Church doctrine is rife with error. A glaring example is the common teaching that Jesus felt abandoned by the Father during the crucifixion. Pastors quote the Lord in Matthew 27:46 – "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" – to suggest that the Father hid His face as the Son shouldered the sin of the world.
But is that really the message Jesus is conveying? No. Because Christianity has abandoned its Jewish roots, it misses what the Jewish Messiah is saying to His Jewish audience. By quoting the opening verse of Psalm 22, Jesus is communicating to the stiff-necked religious leaders that He is the prophetic fulfillment of that Messianic text. In Jewish tradition, a rabbi can call attention to a passage in the Tanach simply by quoting the opening verse. The Pharisees, having memorized the psalms, should have understood that verses 16-18 were playing out before their eyes: "They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing they cast lots."
The Lord never felt cut off by the Father at the cross. In fact, we see the oneness of the Godhead operate in perfect harmony as the Son talks intimately with the Father, "Forgive them, for they do not know what they do," and also, "Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit." In anticipation of the crucifixion, He says in John 17:5, "And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was."
Creation would not have survived a rift in the Godhead during the crucifixion. Colossians 1:16-17 says Christ created all things in heaven and on earth, and in Him all things consist. Had Jesus been rejected by the Father and stripped of deity, even briefly, creation as we know it would have ceased. Matthew 12:25 says a house divided cannot stand. Although the Son prayerfully asks the Father to remove this cup (Mark 14:36), He nevertheless yields, "Not what I will, but what You will." I sense no abandonment in that expression and love and submission.
Pastors are also in error when they teach that Jesus became sin literally on the cross. If that were true, the Son would have been viewed by the Father as a blemished sacrifice and rejected, thus invalidating His blood atonement for mankind. In the Old Testament sacrificial system, the sinner laid hands on the animal to transfer the liability of guilt and punishment. At no time did the innocent subject become sin or sinful. We must also examine 2 Corinthians 5:21 carefully – "For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." The word "be" is in italics, meaning it is not in the original Greek. Bible scholars agree that the phrase "to be sin" would be better rendered "bearing the penalty for our sins."
Some take this false doctrine to the extreme, claiming that Yeshua not only became sinful, but went to hell and had to be born again. That is utter nonsense. The Lord told the repentant thief on the cross he would join Him that day in paradise. He was referring to Sheol Paradise or Abraham's Bosom, the underworld holding area where Old Testament saints rested and waited for Messiah. When Yeshua ascended to heaven 40 days after His resurrection He took them with Him (Ephesians 4:8). Some argue that 1 Peter 3:19 describes Yeshua descending to hell – "He went and preached to the spirits in prison." Not true. The Lord was announcing from Sheol Paradise His victory over sin and death. It would have been heard by the captives in Sheol Torment, an area inhabited by the unsaved and separated from Sheol Paradise by an abyss. Paradise is now in heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).
Revelation 1:5 describes Yeshua as the "firstborn from the dead," but does not mean He was born again. According to Bible commentator David Stern, He is the firstborn (or foremost, chief) of those raised from the dead. In other words, He is the first to demonstrate power over the grave.
Posted by Jeff King at December 17, 2003 12:49 AM