Hey all. Still on vacation. Fishing is pretty good. Great time with family! -God's blessings!
"Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God" (1 John 4:2-3).
Stories about Jesus keep showing up in the media from time to time, especially around Christian holidays. Many of these stories evoke "the latest research" to tell us who Jesus really was. ...Talk about stupid and unscholarly "research!"
What's a present day believer to make of these conjectures? The Apostle John instructed 1st century believers to test the spirit behind a particular view of Jesus. They were to examine whether that view presented Jesus as the eternal Son of God and also as a human being who had been heard, seen, and touched by others at a specific point in time (1 John 1:1-2). If the answer was yes, then God's Holy Spirit inspired that view; if no, then it came from a false spirit.
St. John's instruction on testing the spirits is as valid now as it was then. We know that fully divine and fully human natures coexist in Jesus. Based on Scripture, He was both God and man in one being -not 1/2 God and 1/2 man, but fully God and fully man.
Jesus, being God, is certainly capable of communicating accurately to humanity exactly who He is and what He has accomplished. Silly and unscholarly "research," based on the conjecture of fallen human beings, may be somewhat interesting but deadly to trust with our precious our saving faith.
Because Jesus is truly God, He's able save your soul. Because He is truly human, He can suffer and die in your place -as your personal substitute. So when someone presents "the Jesus of history" apart from "the Jesus of the Bible," St. John's test reveals a false spirit standing behind that idea.
Thanks be to God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for providing us with a test in His Word, that can distinguish between Holy Spirit-inspired truth and a Satan-inspired distortion of our Savior!
-Dale
