Are We Losing the Doctrine of the True Humanity of Christ?
By Chester E. Tulga
For many years, Christians have been defending the doctrine of the true deity of Christ against the Unitarians and the modernists who have denied it or perverted it. This is as it should be, for the deity of Christ is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Those who deny the deity of Christ are not Christians, regardless of their label or profession. We must not compromise this basic fact and vital doctrine of the New Testament
While we have been busy defending His deity, subtle influences have been at work which have obscured His true humanity. We have, perhaps unconsciously, been remodeling Jesus to suit our age, or our theology, or our particular situation.
This is seen clearly in current fundamentalism. Jesus is being remodeled by subtraction. The whole tendency of our times is to play up His soft qualities and play down His strong qualities of character. We hear much about His love and little about His strong sense of justice. His love is played up so much that it ceases to be right or just, but a sentimentalism devoid of both.
He is continually presented in all His tenderness, but there is little presentation of the Christ who drove the money changers out of the temple. Men are continually emphasizing His feminine traits and neglecting His masculine traits. This is seen in religious art which, unable to reproduce a holy countenance, presents us with a feminine countenance. This is seen clearly in the current pictures of the boy Jesus who looks suspiciously like a girl.
Religious sentimentalism today has invented many lovely phrases referring to Jesus, but often they are more suitable for a woman than a man. Religious sentimentalism exalts Jesus, sings love songs about Jesus, presents a soft tender Jesus who is long on love, and short on justice, but pays little attention to His stern demands, to His exhortations to sacrifice and His warnings against judgment and hell. Have we remodeled Jesus? (Copied from The Baptist Challenge, January, 1997).
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Last updated on Friday, March 04, 2011
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