Deity of Christ

American evangelicals’ grasp on theology is slipping, and more than half affirmed heretical views of God in the 2022 State of Theology survey, released by Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research.

Overall, adults in the U.S. are moving away from orthodox understandings of God and his Word year after year. More than half of the country (53%) now believes Scripture “is not literally true,” up from 41 percent when the biannual survey began in 2014.

Researchers called the rejection of the divine authorship of the Bible the “clearest and most consistent trend” over the eight years of data. Researchers wrote, “This view makes it easy for individuals to accept biblical teaching that they resonate with while simultaneously rejecting any biblical teaching that is out of step with their own personal views or broader cultural values.”

Here are five of the most common mistaken beliefs held by evangelicals:

1. Jesus isn’t the only way to God. 56 percent of evangelical respondents affirmed that “God accepts the worship of all religions.” This answer indicates a bent toward universalism—believing there are ways to bypass Jesus in our approach to and acceptance by God.

2. Jesus was created by God. 73 percent agreed with the statement that “Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God.” This is a form of Arianism, a popular heresy that arose in the early fourth century.

3. Jesus is not God. 43 percent affirmed that “Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God,” which is another form of Arian heresy.

4. The Holy Spirit is not a personal being. 60 percent of the evangelical survey respondents believe that “The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.”

5. Humans aren’t sinful by nature. 57 percent also agreed to the statement that “Everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature.” In other words, humans might be capable of committing individual sins, but we do not have sinful natures. This denies the doctrine of original sin.

Each morning Alexander Chu awakened to the smell of incense burning offered in front of Buddha statues. His home was like a temple. On each wall hung a Buddha portrait, totaling more than 30 deities throughout the house.

You might think the family lived on a street in Thailand or China yet his home was in Lawrence, Kansas. His father was a science professor with a Guggenheim Award, and his mother was a so-called “tiger mom” who kept the pressure on Andrew and his two sisters for straight A’s.

My Taiwanese family lineage includes generations of Buddhists, so religion was destined to be integral to my identity formation. Yet outside our home, our neighbors pursued an entirely different faith. Somehow, I managed to go through 18 years of life without ever hearing the Good News of Jesus.

In the mid-1990s, Andrew arrived at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign. His dorm was full of fervent Christians. These InterVarsity Christian Fellowship students were the first Asian American Christians he had ever met. Andrew said, “Living with them, I began to realize that the Buddhism of my upbringing was not in my heart.”

Growing curious about Christianity during his sophomore year, Andrew asked a friend if he could join him at an IVCF gathering. There for the first time he heard God’s promises declared in worship songs and saw men and women praising him. He joined GIG (Groups Investigating God) and began studying the Gospel of John. Andrew said, “The authority with which Jesus spoke amazed me; it’s as if his words jumped off the pages, addressing me directly.”

Before I could place faith in Jesus, I needed to know there was a rational basis for Christianity’s foundational truths. I attended a retreat sponsored by InterVarsity, where I took an apologetics track. I heard well-founded explanations of the inspiration of Scripture, the problem of evil, and the uniqueness of the gospel. I found that Christianity was the most intellectually stimulating worldview I had ever encountered.

During my junior year I started reading John Stott’s pamphlet “Becoming a Christian.” While reading, I grew convinced of my sin and need to be forgiven. I knelt down committed my life to Christ. I had grown up in a sea of deities, yet never had a relationship with any of them. On that day, I experienced the living God, Emmanuel: “God is with us.” A peace overtook me. That night I became the first Christian in our family’s lineage.

For months he prayed about how to tell his parents what had happened. When he was at home for winter break, he sat in the living room to read Following Jesus Without Dishonoring Your Parents. His father was stunned by his reading choice, but also pleased by the dutiful title of the book. When he asked why Andrew was reading it, he told him that he had become a Christian. His parents insisted that the family religion was Buddhism. Both parents held out hope that he would come to his senses and return to the Buddhist faith.

