TRUST/BELIEVE JESUS’ WORDS — NOT THE PERSON JESUS
In addition to trusting the literal words of the Bible, Christianity teaches that people need to put their trust in Jesus and believe in him as a person. This doctrine results in trust in the man Jesus. Thus, people believe that if they trust Jesus, he, the man Jesus, will do all kinds of good things for them. From salvation to finances to health, to world peace, Jesus becomes the answer to all of their problems. They wrongly believe that, if they want all of their prayers answered, all they need to do is confess their belief in him and he will take care of their earthly life and their eternal life.
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- This is all wrong thinking.
- This is not what God says.
- God spoken word is the source of salvation.
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Christianity got off track regarding Jesus because it did not, and does not, recognize that God’s power is delivered through his spoken word. Here are a few facts about Jesus and his words that will help religious people come to a correct understanding of Jesus:
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- The power to do miracles resides in God’s spoken word — not in any human person — not even in the person of Jesus.
- The only thing special about Jesus is the anointing God gave to him. This anointing empowered him and other prophets to speak for God.
- Other than the ability to speak for God, Jesus had no supernatural power.
- Jesus always put God ahead of himself.
- Jesus’ words were not his own — they were God’s words.
- Jesus told people to believe his words — not to believe in him as a human person.
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STUDY TIP: See Jesus for for an in-depth study. Also see this link for a review of Jesus’ personal qualities and ministry functions.
And here are several scriptures with commentary that help us understand how God spoke through Jesus:
John 12:44 And Jesus cried out and said, He who believes in Me, does not believe in Me but in Him who sent Me.
COMMENTARY: The fact that Jesus cried indicates that he was very emotional about what he said and that it was a matter of great importance to him. It should also be a matter of great importance to us. Jesus says, in effect, that people should believe what God says through him — not in him as a human person. We could rephrase these verses as follows:
With great passion, Jesus cried out to the people: Those of you who are impressed by my words should not think that I am God in a human body. Don’t believe in me! I am not God, I am only God’s messenger/prophet. Don’t put your trust in a man such as me. Put your trust in God who sent me to speak his words to you through the power of his spirit.
When Jesus said “believe in me,” he means “believe God’s words spoken through me.” He means “believe my words.” He does not mean that people should believe in him as a person. He had this attitude because he knew that God spoke through him and that he (i.e. Jesus) was only a human person — not God.
Unlike Christians who think that Jesus is/was God, Jesus was not at all confused about his status as a man or about his status as a son of God. He knew that as a son of God he only spoke for God and was not in fact God. Christians will remain Old/First Covenant religionists until they understand this truth about Jesus.
John 12:45 He who sees Me sees the One who sent Me.
Religion teaches people to create this image of Jesus in their minds. They do this with preaching, pictures, jewelry, books and statues. There are two big problems with making images of Jesus and trusting those images.
First, it violates the first commandment which says that we should make no images of anything on earth or in heaven. When people believe that Jesus is in heaven and create mental images and painted pictures of him there, they violate this commandment.
Second, other scripture tells us that we should not put our hope in things that we can see but put our hope in things unseen. Other scriptures tells us that we should walk by faith — not by what we can see. And another scripture tells us that faith is the conviction of things not seen. Thus we can say that all images — both mental and real — of Jesus that Christians cherish and trust violate the first commandment. They put their trust in a man like them, more or less, that they can see. This violates God’s command to trust no man.
God wants people to trust his words spoken by Jesus, but he does not want people to trust the human person Jesus any more than he wants them to trust any religious leader.
John 12:46 I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
COMMENTARY: Jesus himself is not a light. God’s word/voice is a light to those who have clean, pure hearts. Jesus is a light only in the sense that God speaks his words through Jesus.
When Jesus says “believe in me,” he means “believe my words” — not to believe in him as a person. Jesus had no human power or authority. The only power and authority he had was to speak God’s words.
God did not only speak through Jesus. God speaks through all true prophets. Jesus was not the only true prophet. God spoke through Old Testament prophets just like he spoke through Jesus. And God has always spoken through true prophets down through the ages — even to today.
