There is a false kenotic Christology now prevalent among those in the apostolic-prophetic movement. This different Jesus has also been referred to as the Kenotic Christ by critics. It is the idea that the divine Son of God emptied himself of his divinity so that Christ could not do any miracles as God, but rather as a mere man being dependent upon the Father and filled with the Spirit. They claim that by following Christ’s example, Spirit-filled Christians can do Christ’s works and even “greater works” because they have the same anointing of the Holy Spirit that Christ the man had.
Kenosis
First of all, there is an orthodox understanding of kenosis in Christian theology. The Greek word kenosis is the act of self-emptying. Indeed the life of Christ is full of acts of self-abasement and humility. This kenosis or self-emptying began when He became flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Though without sin, Christ was baptized among the sinners at John’s baptism of repentance in order to “fulfill all righteousness.” Accompanying his preaching were great acts of kindness and mercy to sinners.
Finally, Christ endured arrest, mocking, torture, death and burial. Christ’s acts of self-abasement and humility culminating in His death on the cross are what the Apostle had in mind in his letter to the Philippians when he said that Christ “made himself of no reputation” (KJV) or “emptied himself.” In other words, Christ laid aside or emptied himself when He became human and literally humbled himself to death on the cross. But He did not empty Himself of His divinity, as some in the apostolic-prophetic movement teach!
Introducing the Kenotic Christology
In the first session of Global Spheres, Advancing the Kingdom of God video update series, the Apostolic Ambassador C. Peter Wagner introduces the doctrine by saying,
Now today I want to talk to you about how you, you, can do the works of Jesus. Now that may sound a little bit strange, but let me read a Scripture to you. You know this Scripture yourself, and I’ll bet it’s been a puzzle in the past. Jesus himself said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” [John 14:12].
Now let me just explain that because most people read that and think that’s far out of their scope. But I believe it’s not. [1:12-1:50] …
The Holy Spirit was the source of all Jesus’ power during his earthly ministry. Jesus exercised no power of or by himself. We can do the same or greater things than Jesus did because we have access to the same power source. [2:17-2:33]
Kenosis in Philippians 2
Commenting on Philippians chapter two, Wagner continues,
This is what Jesus did. When Jesus came to earth he agreed with the Father that during all of his time on earth he would not use his divine nature. He would only use his human nature. And therefore all of the miracles that Jesus did, and all of the prophecies that he made, and all of the good things that happened, and casting out demons, he did this by the power of the Holy Spirit that God had given him. [5:22-5:50] …
So God the Holy Spirit was doing all the mighty acts of Jesus. [6:11-6:16] …
We could list many of these passages in the Scripture that indicate Jesus was working out of his human nature. But he made this covenant to the death of the cross it [Philippians 2] said. So at the death of the cross he was no longer working only out of his human nature, even though he had it, but he had his divine attributes. [6:31-6:56] …
All the time he was ministering, he was doing his marvelous works as a human being by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now what conclusion does this lead us to? You and I are human beings, just like Jesus. We’re working out of a human nature. However, if we have the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives and we’re filled with the Holy Spirit and we move with the Holy Spirit, then we can literally fulfill what I read before in John 5:19. [7:23-7:55] . . . What we see the Father do, once we see the Father doing it like Jesus [by the] Holy Spirit, then we can do the works that Jesus did and greater works of these can we do [8:08-8:22].
Thus the biblical basis for the false Kenotic Christ comes from Philippians 2:5-8: “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” In verse 7, the Greek word kenoō is used, translated “made himself of no reputation” (KJV), “emptied himself” (ASV, ESV, NRSV, NET, RSV), or “made himself nothing” (NIV). The verb means to empty or to make empty. But the verb does not refer to Christ’s divine nature in the passage.
In the 2011 book The Essential Guide to Healing: Equipping All Christians to Pray for the Sick by Bill Johnson and Randy Clark, the Kenotic Christ is taught by Johnson in chapter 5.