As the years passed, I started to discern a call to vocational ministry. My parents said that if I followed through with this plan, they would cut me off. Sensing disunity in our home, I decided to stay and care for my father, who was battling heart disease. My presence and devotion built mutual respect and helped preserve our relationship. In God’s timing, my family softened to my hopes of becoming a pastor. My parents continue to share their Buddhist experiences with me, and I continue to share my faith with them. My mom regularly prays to Jesus to bless and protect me.

Editor’s note: Andrew now serves on staff as pastor of outreach at a multisite church in the Chicago suburbs.

Who is Jesus? Few questions could be more relevant at Christmas. Yet a new Lifeway Research study shows nearly half of Americans believe a Christological heresy. Only 41 percent of Americans believe the “Son of God existed before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.” That means 59 percent either do not believe or are unsure whether they believe that the Son of God existed prior to the Nativity.

As pastors prepare their Christmas sermons this year, they might want to keep this fact in mind. Many who will walk through their doors on Sunday morning—some Christians, some not—hold to a heretical understanding of the Trinity. They’ll listen to the sermons and sing the songs, but their view of God is not orthodox. To be blunt, their view of God is not Christian.

(So), rather than a narrow focus on what Christ did, expand your vision to who Christ is. John’s Gospel is exemplary: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” (John 1:1–3).

The Apostle is eager to introduce the saving work of Christ, but before he does so, he lifts us outside the confines of history to contemplate who this Son is from eternity: the Word who was not only with God but also was God.

But unless our Savior this Christmas is the “great God” himself, the One who descends into our darkness out of the glory of his everlasting light, we will never enjoy the blessedness and bliss of that (radiant) vision.

When the President of the United States travels by car, the Presidential motorcade is both the safest and the riskiest convoy on the planet. This globe-trotting fleet of vehicles is basically a rolling, armored White House, complete with its own response force, communications office, press corps and medical facilities. All these vehicles are moved via USAF heavy-transports, such as C-17s, and those flights come at a steep cost.

The Presidential Motorcade consists of a wide variety of vehicles. Generally, the Presidential Motorcade is made up of the following components:

• Route Car & Pilot Car – Which travel ahead of the motorcade checking the route and providing guidance.
• Sweepers – Consisting of motorcycles and patrol cars clearing the way.
• Presidential Limousine – This very heavy Cadillac is really an extremely survivable armored car. "The Beast" is outfitted with top-level ballistic armoring, night vision/infrared driving systems, a sealed cabin with an independent air supply capable of enduring a nuclear-biological-chemical attack, and even a supply of the President’s blood type. All of this is in addition to a state-of-the-art communications system.
• Identical Limousine – At least one identical car always accompanies it, and sometimes many more. These cars are used as a backup as well a serving as decoys.
• Additional Vehicles – Following the motorcade is the security detail SUV filled with heavily armed agents. There is an Electronic Countermeasures Vehicle so that if a threat is detected, smoke, chaff, and targeted jamming could disrupt an attack. Then there is the Press van, an ambulance in case there is an accident or attack and helicopters overhead to provide over-watch.

All the technology that goes into protecting the President is amazing and so is the price tag. It is estimated that the White House spends $350 million a year on the President’s transport. Just one trip costs $2,614 each and every minute to transport the leader of the free world.

Possible Preaching Angle:

On Christmas Day when the King of Kings and Lord of Lords came to earth there was no heavily armed security detail, high tech defensive systems, medical personnel, or press corps. Instead, his arrival was witnessed only by Mary and Joseph and a few humble shepherds. However, it was the costliest trip in history, since though he was rich, he became poor (2 Cor 8:9), he emptied himself and took the form of a servant (Phil. 2:6), and he left the glory and worship of heaven to be born in a stable (Luke 2:7).

Who is the most-powerful being in the Marvel Multiverse? It’s not Spiderman, Iron Man, Thor, or Thanos, but someone called “the One Above All.” Here’s how he makes his appearances in the universe:

Appearances of the One Above All are few and far between. The deity sometimes appears as a blinding white light, or a nondescript homeless man. However, one of the most notable sightings of the being was seen in Fantastic Four #511. Traveling through a realm that could only be described as heaven, the four pass through a door and emerge in an ordinary living room. Before them sits the One Above All, sketching comic panels and characters on a drawing board--and he bears a striking resemblance to the legendary artist Jack Kirby.