When Jesus said that his followers would do greater works than he did, he meant that God would speak through them just like he spoke through Jesus and other prophets. Speaking for God is the main good work that true prophets do. This contrasts with religious people who busy themselves doing all kinds of physical works that appear righteous, and have value in a worldly sense, but are not Godly works because God’s spirit is not speaking through them.
Regarding Jesus’ followers doing greater works than Jesus, a point must be made about the trinity. If Jesus is equal to God, and if his followers do greater works than Jesus, then it must be said that Jesus’ followers will do greater works than God. This is wrong thinking that wrongly elevates Jesus and his followers and makes God less than Jesus and his followers.
Everyone who speaks for God is a light shining in the darkness of the world of religion which has no light. Religion has no light because religious people speak out of the imagination of their own minds. God does not speak through them.
John 12:47 “If anyone hears My sayings and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.
COMMENTARY: When Jesus talks about people hearing his sayings, he confirms that his words are instrumental to saving the world of religion from religion. Jesus’ sayings are God’s words. It is God’s words that save people. Jesus had no authority or power to save anyone from anything except that he spoke God’s words.
God’s words judge religious people when they hear his words and are convicted in their hearts that religion is sin. If they don’t hear, they are not convinced and remain religious. Jesus’ job was not to judge people. He knew that God’s words would accomplish judgment.
STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of salvation.
John 12: 48 “He who rejects me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.
COMMENTARY: Jesus understands that people who reject him are rejecting his sayings (i.e. what God speaks through him.) — not as a personal rejection He sees rejection in terms of God’s words — not himself. He understands that those who reject him are actually rejecting God’s word — not him personally.
Most people are very sensitive to rejection. Rejection implies that the one rejected has some kind of deficiency (e.g. ugly, stupid, weak, unlovable, uncaring, boring, etc.) For most people, rejection causes a measure of hurt and anger in rejected people because they interpret how people relate to them and what they think about them in terms of their personal worth. This is not true for Jesus. What people think about him is not important because he finds his worth in the fact that he is a son of God. He has God’s laws written on his heart and knows God intimately. God’s word is his refuge and strong tower. He fears no man. Nothing else matters to him.
Because Jesus has this attitude about rejection, he has no need to judge those who reject him. He knows that he is only a messenger and that God will judge those who reject his messengers (i.e. true prophets, angels, messiahs, high priests, witnesses, warriors and apostles.) The messenger’s only job is to speak for God. They have no responsibility for judging how people react to their messages.
John 12:49 “For I did not speak on my own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent me has given me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak.
COMMENTARY: Jesus does not have a personal agenda. He knows who he is and what his ministry is: Speak God’s words to religious people who have hard hearts.
STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of God’s commandments.
John 12: 50 “I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”
COMMENTARY: Everything Jesus said was God’s spoken word. God’s spoken word is eternal life. Just as all of God’s words are eternal life, everything Jesus said are also eternal life.
John 3:12 “If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things?
COMMENTARY: Earthly things are words spoken by religious leaders (i.e. false prophets). Heavenly things are God’s spoken words. They are heavenly because they are heard in the heart.
STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of heaven.
John 14:10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.
COMMENTARY: The state of being in the father is another way of saying that we are created in God’s image. God’s image is reflected only in his words.
Jesus does not speak on his own authority or for his own benefit. Everything he says is the overflow of God’s spirit in his heart. Speaking for God is the only kind of work that God wants his people to do.
STUDY TIP: See this link and this link for understanding of God’s works.
John 10:25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe; the works that I do in My Father’s name, these testify of Me.
COMMENTARY: Speaking for God is the work that Jesus and other true prophets do for God. God communicates with his people by speaking to their hearts in his spiritual language.
It is in God’ character to speak his words to hearts. True prophets are created in God’s image and reflect his name (i.e. his character).
John 4:41: Many more believed because of His word;
COMMENTARY: Here belief is clearly tied to Jesus’ words. The ones who believed did not believe in the person of Jesus. They believed Jesus’ words which were God’s words.
