Brandon Robertson is a progressive Christian pastor who has become very popular in recent times mostly due to his less-than-orthodox views on scripture and Jesus. and in this three part series of my article i intend to focus on his views of Jesus.

now when talking about brandon's views on Jesus we have to answer a pretty important question who is Jesus now i will begin by showing Brandon’s views then we will look at the historical and biblical view to come to a conclusion of who Jesus really is

Brandon states in his video titled “Christians stop idolizing Jesus”

That Christians often idolize Christ by looking at him as something so divine he is out of reach and that Christians often forgot to look at Jesus as the rabbi and teacher that he is

He claims that Jesus was not perfect and that while he was both God or a divine spirit (not necessarily trinitarian as he states in his video about his issues with orthodoxy) and man they are different and that Jesus was both able and very willing to change and able to sin

He believes that Christians look at Jesus as perfect and because of that fact there is a tendency to just give up on growing for the better because of Grace and because Christ is to Good and out of reach to where Christians feel like they never even could become like that so why even try

He makes many other claims and some of which i will address across the next two articles but for this article i will be focussing on these issues

Jesus divinity

Can we idolize Jesus

How can we follow Jesus example

1 was Jesus divine again Brandon does claim that Christ has some sort of divine side but its not the biblical or historical view of Jesus despite what he may claim

Some of the biggest issues with his teachings are that he claims Jesus can change and that he was a flawed sinner.

So whats the issue with that? You may be asking, well theres a few issues,

one if Jesus could sin then he was not God because God is perfect and holy without blemish

(1 John 1:5).

If we were to say that Christ is a sinner then he could not be God but the scripture make it abundantly clear that he is not only sinless be that he is also God both things that contradict what brandon roberts is saying

John 10:30

I and the Father are one.”

Colossians 2:8-9

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits[a] of the world, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,

1 peter 2:21-22

21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth.

Those are just a few examples of the scripture pointing to both the fact that Jesus is God and sinless which are two very important things which leads me into the second reason he must be sinless.

Which is Christ is the perfect savior we needed someone both God and man to die for us someone who could take the wrath of God,

someone who could live a righteous life and someone who could raise themself from the dead only Christ who is both God and man could do that.

And while Brandon would not agree that Christ died for our sins this is another thing that the scripture is very clear about

1 peter 2:24

24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

Hebrews 10:10

And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

And so we can see that brandon's claim falls apart the moment we check it with scripture

But now that we have established that Jesus is sinless and God that begs the (2)question of brandons other claim that we can idolize Jesus

So can we?

No of course not we are called to praise and glorify God and as we read Jesus is God

Mark 12:30

30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’

So we know we are to love him and praise him

but also we know what from scripture that Christ will be praised

Luke 19:35-40

35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road. 37 As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” 39 And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.” 40 He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Jesus says that if the people did not praise him the very stones would cry out

So again scripture could not be more clear that we can not idolize Jesus

But this again leads me to his next and final claim for part 1

That because we “idolize” Christ and make him perfect we cant follow his example and change

But the issue with that claim is that if we wanted to know how to become more holy one we have fellow Christians who have struggled with sin but two

You don't follow someone who is flawed to know what is good

It is because Christ is perfect that he is such a good example

Because everything he did was good and holy so we can follow his example in order to pursue holiness i like an example i heard banks dont study counterfeit bills to know fake ones they study real bills so when counterfeit ones come they know its different. And finally for this point again scripture revealed the truth

Paul writes in 1 corinthians

1 corinthians 11:1

Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.

We are called to imitate Christ to be holy and only by looking at our perfect savior can we know how to live a holy life

So as we end todays first segment of the articles one know that we should love and pray for Brandon that he would come to repentance and two know that we are called to test all things with scripture because it alone is God's infallible word(2 timothy 3:16)

And finally that God is Good and gracious and

That's why this matters

God loved us so much to send his son

And die for us so we out of thankfulness for his love should strive to know and honor his word