Jesus emptied Himself of divinity and became man (see Philippians 2:7). While He is eternally God, He chose to live within the restrictions of a man who had no sin and was empowered by the Holy Spirit. In doing this, He provided a compelling model for us to follow. (p. 125) . . .
While Jesus is eternally God, He emptied Himself of His divinity and became a man (see Philippians 2:7). It is vital to note that He did all His miracles as a man, not as God. If He did them as God, I would still be impressed. But because He did them as a man yielded to God, I am now unsatisfied with my life, being compelled to follow the example He has given us. (p. 132)
But Jesus did His miracles as both man and God. In his book Face to Face With God, Bill Johnson wrote, “Jesus set aside His divinity, choosing rather instead to live as a man completely dependent upon God” (p. 108). If Jesus “set aside His divinity” then he was only a man. Johnson also stated:
I’m so glad that Jesus did what he did on the pages of Scripture. But do you understand he didn’t heal anybody as God? He did no miracles as God. Everything he did he did as man in right relationship of God. That’s what he told us. He said the Son of man can do nothing of himself. The word “nothing” in the Greek means “nothing.” He said what he meant. He meant what he said. I can’t do a thing. He had so emptied himself of divinity that he was self-imposed restriction. He’s eternally God. Don’t make any mistake. Eternally God. He’s not a created being. He’s not an ascended being. He’s eternally God but he set aside divinity and he modeled for us what life could be like for anyone who had no sin and who was completely empowered by the Spirit of God. Everything he did. Now if he did it as God I’m still impressed but I’m not compelled to follow. I stand back at a distance and go, “Yay God, come and do it again.” But when I realize he did it as man I cannot stay the way I am.
Johnson claims, “He did no miracles as God.” On the contrary, Christ did do miracles as the fully divine and fully human God-man. Doing miraculous works “by the Spirit of God” (cf. Matthew 12:28) does not violate the fact that the one man Christ had both a human nature and a divine nature, even in His earthly ministry. The fact that “the Son can do nothing of Himself” (John 5:19) does not mean that Christ was emptied of his divine nature at any point in time. According to Johnson, Christ is “eternally God,” but “he set aside divinity.” Both statements cannot be true. If he set aside his divinity, then he is not eternally God. If he is eternally God, then he did not set aside his divinity.
The Hypostatic Union
To deny Christ’s divine nature is to attack the union of Christ’s humanity and divinity in one hypostasis, or individual existence or being. The technical term for this doctrine of Jesus Christ being both God and man is the hypostatic union. Christ is both perfectly divine and perfectly human, even when he did all his miracles!
The Athanasian Creed recognized this concept of the hypostatic union and affirmed its importance for salvation:
Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation that he also believe rightly the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. For the right faith is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of substance of His mother, born in the world. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood. Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of that manhood into God. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person. For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and man is one Christ.
Jesus Healed as a Man?
While C. Peter Wagner affirms that Jesus is “100 percent divine and 100 percent human,” (p. 104) he also explained that all of Jesus’ mighty works were by the Holy Spirit through Jesus “as a human being,” thereby denying the divinity of Christ in the work of his ministry. In his book Dominion, Wagner explains this teaching as follows:
Reread the gospels in light of this, and you will see that all of Jesus’ mighty works—His miracles, His signs and wonders, His prophecies, His deliverance ministry and the rest—can be explained adequately by the supernatural working of the power of the Holy Spirit through Jesus as a human being. … This should dissipate any doubts as to how Jesus could tell us, as mere human beings, that we would do the same works He did and even greater works. The same Holy Spirit who did miracles through Jesus is available to do them through us today. (p.107)
Similarly, Jack Deere wrote, “Thus the Old Testament prophets, Jesus himself, and his apostles all attribute the divine power in his ministry not to the uniqueness of his deity, but rather to the ministry of the Holy Spirit through him” (Surprised By the Voice of God, p. 45).