John 14:1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
COMMENTARY: Evil, impure hearts are troubled because they do not hear God’s spoken word. Clean, pure hearts that hear and believe (i.e. trust) God’s word spoken by Jesus are not troubled.
Jesus is not saying here to simply believe that God exists. He is saying to believe God’s words spoken through Jesus.
John 5:24 Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life and will not come under judgment. Indeed, he has crossed over from death to life.
COMMENTARY: Here Jesus makes it very clear that belief in his words is actually belief in God’s words. Jesus’ words are justifiably equated with God’s spoken words because Jesus’ words are God’s words, not his.
Jesus is one of a long list of prophets who spoke, and still speak for God. Therefore, people who believe their words effectively believe God’s words. God’s spoken words are symbolically represented as eternal life.
People who do not hear God’s spoken words have hard hearts. Hard hearts do not deliver life-giving blood (i.e. God’s word) to the body. Therefore, God considers the body to be spiritually dead. People who do hear God’s spoken words are considered to be spiritually alive because they have soft hearts that receive life-giving blood (i.e. God’s word) and deliver it to the body.
When religious people stop practicing religion and listen to God’s spoken voice, they are resurrected from spiritual death to spiritual life. This is another way of saying that their hearts are transformed from hard to soft.
STUDY TIP: See Death, Resurrection, New Life, Salvation, Forgiveness, Heaven and Hell for understanding of spiritual life and death.
John 5:46-47: “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. “But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
COMMENTARY: Here Jesus says that the symbolic interpretations of Moses’ writings are the same thing as Jesus’ words. They both speak for God.
John 6:40-48 is a very important scripture to Christians. Unfortunately, because it is wrongly interpreted, Christians have a wrong understanding of who Jesus is and what it means to believe in him. The correct interpretation will be covered below verse by verse:
John 6:40 For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.
COMMENTARY: Looking to the son is symbolic language for listening to the son. God does not value physically looking at Jesus or anyone because Godly faith is in things not seen. The kind of faith God wants is when people listen to God’s words spoken through his true prophets of which Jesus is the perfect example.
The English word “son” is translated from the Greek word “huios.” When we look at the definition of huios, we see that it is translated many different ways (e.g. son 42 times, son(s) 85 times, son of Man, Son of God, child(ren) 49 times, firstborn son 2 times, and miscellaneous 14 times). Also, when we look at the definition of the Greek word “autos” which is translated as “him” in English, we see that autos is also translated as “them,” “her,” and many other ways that are not mentioned in the definition
What we learn from these many, different, inconsistent translations of huios and autos is that bible translators didn’t know for sure how to translate these words. Thus, they made editorial decisions that made the scriptures conform to their beliefs about Jesus. These editorial decisions make it appear that Jesus is the only person that people who want eternal life should look only to Jesus and believe only in the person of Jesus. Informed only by their religious beliefs, bible editors chose to translate huios as “Son” and capitalized it to make it a proper noun that points to a particular son (i.e. Jesus). Then, they translated autos “him” so that it would again point to Jesus.
These were serious errors in translation that wrongly emphasize the physical Jesus and all but ignore the power of God’s spoken word to enable eternal life. Here is how this verse should have been translated:
For my Father’s will is that all who listen with their hearts to true prophets like Jesus who are created in God’s image and believe the words that these true prophets say shall hear God’s spoken word. God will speak his words through these anointed prophets to raise those who listen from their dead religion and give them new life.
STUDY TIPS: See Eternal Life, Created in God’s Image, Messiahs and God Does Only One Kind of Miracle.
John 6:41 At this the Jews there began to grumble about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”
COMMENTARY: Jews and Christians cannot understand Jesus’ words because they do not understand the symbolic meaning of bread as good, clean spiritual food that comes from the mouth of God. Since God speaks to the heart, and since the heart is symbolically represented as heaven, his words should be translated as follows:
My words are God’s words. God’s words are life-giving bread. God’s words come from the heart (i.e. heaven) which is God’s home.