As the co-creator of the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Spider-Man, Thor, Black Panther, the X-Men, and countless other characters over the decades, Jack Kirby is an ideal representation of the God of the Marvel Universe. Even so, he takes a phone call from a "collaborator" in a later panel (heavily hinted to be Stan Lee), much to the amazement of the Fantastic Four.

Marvel's depiction of the One Above All as a simple human artist works perfectly within their universe. As the OAA-as-Jack Kirby himself says "That's what my creations do. They find the humanity in God.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Often when humans imagine God, they imagine him to be a really big version of themselves. What if God, our creator, stepped inside his creation, in a way we could understand and find relatable? And amazingly, he did!

When Christopher Columbus reached the Caribbean in 1492, he named the inhabitants "Indians." He thought he had reached what Europeans of the time referred to as "the Indies" (China, Japan, and India). In fact, he was nowhere close to South or East Asia. In his path were vast regions of land, unexplored and uncharted, of which Columbus knew nothing. He assumed the world was smaller than it was.

Have we made a similar mistake with regard to Jesus Christ? Are there vast tracts of who he is, according to biblical revelation, that are unexplored? Have we unintentionally reduced him to manageable, predictable proportions? Have we been looking at a junior varsity, decaffeinated, one-dimensional Jesus of our own making, thinking we're looking at the real Jesus? Have we snorkeled in the shallows, thinking we've now hit bottom on the Pacific?

Christmas is a celebration of a real event, according to most Americans. Just don’t expect them to know exactly why Jesus was born and came to earth. A new study from Lifeway Research finds close to three in four Americans believe Jesus was born in Bethlehem. Even more say Jesus is the Son of God the Father, but less than half believe Jesus existed prior to being born on that first Christmas.

According to a Lifeway Research study:

• More than 9 in 10 Americans (91%) celebrate Christmas.
• For most of those celebrating, Christmas is about a historical occurrence.
• More than 7 in 10 (72%) say the Jesus Christians believe in was born in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago. Few (9%) disagree, while 18 percent aren’t sure.

• Most Americans (80%) agree Jesus Christ is the Son of God the Father, while 10 percent disagree and 10 percent aren’t sure.
• The average person isn’t quite as sure about the Son of God’s existence prior to Jesus’ birth. Around 41% say God’s Son existed before Jesus was born in Bethlehem. 32% of Americans disagree, and 28 percent say they’re not sure.

The religiously unaffiliated are least likely to agree with any of the statements surrounding Jesus’ birth and identity:

• Almost half (48%) believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God the Father. A third (33%) say Jesus was really born in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago. Fewer (15%) believe the Son of God existed before Jesus was born.

• Among Christians, those who attend church four times a month or more, are most likely to believe each of the statements about Jesus and his birth: 98 percent believe Jesus is the Son of God the Father, 95 percent say he was born in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago, and 63 percent agree the Son of God existed before Jesus was born.

In an issue of CT magazine singer-songwriter Sandra McCracken writes:

I visited the National Portrait Gallery recently in Washington, DC. In its elegant hallways, a wide range of well-lit paintings are displayed side by side: politicians, war heroes, athletes, musicians, presidents. It is a library of human faces—a silent, visual documentary of who we are.

In particular, I was moved by Robert McCurdy’s portrait of the late author Toni Morrison. The oil-on-canvas looks like a photograph. She reveals no discernible expression but radiates light from within. There is integrity, sorrow, and tenacity in her face. McCurdy aims for the viewer to be able to have their own personal encounter with the subject. It is a powerful experience to be face-to-face with someone you’ve never met in a piece like this one.

God has designed us for face-to-face encounters. Which is perhaps why God orchestrated the ultimate face-to-face experience in the Incarnation. God himself took on flesh, born as a baby that we would see the face of God in Jesus Christ.

1 Peter 1:8 acknowledges the mystery that, even though we have an unfulfilled longing to see the incarnate Jesus, we love him anyway: “Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy.”

