DID JESUS DIE SPIRITUALLY ?
Exposing the JDS Heresy
Did Jesus Redeem Man on the Cross or in Hell?
Did Jesus Become Sin on the Cross or a Sin-offering?
by Hobart E. Freeman, Th. D.
The question under consideration is: Did Jesus actually become "sin" at Calvary and experience spiritual death? The teachers of the JDS heresy insist that He did, whereas God's Word states repeatedly that His death was physical. We are redeemed "...through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ..." (Hebrews 10:10).
Several years ago when this doctrine first began to be stressed by certain charismatic teachers, I designated this error, for the sake of brevity, as the JDS Doctrine (Jesus Died Spiritually). Therefore, it will be referred to as JDS in this book hereafter.
Did Jesus literally become "sin" on the cross as the JDS ministers teach, or was He a Sin-offering? Are you aware that the Bible clearly shows that Jesus was a Sin-offering, holy, and pure, just as the Old Testament type foreshadowed?
Did Jesus go to Hell for three days where He was united in nature with Satan who became His master? The JDS Doctrine teaches this error. The Bible, however, states that at death Jesus went to be with His heavenly Father, not to be with Satan in the Pit. As He died He said: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" (Luke 23:46).
Did Jesus redeem man in Hell or on the cross? The advocates of the JDS Doctrine teach that redemption was accomplished in the Pit! Jesus, however, contradicts this error with His own words from the cross, which indicate that He had completed His redemptive work there, for He said, "It is finished." Whatever deluded men may say to the contrary, these three words stand as a permanent rebuke to the JDS error.
Did the sinless Son of God become unregenerate and lost at Calvary? Did He have to be to be born again and justified from sin as the JDS ministers teach? The JDS position on this matter indicates the enormity of their delusion, for we are told again and again that the sinless Son of God was lost on the cross and had to be born again -- in Hell of all places!
Not only is such teaching heresy, but we also find that the JDS Doctrine does not solve the problem of the redemption of sinners, it only creates a new problem: Who, then, died for Jesus to redeem Him from His unregenerate state and provide for His justification? Who provided an atonement for Him if He literally became sinful with sinful humanity?
Did the blood of Jesus atone for sin? This is the central purpose for the sacrificial shedding of blood in Scripture. Here once more the JDS teaching is shown to be totally out of harmony with the Word of God, although it is in line with the teaching of the religious cults and of Liberalism. One of the leading proponents of the JDS heresy states: "When his blood poured out, IT DID NOT ATONE, it did away with the handwriting of the ordinances that were against us" (Colossians 2:14). He then adds that Jesus redeemed man, not on the cross, but in Hell.
Are you aware that one of the central doctrines of religious cult teaching is a denial of the blood atonement of Jesus Christ (See my book: Every Wind of Doctrine)? This statement alone from this "charismatic" minister, stating that the blood of Jesus did not atone, should be enough to alert any Bible-believing Christian to the source of such heresy. Even though the JDS teachers make some reference at times to the blood of Jesus from a seemingly biblical standpoint, nevertheless, they have destroyed its power to cleanse from sin by teaching that Jesus became an unholy sacrifice on the cross.
Again, was it total identification with sinners by Jesus on the cross, or was it a substitution for sinners? The distinction is important. The JDS ministers confuse the identification of Jesus with the human race at His birth with His substitution for sinners on the cross.
If He became literal "sin" and was lost and unregenerate at Calvary, then He would have been an unacceptable offering to God for the sins of others; whereas, if He remained pure and holy, as the Scriptures show, then God could accept Him as a substitute on the behalf of sinners. Only in this way could He fulfill the Old Testament type, whereby the animal for the sin-offering had to be spotless and without blemish. Moreover, the sin-offering was regarded as most holy even after its death.
This, then, is a general outline of what will be discussed in more detail in the following pages.
Why should you be concerned about whether Jesus did or did not die spiritually? Because the Bible shows that your eternal salvation rests upon what you personally believe about the blood atonement of Jesus Christ! It is here -- at the cross -- not in the pit of Hell, that your salvation either stands or falls.
Those who currently embrace the false doctrine concerning the Atonement are guilty of heresy of the most serious kind. Its seriousness stems from the fact that if one believes this perverted doctrine he will find that in the end he has been robbed of the blood atonement on his behalf.
The Bible is emphatic on this matter. A sinner cannot redeem another sinner, especially if both are lost! One would think that this fact is too obvious to need any explanation. The guilty can only be redeemed by someone who is guiltless, and remains so both during and after the work of redemption. In such a case, the guiltless individual could then act as a substitute, suffering the punishment for which the guilty party is liable. He could not do so, however, if he himself had become guilty by identifying with sin as the JDS doctrine contends.
