Which modern portraits of Jesus preach another Jesus?
Whatever portrait subtracts from Scripture preaches another Jesus. The crowds had respectful guesses about Jesus, and every one fell short; modern versions repeat the pattern: teacher but not Lord, buddy but not Judge, life coach but not cross bearer, political champion but not King of kings. Each borrows His name while deleting what makes Him able to save. The apostles' portrait is the test: God the Son in flesh, crucified for our sins, risen on the third day, returning to judge and reign.
This question arose from studying Does it matter which Jesus I believe in?.
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What the Scripture says
Every generation redraws Jesus in its own image
Paul saw it coming: people would pile up teachers who scratch where they itch, gathering speakers “after their own lusts” instead of enduring truth. It happened even in person. When Jesus asked who people said He was, the answers were respectful and all wrong: “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.” A portrait drawn to flatter the age is an idol wearing familiar clothes. The question that never expires is the one Jesus asked next: “But who do you say that I am?”
For the time will come when they will not listen to the sound doctrine, but, having itching ears, will heap up for themselves teachers after their own lusts;
They said, “Some say John the Baptizer, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets.”
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
The teacher-only portrait fails His own claims
Modern taste prefers Jesus as wise moral instructor, nothing more. But the Jesus of history forgave sins as God's own prerogative: seeing a paralytic, He said, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” When objectors demanded, “Who can forgive sins but God alone?”, He answered by asserting that “the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” Later He declared, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.” His hearers understood exactly what was claimed and reached for stones, saying, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.” A portrait that keeps the ethics but deletes the identity keeps something Jesus never offered.
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic—
Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.”
The Jews answered him, “We don’t stone you for a good work, but for blasphemy: because you, being a man, make yourself God.”
The affirming buddy omits the Judge
Another popular portrait approves everything and confronts nothing. Jesus was merciful: to the woman dragged before Him He said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.” But mercy came with a command, and He warned hearers that unless they believed who He is, they would die in their sins. The same Lord appeared to John in glory and said, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last, and the Living one.” Scripture assigns Him the judgment seat: “he has given all judgment to the Son,” and before Him “all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another.” A Jesus with no judgment to give is not the Jesus who saves from it.
She said, “No one, Lord.” Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.”
When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last, and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
“But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Before him all the nations will be gathered, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
The life-improvement portrait cannot explain the cross
The prosperity version of Jesus exists to upgrade your circumstances; the self-help version offers principles for a better you. The real One offered a cross: “Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” Then came the question no brand manager would approve: “For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?” He owned no bed, telling an eager follower that “the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” And His route to blessing ran through poverty for our sake: “though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.” A Jesus who exists to serve your goals is a mirror, not a Master.
He called the multitude to himself with his disciples, and said to them, “Whoever wants to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty might become rich.
The political champion mistakes the mission
Every era tries to draft Jesus into its cause, from the left or from the right. Galilee tried it first: perceiving the crowd meant to seize Him “to make him king”, He withdrew alone. Before Pilate He explained why: “My Kingdom is not of this world.” His model of greatness was not seizing power but serving under it, and His mission statement was substitution: “the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” He will reign openly one day under the name “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS,” but on His terms and timetable, not ours. A Jesus enlisted in our platform is another Jesus; the real One recruits us into His.
Jesus therefore, perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force, to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here.”
For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
He has on his garment and on his thigh a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
The apostles' portrait is the test
How do you tell a counterfeit from the real thing? Hold every portrait against what the eyewitnesses handed down: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,” He was buried, and He was “raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.” In Him risen and bodily, “all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,” and Thomas's conclusion stands as the church's confession: “My Lord and my God!” Any portrait that carries these marks, however dimly understood, points at the real Jesus and can grow. Any that subtracts them, however sincerely held, is exactly the substitute Paul feared, one we too easily “put up with ... well enough.”
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,
Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different “good news”, which you did not accept, you put up with that well enough.
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Verses to meditate on
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.”
For what does it profit a man, to gain the whole world, and forfeit his life?
When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last, and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever more. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily,
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