Sin no Aid to Sympathy
A. B. Davidson, LL. D. 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… It might be supposed that to sinful men a high priest who had known sin would be fuller of sympathy. But the apostle is not writing to men as sinners, to men who have fallen, but to men in danger of falling. And to the condition of such men Christ's history appeals with power. He knew all temptation, and can sympathise with those tempted; He overcame it, and this gives Him skill and power in opening up a way of escape. And even of sin a sinner is an ill judge; he will either regard it with undue abhorrence, or with mawkish sentiment, or with a callousness that comes of thinking it a matter of course among men. A clear, uncoloured view of it, and of those liable to it, can only be found in the mind tempted but unfallen. (A. B. Davidson, LL. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. WEB: For we don't have a high priest who can't be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.