![]() ![]() This heresy taught that human works are essential to bring salvation, and we see the Apostle Paul denouncing this heresy when he criticized the Judaizers who were enticing certain believers in the Christian church to follow the Jewish ceremonial laws to earn salvation. Unfortunately, it is this simple gospel message that the cults distort.Īlthough the creeds of Nicaea and Athanasius defined the Christian position on the identity of Christ, another form of doctrinal perversion infiltrated Christianity as early as the first century. He paid the price for our sins so that those of us who have placed our faith in Him could be forgiven and live eternally with God. David explained that we are born with a sinful nature when he said in Psalm 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” This sinful nature has caused “all” of us to “fall short of the glory of God.” Thus, Romans 6:23 explains, “The wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Salvation is a “free gift” bought by the precious blood of Christ. Soteriology in Christianity is the study of how mankind is saved from the destruction of sin and death. PHILIPPIANS 2:10-11: “So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” ISAIAH 45:23: “‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’” ![]() This exposition of the hypostatic union discussed in Philippians 2 then concludes in verse 11 by pointing out that all will someday bow and swear allegiance to Jesus in fulfillment of Isaiah 45:23. The result of His death and subsequent resurrection was that “God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name.” This name that is “above every name” must include the supreme name for God known as the “LORD” or “Jehovah.” Indeed, we see in Romans 10:9-13 that Jesus is identified as the LORD Jehovah when Paul applies Joel 2:32 to the “Lord” Christ at verse 13. Philippians 2:8-11 goes on to explain that by becoming fully human, Christ endured death as a payment for our sins. To further demonstrate how Christ’s submission to the Father doesn’t denote inferiority, Philippians 2:6 states that Christ, while continuing to exist in God’s nature, did not seek to grasp at “equality with God.” This implies that Christ was entitled to claim such equality with God, for why would this be put forth as an example of humility if He wasn’t entitled to claim “equality with God” in the first place? It is generally recognized that the success of any coordinated effort among groups of individuals is predicated upon the authority structure behind that group, so why would we expect anything less than a functional hierarchy to exist among the Persons of the triune Godhead? Should we consider submission in that context a sign of inferiority? Of course not! In the same way that submission in marriage does not denote inferiority in nature, the same is true for the Persons of the Godhead. Yet, is submission to someone else’s authority a sign of inferiority?Įphesians 5:21 declares that husbands and wives are to submit to one another in marriage. This union of humanity being merged with divinity is called the “hypostatic union,” and it is this act of bringing humanity into Christ’s divinity that we will now consider in more depth.Īn issue that arises when dealing with cults on the nature of Christ is the argument that Christ submitted Himself to the will of the Father, even calling Him “greater” than Himself in John 14:28, so they claim He must be inferior to God. We also drew parallels to cults today, particularly Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, who deny the full deity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity.įinally, in the first part of this series, we ended our evaluation of the divinity of Christ by discussing the incarnation which occurred when God became human in the Person of Christ. ![]() We considered the heretical views of early movements in Christianity that had distorted the nature of God and the divinity of Jesus Christ. In part one of this series on cults, we discussed how a Christian cult is any religious movement that claims to follow the Bible but distorts one or more of the essential doctrines of Christianity. Christina has also authored several popular Christian apologetics books, such as, Misguided by Mormonism but Redeemed by God’s Grace, and Facts the Watchtower Society Doesn’t Want You to Know. You can view their video trainings and website articles by visiting and downloading their free “Witnesses for Jesus” smartphone app. * Christina Darlington is the director of a non-profit ministry, Witnesses for Jesus, Inc., that teaches Christians how to reach Mormons and Jehovah’s Witnesses for Christ. ![]()
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