaborate more on this, one author illustrated the impeccability of Christ this way, saying:

“Suppose I handed you an iron hanger. Could you bend it? Obviously, it does not take a strong person to do that. But suppose I gave you a crowbar could you bend that? Of course not! 

In this example, the iron hanger represents Christ’s Human nature, and the unbendable crowbar represents Christ’s divine nature. Now, if you took the iron hanger and wrapped it around the crowbar, could you still bend the iron hanger? No, because the hanger is directly connected to the crowbar”.

Since Jesus had a human nature, He could experience the full dose of temptation. Still, because He had a Divine nature, He was protected from falling into temptation, therefore, remaining impeccable. 

Because of Christ’s divine nature, He could not have sinned. He is omniscient (all-knowing) and would have known all the consequences of sin, and He is omnipotent (all-powerful) in His ability to resist sin.

Furthermore, when it says in Hebrews 4:15 that Christ was tempted in “all points” that we are tempted doesn’t necessarily mean “every” kind of temptation. 

The reference “all points” is best explained chronologically. He was tempted in the way a child, adolescence, and a young man would have been tempted. 

Some people have also questioned the authenticity of the test (as pointed out in Hebrews 4:15) since Jesus could not have sinned. 

We have to understand that Christ is entirely different from us because we experience the process of temptation when we are tempted. But the Bible is silent on Jesus experiencing some process of temptation in that there was some internal battle going on with Him on any level.

The temptation would have come, but it never had a foothold, “the door was barred and shut.” 

Ask yourself this, can you take an elementary test and pass it? Of course, you can, but does that make the test illegitimate? No, it does not.

Similarly, Jesus could have been given a test by Satan and passed it because He is God. 

Furthermore, we should avoid comparing the temptation of Christ to us because He was most likely tempted to the extent that we aren’t. We usually fall into temptation quickly because the longer we resist it, the harder satan works. But in the case of Christ, who never gave in, He was tempted and tested to the fullest extent possible, and He passed every time. 

In conclusion, Jesus being God, could not have fallen into sin but still could have been attacked and hurt enough so that He could empathize with us as we go through trials and tribulations. The temptations would have come, but it never found any foothold in Him because He was clinging totally and completely to holiness, virtue and righteousness.

Lastly, the fact that Jesus was tempted was not to demonstrate for us that He had a sinful nature but to show us that He was sinless.