Franklin Graham doesn’t believe that Jesus is truly God. How can I say that? He most certainly professes faith in the divinity of Christ. The problem, though, is that he believes in Christ’s divinity in theory, but not in practice.
This became apparent when he gave a recent interview to Christiana Amanpour, in which he stated that the way that everyone could see Christ’s return is to watch it on a cell phone or laptop or the like. He took the Scriptures seriously enough to believe that everyone will see the return of Christ. But rather than believe that Christ could accomplish this because He is truly God, Graham cast about for a technological solution.
Of course, he couldn’t solve the problem by technology. Vast numbers of people, even in the United States, are too poor or too isolated to have cell phones or internet access. Even those of who have cell phones and computers leave them behind or turn them off for periods of time. Thus, I didn’t find out until this morning that Osama bin Laden had been killed, even though the news was broadcast far and wide all night long. Had I been camping or hiking, it would have been even worse, since I often cannot get cell phone reception, let alone internet, in the mountains. If God has to use the internet in order to let everyone see Christ’s return, then months will go by before everyone will see Him—in direct contradiction to our Lord’s promise that all will see Him instantly without need of anyone prompting them (Matthew 24:23-27). And so the people of the 1960’s were right, after all: the revolution will not be televised.
But why was Franklin Graham forced to look for a technological solution, however lame it might be? He was following a trajectory of thought that goes back to Ulrich Zwingli that has influenced most of Protestantism with the exception of Lutheranism. This is often called “Reformed” theology, and although that title usually applies only to Presbyterians, Dutch Reformed, and similar groups, their view of Christ is widely shared by rival Protestants such as Arminians (e.g., Methodists), who differ sharply with the Reformed on other issues such as conversion and election. If you were to ask those with a Reformed view of Christ whether He can be with us always (Matthew 28:20), they would tell you, “No. His human nature is locked up in heaven, although His divine spirit can be with us.” Does our Lord know all things (John 16:30; 21:17)? “No. In His divine nature He does, but His human nature is incapable of knowing all things, since (like any human being) He has a finite mental capacity, even if He is highly intelligent.” Can Jesus do all things, even the miraculous (Luke 18:27; Colossians 1:16-17)? “No. The man Jesus can do many great things, like one of the saints of old, only with even greater powers. He can do wonders but is not omnipotent.” Does His blood have the divine power to cleanse us from our sins (1 John 1:7; Colossians 1:22)? “No. His divine spirit can forgive us, but His human nature does not have that power.” In short, does the fullness of the Godhead dwell in Christ in bodily form (Colossians 2:9)? “By no means. Finite man is not capable of the infinite God. The human Jesus is incapable of bearing the fullness of the deity of the Son of God.”
Now you might well wonder if the Reformed believe that Jesus’ humanity is so deeply separated from His divine nature, do they really believe in the incarnation—that the Son of God became flesh and thus Jesus Christ is true God and true man in one person? That is a good question. The best answer I can give is that in theory they truly believe in the incarnation and in Christ’s deity, but in practice they do not. It is no surprise that where a Reformed view of Christ predominated, Unitarianism and other movements have arisen that denied Christ’s deity altogether. They simply denied in theory what the Reformed had been denying all along in practice.
It would be far better, though, if Franklin Graham and others could simply accept that Jesus is God’s Son—and He won’t need a microphone for His voice to be heard or a TV screen for Him to be seen.
© 2011 James A. Kellerman
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