In this case, the guiltless, who had become guilty by identification, could no longer act as an acceptable substitute. The main thrust of the entire Old Testament sacrificial system, is to show that Jesus was a guiltless Substitute, Who, like the Old Testament type, remained pure and holy both on the cross and after His death.
Finally, it is suggested that the reader observe all the footnotes which will also set forth important information on certain texts cited by some of the JDS teachers. Such information was put in the footnotes when it was believed best not to overburden the discussion with too much detail.
According to the Scriptures, heresy with regard to the Son of God is any doctrine or teaching which does not remain true to the Doctrine of Christ as set forth in the Word of God.
In II John 7-11, we are informed that those who deviate from the biblical teaching concerning Jesus Christ have departed from the truth and are designated as "deceivers." This is such a serious offense to God that we are warned to avoid these individuals because such deceivers have the spirit of antichrist. Read II John 7-11, and here you will see that those who ignore this solemn warning do so to their own peril. Merely to give them greeting makes one a partaker with them of their evil, and by implication such individuals will also partake in their judgment.
This passage is not simply to be limited to a test of whether or not one believes in the incarnation of Christ (as, for example, the denial of His eternal deity by the Modernists, the religious cults etc.),
(Note: The early forms of Gnosticism also denied that the Christ became incarnate in Jesus.)
but it encompasses the entire Doctrine of Christ.
The test for belief in the incarnation is found in verse 7 (cf. I John 4:1f.), whereas the full Doctrine of Christ test is in view in verses 9-11.
Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God (II John 9).
The Doctrine of Christ involves everything concerning Jesus Christ as contained in the Word of God: the Old Testament prophecies; incarnation; virgin birth; sinless life; deity; substitutionary blood atonement; His resurrection; ascension; the Second Advent, and so on.
It should be understood from the outset that the JDS supporters do not adhere to the scriptural Doctrine of Christ, but have grossly perverted it, especially with regard to His blood atonement, and to the sinlessness of the Son of God during the period of the cross until His resurrection.
The seriousness of their departure from the biblical Doctrine of Christ is seen in the fact that the JDS Doctrine portrays Jesus as unregenerate on the cross and in Hell. In Hell He is said to have been born again, providing redemption from the Pit. The Scriptures, however, prove that Jesus Christ was always sinless and holy, fulfilling the Old Testament type, and that He completed the work of redemption on the cross. On the cross He declared, "It is finished," and at death He confessed that He was going to His heavenly Father, not to Satan in the Pit, saying "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."
Thus, the false JDS Doctrine is plainly condemned by the Word of God. In an attempt to avoid the clear meaning of these passages, as well as others, the JDS teachers have been forced to change their obvious meaning to try to harmonize them with their erroneous doctrine. For example, although Jesus clearly stated that His work of redemption was finished on the cross, the JDS teachers boldly contradict Him by telling us that the redemptive work was not finished then, but was only beginning, inasmuch as it was to be completed in Hell.
Moreover, like all others who deviate from the truth, the JDS proponents begin, not with the Word of God as a basis for their teachings, but with their erroneous doctrine, and then leapfrog through the Bible searching for some alleged "proof texts" in an attempt to find support for their doctrine.
In addition to the warning in II John 7-11 concerning those who pervert the Doctrine of Christ, there are others also. The Apostle Peter warns of those who are "unlearned and unstable," and, as a consequence, wrest (twist, distort) the Scriptures unto their own destruction (II Peter 3:16). The Apostle Paul speaks of those who in the latter days "...shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and the doctrines of demons" (I Timothy 4:1). This does not necessarily mean such individuals always depart from religion, but from Bible faith and truth.
Moreover, the second chapter of Peter's second Epistle addresses itself to the current type of heresy regarding the perversion of the Doctrine of Christ. The Apostle warned:
But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily (craftily) shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of (II Peter 2:1-2).
The warning is clear. False teachers will arise who craftily introduce heresies which deny the scriptural view of the Lord (which is precisely what the JDS teachers are doing in their denial of Christ's sinlessness on the cross, and by their perversion of the blood atonement). Moreover, it is predicted that many will believe these errors and follow them, just as it is happening today!
What Happened from the Cross to the Throne?
In an attempt to support the erroneous teaching that Jesus went to Hell and not to Heaven when He died, and that He redeemed sinners while in the Pit, the JDS ministers have concocted an imaginary "War-in-Hell" story, supposedly based upon Colossians 2:15.
The remarkable thing about this story is that there is not one shred of evidence in the Bible for such a fictional account, not even in the passage in Colossians to which they refer! Colossians 2:15 reads:
And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
From this one verse, which refers to the victory of Jesus being accomplished on the cross and not in Hell, the "War-in-Hell" story was invented. This fantasy is usually related with great emotion by its misty-eyed storytellers. While the War-in-Hell narrators are in general agreement on its major aspects, the details seem to vary from one storyteller t another, as some seem to vie with others in the embellishment of the heart-rending scenes which supposedly took place in the Pit.