And Todd White teaches the same doctrine when he says that Jesus “was born as a man; he wasn’t born as God.” White says that Jesus “didn’t walk as God.” In this clip, White explained:
Jesus was tempted at all points. That Scripture alone verifies that when he was here he walked this out as a man [0:1-0:10] . . . Jesus never healed the sick as God. Jesus healed the sick as a man in perfect relationship with God. Jesus was here, the Holy Spirit comes down upon Jesus, rests it upon him and remained. And when Jesus healed the sick it was God through Jesus. Jesus said several times, he said, “You know if you don’t believe me through the things that I say, at least believe me through the works that I do for it’s the Father who dwells in me that does the works [1:04-1:34]
Instead, all three persons of the Trinity were involved in the life and ministry of Christ, without excluding the divine Son of God. For example, in the resurrection of Christ, according to Scripture, the Father raised Christ (Acts 2:32, 33; Romans 6:4; Galatians 1:1), Christ raised himself (John 2:18, 19; 10:18), and the Holy Spirit raised Christ (Romans 8:11; 1 Peter 3:18). In the same manner, several examples in Scripture indicate that Christ did his miracles, wonders, and signs by the Father (John 14:10; Acts 2:22), by himself (Matthew 8:3, 16; 10:1; Luke 7:21; John 4:54; 6:2, 14; 14:12; 20:30), and by the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:28; Luke 4:14).
Moreover, the Apostle said, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9, NASB). The fullness of Christ’s deity was not emptied. Never did Christ set aside his divine nature. He fed five thousand men with five loaves, walked on the surface of the sea, and rebuked the winds and waves, all by the virtue of his divine nature.
The Fathers and Councils of the Church
By teaching that Jesus did miracles as a man rather than God, the apostolic-prophetic movement comes in direct conflict with the Church Fathers and Ecumenical Councils.
The Third Ecumenical Council, the Council of Ephesus (AD 431) condemned the teachings of Nestorius. Nestorianism emphasized the distinction between Christ’s human and divine natures and argued that Mary should be called Christotokos (“Christ-bearer”) or Anthropotokos (“Man-bearer”) but not Theotokos (“God-bearer”). St Cyril of Alexandria argued that Nestorianism split Jesus in half and denied that he was both human and divine.
The present-day apostolic-prophetic movement denies that Jesus did his miracles as both man and God, thereby denying Christ’s divinity in his ministry, meanwhile confessing in vain that they believe he is eternally God. Nestorians rejected such terminology as “God suffered” or “God was crucified,” because they believed that the man Jesus Christ suffered. The False Kenotic Christology rejects terminology like “Christ was born as God” or “Christ walked as God” or “Christ healed the sick as God” or “Christ did miracles as God” as is evident from the quotes above from Johnson and White. Thus the False Kenotic Christology is the same theological error as the Nestorian heresy in the fifth century!
St Cyril quoted Philippians 2 and noted that God does not change when he becomes Man. In other words, Christ’s divine nature is not affected or altered by the act of embodiment. Therefore, the Incarnation is not a change in God or an emptying of divinity. St Cyril wrote:
B. How then do we say that the Word WAS MADE flesh, preserving to It ever Unchangeableness and without-turning, as Its own and Essentially innate to It?