While we can’t see Jesus today in physical form, we can know him as he is revealed in the scriptures. If I were to paint a McCurdy-style portrait of Jesus, I would use the photographic poetry of Isaiah 53. “Surely he took up our pain, and bore our suffering” (Isa. 53:4). Here we see Jesus in the eternal present and here I can imagine what Jesus looks like. Not only do his hands have scars from nail holes, but his face is etched with love and sorrow and beauty that we will one day see in glorified form, in his resurrected body.

A small bowl bought for just $35 at a yard sale in Connecticut has turned out to be a rare 15th-Century Chinese artefact. The white porcelain bowl was spotted by an unidentified antiques enthusiast near New Haven last year, and they quickly sought an expert evaluation.

The experts came back with good news, revealing that the bowl is thought to be worth between $300,000 and $500,000. In fact, it is believed to be one of only seven such bowls in existence and most of the others are in museums.

Angela McAteer, an expert on Chinese ceramics said, "It was immediately apparent to us that we were looking at something really very, very special. The style of painting, the shape of the bowl, even just the color of the blue is quite characteristic of that early, early 15th-Century … Ming [Dynasty] period.”

How exactly the bowl found itself being sold at a Connecticut outdoor sale remains a mystery. Some have suggested it may have been passed down through generations of the same family.

"It's always quite astounding to think that it still happens, that these treasures can be discovered," McAteer said. "It's always really exciting for us as specialists when something we didn't even know existed here appears seemingly out of nowhere."

Possible Preaching Angle:

God often hides great value behind the veil of the ordinary: 1) Deity of Christ; Humanity of Christ; Messiah - The deity of Christ was cloaked in humanity when he was born in a stable (Isa. 53:2-3; Luke 2:7); 2) Human worth; Insignificance; Small Things - The “ordinary” people in our churches have hidden value (1 Cor. 1:27; Jam. 2:5).

Malcolm Muggeridge writes:

Plenty of great teachers, mystics, martyrs, and saints have spoken words full of grace and truth. In the case of Jesus alone, however, the belief has persisted that when he came into the world, God deigned to take on the likeness of a man ...

For myself, as I approach my end, I find Jesus' outrageous claim ever more captivating and meaningful. Quite often, waking up in the night as the old do, I feel myself to be half out of my body, hovering between life and death, with eternity rising in the distance. I see my ancient carcass, prone between the sheets, stained and worn like a scrap of paper dropped in the gutter and, hovering over it, myself, like a butterfly released from its chrysalis stage and ready to fly away. Are caterpillars told of their impending resurrection? How in dying they will be transformed from poor earth-crawlers into creatures of the air, with exquisitely painted wings? If told, do they believe it? I imagine the wise old caterpillars shaking their heads--no, it can't be; it's a fantasy. Yet in the limbo between living and dying, as the night clocks tick remorselessly on … I hear those words: I am the resurrection, and the life, and feel myself to be carried along on a great tide of joy and peace.

T.F. Torrance was one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century, but prior to that, he served as a chaplain during World War II. One day, on a battlefield in Italy, he attended to a dying nineteen-year-old soldier. The dying man asked him, “Padre, is God really like Jesus?”

For Torrance, this question captured “the deepest cry of the human heart”--is the God that we’ll meet on the other side of the death the same God that came to earth as a lowly babe?

Torrance assured the dying man with these words: “God is indeed really like Jesus. There is no unknown God behind the back of Jesus for us to fear. To see the Lord Jesus is to see the very face of God.” This experience would guide all of his future work as a minister and theologian.

Possible Preaching Angle:

(1) Torrance’s story brings comfort: God may be fierce, he may be all powerful, he may be the Judge of all the earth--but he’s also the same God revealed in the gentle face of Jesus. If the Gospels are true, we’ve got nothing to fear when we meet God. (2) Theology gets a bad rap for being impractical. But for T.F. Torrance, theology was real for people with real problems, not just academics in an Ivory Tower. Knowing what it means that Jesus reveals the Father and is one with him is one of the most important truths any of us can ever know. So important, it’ll change your life!