Religious people will always grumble and complain among themselves whenever someone challenges their beliefs. This is what happened among the Jews when, in verse 40, Jesus redirected their focus from Abraham and Moses to himself. Because they thought of Abraham as their father and respected the laws of Moses, Jesus provoked them by saying they should look (i.e. listen) to him for God’s words of eternal life. This is an example of what Jesus meant when he said he came to bring division — not peace. The words of God he spoke to them were like a sharp sword that challenged their religious beliefs.
Jesus’ words, when they are interpreted correctly, still challenge religious people. In fact, God used his words spoken through Jesus then, and still uses his words today to challenge religious beliefs. Jesus continues his provocation by saying that he is the bread of life that came down from heaven.
Neither Jews not Christians understand what he meant by heaven or bread of life. Jews could not understand how a human person could come down from heaven because they did not understand the symbolism of heaven. Jesus’ statements make a little more sense to Christians because they think that Jesus came from heaven, went back to heaven, and will come from heaven back to earth again someday. But, they are no better off than the Jews, however, because they also do not understand the symbolism of heaven.
STUDY TIPS: See Blood, Swords, Arrows and Stones, Bread, Food, Wine and Oil, Heaven and Hell, and Eternal Life for understanding of heaven and hell.
John 6:42-43 They said, “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I came down from heaven’43 “Stop grumbling among yourselves,” Jesus answered.
COMMENTARY: Jesus knew that his audience (both Jews who heard his physical voice and Christians who read his words) would be confused and troubled by his literal words. He knew that they would not understand the symbolic meaning of his words unless God would give them ears to hear his voice. Since they knew his mother and father, it did not occur to them that Jesus was speaking for God. Since they did not know the symbolism of heaven, they could not understand that Jesus was speaking God’s words from his heart.
John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws them, and I will raise them up at the last day.
COMMENTARY: Religious people always interpret the Bible literally. Thus, when they read the words “come to me” they think of physically going to Jesus. They do not understand that Jesus was only a human, and that there is no good reason to go to him physically. He had no spiritual power in his human body.
If we thought of Jesus the way God does, we would think that the only reason to come to Jesus is to hear the words that God speaks through him. If we come to Jesus for any other reason than to hear God’s words, we put Jesus above God. We make him an idol. That thinking is offensive to God.
Bible stories report that many came to hear Jesus because friends told them about him. Everyone who heard him speak heard his literal words, but only a few understood the symbolic meanings of those words. The ones who heard with their natural ears were angry, confused and threatened by Jesus. The ones who heard God’s words spoken by Jesus were healed from the disease of religion. Because the ones who heard the symbolic meanings of Jesus’ words had soft hearts, God gave them ears to hear the spiritual meanings of Jesus’ words.
When they heard God’s voice spoken through Jesus, they were healed from their diseases and raised from the dead (i.e. they quit being religious.) They day that they really understood the symbolic meaning of Jesus’ words was the last day that they practiced religion because they understood that it was sin. It was the power of God’s words spoken through Jesus that raised these people from the dead — not Jesus.The ones who had hard hearts only heard the literal words and remained dead in their religion.
John 6:45 It is written in the Prophets: ‘They will all be taught by God. Everyone who has heard the Father and learned from him comes to me.
COMMENTARY: This is a reference to many scriptures, including Jeremiah 31:31-34, which anticipate the New Covenant relationship between God and man. The New Covenant is different from the Old/first Covenant in which religious men/women teach each other about God. In effect, this scripture says that people will be taught about God by God — not by people.
In the New Covenant, God teaches people about himself through true prophets, angels, messiahs, high priests, witnesses and warriors whom he sends to speak for him. Jesus effectively declares here that he is one of those prophets whom God sends to people to learn about God.
John 6:46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God; only he has seen the Father.
COMMENTARY: Since God is spirit and cannot be seen literally, references to “seeing” God are symbolic ways of saying hearing his spoken voice. The only way to recognize God is through his spoken voice/word. God’s true prophets are sent by him (i.e. from him). Prophets like Jesus have seen (i.e. heard) God and speak what they hear to others.
John 6:47 Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.
