Examining "A More Christlike Word"
by Brad Jersak
“For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.” (Paul’s concern from 2 Corinthians 11:4)
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The False Filter |
The Biblical Filter |
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The word OR the Word |
The Word THROUGH the word |
Part of my aim in testing BJ’s theorem is to
give testimonies of how God is leading me to the Word THROUGH the word (the
Scriptures now collected into the Bible). He wants people to believe that the
Bible is only one way we learn about Jesus and that it is faulty and needs to
be corrected by authorities outside the Bible. However, when he claims Jesus corrected
Yahweh of the Old Testament, he doesn’t mean the Jesus of the Scriptures, but
his “another Jesus” who is not in the Bible.
My testimony is that the Bible is the word
of God, that faith comes from hearing the Bible as “the word of Christ” (Romans
10:17), and that every word of it will do in our lives whatever the Spirit of Truth
is sent to accomplish. And this day of my journal journey through chapter 4 of
this treacherous trail is no exception to God speaking through his word so I
know what he is saying, and showing me what he is doing in and around me so I can
join him in his work. Here are some introductory testimonies of how God gave me
exactly what I needed to continue exposing the poison-in-the-pudding of BJ’s
false teachings.
This morning, three witnesses joined my
journey for today’s rugged hike. First, I had a new friend join me last night
after my previous post was settled into cyberspace (Day 15). He goes by the name,
Mr. Of God. What he brought into the picture was that, when we are challenged
to reconsider our relationship to the Scriptures because the BJs do not want
them treated as authoritative over the church, this little expression must be
included in our understanding of what we have in the Bible. It is not just “the
word”. It is the word “of God”.
This means that the focus is not only on
whether “the word” has authority, and especially whether it has a character
that is tarnished by the genocidal immorality the BJs claim. But the focus is
on what it means that the Bible is the word “of God”. It is the nature of God
that determines what we think of his word. If he is immoral, then his word
would include immorality. If he is a liar, then his word cannot be trusted.
However, my friend, Mr. Of God, reminds me
that the book I am hiking through is “of man”. It is of people who changed
their minds about what they believe and want us to do the same. It is of people
who misrepresent and lie about God’s word to make their points that the
Scriptures are not the word “of God” (I have shown this in previous days of my
journal journey).
So, with the first of my three new friends
for the journey, Mr. Of God is coming along for the rest of the adventure to
keep pointing out to me this contrast, that we are always being asked to choose
between the word “of God”, and the word “of man”. There are things that are “of
God” and things that are not “of God”. And my friend has affirmed to me that
the track record of the words “of man” in this book has been dishonest and
misleading about the word “of God”, and so everything the “word of God” says
about such men applies.
The second witness to join today’s journey
is named Mr. Authority. Here is how he introduced himself. As I began my time
with God this morning (May 14, 2024), I came to the description of how people
reacted to Jesus (the Word) as he concluded his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew
5-7). The Scriptures tell us, “And when Jesus finished these sayings, the
crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had
authority, and not as their scribes” (7:28-29).
This Scripture gives us a glimpse into the
hearts of people who had grown up with the teachings and religiosity of
hypocritical religious leaders. In this message, Jesus had denounced them as
men who did things for show and applause but not for God. He called his
disciples to have a righteousness that exceeded that of these religious elites
and then showed that this means his followers must have a righteousness of the
heart that is experienced and expressed for Father’s glory, not for applause or
recognition.
When we come to the end of the message and
the people are “astonished” (“to be utterly amazed v. — to be or become
astounded to such a degree as to nearly lose one’s mental composure” ~ BSL), it
is in relation to “the scribes (“a learned person who was able to read and
write; probably with a focus also on teaching the meaning of written documents”
~ BSL) who had taught them the Scriptures their whole lives. This is the impact
Jesus had, that his teaching was so radically different from what these people had
heard from the religious elite that they were involuntarily shaken with
amazement at what they were hearing.
The key word to describe what made Jesus’
teaching different from that of their religious leaders was, “authority”
(“ruling authority n. — authority over a domain or sphere of influence; often
pertaining to the political or religious sphere” ~ BSL). This means that the
people recognized that there was a way Jesus taught that had authority to it.
Their religious leaders never sounded like they had authority.
So, my new friend on the journey, Mr. Authority,
will keep pointing out who is claiming to be an authority on the Word and the
word and contrasting any manmade claims with the authority of the Word as
revealed to us in the word of God. Will we find that the BJs have authority to
claim that Yahweh was immoral, or that Jesus authorizes their claim that the
word of God (the Bible) needs to be corrected so that it is more “Christlike”?
Or will we find Jesus speaking with authority in affirmation of the Scriptures
that were available in his day (what we now call the Old Testament), and
filling the Scriptures that were written for the church with his glory (what we
now call the New Testament)? Our travelling companion, Mr. Authority, will help
us see these distinctions.
And the third witness to join my travels
today is named Mr. Experiencing God. When I was asked to read BJ’s book to give
the rationale for the strange teachings my friend was posting online, I asked
if they would read “Experiencing God” by Henry Blackaby so they would
understand where I am coming from in my love for the Bible as God’s word.[1] This
is the resource God used thirty-two years ago to change my mind about what I
was doing when I met with God in his word. Before that time, I called my time
with God “my devotions”. It was what I was doing. It was what I was reading. It
was what I was discovering. It was what I wanted to do with whatever I read.
Everything was the stereotypical Western Christianity child-centered mindset.
And I had no idea that it was all self-focused!
