Messing with the Gospel story to convince someone to accept it, or worse yet, to win a political argument is counterproductive and ultimately unbiblical. It cheapens the Gospel and distorts the true mission of Jesus Christ.
In the last few years some Christians as well as some false teachers have written articles about Jesus that have caused Christians to be concerned.
One article called Jesus the Mixed-raced savior, pointing to some of the non-Israelite women found in the genealogy of Jesus, others, especially around Christmas, have have written on social media pointing out the fact that Jesus himself was a refugee, having escaped from Herod as he sought to put Him to death. Many other articles and posts have been written using Christ as a prop for political and sociological beliefs.
It seems that all in all there is a growing desire to co-opt Christ.
Perhaps because of a love for the lost, there’s a desire to help people identify with Christ by making him sympathetic to many injustices that the world is facing. Of course, I disagree with this as there is no need for it, but I understand it as I desire to see souls saved.
There also might be the temptation to justify our political leanings by using the Bible. Obviously if the Bible says something it is much more powerful than if Trump or Obama said it. While the Bible does clearly speak on many issues it is imperative that we do not twist it in order to justify our positions. This is terribly dangerous and sinful but an understandable temptation as well.
So, when it comes to identifying Christ as a mixed-race savior or as a refugee, I can understand the desire to do so. It doesn’t automatically mean that the one who does so is a heretic, though it might. And it doesn’t necessarily mean that they are politically idolatrous, though it might. It might be simply that they are saddened for the refugees around the world and want to make Jesus more attractive to the refugee they are evangelizing. But even with these motives it is quite dangerous.
Sure, Jesus had some women in his line who were not Israelites but to diminish or eliminate his “Jewishness” is a big theological problem and misses the point entirely. And sure, Jesus was escaping from a murderous king, and in that sense, he was seeking refuge, but one would have to grant that pretty much any Jew moving away from Israel during that time would be considered a refugee (in today’s world) since they were under Roman oppression.
And it is this very Roman oppression that Jews were facing during Jesus’ time on earth that brings me to the main point of this article.
Any time we make Jesus’s ministry about anything other than fulfilling His mission of being the perfect lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (John 1:29) we are in danger of at least distorting the Gospel if not even teaching a false one (Gal. 1:8-9).
The reason in this case is simple.
