Temptations of Christ

I didn't have a good title for this post. I wanted to write about the temptations of Christ, but I don't know which of Christ's many titles I could best associate with His resisting all temptations. The word I want to use is Succorer (which is, in fact, a real word), but it's a weird word and very hard to say aloud.

I'm going to do something else a little different. Thus far in writing these posts, I have only quoted scripture and not other quotes. I could try to explain the thoughts in my head today without using outside sources, but I'd just end up paraphrasing what someone else said so much better. This is from C.S. Lewis:

"A silly idea is current that good people do not know what temptation means. This is an obvious lie. Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. ... You find out the strength of a wind by trying to walk against it, not by lying down. A man who gives in to temptation after five minutes simply does not know what it would have been like an hour later. That is why bad people, in one sense, know very little about badness. They have lived a sheltered life by always giving in. We never find out the strength of the evil impulse inside us until we try to fight it: and Christ, because He was the only man who never yielded to temptation, is also the only man who knows to the full what temptation means--the only complete realist" (Mere Christianity, bk. III, chap. II, para. 7, pp. 124-125).

Once in a discussion about the temptations of Christ, I heard someone say that He wasn't really tempted. She thought that if we believed Christ was tempted to sin, it would somehow diminish His holiness. There is a fundamental mistake in this argument because temptation isn't a sin. I'll say that again. Really, I'll type it again. Temptation is not sin. We are all tempted. Sin starts when we dwell on or act on our temptations. We all have weakness. If we were given a Savior who, because He was the Son of God, was unable to comprehend what it was like to truly be tempted, we wouldn't be able to turn to Him as a compassionate Savior. Fortunately, Jesus Christ understands perfectly, much better than we do, what temptation really means.

Before Christ was born, it was prophesied, "And lo, he shall suffer temptations, and pain of body, hunger, thirst, and fatigue, even more than man can suffer..." (Mosiah 3:7).

Even the temptations He suffered were more than man could endure. What gave Him the power to fulfill the Atonement was that He never yielded. "He suffered temptations but gave no heed unto them" (Doctrine and Covenants 20:22).

The reason Christ was allowed to suffer was for our benefit. "For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted" (Hebrews 2:18).

The word succor means to give help, relief, or aid. It is so important for each of us to understand that Christ knows exactly what we are suffering. Just because we have a difficult, pressing temptation doesn't mean that we can become an exception to the commandments. We might think that our temptations are different from those of the other people we know. They may be, but that still doesn't make us an exception to the expectations given to us by Jesus Christ. Our temptations are not different than what Jesus suffered--although your temptations are only a small part. Because we suffer temptation, we need to rely even more on the Savior. Every step of the way through this life we can rely on His aid. And we can always trust that He understands how we feel.

In this next verse, high priest refers to Jesus Christ:

"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.

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:15-16).

Our relationship with Jesus Christ is deepened when we understand that He can feel the power of our weaknesses and infirmities. He's been there. And because we know that, we can feel emboldened to approach Him seeking His mercy and grace. We need Him. I need Him.