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JESUSDIE.TXT
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1993-06-03
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Did Jesus Christ Really Die Spiritually?
By Clete Hux
The obvious abuses of the Word-Faith movement concerning the
"health and wealth" gospels are readily acknowledged by most
evangelical Christians. However, the most serious errors of
the movement involve the "faith" teachings on the atonement
of Christ.
Many Word-Faith teachers claim that redeemed man has the
nature of God and that fallen man has the nature of Satan.
According to these teachers, Jesus Christ voluntarily took
upon Himself our sinful nature and His very nature changed.
They also teach that when man (Adam) rebelled (or as they
frequently put in, "committed high treason") he not only
took on the nature of Satan, but betrayed God by turning
over to Satan what God had given him. So, in order to redeem
mankind and creation from Satan's "legal" control, Jesus as
the second Adam, had to die not only physically but
spiritually. According to these false teachers, Jesus took
on the very nature of Satan on the cross, died spiritually,
and while completing the plan of redemption in hell, was
born again. Look at what some of the main leaders have said:
"Do you think that the punishment for our sin was to die on
a cross? If that were the case, the two thieves could have
paid our price. No, the punishment was to go into hell
itself and to serve time in hell separated from God
[Frederick K.C. Price, "Ever Increasing Faith Messenger"
(June 1990), p.7.]
"Ladies and gentlemen, the serpent is a symbol of Satan.
Jesus Christ knew the only way he would stop Satan was by
becoming one in nature with him. You say, What did you say?
What blasphemy is this? No, you hear this! He did not take
my sin; He became my sin." [Benny Hinn, "Benny Hinn"
broadcast on TBN, December 15,1990.]
"When Jesus cried 'It is finished!' He was not speaking of
the plan of redemption. There were still three days and
nights to go through before He went to the throne. He was
referring to the Abrahamic Covenant... Jesus' death on the
cross was only the beginning of the complete work of
redemption." [Kenneth Copeland, "Jesus - Our Lord of Glory,
Believer's Voice of Victory," (April, 1982), page 3.]
"The righteousness of God was made to be sin. He accepted
the sin nature of Satan in His own spirit. And at that
moment that he did so He cried, "My God, My God, Why hast
thou forsaken me?" You don't know what happened at the
cross. Why do you think Moses, upon instruction of God,
raised the serpent upon that pole instead of a lamb? That
use to bug me. I said, 'Why in the world would you want to
put a snake up there - the sign of Satan? Why didn't you put
a lamb on that pole?' And the Lord said, 'Because it was a
sign of Satan that was hanging on the cross.' He (Jesus)
said, "I accepted in my own spirit, spiritual death; and the
light was turned off." [Kenneth Copeland, "What Happened
From the Cross to the Throne?," cassette tape, Kenneth
Copeland Ministries, parenthesis mine.]
Among the errors many Word-Faith teachers make about the
atonement of Christ, one is the "spiritualizing" of the
death of Jesus Christ. Another is the distortion of what
Jesus meant on the cross when He said, "It is finished."
(John 19:30).
The teachers of this movement emphasize the "spiritual"
death of Christ almost to the exclusion of His "physical"
death. The problem with this is simply that it is
unbiblical. The Bible's emphasis is on the physical death of
Christ, not the spiritual. The teaching of scripture is:
"Without the shedding of blood (physical) there is no
remission" (Hebrews 9:22, parenthesis mine).
As regarding Christ's words, "It is finished," the word in
the Greek is "tetelistai" and is rendered "to bring to an
end" or "paid for in full" (Vine's Expository Dictionary).
What Christ was saying was that the work of redemption
(paying for sin and securing salvation)
was complete. If we say Christ did anything else beyond "It
is finished," in order to pay for our sins, we add to His
completed work. This is what the Word-Faith teachers have
done when they teach that salvation was completed in hell,
after Christ died on the cross!
On what scripture do these teachers base their doctrine of
the spiritual death of Christ? Most of them point to Psalm
22:1 where the Psalmist cried out "My God, My God, Why hast
thou forsaken me?" Jesus of course uttered these words on
the cross in fulfillment of the Psalmist's prophecy (Mark
15:34).
However, when reading Psalm 22, it is seen that God never
abandoned the Psalmist (see 22:19, 22, 23, 24). And in other
psalms we discover the Psalmist is always feeling like God had
abandoned him when God had not. He seems to be saying, "God,
where are you when I need you?" But in Psalm 22, David is merely
expressing how he feels, rather than the fact of God really
abandoning him.
Jesus, in his human nature, while on the cross, as He looks
into the cup of death, expresses the very same feeling or
emotion as did David. God never abandoned Christ on the
cross. Rather, God turned His back on what was on Jesus,
namely our sin. Jesus was our sin-bearer, but He was not
polluted with our sin-nature and the nature of Satan as the
Word-Faith teachers claim.
Finally, did Christ die spiritually? The answer is no! At
least not in the way the leaders of this movement teach. The
Bible does not teach that Jesus died spiritually. As a
matter of fact, the Bible teaches just the opposite.
In I Peter 3:18, Peter tells us that Christ was "Put to
death in the flesh, but quickened (made alive) by the
Spirit." This does not mean that He was once dead
spiritually and now He is alive spiritually. or by the
Spirit.
In conclusion, if what the Word-Faith teachers claim
regarding the atonement of Christ is true, then we will have
to rewrite the words of Christ on the cross. For instance,
instead of saying "It is finished," Christ should have
explained Himself by saying, "I'm not talking about the plan
of salvation, but I'm talking about the Abrahamic covenant."
Instead of Christ saying to the thief on the cross, "Today
you will be with Me in Paradise," He should have said,
"Today you will be with Me in hell." Instead of saying,
"Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit," He should have
said, "Satan, into your hands I commend My spirit."
There is still one more problem with this movement's
teaching that Jesus whipped Satan in hell: Satan is not in
hell. One day he will be!