My Lord and My God

This is an interesting article by Jack Kelley that explains how different religions portray the same Jesus and at the end explains how the bible portrays Jesus.

Seven Men Named Jesus by Jack Kelley

I wanted to send this out because of a couple of visitors I had to the house the other day. They were adamant that works were the key to heaven and that if they did as they were told and were deemed worthy by their church and God that they would receive the opportunity of heaven. Many religions claim Jesus but not all claim that Jesus is God – what does the bible have to say about this – is it clear? I gave them a couple of examples and had them scratching their heads when they left. Since that encounter I’ve spent quite a few hours making sure that position of Grace by Faith and not by Works is well justified in scripture – I knew this but I wanted to make sure I could convey this if need be again to any other visitors by citing exact scripture passages. I found the following in Galatians that summed up what I was thinking and wanted to convey the next go around.

Galatians 3:1-14

¹ O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? ² This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? ³ Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? ⁴ Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?
⁵ Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— ⁶ just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” ⁷ Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. ⁸ And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” ⁹ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

These guys quoted James 2:24 to me “You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone.” and he made a point that works is the key to faith… I told him that I was sorry he saw it that way and that he needed to go back over James again.

James 2:21-23

²¹ Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? ²² Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? ²³ And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”^[g]And he was called the friend of God.

It was Abraham’s faith and love for God that brought about the works – not the other way around. I also would like to point that Abraham was called a friend of God – not a brother… these guys considered Christ a brother… I had to set them straight.

Paul was very clear in that aspect of the role of Christ. He also brings the fact of that it is only by Faith that we are justified and not by works.

Philippians 3:8-11

⁸ Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; ¹⁰ that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, ¹¹ if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Thomas also had this to say after Jesus had been resurrected and he realized to whom he was speaking…

John 20:27-28

²⁷ Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
²⁸ And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”

If you have a knock at the door one day – keep these verses in mind… Christ is not your brother – He is your God and that you are justified by faith and not by works… sometimes we take knowing this for granted. These guys have been deceived by their church (LDS) – it’s up to us to set them straight as to who God actually is and how to get there by faith in Christ.