---
title: Hebrews 4:15
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/hebrews-4-15/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/hebrews-4-15.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Hebrews 4:15
testament: NT
section: Letters
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Hebrews 4:15

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin.

## JW Usage

Hebrews 4:15 — Jesus "tested in all respects as we are, but without sin" — is treated by JWs as evidence that Jesus *cannot* be Almighty God. God cannot be tempted (James 1:13); Jesus was tempted; therefore Jesus is not God. The verse becomes a Christology proof against deity rather than a Christology proof for the incarnation.

## Protestant Usage

Hebrews 4:15 is a celebration of the incarnation, not a denial of deity. Philippians 2:6-8 supplies the framework: the Son who was in the form of God emptied himself and took the form of a servant. The same person who is God by nature was tested as a man — and this is the heart of the gospel, not a problem for it. The testing was real; so was the deity. Hebrews 4:15 fills out the same picture Hebrews 1:8 frames at the start of the book: at 1:8 the Father addresses the Son as "O God"; at 4:15 the same Son is the high priest who knows weakness from inside. Both are true of one person. The high priest can sympathise because he was tested in our flesh; he is sufficient because the one tested was the Son who is God.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [The Incarnation Framework](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/philippians2.md) — Philippians 2:5–8 [Deity of Christ]
- [No Pastoral Grace — The Judicial Committee vs the Throne of Grace](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/no-pastoral-grace-confession.md) — Hebrews 4:15-16 — A sympathetic high priest [Salvation]
- [Only God Can Know Good and Evil and Never Sin](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/sinless-knowing-deity.md) — Genesis 3:22 → Hebrews 4:15 [Deity of Christ]
- [Tempted in Every Way — Yet Could Not Fail](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/jesus-tempted-yet-impeccable.md) — Hebrews 4:15 / James 1:13 [Deity of Christ]