When I met Henry Blackaby at a Pastors’ and
Wives’ Retreat in May of 1992, I heard the most refreshing good news: I could
lead a church to attach to God and his work by uniting our congregation to
listen to God in his word. I would happily share more of how transforming this
was, but the point for today’s journal journey is that God reminded me that
what I am bringing to this “countering counterfeits” focus is the plumbline of “truth
in love” that shows people how God is still speaking to his people through his
word, the Bible. It is the Bible as the word of God that is “living and active”
in our lives (the exact opposite of what BJ claimed early in our journey). And
it is in our interactions with God in his word that we truly “experience God”
in the real and personal ways we read all about in the Scriptures.
For the rest of this journal journey, I have
three companions to help me test everything, hold on to what is good, and avoid
every appearance of evil in the book (I Thessalonians 5:21-22). Mr. Of God will
keep showing me what is of God and what is not; Mr. Authority will keep showing
what has authority and what does not, and Mr. Experiencing God will keep
pointing out the glory of how God speaks through his word so we can hear what
he is saying, recognize what he is doing, and join him in his work. And, with that,
the four of us continue the arduous journey.
Note: if you are wondering what I sound like
in talking about these things, I did up a video version of how God blessed me
with these three friends and you can view that in the link in the footnotes.[2]
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The Anthropomorphic God |
The God-is-who-he-is God |
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Select traits are treated as human qualities
applied to God for illustrative purposes alone. |
All characteristics of God described in God’s
word, the Bible, are inherent qualities of his nature. |
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God’s “divine anger, judgment, or wrath” are
“ever only anthropomorphisms of parental love aimed at restoration” (p. 52). |
All characteristics of God described in God’s
word, the Bible, are inherent qualities of his nature and mean exactly what
they say they mean. |
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Needs to be corrected by BJ’s “another Jesus”
whenever the biblical writers describe Yahweh in what BJ determines is unjust
or immoral acts of subjugation or violence. |
The same God we see revealed through the
Scriptures we now call the Old Testament is revealed in an in-person way by
the true Lord Jesus Christ in both his first and second comings. |
Today’s journey begins with a signpost telling us BJ’s thoughts about what is ahead. He gives “two points” that he claims
“comprise a central key for interpreting Scripture:
- How does any given passage point to Christ?
- How does any given passage form Christlike people?” (p. 62)
So often when I hear someone make a claim in
certain words, or ask a question a certain way, my response is, “That depends.”
Often, we can’t know what someone really means until we know the background, the context, or what they’re trying to get at.
In our case, these two questions mean two
different things based on whether we have bought into BJ’s “the word OR the
Word” or we are getting to know “the Word THROUGH the word”. Even though it is
one signpost, it is really calling us to choose between two trails. Our chart
helps us picture where each one leads.
|
The False Filter |
The Biblical Filter |
|
The word OR the Word |
The Word THROUGH the word |
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Question 1: “How does any given passage point to
Christ?” On BJ’s trail of “another Jesus”, it isn’t about how Scripture
points to the Christ revealed to us throughout the word (the Bible), but how
the Scriptures can be reinterpreted to match the customized Jesus of “A More
Christlike Word”. By making the focus on how every Scripture points to Christ
instead of to the Triune God, it sets the stage for the author to present “another
Jesus” who corrects Yahweh God, something that Jesus (Yahweh the Son) in the
Bible never does. |
Question 1: “How does any given passage point to
Christ?” Because Jesus stated his mission as, “I glorified you on earth,
having accomplished the work that you gave me to do” (John 17:4), we must
view Scripture as the word of God that reveals the Triune God. We cannot
treat every passage like it is only pointing to Christ since Jesus was always
pointing to the Father. It is fair to ask how all Scripture points to Christ if
understood as the true Lord Jesus Christ and in his relationship to his
Father. |
|
The False Filter |
The Biblical Filter |
|
The word OR the Word |
The Word THROUGH the word |
|
Question 2: “How does any given passage form Christlike
people?” When BJ succeeds at getting people to reorient themselves to his “word”,
this will mean they believe in “another Jesus”, and that means they will live
according to that belief instead of the revelation of Christ in the
Scriptures. |
Question 2: “How does any given passage form Christlike
people?” When we remain oriented to the Bible as the word of God we are able
to receive what Paul called “the whole counsel of God” so that our becoming
like Christ is, “And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the
Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to
another” (II Corinthians 3:18), and with the knowledge that “God, who said, ‘Let
light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (II
Corinthians 4:6). When all Scripture is showing us “the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ” we will become “Christlike” in the way God shows his
glory all through the Scriptures. |
I see that the very next paragraph contains
fightin’ words (he changes “God-breathed” from II Timothy 3:16 to “God breathes”!)!
So I will pitch my tent here for another day and get a bit of rest before
taking that one on! I hope that everyone can see that it is not enough to ask
whether Scripture points to Christ. It does. But not so that Christ is separated
from Yawheh of the Old Testament, or the Scriptures, or the epistles, or any
other revelation of God and his word in the Bible. Christ never separated
himself from the Father, and we have no right to do so. And Mr. Of God, Mr.
Authority, and Mr. Experiencing God agree!
© 2024
Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)
A More Christlike Word © 2021 by Bradley Jersak Whitaker House 1030 Hunt Valley Circle • New Kensington, PA 15068 www.whitakerhouse.com
Jersak, Bradley. A More Christlike Word: Reading Scripture the Emmaus Way. Whitaker House. Kindle Edition.
Definitions from the Bible Sense Lexicon (BSL) in Logos Bible Systems
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