Colossians 1:19-20 “For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, (20) and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”
The work of salvation that God the Father accomplished through the sacrifice of His Son Christ Jesus is far more extensive than that which is commonly taught or understood in the church. And so in order to assist the church in addressing the issue, this series is written to explain just one aspect of the work of the cross, i.e. the cleansing power of the blood of Christ that cleanses mankind from all their sin. In the above quoted passage of scripture, the apostle Paul teaches us that God the Father has reconciled us to Himself through the blood of Christ that was shed for us on the cross. Sadly, many ministers of the gospel do not have a clear understanding of the work of salvation that Jesus Christ accomplished on the cross. They also do not have a clear understanding as to why Jesus is the only one in all of God’s creation that was uniquely qualified to reconcile mankind to God. And so, because of their limited understanding of the biblical truth of salvation through Jesus Christ, these same ministers preach a watered down gospel message. For example, I have heard some ministers (one in particular that has a vast following in the church) state publicly that they cannot say for certain that people of other “faiths” will not be saved. You can readily see how statements like these can create confusion not only among unbelievers but also immature Christians, about the message of the gospel of salvation through Jesus Christ. And so when an incomplete gospel of salvation is preached, it impacts negatively on the Lord’s saints because it makes them vulnerable to deceivers in the church who proclaim certain false doctrines regarding salvation, thus leading many astray.
False teaching in the church
2 Corinthians 11:13-15 “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. (14) And no wonder! For Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. (15) Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.”
Satan is the one who continually attacks the work of salvation that Jesus Christ accomplished for us on the cross. The devil has a twofold strategy when he does this. Firstly, he knows that if he can deceive the unsaved into believing the lie that they can be saved by any means other than through the cross of Christ, that he can lead them blindfolded straight into eternal destruction. And then secondly, he knows that if he can get those who have already been saved, to question any part of the Lord’s work that He accomplished through the cross, that the door has been opened to him to ultimately destroy the believers’ faith in their salvation. And so, just as the devil uses two main strategies in this area so he also employs two main avenues to accomplish his strategies. He does so through the use of both false and genuine ministers of the gospel, for both the false and the genuine who teach error in this area, have been taken captive by the devil for the sole purpose of spreading his deceit like a cancer in the church. And so one of the reasons this series is written, is to help believers to understand the crucial importance of the blood of Christ being shed for our salvation, thus enabling the saints to not be deceived by the various erroneous teachings that have crept into the church.
There are two main false teachings that have crept into the church lately regarding the doctrine of the blood of Christ. The first teaching, which is the more damaging to the church, is the deception which is propagated by ministers of Satan that as the above passage of scripture reveals, disguise themselves as ministers of righteousness. Essentially, they base their teaching of salvation on the principle that God is good and that God is love. And so on the surface, this teaching sounds right because that is exactly in line with what scripture teaches, for God is good and God is love. Nevertheless the deception they teach regarding the doctrine of salvation is that because God is good and He is a God of love that He simply forgives sin, and there is no such thing as the need for the blood of Christ to cleanse us from our sins. They scoff at the concept of the blood of Christ having any cleansing power for the sin of mankind, and proclaim that any suggestion to the contrary is founded in pagan ritualistic practices of ancient religions. In other words, their false teaching proclaims that God had nothing to do with the death of Jesus, because as a God of love, He would never do such a thing as sending His Son to die for our sins on the cross. The core deception of their teaching is to concentrate only on the goodness of God and to ignore His severity, even though the scripture clearly instructs us to consider both the goodness and the severity of God (Romans 11:22). The reason the false ministers deliberately ignore the severity of God is because that aspect of the scriptures destroys their false narrative that God loves all and therefore forgives all. Essentially their false doctrine teaches people that all they need to do to be saved is to simply believe that God loves them and forgives all their sins, period.
The second false teaching is that the death of Christ was essential for salvation, but not the shedding of His blood. Sadly, there are some genuine ministers of the gospel (one in particular is very well known in the evangelical community) who teach the error that the blood of Christ has no role to play in our salvation, and that only His death is relevant. In other words, their view is that Jesus could have died even without the shedding of His blood and we would still be saved. The genuine ministers, who teach the error of the blood of Christ as not being necessary for our salvation, have clearly never understood the reason for the shedding of His blood. As I have already mentioned, the ignorance of these ministers negatively impacts the saints that are exposed to their erroneous teaching, thus making the saints vulnerable to deceptive doctrines that are brought into the church.
Michael E.B. Maher
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