"WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?"


Many times when a question of right or wrong comes up, or when an issue is being discussed, someone says that we need to do what Jesus would do in the same situation. No Bible-believing person would even think about differing with Jesus on this or any other matter, would he. Jesus echoed the importance of doing the Father's will in Matthew 7:21-28, and in different passages He equated the Father's will with His own will. He had no separate agenda in coming to earth, nor should we have one while on earth!

The problem comes in determining what Jesus would do in a given situation. On many matters He has declared His express will in the New Testament Scriptures, including the teaching of His apostles. On such matters the will of Christ, or what He would do in a situation, is easy to determine. Where else would one go to learn the will of Christ if he decided to omit the New Testament? This question is asked here because some have recently called for a "Christocentric" approach to determining the will of God. This means one that is centered around Christ. In reality this is what one does when he reads the Bible to learn what Christ taught or authorized, for in all matters we must yield our own wills to that of Christ. This unusual term, however, has been used in a rather unusual way by its proponents to mean a relaxed use of Scriptures. It would not be amiss to state emphatically that one cannot know the will of Christ apart from the New Testament, nor can one do His will apart from adherence to what is there revealed.

It is noteworthy that the first Christians, after submission to Christ in faith, repentance, and baptism-conversion to Christ, continued steadfastly in the teaching of the apostles (Acts 2:42). In their doing so they were praising God (Acts 2:47). Though the truly spoken hallelujahs of our lips have a place, the genuine performance of the will of the Lord will praise Him in ways that will attract proper attention of unbelievers in a more marked fashion.

For the following reasons it is impossible to separate Christ from the Scriptures:

1. When the preacher Philip preached Jesus to the Ethiopian in Acts 8, he did so with the use of Scriptures from the prophet Isaiah.

. 2. Faith in our time must rest upon what the Scriptures declare, for they present the testimony or evidence moving us to believe that Jesus is the Christ (Jn. 20:30-31).

3. When the apostle referred to the Ephesians' hearing his teaching, he called it leaming Christ (Eph. 4:20).

4. The seven churches of Asia Minor were sent messages from Christ regarding their commendable faith and actions, their disapproved deeds, and the Lord's call to repent. Even in that day of living apostles, the Lord used letters and then caused the letters to be preserved for our benefit.

5. From Jesus we learn the importance and value of direct statement/command, approved example, and necessary inference in teaching and leaming the Lord's will. As you read Matthew 22:15-45 carefully, notice that the Lord employed all three of these methods scorned by many in efforts to teach what God's will is. His apostles used the very same methods in their teaching, being led by the Spirit.

6. When Paul wrote to first-century congregations, he frequently cited Christ (His will) as authority for his teaching and for their faith and actions. In, Ephesians 2:20 Christ as the chief comerstone is set forth as the one by whom every other part of God's spiritual temple (church) is measured. In Colossians 2:3 Jesus is pictured as the repository of all of the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; that is, in God's scheme of redemption the entire will of the Father was in Him set forth-by Him personally and by His apostles. Colossians 2:8 contrasts the traditions of men with Christ, and verse 19 says that such practices are the result of not holding to Christ, the head of the body.

It should be obvious that Christ has no way outside His Word to communicate His will to any person today.

What Jesus and the apostles sometimes taught orally on earth has been written for our reading so we might understand the will of the Lord (Eph. 3:3-4). Paul gave the alternative to understanding the will of the Lord in Ephesians 5:17. "Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is." To refuse the Scriptures, or to accept them as tentative while waiting for some other "word" from the Lord, is to be unwise.

B.G.


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Last Updated August 12, 1997 by
Bob Cleek bcleek@niia.net