After stating that Jesus Christ was “one of the greatest men that ever walked the earth,” rocker Sammy Hagar was then asked: “What do you think about the claims of Christ to be the Way, the Truth and the Life – No one comes to the Father but by Me?”

Hagar replied, “I think that’s something man made up – I’m not sure, though I can’t say in my heart that I believe that, but I also can’t say that I know for a fact that it’s wrong. I think it’s just been misinterpreted and taken out of context … I really interpret that as Christ saying, ‘The way I preach life, is you don’t hurt another, you don’t kill …’ you know, the Ten Commandments. Let’s use those for the example. I believe that He’s saying, ‘This is the way to God.’ You don’t have to go through Him, and use Him, like He’s saying, ‘I’m the egotist,’ or ‘I’m the vehicle.’ He’s teaching. ‘If you don’t obey these rules, you will not go to heaven, and not be in touch with God.’”

Hagar continues, “I think too much emphasis on the Man Himself, and if He were walking around here today, He would go, ‘Hey man, don’t be looking at Me. I can’t save your (expletive). Only you can save your (expletive). And He made it pretty easy on us. Those rules are so simple, The Ten Commandments … Anybody in their right mind could live by those rules. I think that’s all Christ was really trying to do.”

Imagine a basketball game. It's almost the end of overtime; it's time for one last shot. Who do you want to have the ball? You want the calmest and best player out there. Or imagine the security of the nation is threatened. Threat levels have gone through the roof, and an attack is imminent. Who do you want to have the nuclear codes? Who do you want making the final call on what to do or not to do? You want someone who is calm under pressure. Or here's one more example. Imagine you need a crucial surgery to save your life or the life of a loved one. Who do you want behind that scalpel? Who do you want performing the surgery? Of course you want the best doctor available.

That's how the Gospels present Jesus as he faces the cross. He's under extreme pressure—pressure that we will never even fathom. He's actually sweating drops of blood. And yet at every stage Jesus is calm. He is in control of himself.

But Jesus also leaves every sports star, every politician, every surgeon far behind. It's not just that Jesus is in control of himself; Jesus is in control of the events themselves. It's not just that he's able to handle his own adrenaline; he's able to dictate the result. It's not just he's able to act wisely under pressure; he's able to determine the outcome. Jesus isn't just able to respond skillfully to what he finds; he already knows what he will find, and has already mapped out the solution to the deepest human problem of all. Jesus stands out in this because he is in control of the entire sweep of human history, even as he goes through his death.

Families and children around the world have grown to love a special retelling of the biblical storyline from The Jesus Storybook Bible written by Sally Lloyd-Jones. In her introduction to the big story of the Bible, Jones writes:

There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them. It takes the whole Bible to tell this Story. And at the center of the Story there is a baby. Every story in the Bible whispers his name. He is like the missing piece in a puzzle—the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together, and suddenly, you can see a beautiful picture.

In an interview, actor Jim Carey was asked about his views of Jesus. Carey struggles with believing in the deity of Jesus but he still can't stop thinking about Jesus.

He's constantly coming up in my head. I definitely remember the first time he came up in my work: It was in art class, grade three or four, and because I was in Catholic school, I decided to draw a really beautiful picture of him. I was so proud of it, and I couldn't wait to bring it home and show my parents, because I'd show them all my art and they'd flip out and throw me the metaphorical dog bone and tell me how special I was.

But on the way out of the school yard, some bully got in front of me, and this gang started picking on me for it, saying, "You drew a picture of the lord." A fight started, and I just remember seeing the picture float through the air between bodies and a mud puddle, because it had been raining, face down. And then I became like a whirling dervish and just started punching faces, any face that I could find. I lost my mind. It was like somebody killed my baby. I don't remember what happened exactly—all I know is I punched a lot of people that day. [Laughs.] Maybe not the reaction you want, and not the reaction Jesus would have wanted, but it just took over. There was love in that picture…

The Oxford Comma is perhaps the most controversial piece of punctuation in the English language. There are conflicting guidelines governing whether or not the extra comma at the end of a list should be used, depending on which authority one consults. Those in opposition say the comma is unnecessary, while supporters of the comma argue that it serves to clarify in instances whether two items are meant to belong together or not (as in "I'd like to thank my parents, Mother Theresa and the Pope.").

