Christ Jesus

Is Evangelical Preaching Heresies?

The growing number of cults and world religions today are causing problem for the church of Jesus Christ. They are spreading in unprecedented proportions by aggressive evangelizations, whereas, the Church of our Lord is sleeping. We believed that Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, New Age, Christian Science and many other groups that denied the Trinity, resurrection of Christ, salvation by grace and many other essential teachings as cults.

A house that is divided against itself will not stand, but it is also true that not everyone in a house is family. The Charismatic movement or Faith movement in the past two decades has brought lot of false teachings to the attention of evangelical. And for the sake of the truth, it is now times to address many evangelical pastors and Bible teachers who have held on to heresies. Are you saying that evangelicals are involved in heresies? Yes. Knowingly or unknowingly many evangelicals preached about another Jesus, not the Jesus in the Bible. Without listing names or schools, some of our outstanding Bible Colleges and Seminaries have a distorted view of Jesus. When you listen to some evangelical’s scholars teaching on Philippians 2: you would hear something like these: (1) Jesus emptied Himself of His divinity, (2) He gave up the use of the attributes, and (3) He gave up the independent exercise of the divine attributes. Which of these is right? None!

For the sake of fun, let consider “Jesus emptied Himself of His divinity.” Think clearly, put away your presupposition, what different in this statement from the Jehovah’s Witnesses who believed that Jesus is a little god. If He emptied Himself of His divinity, what that means is that He ceased being God at a particular time. If Jesus gave up the use of the attributes (Omnipotence, Omniscience, Omnipresence) while on this earth, do you still believe that He was God? If Jesus is co-equal in every way with the Father and Spirit, when He gave up the use of divine attributes was He then less than the Father and Spirit? If at any time Jesus laid aside just one of His divine attributes that makes Him God, then at that point the immutable Jesus stop been God. And if that is true, then the Bible should not be taken seriously, because it says: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13: 8).

Truths about the Jesus of the Bible: (1) He has two natures, (2) He never ceased been God at any time. It would be fair for us to say that Jesus gave up His throne in heaven, He gave up part of His glory He had with the Father before the foundation of the world (Jn. 17: 5), and He gave up His right of the seraphim worshiping Him, “ Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory” (Is. 6: 3). In Liberia, I grew up in a very strong Bible believing Southern Baptist Church, and my late pastor used to say, “If someone tells you something about the Bible and cannot show it in the Bible, don’t consider it valid.” We are not to add or subtract from the Word of God (Rev. 22), and that is exactly what many evangelicals have done. There is nothing in Philippians 2 that say Jesus gave up His divine attributes or emptied Himself of His divinity. Such teaching is heretics and should not be accepted. To understand the “emptied Himself”, we must first understand the two natures of Christ.

The Jesus Christ of the Bible wasn’t fifty percent Man and fifty percent God; instead He was fully Man and fully God. The two natures of Christ were united in His Person, with each having its respective attributes. His divine attributes were separated from His humanity. God doesn’t need anything, but as Man we know that in His humanity Jesus said, “I thirst” (Jn. 8: 58), and also we read about Him eating and sleeping. Speaking of His Deity He is called “the Son of God” (Lk. 1: 35), and He said, “I am not of this world” (Jn. 8: 23). During Christ’s incarnation none of His divine attribute was charged or surrendered. We know that Jesus was the “One to be the Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting” (Micah 5: 2). Yet, this Jesus in His humanity the Father referred to Him as a faithful Servant (Is. 52: 11-53: 10), but in His Deity the Father referred to Him as God (Heb. 1: 8). Now having said that, let look at our passage.

Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, But made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth. And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2: 5-11 NKJV).

Paul is talking about the Person of Christ who has two natures. As God He “being in the form of God” acting like a bondservant. Paul is calling our attention to Jesus Christ who is the leaders of the church, the way in which He acted in order to accomplish His mission. We need to have such a ‘mind’ that will not fight for right, equality, but instead will be ‘humble’ and allow the Lord to exalt us. Verse seven begin with ‘but’, and that should grasp our attention. In His humanity we read ‘emptied Himself’ and “being found in appearance as a man”. The question is did the emptied Himself referring to His Deity or humanity?

To say emptied Himself referred to His Deity is to read into the text and to make it say something that will be inconsistence with Scriptures. As God what could Christ have empty Himself of? Was it holiness, truth, love or any other particular attribute? Because the Holy Spirit can be resisted, will it make sense to say He emptied Himself of Omnipotent? No! The Holy Spirit ‘allows’ us to have our free will, and in the same way Jesus who is God didn’t empty Himself of any divine attribute, but instead ‘allowed’ His humanity to be poured out “to the point of death, even the death of the cross”. Two reasons why the emptied Himself referred to Christ’s humanity:

1. When Jesus was a Man He humbled Himself. Our text talked about the humanity of Christ that was so obedience to God (Father, Son, and Spirit), even the death on the cross. We know that Jesus humbled Himself by washing His disciples’ feet (Jn. 13). When we read “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Lk. 2: 52), we know that is not speaking about His divinity but instead His humanity. How can God increase in wisdom and stature? But in His humanity Jesus did increased in wisdom and stature by depending on Himself- His Deity. All through Jesus earthly ministries He never cease being ‘Immanuel’ which is “God with us” (Matt. 1: 23). Since Jesus was God among us, that means at no point did He empty Himself of His divine attribute (s) or Godhood, but instead “in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily” (Col. 2: 9). Since God cannot die and Jesus did experienced death it will be appropriate to say in His humanity He ‘emptied Himself’ or ‘poured out’ Himself by the death on the cross. Speaking about His humanity Peter said He was “put to death in the flesh” (1 Pet. 3: 18). When Jesus died on the cross it was His humanity as for His divinity He was still God over the universe. He didn’t stop holding all things by the power of His word.

2. The name Jesus is associated with His humanity. Before the incarnation of Christ He was called “The Word of God” (Rev. 19: 13; Jn. 1: 1). Jesus didn’t become the Son of God when He came to this earth, He has always been the eternal Son of God. Speaking of Jesus the angel told Joseph “You shall call His name JESUS, for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1: 21). In His Deity He is called the “Holy One” (Lk. 1: 35). In His humanity He is Jesus who will save us from our sins with the perfect blood of God (Acts 20: 28), by dying on the cross. In reference to the God-Man- Jesus, God the Father has given Him a name that is above every other name and at the mention of His name every creature in heavens, on earth or beneath the earth will bow and say Jesus is God over all. Therefore, the Jesus of the Bible was fully God on this earth and did not give up any of His divine attribute. He was fully God and fully Man when He went to the cross; even though His humanity died, yet His divinity held the nails and the universe together so that you and I will have life in Him. Do you know Him? I mean do you have a personal relationship with Jesus? You can know Him by going to how to know God on web page.