COMMENTARY: Christians wrongly think that their belief should be directed towards the person of Jesus. Jesus is only a prophet of God who speaks for God. He is not God and he does not have supernatural powers. All Jesus has that is special is the anointing that empowers him to speak for God. Therefore, what people should believe with respect to Jesus is his words — not in him as a man.
This relationship between Jesus and God’s spoken word is confirmed in the concept of eternal life which is nothing more than or less than God’s spoken word. In other words, people who believe Jesus’ words possess eternal life because they receive God’s words into their hearts.
John 6:48 I am the bread of life.
COMMENTARY: Jesus would never imply that he himself would be the bread of life because he understood that God’s spoken words are the bread of life.
STUDY TIP: See Bread, Food, Wine and Oil for understanding of the symbolism of bread.
Since God’s word is eternal life, it is correct for Jesus to say that he (i.e. his words) are the bread of life. This verse can be written as follows:
My words are the bread of life.
John 6:49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.
COMMENTARY: There are two kinds of manna: common manna and hidden manna. Religious people eat common manna but they are still spiritually dead because they do not eat hidden manna. Jesus’ words are hidden manna because he speaks for God who is unseen and whose words are heard — not seen. Common manna is religious teaching based on the literal words of the Bible which can be seen and heard with literal eyes and ears.
STUDY TIP: See GOD’S WRITTEN WORD AND HIS VOICE ARE NOT THE SAME.
John 6:50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die.
COMMENTARY: The bread to which Jesus refers here is God’s spoken words which Jesus speaks for God. This bread comes from heaven (i.e. the heart) when God writes his laws on the heart according to the terms of the New Covenant. In saying “may eat and not die,” Jesus invites people to stop eating the common manna of religion which leads to spiritual death, and, instead, start eating (i.e. listening to) the hidden manna which is God’s word spoken by Jesus and other true prophets, and leads to spiritual life.
STUDY TIP: Jesus often refers to life and death. It is critical to understand that these references are to spiritual life and spiritual death — not to natural life and natural death. See this link for understanding of life and death in the Bible.
John 6:51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”
COMMENTARY: It is Jesus’ words — not the person of Jesus who is living bread. In Bible symbolism, God’s words are bread that sustains spiritual life. Since God’s words come from his mouth, and since God speaks through Jesus and other true prophets, they are effectively God’s mouth. Thus it is accurate for Jesus to say that he (i.e. the words of his mouth) is living bread that, when eaten (i.e. heard) leads to new life that is eternal.
STUDY TIP: See THE MIRACLE OF CREATION: BORN AGAIN for understanding of new life.
In saying “whoever eats this bread will live forever,” Jesus is not referring to the afterlife in which most religions believe. He is referring to spiritual life that people experience after they stop listening to false prophets and start listening to God’s voice spoken by him (i.e. Jesus) and other true prophets. God calls this spiritual life eternal life. It is eternal because God is eternal and his words are eternal.
In saying “this bread is my flesh,” Jesus reveals the symbolism of flesh as being the same thing as living bread from God’s mouth. Following this symbolism, we can say that when we eat Jesus’ flesh, we listen to God’s words. In Christianity, the communion ritual is said to be a symbolic representation of eating Jesus’ flesh. This symbolism wrongly equates a physical thing (i.e. natural bread) with a spiritual thing (i.e. God’s spoken word.) Communion, therefore, is an empty religious ritual with no spiritual value.
STUDY TIP: See Religious Rituals and Traditions: Circumcision, Baptism, Communion for more understanding.
In saying that he gives his flesh for the life of the world, Jesus means that he speaks God’s words to the world of religion so that religious people who choose to listen to his words can be raised from spiritual death to spiritual life.
STUDY TIP: See The World for understanding of the world of religion.
John 6:52-53 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
COMMENTARY: The image of Jews arguing among themselves shows what happens when religious people interpret scripture literally. Just like Jesus’ words made no sense to the Jews, the literal scriptures make no sense to either Jews or Christians. And this is to be expected because God purposely filled the literal Bible with symbols, signs and parables.
