The Right Jesus

The buzz in the room faded to a comfortable silence as the book club leader summarised the novel the group would discuss. My friend Joan listened closely but didn’t recognise the plot. Finally, she realised she had read a non-fiction book with a similar title to the work of fiction the others had read. Although she enjoyed reading the wrong book, she couldn’t join her friends as they discussed the right book.

The apostle Paul didn’t want the Corinthian believers in Jesus to believe in a wrong Jesus. He pointed out that false teachers had infiltrated the church and presented a different ‘Jesus’ to them, and they had swallowed the lies (2 Corinthians 11:3–4).

Paul denounced the heresy of these phony teachers. In his first letter to the church, however, he’d reviewed the truth about the Jesus of Scripture. This Jesus was the Messiah who “died for our sins . . . was raised on the third day . . . and then [appeared] to the Twelve,” and finally to Paul himself (1 Corinthians 15:3–8). This Jesus had come to earth through a virgin named Mary and was named Immanuel (God with us) to affirm His divine nature (Matthew 1:20–23). Does this sound like the Jesus you know? Understanding and accepting the truth written in the Bible about Him assures us that we’re on the spiritual path that leads to heaven. Jennifer Schuldt - Daily Bread