Dangerous Theology...The Word of Faith Movement, Part 3. "The Error Continues!"

Did Jesus become a sinner on the cross? The cross of Jesus and the Atonement are at the core of the Christian faith. As Christ followers, our understanding of the doctrine of the Atonement affects all other fundamental Christian doctrine, everything from the attributes of God, to the person of Jesus, to the doctrine of salvation, and to our correct understanding of ourselves! To formulate a teaching beyond what's declared in the Bible is very undermining, confusing and dangerous for the Christ follower! The New Testament atonement, the deity, and the sinlessness of Jesus are the most attacked doctrines by the false religions and cults. What does the Word of Faith Movement teach regarding our question? The heart of our question centers on apostle Paul's statement in 2 Cor. 5:21: "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." The questions are, "In what sense did Jesus become sin on our behalf?" Does that phrase mean that Jesus literally became a sinner on the cross? The teaching of the Word of Faith is that the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross was not sufficient to atone for sins! They teach that Jesus literally took on the nature of Satan and went to hell where He was tormented by Satan in order to finish His atoning work. Then, they teach that Jesus had to be born again! You may be thinking, "So what's the big deal!" The big deal is this concept is a false doctrine! This is a denial of the sufficiency of the cross. This is a denial of the deity of Jesus. This is a denial of the holiness of Jesus' nature. Let's examine the words of Word of Faith teacher Benny Hinn. In a TBN broadcast, Hinn said, "He (Jesus) who is righteous by choice said, "The only way I can stop sin is by me becoming it. I just can't stop it by letting it touch me; I and it must become one." Hear this! He who is the nature of God became the nature of Satan when he became sin!" (Benny Hinn, TBN, December 1, 1990). This is the Word of Faith doctrine regarding the atonement. Is this teaching found in the Word of God? What heresy is this? Benny Hinn is claiming that Jesus spoke those words to him! Those are NOT the words of Jesus! Those words are not found in the Bible! Did Jesus become a sinner on the cross? The answer is a resounding NO! Here is my evidence. In 2 Cor. 5:21, Paul said that Jesus, "knew no sin." Whatever the rest of the verse means, it must be interpreted in the context of Paul's words that Jesus "knew no sin!" This means He had no personal experiential knowledge of sin in any way! If Jesus had become a sinner then apostle Paul is contradicting himself in this verse! God forbid! No, Paul is not contradicting himself, he's speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The false teachers of the Word of Faith Movement are contradicting God's Word! The rest of the Scripture makes it clear that Jesus remained perfectly sinless! We'll continue with the rest of the evidence in the next teaching. Concerning these teachers, the Word of God says we are to mark them and avoid them (Romans 16:17). Your move. Be encouraged!