STUDY TIP: See Symbols, Signs, Types, Parables, Copies, and Shadows for understanding of the mysteries of the Bible.
Because literal scriptures make no sense, it is impossible for religious people to agree on their meanings. This is why there are so many different religions. Each religion thinks it has the correct interpretation. There is no such arguing among New Covenant disciples who hear God’s spoken voice. God says the same thing to everyone, so there is no room for disagreement.
John 6:54-55 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.
COMMENTARY: Christians make the mistake of equating Jesus’ flesh with literal bread. This makes the way for the doctrine of communion. See the COMMENTARY under John 6:51 above for more about communion.
The English word “real” is translated from the Greek word “alethes,” which means true. In saying that his flesh and blood (i.e. God’s words) are the true food and drink, he makes the contrast between good, clean spiritual food and evil, soulish religious food. Jesus’ food (i.e. the words he speaks/serves) are true because they come from God. The food that religious people serve/eat is evil and soulish because it comes from the mouth of false prophets. Essentially, Jesus is saying that he is a tree of life, and religious teachers are trees of knowledge of good and evil. He is inviting Jews and Christians to stop eating the food served by false prophets and eat spiritual food served by him and other true prophets.
John 6:56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them.
COMMENTARY: The concept of “remaining” in Jesus is hard to understand. Since Christians think of Jesus as a literal, real person, they think in terms of having the person of Jesus in their heart. This is wrong thinking.
Christians do not understand that the important thing about Jesus is the anointing that empowers him to speak for God. They do not understand that the important virtue of Jesus is that his testimony (i.e. the words he speaks) are empowered by the spirit of prophecy which is God’s spirit at work in him.
With that in mind, we interpret this verse as follows:
Whoever listens to my words will have God’s words in their hearts, just like God’s word is in my heart.
To be a prophet and to prophesy means to speak — not to foretell the future. Thus anyone can be a prophet. In the Bible, however, there are True Prophets who speak for God, and there are False Prophets who speak out of the evil, imaginations and deceptions of their minds. God wants people to listen to true prophets, and he does not want people to listen to false prophets.
STUDY TIP: See How to Identify True Prophets and How to Identify False prophets.
Remaining in Jesus, therefore, means that the spirit that empowers a true prophet to speak for God dwells in the heart of people who listen to and obey God’s words spoken by all true prophets — not just Jesus. Speaking God’s words are the works of the spirit of God in people whom he calls and anoints to serve him and do good works and deeds.
John 6:57 Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.
COMMENTARY: Jesus is one of many prophets that God has sent, and continues to send, to speak for him to religious people who have hard hearts and cannot hear God’s voice.
In saying “I live because of the father,” Jesus declares his dependency on God. He is talking about his spiritual life, not his physical life. He lives because he has God’s words (i.e. knowledge and wisdom) in his heart.
Feeding on Jesus means listening to and obeying his words which are actually God’s words. People who feed on (i.e. eat, listen to) God’s words spoken by Jesus will have eternal life.
John 6:58-59 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your ancestors ate manna and died, but whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”59 These things He said in the synagogue as He taught in Capernaum.
COMMENTARY: The bread that comes from heaven (i.e. hidden manna) is God’s voice which is heard in clean, pure hearts. It is clean, pure, spiritual food.
STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of good, clean spiritual food.
John 8:45-46 “But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me. 46 “Which one of you convicts Me of sin? If I speak truth, why do you not believe Me?
COMMENTARY: God’s word is truth. Therefore, when Jesus speaks truth, he speaks God’s words.
STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of truth.
John 8:51 “Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he will never see death.”
COMMENTARY: The kind of death in view here is spiritual death — not physical death. Religious people are spiritually dead because they do not listen to God’s voice.
Because Jesus speaks for God, the words we keep are God’s words. When we have God’s words in our hearts, we have Eternal Life.
Acts 15:7 After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe.
COMMENTARY: Peter was a disciple of Jesus. That means he was a true prophet. That means that he spoke for God just like Jesus and other true prophets spoke for God. The word of the gospel is God’s word spoken by true prophets. There is also a false gospel spoken by false prophets. New Covenant disciples hear and believe the true gospel spoken by true prophets. Old/First Covenant religionists listen to and believe false gospels spoken by false prophets.
