Of Jesus and Human Nature

The more I think about, the less I am inclined to agree with the common Christian belief that we are all inherently sinful from birth. I really started to have issues with this when I was doing a research paper on the Humanity of Jesus Christ. A commom issue among the theolgians I read was how to deal with Christ's dual nature and specifically how to deal with it in respect to temptation and sin. The question was could Jesus have sinned and the overwhelming answer was in His humanity, yes. In His Divity, no. In addition, there seemed to be a prevailent beleif that Jesus' humanity was differnt from ours. Ours is inherently sinful, His is pure through and through. Yet if that holds true, wouldn't it go against Hebrews 4:15, which says that Jesus was tempted in every way we are? How could He have been tempted in every way in which we are if, at His core, He does not expereince temptation the same way we do? Maybe Jesus had exactly the same kind of human nature we do. Maybe we just don't fully comprehend our own nature.

So, if I don't buy the whole sin nature thing, what do I believe about our human nature? I think Abraham Joshua Heschel put it best: "It is because we are made in the image of God that our righteousness is expected, yet it is because we were made from the dust of the earth thast our inequeties are forgiven." Heschel postulates that we are, in fact, trinitarain beings. On the one hand we were made in the image of God. We are divine creations. On the other hand, we were created from the dust of the earth. We are only human. Both of these aspects come into play wth the third, that we were made for a relationship with God.

I think Jesus had the same humanity that we do. When He took on human form, He took on a nature that was created in the image of God and made from the dust of the earth. If He was different in any respect, I would say it was in the third. Jesus had a relationship with His Father unlike anyone else who has walked this earth. There was nothing He did apart from God (John 8:28). In everything He was wholly dependant upon God. That is what makes Him what He is and that is when He offers us. A way to become wholly what we were meant to be from the beginning. In loving dependant relationtionship with God. What's more, I think that as we grow in this relationship, one of the by-products will be a lessoning in sin. Not through conscious effort, but simply because we no longer desire it. Sin offers itself as a substitute for God and the more we allow God into our lives, the less sin space sin will have.

Well, those are my thoughts as they currently stand. Any comments?