There are other supposed “impossible moral conflict” situations that people bring up, but sometimes those are artificial situations. I think we should realize that if we ever come to a difficult situation like that, 1 Corinthians 10:13 says God will provide a “way of escape,” a way not to give into the temptation.

We Don’t Have to Choose

I’m convinced that the idea that we sometimes have to choose the lesser sin because all our choices are sinful is a dangerous and deeply harmful idea for the Christian life. I’m aware that several evangelical ethics books claim that, from time to time, we face situations of what they call “impossible moral conflict” where all our choices are sinful and we must simply choose to commit the lesser sin. I don’t see this taught in Scripture, honestly. It’s contradicted by the life of Christ.

The idea that we sometimes have to choose the lesser sin because all our choices are sinful is a dangerous and deeply harmful idea for the Christian life.

Hebrews 4 says that Christ, in every respect, has been tempted as we are, yet was without sin. So, if Jesus was tempted in every way as we are, and we’re tempted by situations where all our choices are sinful, then that means that Jesus was tempted by situations where all his choices were sinful. That means that Jesus must have sinned by disobeying God’s moral laws. That contradicts many verses in the New Testament, especially Hebrews 4:15.

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