STUDY TIP: See The Gospel for understanding of true gospels and false gospels.
Acts 16:31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
COMMENTARY: This should be translated as follows:
Believe the words that Jesus speaks. He speaks God’s words which will save you, your family and friends from bondage to religion if you listen with your heart.
Acts 19:4 Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in Jesus.”
COMMENTARY: John’s baptism with water was only a baptism of repentance. This baptism symbolizes death to the practice of religion.
John’s baptism is only the first step toward being born again. The second step occurs when people are washed with blood. We find this process in the scripture that says we are washed clean by water and blood. To be washed with blood is symbolic language for being washed with God’s spoken word.
STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of the symbolism of blood.
We must choose to die to religion and repent for practicing the sin of religion before we can be born again.
John’s baptism is not a spiritual baptism. It represents a voluntary, willful death to religion. It is the logical, compelling thing that people who hear God’s voice must do when they realize that religion is sin, and that they have been accomplices in religious kingdoms that keep people in bondage.
STUDY TIPS: See Religious Rituals and Traditions: Circumcision, Baptism, Communion for understanding of God’s views of these traditions. Also see Religion is Injustice, Slavery, Oppression and Affliction for understanding of bondage to religion.
Jesus’ words are a spiritual baptism for people who actually hear God’s words spoken by Jesus with their hearts. Jesus’ words are a foreign tongue, however, for people with hard hearts.
STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of foreign tongues.
John 4:21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
COMMENTARY: This scripture compares false worshipers and true worshipers. False worshipers conduct their worship in physical places (e.g,) mountain, Jerusalem, churches, synagogues, etc.). This is a reference to Old/First Covenant religionists who travel to specific places (i.e. synagogues, churches) at specific times (i.e. Saturday or Sunday) to participate in traditional worship specified by their religious traditions. Jesus says very clearly in verse 24 that true worshipers will worship God — not himself — in spirit and truth. True worshipers are New Covenant disciples who worship God in their hearts.
If Jesus had any expectations that people should worship him, here is the time and place for him to communicate these expectations. But, he did not say anything about worshiping him. People who worship Jesus are false worshipers because they worship Jesus instead of God, and because their worship is based on religious traditions which God hates. People who worship God in spirit and truth (i.e. in their hearts) are true worshipers.
See this link for more understanding of what it means to worship in spirit and truth.
See Tabernacles, Temples, Altars, High Places and Pilgrimages for understanding of the wrong places to worship.
See this link for comparisons of true worship and defiled worship. See this link for understanding of how God feels about religious traditions.
1 John 3:23 This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.
COMMENTARY: Christian faith advocates for belief in the person of Jesus. This is a wrong belief. This scripture exhorts belief in the name (i.e. character) of Jesus. It does not command belief in the man Jesus.
To believe in the character of Jesus means to believe that Jesus was re-created in God’s image. This is what it means to be born again. Jesus was born again when he was anointed as a messiah.
Jesus is a son of God but he is not God. Jesus’ heart was re-reated in God’s image, but that does not make him equal to God. All sons of God are re-created in God’s image. That is what it means to be a son of God.
People who are re-created in God’s image have clean, pure hearts like God’s heart. They no longer practice religion because they worship in spirit and truth. Prior to that, while they are religious, they have evil, impure hearts. God considers religious people to be sons of men — which is what Jesus was before he was anointed.
This verse also includes the command to love one another in addition to belief in Jesus’ character (i.e. name).
STUDY TIP: See this link for understanding of what it means to love one another.
John 11:39-40: 39 Jesus said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.” 40 Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
COMMENTARY: This is the story of Lazarus. The symbolism is that Lazarus was spiritually dead because he was religious.
Religion is symbolically represented here as a grave.
The stone that keeps people in the grave of religion is the words of false prophets.
The stench is God’s symbolic way of saying that religious people are spiritually dead.
Four days represent the season of time in which people practice religion — not literal days.
