Which Jesus?

By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.
(1 John 4:2-3 – ESV)

Almost no one in the religious world rejects the claim that Jesus walked the earth as a man. The Devil uses more subtlety than that. So the key to this verse is not only “in the flesh”, but “Jesus Christ”: it is whom Jesus Christ is believed to be that is also important. Some believe in a spirit-only type of Christ, and “in the flesh” would apply. Most see Jesus as having been man, but deny His divinity, or diminish it, saying that He is not eternal, or that He is not the Almighty and supreme, or a host of other evil beliefs.

The Jesus of the Mormons (twin brother to Satan), the Jesus of the Muslims (only a prophet), the Jesus of the Jews (not the Messiah), the Jesus of the Jehovah’s Witnesses (a created being, Michael the Archangel), the Jesus of the Gnostics (mystical giver of secret knowledge), the Jesus of the Buddhists (teacher), the Jesus of the Baha’i (one of the progressive prophets of truth), the Jesus of the New Age (spiritual guru), the Jesus of the Quakers (inner light), and the Jesus of the cults (our example but not our Savior) are all false; we know that. The Holy Spirit bears witness to the true Christ only. The Spirit works to build up the name of Jesus not detract from Him. Any thing that shifts emphasis from Christ to giving glory or attention to something else is false.

This seems simple enough, but how do we apply this? Think carefully. If something points away from the need to see Jesus as a savior, and sees Him as only a man who saw the way to salvation, this is the Jesus of the Gnostics, or the New Age. If something points to Jesus as being inferior to God in any way, this is the Jesus of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, or the Mormons. If something points to Jesus as being part of the overall revelation of God, instead of being God in the flesh, it is the Jesus of the Muslims, or the Baha’i. If something points to Jesus as being a teacher of wisdom, but not being divine, it is the Jesus of the Jews or the Jesus of the Buddhists. If something points to Jesus as being more spirit than man, it is the Jesus of the Quakers. If something points to Jesus as being more our example than our Savior, it is the Jesus of the cults.

Anything that lessons our esteem for Jesus as the omnipotent God who created all things, is eternally self-existent, and became flesh (fully God AND fully man), is not from God. Jesus must be portrayed as the only means of salvation and the only hope for the world. His centrality and supremacy must be at the forefront of any spirit that claims to be from God.