Jesus In The Flesh

During Friday night Bible study, we discussed how the divinity of Jesus is often more the focal point than whether or not Jesus was a person who lived years ago.  Though the modern date and year hearkens back to the existence of Jesus, John warned there were people in His day that denied this.  He said matter-of-factly in 1 John 4:2-3:  "By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, ³ and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world."

Gnosticism was a heresy in the early centuries of the church whose adherents claimed to have secret knowledge of God, and it was believed through secret knowledge they alone comprehended one could be freed from illusions of darkness and "saved."  Gnostics would not have denied Jesus came to earth, but claimed He did not have a human body--it just appeared that He did.  They viewed physical matter as inherently evil and only what is spirit is good.  This created a situation where anything done in a physical body was of no consequence because what is done in the spiritual realm matters.  These views are totally contradictory to the revelation of God and sound doctrine in the Bible.

From a biblical perspective, it is very important to establish Jesus did indeed come to the earth as a human being in a physical body.  Unless Jesus was born He could not die for sinners, and if He did not die He is not risen.  If Jesus Christ is not risen our faith is futile, we are still in our sins and everyone is headed to everlasting destruction!  John said those who do not confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God, and this is the spirit of Antichrist which was already in the world in John's day.  There are people today who do not hold to Gnosticism yet deny Jesus came to the world as a historical figure.  Perhaps by casting doubt on the historicity of Jesus they hope to spare themselves the need to consider His life, words, works, death and resurrection--and His promise to return in judgment.

Though the Antichrist has not yet been revealed, that malevolent and deceitful spirit was already at work in the world, and it is through the revelation of Scripture Christians are made wise to it.  To call Jesus "Christ" is to acknowledge He is the promised Messiah, the anointed one of God who will save His people from their sins.  Jesus being born in human flesh, dying on the cross, and bodily rising from the dead are all fundamental, essential doctrines of Christianity.  To deny any of these facts is to deny Jesus Christ as revealed in the Bible.  Those who confess Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and we can say this by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth, who provides understanding of God's word, and helps us to walk in God's will.  The spirit of the Antichrist at work in the world ought not trouble us as Christians, for we serve the Christ who is greater than all, stands ready to save us and will deliver us from the wrath to come.