Verify Podcast

I heard a prominent, internationally renowned preacher declare that he, his listeners and by inference, all believers, are equal to God. He based this on the scripture that says “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God.” Now let’s take a moment to read the scripture from which the preacher deduced that believers must not think it as robbery to be equal to God. Phil 2:5-8 says “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” I just read from the King James Version, but earlier, I had to read it in other versions, to understand it better. In a nutshell, that portion of scripture talks about how Christians should have the humility of Christ, who even though He was equal with God, relinquished his high position, to become a servant and ultimately die on the cross for us.

So how does this scripture which talks about having this attitude of humility which Christ had, suddenly become twisted to mean something quite the opposite; that believers are equal with God?

The sad part of this is that this is not a stand-alone teaching. There are many such teachings from the same preacher and others, in which scripture is cleverly stretched and twisted, in an attempt to get it to mean what it does not say, and many times, the motive is to unduly elevate man beyond the level which the bible does.

Now, please don’t get me wrong, the bible does teach that we are made in God’s image, seated with Christ in heavenly places, that we are in Christ and Christ is also in us. All that is indisputable, and praise God for that, because if not, none of us would have any place in God. But nowhere does it state that humans are equal with God. In fact, on the contrary, Isaiah 46:5 calls God the one who has no equal.

From 2 Cor 4:2, we see that believers have the responsibility of refusing to distort the word of God or handle it deceitfully. We are to correctly explain the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15). No matter how prominent a preacher is, it is for our good, that we submit all that we hear to the scrutiny of God’s word.

May God help us to put every teaching to the test, including those of preachers who are highly admired and respected. May we always esteem the sacredness of God’s word, higher than the opinions of our most loved preachers, in Jesus name, amen.