Wrong views of Jesus Christ Here are a few wrong views of Jesus. Does it make a difference on what you believe? Sure does! 1) Jesus is only a good person. Some state that Jesus was a good person and even a good teacher. Even those from hostile religions like Islam accept this. Usually when a person says such things, they mean that Jesus was not God. But if Jesus was only man and not God, then He would have been born with a sin nature inherited from Adam and thus himself be a sinner. He might have been a great person, but it is important to recognize that He had to be wholly righteous otherwise (1) His life would not be accepted on our behalf, (2) Jesus would have had to die for His own sin, and (3) He would not have come alive again which indeed demonstrated His righteousness. If Jesus was only a good person, then we would still be in our sin. He was accepted as righteous sacrifice for us only because He was wholly righteous. 2) Jesus is only a great God. Some state that Christ was only God. The early church battled against cults that had no problem with Jesus doing miracles and being God. Their problem was that if He was God, and it is in this conclusion they made a mistake, that He could not suffer God’s wrath. This phrase ‘crushed for our iniquities’ defines very clearly what happened at the cross. The docetic cult took shape in several forms. But common to them all was the belief that the flesh, the body, was inherently evil. So if Jesus was God, when He came to earth, He merely came upon a person called Jesus. God could not have an evil body. They separated Jesus in the flesh from the Spirit God that was on Him. Cult members asserted that the Spirit God left Jesus just before He died when He suffered for our sins. This of course has some problems other than being unscriptural. (1) This teaching blames our bodies for our sins when it is not our bodies but our wills. Our bodies are good but due to our sinful heart we do evil. We go astray. Paul instructs us to do good with these same bodies. (2) If the Spirit of God left Jesus or was different from the one who died, then the atonement cannot be complete. This is the reason the Old Testament taught the need to have an unblemished lamb sacrificed at Passover. The only way God would pass-over our sins is if there was a perfect sacrifice. Of course this would not be a lamb but a picture of Christ who would die for us. If the Christ Spirit merely came upon the man Jesus, then in the end it would be a sinner dying for his own sins. The scripture teaches us that several important points about Christ’s saving death: (1) The God-man was perfectly united from birth to death/ resurrection. Jesus Christ was a hundred percent God and hundred percent man. This is the reason the miraculous birth of Jesus was so clearly mentioned by Matthew and Luke and that His resurrection Jesus’ changed body was so frequently pointed out. He was not just a Spirit. (2) This same God-man is the One who suffered for us. It sounds odd and strange that one so lofty would die for man so lowly. In many religions man tries to escape the flesh, but God sent His Son and took on human form. The reason was not only to model what a godly life could and should be but to die as a sacrifice. Remember it is this one verse that is the focus of the whole book of Isaiah. (3) The conclusion, then, is that if Christ’s sacrifice is so precious and is accepted, as testified by the scriptures and His resurrection, then our sins are forgiven. We are released from the wrath of God. Christ is the propitiation (appeasing sacrifice). This is the Gospel. Christ died for our sin so that we do not need to die for them. This teaching in an instant chases away the false teaching of purgatory, a place to purge us from our sins after our death. It also eliminates the question whether we are worth salvation. We are not worthy of salvation. We are saved by grace. It is our sin that brought Him to the Cross but it is there our sin in totality is effectively dealt with. We have such a wonderful message to proclaim to those in the mountains, valleys and city streets. People are trying to escape sin, its guilt and its power, but do not know how. Governments can’t do it. Religions can’t do it. Only Christ. We need to bring people to Christ to find forgiveness. (4) We are saved by faith not our works. If we were saved by our good works, then there would be no need for Christ to die. “He was pierced through for our transgressions.” Do you see that it was His death instead of our death? That is why when we believe we find eternal life. An even clearer explanation will come about in Isaiah 53:10. But if we are saved by works, then clearly Christ’s death would be meaningless. But having His death, we have life through faith in Christ. Evangelism hint: Some reject Christianity because they say it is too easy. Agree that salvation by faith does seem to be easy (we only believe), but then go on and talk about the standard God expects of the believer: the purity of heart, soul and body. See if they can be that all the time. Then you will note how they will become uncomfortable with God’s standards in their minds. Go on and share how you have found that it is not that it was easy to do. It was easy for us but the hard work was done by Christ. Take them if you will right to this prophecy which became fact. Tell them about the gruesome death of the righteous one. Then he and we again will see that there is no easy salvation. It is only that Christ did for us what we couldn’t do ourselves.
Posted on: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 10:34:36 +0000
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