THE PERFECT DEITY & HUMANITY OF CHRIST

(BELIEF IN BOTH IS A NECESSARY ASPECT/RESULT OF TRUE SALVATION)

2 John 1:7 “For many DECEIVERS are entered into the world, who confess not that JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH. This is a DECEIVER and an ANTICHRIST.”

1 John 4:1-3 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And EVERY SPIRIT THAT CONFESSETH NOT THAT JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH IS NOT OF GOD: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”

I. It is not enough to believe that the Lord Jesus was a good guy, a perfect guy, a great teacher, an angel, maybe even the best of the angels, or maybe even something above all angels… whilst still falling short of believing that he Lord Jesus Christ is truly God, coequal with God the Father, and coequal with God the Holy Ghost.

Such a belief fails to comprehend that only that One who is BOTH God and Man (fully divine and fully human), could have (a) taken upon Himself the sins of all of His people, (b) obeyed the law of God perfectly on their behalf, (c) dying in their stead under the wrath of God, (d) fully paying the full price (enduring the agonizing punishment) of divine wrath and judgement due all of their sins, which includes (e) experiencing the equivalent of the Hell His people would have endured, if not for His propitiatory/redeeming/atoning work on the cross.

Note that the fact that the Lord rose the third day evidenced His great victory (declaring for all eternity, that the sins of His people were forever put away). No mere creature could have accomplished that. No one, and nothing, short of God could have endured the full wrath of God for such a vast multitude of sin, and come out victorious on the other side. And yet, no one, and nothing, less than man could have taken the place of elect mankind, serving as their (like for like, human for human) penal substitute.

Hebrews 2:16-17 “For verily He took not on [Him the nature of] angels; but He took on [Him] the seed of Abraham. 17 Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto [His] brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things [pertaining] to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.”

Thus, if your “Jesus” (i.e., your knowledge and/or perception of a “jesus”) is anything less than one who is both fully God, and fully man, you have a false notion of Jesus.

Colossians 2:7-9 “Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. 8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

Hebrews 1:1-4 “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by [his] Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of [his] glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 4 Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.”

Philippians 2:5-9 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: 8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name…”

If you have a false notion of the Lord Jesus (especially at that level of error), you have a false jesus. If one dies having a false jesus, they die being yet in their sin, and thus under the eternal judgment and wrath of God. Why? Because they have absolutely nothing that could save them, nothing that could propitiate for them, atone for them, or redeem them. The frightful reality is that they have nothing that can stand in their place before God, enduring the Hell that they themselves must now endure. Yet, we read concerning God’s people in Christ:

2 Corinthians 5:19-21 “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. 20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech [you] by us: we pray [you] in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”

Note also that “Jesus Christ” is not a first and last name. When applied to the Lord, these are divine titles that are eternally weighty in truth.

Firstly, Jesus means “Jehovah/Yahweh saves,” or “Jehovah/Yahweh is salvation.” Jesus IS Yahweh/Jehovah (He is the Second Person of the Triune Godhead). Anyone denying this is likewise denying that (the true) Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, and thus, they evidence themselves to be unsaved.

Secondly, Jesus Christ is The Anointed of God, the Messiah. Notice what God says, amongst other things, about His Anointed… Note the divinity aspect here as well:

Psalm 45:6-7 “Thy throne, O God, [is] for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom [is] a right sceptre. 7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: THEREFORE GOD, THY GOD, HATH ANOINTED THEE with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”

Daniel 9:24 “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and TO ANOINT THE MOST HOLY.“

So again, if anyone denies that Christ was truly God (truly divine), they are a deceiver, an antichrist, and will in no wise enter the Kingdom of God. They will in no wise see Heaven. This reality should terrify everyone.

II. If anyone denies that Christ was truly (though perfectly and sinlessly) human, they are likewise a deceiver and an antichrist, and will in no wise see Heaven (if they die with such a belief). God makes it clear that a deceiver and an antichrist is one that denies that the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Word made flesh, even Yahweh/Jehovah the Anointed Saviour, became truly incarnate. Yet the Scripture is abundantly clear in this regard:

John 1:1-3, 14 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 The same was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. … 14 And the Word was MADE FLESH, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

Romans 1:3-4 “Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David ACCORDING TO THE FLESH; 4 And declared [to be] the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:”

Galatians 4:4-5 “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, MADE OF A WOMAN, made under the law, 5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

Matthew 1:22-23 “Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, GOD WITH US.”

1 Timothy 3:16 “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: GOD WAS MANIFEST IN THE FLESH, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.”

Hebrews 2:14-16 “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of FLESH AND BLOOD, HE ALSO HIMSELF LIKEWISE TOO PART OF THE SAME; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. 16 For verily he took not on [him the nature of] angels; but he took on [him] the seed of Abraham.”

Hebrews 10:5 “Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but A BODY HAST THOU PREPARED ME:“

1 John 4:1-3 “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. 2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH is not of God: and this is that [spirit] of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.”

III. Finally, “many DECEIVERS are entered into the world, who confess not that JESUS CHRIST IS COME IN THE FLESH,” who confess that someone named Jesus actually is come in the flesh (i.e., was truly human), but who deny some or all of the import of the statement. In other words, though they may agree superficially, their doctrine on who Christ is, what He did during His sojourn here, who He came to save, how He saved them, etc., differs from scriptural truth.

Countless multitudes deny that the real Jesus Christ is come in the flesh by holding to false theologies, false soteriologies (i.e., false christs and false means of salvation), as well as false depictions of the Son of God (depictions that run contrary to Scripture).

Simply put, to confess that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, is to be of one word, and one mind, with God as to what He has revealed about the Lord Jesus Christ (Who He is, what He did, and what His work accomplished). Far too many trust in a weak, superficial, ignorant confession… but the godly confession is the one that, with God-wrought knowledge and understanding, agrees with the Lord regarding all that He has o say about the Person and work of Christ.