“But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. You happily put up with whatever anyone tells you, even if they preach a different Jesus than the one we preach, or different kind of Spirit than the one you received, or a different kind of gospel than the one you believed.” (2 Corinthians 11:3-4 NLT)
There’s a lot of confusion in our world today about who the Jesus of the Bible really is. Many have been fooled by the blasphemous claims of the Latter-Day Saints or the Jehovah’s Witnesses, though they use similar terms and claim to be “Christian,” they have completely different meanings for many terms. They use common expressions such as being saved, baptized, faith, church, works, believe, heaven and others, and refer to Jesus and the Spirit, but what they mean by those terms is drastically different from what the Bible teaches. But how will you know? You ask questions.
It’s not uncommon in conversations with friends, loved ones, even strangers to mention Jesus, and it’s not unusual for someone to say something like, “Oh, I believe in Jesus!” And our knee-jerk reaction can sometimes be, “Oh great! That’s wonderful.” Often followed up by, “Where do you go to church?” “I go to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints” or “I go to the Kingdom Hall” or “I don’t go to church. Me and Jesus have an understanding, I believe in Him and He lets me basically live however I want to without the burden of church and all that formality.”
What should these responses clearly indicate? They believe in a different Jesus than the One in the Bible. Why is that important to know? Because if we’re trying to help someone come to faith in the Jesus of the Bible, we need to know what they mean when they use His Name or hear His Name in conversation. We need to ask someone: “What does that name mean to you?” Or “Who is Jesus in your understanding?” Because if someone doesn’t know who Jesus is, the true, living Gospel will never make sense to them.
If Jesus is a created being, as some cults believe, not the pre-existent, Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler of the Universe that the Bible teaches that He is, then He’s powerless to forgive sin. If He wasn’t born of a virgin, didn’t live a sinless life, didn’t die by crucifixion on a Roman cross, and rise on the third day from a borrowed tomb, He’s not the God-Man the Bible describes. If He’s not the second Person of the Triune Godhead (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit), He’s clearly not the Jesus of the Bible. If He didn’t overcome sin, death, and the grave He has no power to save and has no authority to call us to heaven when we die.
It matters what we believe about Jesus, that’s why reading, studying, and memorizing Scripture is so critical. Memorize or at least know what John 1:1-14 says where John explains exactly who Jesus is. The same with Colossians 1:15-20 where Paul explains the uniqueness of the God-Man. There is no question that Jesus is unique, one-of-kind, God in human flesh. To mistake the clear teaching of Scripture is to distort truth and blaspheme the Name and character of almighty God.
Peter summed it up in the presence of the Jewish Council when he said in Acts 4:12: “There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved!” There is no agreement between Truth and lies; no compromise between contradictions; no fellowship between good and evil.
We must love others enough to gently, but forthrightly help them to understand who Jesus is and why knowing Him is the only way to the heaven of the Bible, which is the ONLY heaven.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 