The glory of God is God’s spoken word. It is God’s word, spoken by Jesus, that has the power to resurrect people from the dead and give them new life.
Luke 8:12-13 “Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved. 13 “Those on the rocky soil are those who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; and these have no firm root; they believe for a while, and in time of temptation fall away.
COMMENTARY: See this link for understanding of the parable of the sower.
Romans 10:14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?
COMMENTARY: Christians believe that this verse justifies the need to establish professional preachers in churches. This is wrong thinking. Preacher here does not refer to people with a titles such as Pastors, Priests, Rabbis, Apostles, Bishops, Elders, Deacons, Overseers, Rabbis, Popes, Missionaries and Evangelists. These are all false prophets that God symbolically calls Serpents, Devils, Satans, Adversaries, Demons, Evil Spirits and Anti-Christs. They are in the business of commercial religion where they make money preaching false gospels.
In the Bible, preacher is a general term used to describe people who speak for God (i.e. true prophets, angels, messiahs, high priests, witnesses, warriors and apostles.) People who speak for God do not preach prepared, polished sermons every Sunday. They speak whatever God’s says them to say whenever and wherever God directs them to speak. They do not earn income preaching. They preach because God has anointed them to preach the true gospel.
John 16:28-31“I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; I am leaving the world again and going to the Father.” 29 His disciples said, “Lo, now You are speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech. 30 “Now we know that You know all things, and have no need for anyone to question You; by this we believe that You came from God.” 31 Jesus answered them, “Do you now believe?
COMMENTARY: Jesus was a prophet of God sent by God into the world of religion to call religious people out of religion. When he said “I am leaving the world” he meant that he was personally done with being part of the world religion. He lived in the world of religion but he was not religious. That means that, instead of listening religious leaders, he only listened to his father God. In other words, he had transitioned from being an Old/First Covenant religionist to being a New Covenant disciple. ***
This all suddenly made sense to his disciples. Jesus always spoke in parables, and they usually did not understand what he said, but now they could interpret the meaning of what he said. What they now understood was that Jesus was a prophet sent by God to speak for God.
Luke 22:66-67 When it was day, the Council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him away to their council chamber, saying, “If You are the Christ, tell us.” But He said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe;
COMMENTARY: The scene here is religious leaders questioning Jesus with the intent of trapping him into saying something that they could use to convince others that he is a fraud who should not be believed. It is one in a series of events in which religious leaders looked for evidence to convict Jesus of crime for which he could be crucified.
Jesus knows that anyone who questions that he is a messiah will not believe anything he says. The fact that they ask if he is the Christ clearly shows that they have not been already convinced that he speaks for God. If they believed what he said, they would have known that he spoke for God and would, therefore, known that he was the Christ.
Belief that a messiah speaks for God is critical to belief in the words of the messiah. This is true for all messiahs (i.e. true prophets) — not just Jesus.
There are two reasons Jesus would not respond to a request for him to tell someone who he is:
Jesus does not find it necessary to testify about his status as messiah. People who have hard hearts will not believe anything he says — even what he says about himself. Either they believe him or they don’t. It is not his job to convince anyone about who he is and that he speaks for God. Jesus trusts that God will convince people about his legitimacy to speak for God.
Jesus’ attitude about self-testimony is very different from the way that religious professionals (e.g. Pastors, Priests, Rabbis, Apostles, Bishops, Elders, Deacons, Overseers, Rabbis, Popes, Missionaries and Evangelists) gain followers. Religious professionals will typically testify about themselves with claims that they have been “called by God” to preach, or be a leader, or sing, or write, or do something to serve God. They will also typically claim that they have received unique spiritual gifts from God to enable them to perform the service they are called to do. This is all very unlike Jesus who relied on God to inform people about his legitimacy to speak for God.
STUDY TIP: See this link for more about self-testimony.
Matthew 10:40 He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives the One who sent Me.
COMMENTARY: Jesus is speaking to his disciples here. He is saying that people who receive (i.e. believe) his words will receive (i.e. believe) the words of his disciples (i.e. true prophets.) This has always been true for all disciples.