“Jesus is perfect theology.” This is a popular saying in some circles, and it is treated like the Royal Flush of theology. If you play this hand, you can’t lose. But here’s the problem – if you misread Jesus, you won’t have a perfect theology. Let’s unpack this.
“Jesus is perfect theology” is meant to indicate that if you describe God in such a way that doesn’t harmonize with the character of Jesus as revealed in the New Testament, then you are not accurately describing God because Jesus is the perfect description of God. If it does not line up with Jesus, it’s out of line because Jesus said, “If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father.” If you describe me as being six feet, five inches tall with the body of a Greek god – well, you’d be off by a tad bit! If you describe God as being full of wrath and vengeance and visiting judgment upon His enemies – well, you would not be describing the God of the Bible because Jesus is nothing like that description. Or is He? Here’s the problem: If you say, “Jesus is perfect theology,” and then make a blooper about Jesus, you’ve got a whack theology. If you misread God in such a way that He doesn’t line up with the character of Jesus Christ, you have to demote a lot of the Bible, from being the Word of God to men to being the word of men about God.
We are confidently told by proponents of the “Jesus is perfect theology” crowd that God doesn’t have wrath for sinful people because Jesus never had wrath for sinful people. But what about the following verses? If Jesus is the perfect description of God, how should we understand this?
THEN THE KINGS OF THE EARTH AND THE GREAT MEN AND THE COMMANDERS AND THE RICH AND THE STRONG AND EVERY SLAVE AND FREE MAN HID THEMSELVES IN THE CAVES AND AMONG THE ROCKS OF THE MOUNTAINS; AND THEY SAID TO THE MOUNTAINS AND TO THE ROCKS, “FALL ON US AND HIDE US FROM THE PRESENCE OF HIM WHO SITS ON THE THRONE, AND FROM THE WRATH OF THE LAMB…REVELATION 6:15-16
People are hiding from the wrath of the Lamb. That’s Jesus. We’re told that Jesus never judged sin and sinners. Yet what about the following words Jesus spoke to the Pharisees?
YOU SERPENTS, YOU BROOD OF VIPERS, HOW WILL YOU ESCAPE THE SENTENCE OF HELL? MATTHEW 23:33
FROM HIS MOUTH COMES A SHARP SWORD, SO THAT WITH IT HE MAY STRIKE DOWN THE NATIONS, AND HE WILL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON; AND HE TREADS THE WINE PRESS OF THE FIERCE WRATH OF GOD, THE ALMIGHTY… AND THE REST WERE KILLED WITH THE SWORD WHICH CAME FROM THE MOUTH OF HIM WHO SAT ON THE HORSE, AND ALL THE BIRDS WERE FILLED WITH THEIR FLESH. REVELATION 19:15, 21
It is claimed by the “Jesus is perfect theology” folk that the God of the Old Testament is a narcissistic Monster who is petty and stingy and full of vindictive judgment and that Jesus is nothing like that malicious, malignant Monster God. Yet here we see Jesus killing millions, if not billions, of people at His second coming. I take no great delight in that, yet I cannot, with any theological or intellectual integrity, state that Jesus has no wrath or judgment for sinners and that His character is different from the God revealed in the Old Testament. Jesus said that He was one with the Father. He came up with that one, not conservative theologians.
Those who champion the phrase “Jesus is perfect theology” point to passages in the New Testament where Jesus is generous, kind, forgiving, and inclusive. They avoid the passages I cited above. In fact, in the books and articles I have read and the podcasts I have listened to, only one person cited Revelation 19:15 and then dismissed it as being inconsequential.
We are not called to protect God from the wrath of man. We are called to point to Jesus, who protects man from the wrath of God. If sinful man doesn’t like the wrath and judgment of God, I’m not here to whittle down and redefine God for them. That’s what false prophets do. You cannot hide from a God of wrath, but you can hide in a God of love.
AND IF ANYONE’S NAME WAS NOT FOUND WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF LIFE, HE WAS THROWN INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE. REVELATION 20:15
The book of Revelation underscores the love of God in Jesus, who saves all who come to Him, and highlights the wrath of Jesus toward all who reject Him. Jesus and His Father are one. Jesus is perfect theology. Jesus is perfect salvation.
