Revisionist ("progressive Christian") theology is infiltrating churches, and we need to be on our guard.
I am disturbed with a popular feminist explanation of Matthew 15:21-28.
In this passage, Jesus tests a woman by telling her that healing her child would be like giving the children’s food to the dogs.
Feminist revisionists claim that this woman had to teach Jesus to overcome His bigotry against Gentiles and women. They assert that Jesus isn’t the hero in that story even though he ultimately heals the child. Rather, the woman is the hero.(1)
In this passage, Jesus tests a woman by telling her that healing her child would be like giving the children’s food to the dogs.
Feminist revisionists claim that this woman had to teach Jesus to overcome His bigotry against Gentiles and women. They assert that Jesus isn’t the hero in that story even though he ultimately heals the child. Rather, the woman is the hero.(1)
This feminist explanation contradicts Scripture and actually makes salvation impossible:
1. Prejudice is sin (James 2:8-9).
2. Jesus (as both man and God) was/is perfect and unchanging (1 John 3:5).
3. If Jesus sinned even once, He couldn't save us. He had to be "holy, blameless, and pure" (2 Corinthians 5:21; Hebrews 1:3; Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 7:26-27; Hebrews 13:8; 1 Peter 1:18-19; 1 Peter 2:21-22).(2)
4. Jesus created that woman. She had nothing to teach Him (Colossians 1:15-16).
It disturbs me that people would suggest that our Lord and Savior was a bigot.
This can be a difficult passage to understand. For a good explanation of this passage, see today's Bite Size Bible Study Debunking Feminist Views of Matthew 15:21-28.
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(1) This view appears in many "Christian feminist" books and blogs. In fact, I have read several feminist "testimonies" using this Bible passage to explain how they came to affirm feminist views of God and overcome biblical "prejudice" against LBGTQ lifestyles. The late Rachel Held Evans, an extremely popular "Christian feminist," shared this view and later apologized for implying Jesus was a bigot, but added, "I’d like there to be room for interpretations in which Jesus is genuinely moved & influenced by the woman." Christ is always moved by human needs, but He cannot be "influenced" by any human to be more gracious, fair, or loving than He already was/is/will be.
(2) The passages linked to this point leave no doubt as to Christ's perfection and the necessity of His perfection in our salvation. Christ's sinlessness is a clear concept in Scripture and an absolute necessity in our salvation.
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Bible Love Notes
It was by the woman's faith, that the Lord blessed her ways. And so the daughter was made whole.
ReplyDeleteIf Jesus was fully human as well.as fully God....l wonder if being fully human meant the God aspect was basically dormant ? So being human , there must have been times Jesus just got angry for fed up ....makes him much more relatsble
ReplyDeleteHi Christina,
DeleteScripture is very clear that Jesus was without sin. If He was a sinner, He would not have been qualified to die in our place and we would be hopelessly headed to Hell. Jesus is relatable in that He faced the same temptations we face, and He shows us how to resist them.
If we want our God to be more like us in the area of sin, we want a very inferior God, someone we can't trust or follow wholeheartedly. The Scriptures below are just a few that refute the belief that Jesus sinned. Jesus did get angry, but His anger was pure, righteous, and sinless. God has a right to get angry when men and women mock Him. That's not sin.
1 John 3:5: You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin.
1 Peter 2:22: He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.
Hebrews 4:15: For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.
2 Corinthians 5:21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.