Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. (Philippians 2:6)

We Must Correct Wrong Beliefs

As long as dwindling funding will allow Apprising Ministries follows our mission to document the fallling away of the evangelical community. Spiritually corrupt Contemplative Spirituality/Mysticism continues to slither throughout the mainstream of the church visible; in fact, as you’ll see e.g. in Tim Keller Recommanding Roman Catholic Mysticism, this lunacy in the Lord’s Name has even penetrated so-called Reformed sectors.

Unfortunately evangelicalism would make the foolish decision to embrace of the sinfully ecumenical neo-liberal cult of the Emergent Church, with leaders e.g. like the unholy trinity of apostates, Living Spiritual Teacher and EC guru Brian McLaren, universalist Emerging Church pastor Doug Pagitt, and his friend Tony Jones, the progressive “theologian in residence” at Solomon’s Porch. A sad result of this lethal combination is that now within the evangelical community itself Christians must defend cardinal doctrines of the faith.

With this in mind then, let’s look at the first part of our text above. Who— Christ Jesus—though he was in the form of God. You need to know that this verse teaches our Lord is made up of the nature—or stuff—of God, namely Deity. Bible commentator H.C. Hewlett tells us that this phrase though he was in the form of God uses the “participle hyparchon” in the original Greek. And the way this sentence is constructed “indicates that [Christ] was already in existence.”[1] The word hyparchon carries the meaning of “existing”—“which always involves a preexistent state.”[2]

So, reading this in the original language you’d get the plain meaning — “Who, was already existing in the very ‘form’—nature—or essence of God.” What God the Holy Spirit is telling us here about Jesus Christ of Nazareth is that He is a Being Who was already in existence before He became that Babe in the manger, and He never stopped being God. No; what Christ did was simply to add another nature—this one human—to the nature of God, which He already possessed!

Do you see now; the Bible teaches that Jesus always has been God, and when He was born of the Virgin Mary, He then became Man. Whether someone wants to believe this or not is between that person and God. However, if they choose not to believe what God’s Word says they should stop telling people that the Christian Church “made this doctrine up.” Yet this is precisely what skeptics, the Mind Sciences—like Christian Science and the Unity School of Christianity—are telling people around you.

Others who say that supposedly dishonest clergy “invented” the Deity of Christ would be those in the non-Christian Cult of Liberalism aka Progressive Christianity as well as those involved with the New Spirituality, which swallowed up the New Age Movement. Then there are others who don’t believe that the one true eternal God became man, like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Mormon Church and The Way International, who continue to insist that the Bible “doesn’t teach this.”

While they certainly have the right to their own views, they are clearly wrong when they say that the full Deity of Jesus Christ is nowhere to be found in the Bible. As a matter of fact our text above in Philippians 2:6 alone refutes that argument. And especially in the original Greek language where you’ve seen that Paul wrote of Christ Jesus — “Who, was already existing in the nature—essence—or the very stuff that makes God Who He is.”

How sad that I even have to cover this topic of the full Deity of Christ over again; however, it’s now become incumbent  upon us to be able to teach this to others who don’t believe it. As His witnesses we are to be able to show the tons of people here in this postmodern world who deny His Deity where the Bible teaches this truth. Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the eternal God come in human flesh. For this is what it means to say — Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9). 

Christ’s Deity is a non-negotiable central doctrine of the historic orthodox Christian faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). Did you know that God’s Word teaches us to correct the false understandings that people have about Him? It does. The Bible says:

And when [Apollos] wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. When he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that the Christ was Jesus. (Acts 18:27-28).

I tell you the truth, more and more compromisers today within evangelicalism are trying to sell us a bill of goods by trying to convince us that we are to sit back and just let the world run over us. You’ll search the Scriptures in vain for the idea that the Christian is not to come into conflict with non-believers. It just isn’t true. The truth is that while we are not to provoke conflict, neither are we to sit back as passive punching bags and just be abused by the evil world system. After-all we are light in the Lord (cf. Ephesians 5:8) and soldiers of the King of kings!

Now whether we like this fact or not we are in a real spiritual war against Satan, the leader of the dark forces of his doomed kingdom of this world-system. The Bible tells us to — Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them (Ephesians 5:11). You need to understand that the Deity of Christ is their prime target of attack; and the sad thing is, there are so many, many people who are dying in their sins by denying the full Deity of Christ.