A. The all-wise Paul, the steward of His mysteries, the Priest of the Gospel preachings, will make it clear saying, He ye thus minded each one in yourselves according to what was in Christ Jesus also, Who being in the Form of God held not the being Equal to God a thing to seize, yet emptied Himself taking bondman’s form, MADE in likeness of men, and, found in fashion as a man, humbled Himself, MADE obedient unto death, the death of the cross. For His Only-Begotten Word albeit God and out of God by Nature, the Brightness of the glory and the Impress of the Person of Him Who begat Him, WAS MADE man and that not turned into flesh, or undergoing commingling or mixture or ought else of such like, but rather abasing Himself unto emptiness, and for the joy set before Him despising shame and not dishonoring the poverty of the human nature. For He willed as God to render the flesh which is holden of death and sin, superior to both death and sin, and to restore it to what it was in the beginning, having made it His own, not (as some say) soulless but ensouled with intellectual soul: yet, not disdaining to go along the path hereto befitting, He is said to undergo a birth like ours, abiding what He was. For He has been born in wondrous wise according to flesh of a woman: for no otherwise was it possible that He being God by Nature should be seen by them on earth than in likeness of us, the Impalpable and without body, yet Who thought good to be made man and in Himself Alone to shew our nature illustrious in the dignities of Godhead: for He the Same was God alike and man, and in likeness of man, in that herewith He was also God, but in fashion as a man. For He was God in appearance as we, and in bondman’s form the Lord, for thus do we say that He was MADE FLESH. Therefore do we affirm that the holy Virgin is also mother of God.
Likewise, St Leo the Great, bishop of Rome, was also a defender against the heresy of Nestorius. He wrote:
Accordingly while the distinctness of both natures and substances was preserved, and both met in one Person, lowliness was assumed by majesty, weakness by power, mortality by eternity; and, in order to pay the debt of our condition, the inviolable nature was united to the passible, so that as the appropriate remedy for our ills, one and the same “Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus,” might from one element be capable of dying and also from the other be incapable. Therefore in the entire and perfect nature of very man was born very God, whole in what was his, whole in what was ours. . .
He assumed “the form of a servant” without the defilement of sin, enriching what was human, not impairing what was divine: because that “emptying of himself,” whereby the Invisible made himself visible, and the Creator and Lord of all things willed to be one among mortals, was a stooping down in compassion, not a failure of power. Accordingly, the same who, remaining in the form of God, made man, was made man in the form of a servant. For each of the natures retains its proper character without defect; and as the form of God does not take away the form of a servant, so the form of a servant does not impair the form of God. . . .
To hunger, to thirst, to be weary, and to sleep, is evidently human. But to satisfy five thousand men with five loaves, and give to the Samaritan woman that living water, to draw which can secure him that drinks of it from ever thirsting again; to walk on the surface of the sea with feet that sink not, and by rebuking the storm to bring down the “uplifted waves,” is unquestionably Divine.
And the following is the definition of faith from the Council of Chalcedon (AD 451), the Fourth Ecumenical Council, elaborating on the relationship between the divinity and humanity of Christ:
Following the holy Fathers we teach with one voice that the Son [of God] and our Lord Jesus Christ is to be confessed as one and the same [Person], that he is perfect in Godhead and perfect in manhood, very God and very man, of a reasonable soul and [human] body consisting, consubstantial with the Father as touching his Godhead, and consubstantial with us as touching his manhood; made in all things like unto us, sin only excepted; begotten of his Father before the worlds according to his Godhead; but in these last days for us men and for our salvation born [into the world] of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of God according to his manhood. This one and the same Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son [of God] must be confessed to be in two natures, unconfusedly, immutably, indivisibly, inseparably [united], and that without the distinction of natures being taken away by such union, but rather the peculiar property of each nature being preserved and being united in one Person and subsistence, not separated or divided into two persons, but one and the same Son and only-begotten, God the Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, as the Prophets of old time have spoken concerning him, and as the Lord Jesus Christ hath taught us, and as the Creed of the Fathers hath delivered to us.
Conclusion
In conclusion, many in the apostolic-prophetic movement believe that Jesus did all His miracles as a mere man through the power of the Holy Spirit. According to them, Jesus served as a pattern for all his followers to do miracles as He did. They base this upon a misreading of the second chapter of the Apostle’s letter to the Philippians. By teaching that Christ did miracles as a man rather than the God-man (both natures in the one Christ), the apostolic-prophetic movement comes in direct conflict the Scriptures, the Church Fathers and the Ecumenical Councils. The False Kenotic Christology is indeed a Christological heresy.
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