The controversy heated up, however, when a judge in Maine ruled that a dairy company owed its employees approximately $10 million in unpaid overtime expenses for an absent Oxford Comma which rendered a list of overtime exemptions slightly ambiguous. The ruling reversed the decision of a lower court. Though not an official stance, the lawyer representing the drivers said that in cases of ambiguous sentences, the best rule to live by is: "If there's any doubt, tear up what you have and start over."

Potential Preaching Angles: It is amazing what kind of confusion can be caused by one missing punctuation mark. By the grace of God, however, the Bible is abundantly clear when it comes to the inerrancy of Scripture, the Gospel, and the identity of Jesus Christ. We do not need to fear misunderstandings of either the Bible or the Person of Jesus because it has been revealed as unambiguously as possible: "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

The following Buddhist poem, in the form of a "waka," was written in the 12th century by Saigyo Hoshi after he visited a Shinto Grand Temple:

Gods here?
Who can know?
Not I.
Yet I sigh
and tears flow
tear on tear.

Editor's Note: Note the author's honest longing for true knowledge of God. He yearns to experience God and God's presence but he can't know for sure. According to the New Testament, God has revealed himself in the presence and person of Jesus Christ. In Christ, we can know that God is with us.

In a remote valley of northern California forty-two radio telescopes point skyward. The Allen Telescope Array is a powerful tool for an organization called the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute. The SETI Institute began decades ago, and this latest technological marvel represents a new phase in its cosmic search for extraterrestrial life. The array of large telescopes is "listening" carefully to the universe. In sync with each other, the telescopes read and record distant radio frequencies from across the universe, in the hope that something from the heavens will indicate the presence of an intelligent life form.

While the technology is new, the search is not. For all of human history humankind has looked upward and soulfully wondered, What is beyond? Who might be there? If we're honest, we all can admit that we default to a SETI mode at times. We may not gaze through a telescope, but our wonderings cause us to search, to look up, to look out, to look beyond for something out there that will bring meaning to our lives here. The SETI Institute has invested millions on the hope that the heavens will say something to us. But perhaps our scientific dollars are being wasted. Perhaps we've simply been unwilling or unable to hear what the heavens have been shouting all along.

I've heard people say, "I'm checking out Christianity, but I also understand Christians can't do this and the Bible says you're supposed to do that. You're supposed to love the poor or you're supposed to give up sex outside of marriage. I can't accept that." So people want to come to Christ with a list of conditions.

But the real question is this: Is there a God who is the source of all beauty and glory and life, and if knowing Christ will fill your life with his goodness and power and joy, so that you would live with him in endless ages with his life increasing in you every day? If that's true, you wouldn't say things like, "You mean, I have to give up ___ (like sex or something else)."

Let's say you have a friend who is dying of some terrible disease. So you take him to the doctor and the doctor says, "I have a remedy for you. If you just follow my advice you will be healed and you will live a long and fruitful life, but there's only one problem: while you're taking my remedy you can't eat chocolate." Now what if your friend turned to you and said, "Forget it. No chocolate? What's the use of living? I'll follow the doctor's remedy, but I will also keep eating chocolate."

If Christ is really God, then all the conditions are gone. To know Jesus Christ is to say, "Lord, anywhere your will touches my life, anywhere your Word speaks, I will say, "Lord, I will obey. There are no conditions anymore." If he's really God, he can't just be a supplement. We have to come to him and say, "Okay, Lord, I'm willing to let you start a complete reordering of my life."

I think a defining question for a Christian is: Who was Christ? And I don't think you're let off easily by saying a great thinker or a great philosopher, because actually he went around saying he was the Messiah. That's why he was crucified. He was crucified because he said he was the Son of God. So, he either, in my view, was the Son of God, or he was … nuts. Forget rock 'n roll messianic complexes, this is like Charlie Manson type delirium. And, I find it hard to accept that a whole millions and millions of lives, half the earth, for two thousand years have been touched, have felt their lives touched and inspired by some nutter.