📖 Biblical Definition
The impeccability of Christ is the orthodox doctrine that Jesus, though "tempted in all points like as we are", was not only sinless but incapable of sin: "yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15). The temptations in the wilderness, in Gethsemane, and at the cross were real — He suffered them — but the failure was metaphysically impossible. He is one Person with two natures, fully God and fully man, and the divine Person cannot deny Himself: "if we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself" (2 Timothy 2:13). Impeccability is the indispensable foundation of the gospel — the sinless Lamb is the only sufficient sacrifice (1 Peter 1:19), and the impeccable Advocate is the only trustworthy Mediator (1 John 2:1).
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
IMPECCABILITY, n. The quality of not being liable to sin; exemption from the possibility of sinning.
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The quality of being impeccable; exemption from sin or error; in theology, the attribute of Christ by which His holy nature could not be overcome by temptation, He being very God of very God and incapable of moral failure.
📖 Key Scripture
Hebrews 4:15 — "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."
2 Corinthians 5:21 — "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
1 Peter 2:22 — "Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:"
1 John 3:5 — "And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Modern teachers downgrade impeccability to mere “He happened not to sin.”
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Some argue Christ could have sinned but didn't—a view that supposedly “makes Him relatable.” The unspoken assumption is that real temptation requires possible failure, and that a Christ who cannot fall is not truly tested.
Scripture says otherwise. The temptations were real, the pressure was real, the human will of Christ truly resisted—but the Person who underwent them is the eternal Son, who cannot deny Himself. A peccable Savior is no Savior. Our anchor holds because the Captain cannot drift.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Greek chorīs hamartias — without sin.
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G266 — hamartia — sin, missing the mark
G5565 — chōris — apart from, without
G3985 — peirazō — to test, try, tempt
Usage
"A peccable Christ is no Savior; an impeccable Christ is a sure rock."
"He was tempted that He might sympathize, sinless that He might save."
"The Captain cannot drift, therefore the anchor holds."