A Few Examples Concerning Denials Of Christ’s Deity

For example let’s first consider this from in the non-Christian cult known as The Way International.  Its founder—the late Victor Paul Wierwille—who even wrote a book called Jesus Christ is Not God— says, “The gospel of John established the truth of God’s word that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, but not God the Son—or God Himself.”[3] The Christian Apologetics And Research Ministry tells us that the Way also teaches — “Jesus was not born of a virgin…that [He] was raised on Saturday and that there were four people crucified with Him, not two.” (Online source)

Wierwille tells us — “Jesus Christ’s existence began when he was conceived by God’s creating the soul-life of Jesus in Mary.”[4] Then further, Wierwille himself wrote: “I am saying that Jesus Christ is not God, but the Son of God. They are not ‘co-eternal, without beginning or end, and co-equal.’ Jesus Christ was not literally God in the beginning; neither does he have all the assets of God.”[5] Again, Phillipans 2:6 alone clearly contradicts Wierwille’s musings.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (the Mormons) will tell you, “We’re Christians because we believe in the Savior Jesus the Christ.” The question we need to ask is: “Which Jesus Christ do you believe in?” Jesus Christ of Nazareth of the historic biblical record; or one of the myriad impostors? Now consider this from Gospel Principles, which is a publication of the Mormon Church. The following comes from chapter 2:

God is not only our ruler and creator; he is also our Heavenly Father. “All men and women are . . . literally the sons and daughters of Deity. . . . Man, as a spirit, was begotten and born of heavenly parents, and reared to maturity in the eternal mansions of the Father, prior to coming upon the earth in a temporal [physical] body.” (Joseph F. Smith, “The Origin of Man,” Improvement Era, Nov. 1909, 78, 80)

Every person who was ever born on earth was our spirit brother or sister in heaven. The first spirit born to our heavenly parents was Jesus Christ (see D&C 93:21), so he is literally our elder brother (see Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 26). Because we are the spiritual children of our heavenly parents, we have inherited the potential to develop their divine qualities. If we choose to do so, we can become perfect, just as they are.
(Online source, emphasis added)

Then from the official website of the Mormon Church we read:

Jess L. Christensen, Institute of Religion director at Utah State University, Logan, Utah. On first hearing, the doctrine that Lucifer and our Lord, Jesus Christ, are brothers may seem surprising to some—especially to those unacquainted with latter-day revelations. But both the scriptures and the prophets affirm that Jesus Christ and Lucifer are indeed offspring of our Heavenly Father and, therefore, spirit brothers. (Online source, emphasis mine)

Or what about the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, also known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses? At the current official website of the Watchtower we see:

Since all created things had a beginning, there was a time when God was alone. Countless ages ago, however, God became a Creator. Who was his first creation? The last book of the Bible identifies Jesus as “the beginning of the creation by God.” (Revelation 3:14) Jesus is “the firstborn of all creation.” That is so “because by means of him all other things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible.” (Colossians 1:15, 16) Yes, Jesus was the only one directly created by God himself. (Online source)

Also in the Watchtower publication Should You Believe In The Trinity we read:

Jesus had an existence in heaven before coming to the earth…the Bible plainly states that in his prehuman existence, Jesus was a created spirit being, just as the angels were spirit beings created by God… Jesus, in his prehuman existence, was “The first-[one]-born of all creation.” (Online source)

Now certainly none of this agrees with the historic record of the actual Person of Jesus Christ of Nazareth as revealed in the Bible. Which means according to our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus the “promised Messiah,” that all people who believe such things—such as those we have just seen—who deny His full Deity remain condemned to Hell. You may remember that in his eyewitness deposition that the Apostle John records the real Jesus as saying — I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I Am, i.e. the eternal God Himself come in human flesh, you will indeed die in your sins (John 8:24).

But What About You?

So clearly we are not dealing with some minor issue here. Rather, this concerns the very Gospel of Jesus Christ itself! We can see that many who would claim to be Christian truly have no idea what the Bible really says about our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (cf. Titus 2:13). And they also have no idea just how important it is to tell others where the Bible clearly teaches Who Christ actually is. Not Who He was, but Who the Master is; for He is alive! Christ Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead.

We who are truly Christians need to be able to prove from the Scriptures—just like our brother Apollos did—that the very Creator of this universe itself hung on that cross; and the Bible tells us that Jesus went to that grisly death — for the joy that was set before Him (Hebrews 12:2). And just what was that joy set before Him? His unfathomable love for — you. Do you see this now? God doesn’t just talk about His love for His Church. O no, the Bible says — but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

 To accept this free gift from the Lord God Almighty is the best present you could ever give yourself. Today, if you hear His Voice, then know that your Creator, loved you enough to take your place and to receive the punishment that you deserve. If you haven’t, won’t you surrender your life to Christ Jesus today? 

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Endnotes: 

[1] F.F. Bruce, Gen. Ed., New International Bible Commentary [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1976], 1444, emphasis mine).

[2] W.E. Vine, Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary [Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1986], 60, emphasis mine.

[3] Victor Paul Wierwille, Jesus Christ is Not God [New York: Devin-Adair Co, 1975], 16.

[4] Ibid., 37.

[5] http://www.watchman.org/profile/waypro.htm, accessed 5/2/11.

See also:

THE EMERGING CHURCH AND THE NEW PROGRESSIVE THEOLOGY ON CHRIST

NO BOUNDARIES IF YOU LOVE “JESUS”

MARCUS BORG AND CHRISTIANS WHO DON’T BELIEVE IN JESUS