It is easy to see why this is the case. With no basis in Scripture for their tale which might otherwise place some limits on their fertile imagination, and since the War-in-Hell tale has been passed along largely by word of mouth, the storytellers feel at liberty to fantasize almost to their heart's content.
A typical War-in-the-Pit version, gathered from the literature and recordings of the JDS ministers, runs in essence as follows:
Jesus became sin on the cross when he yielded himself to Satan. He swallowed up the evil nature of Satan, thus becoming one in nature with the Adversary. Jesus became the Serpent lifted up (John3) when he took on the diabolical nature of Satan himself. At this point he was a "lost" man, crying, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He had now died spiritually.
Upon his physical death (he died twice), his spirit was taken into the Pit of Hell, where he was chained with the fetters of sin, disease, and with all the evil of Satan. The Devil stood before the choir of Hell directing the demonic hosts who gleefully chorused: "We have won; we have conquered the Son of God!"
There followed a gala celebration in the Pit, inasmuch as Satan now believed he had triumphed over God. However, what he did not know was that Jesus, when he became sin and took on Satan's evil nature, was acting as a substitute for sinners by identifying as a lost man with them. He was, therefore, abandoned by God who was no longer his Father, inasmuch as Satan was now his master.
Jesus suffered agonies beyond description in the Pit for three days as all the hosts of Hell were upon him. Then suddenly -- he was justified! From his throne in heaven, Almighty God arose, put his hands to his mouth and screamed: "It is finished, it is enough!" Jesus was now born again and made spiritually alive once more.
Hell itself was shaken; Jesus shook off his chains if sin, sickness, and evil. He walked over to the Devil, grabbed him and threw him to the ground. As the Devil cowered and trembled on the floor of the Pit, Jesus put his foot on top of him and took the keys of death, Hell, and the grave from Satan.
At this juncture, the Holy Spirit kicked open the gates if Hell and raised Jesus from death. He then ascended to the Father and announced: "I have paid the price; the prison is now open."
It was a born again man who defeated Satan. Jesus is the firstborn from the spiritually dead. Thus, it was when Jesus was made alive down in the Pit that the believer was also made alive. The Church had its origin in the Pit of Hell when Jesus was begotten from the dead as the "firstborn among many brethren."
Is this what happened from the cross to the throne? Is this what lies hidden beneath the surface of Colossians 2:15? Are you puzzled that you have never read such an amazing account in the pages of your Bible? Then do not be, for the preceding story is fiction from the beginning to end. It has its origin, not in the Bible, but in the fertile imagination of the deluded and gullible JDS teachers.
If one cares for the facts, without any dramatic embellishment, they are quite simply stated by the Apostle in Colossians 2:14-15. Here he states that the work of redemption was accomplished on the cross, not through some imaginary "War-in-Hell" piece of fiction concocted by the JDS storytellers. The triumph of Christ over Satan is clearly said to be on the cross. Calvary resulted in the
Blotting out [of] the handwriting of ordinances that war against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, NAILING IT TO HIS CROSS: having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them IN IT.
In both verses we are informed that the work of redemption was completed on the cross. In verse 14 the Law which had declared us as guilty and demanded our eternal death was removed, being figuratively nailed to the cross when Jesus was nailed to the cross and died on our behalf.
In verse 15 we are informed that it was also on the cross, not three days later in the Pit of Hell, that Jesus triumphed over the principalities and powers of Satan's kingdom. This is seen in the Apostle's words "triumphing over then IN IT" (or by it). The words "in it" obviously refer to "His cross" of verse 14.
Besides the King James version, other translations express the fact that Christ's triumph was on the cross, not in the Pit. The last part of verse 15 is variously translated as follows:
...and he held them up to open contempt, when he celebrated his triumph over them on the cross. (20th Century New Testament.)
...he made a public display of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (The New Testament, Williams.)
...he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. (NIV; Greek-English New Testament, Marshall.)
The NASV along with some other versions translates "in it" as "in him." Supporters of the JDS Doctrine like this better as they feel that they can fit it into their "War-in-Hell" theory, since it leaves open the question as to when Jesus triumphed over Satan. The Greek is ejvn avutw/' which can be translated either as "in it" or "in him." However, in view of the fact that the context is the cross, several of the versions have expressed this by translating the phrase as "in it' (the cross), or "by the cross." Cf. also Amplified Bible.
A Refutation from Scripture of the Basic JDS Errors
In the preceding discussion the general scope of the JDS heresy was set forth in order to give the reader an overall view concerning the unbiblical nature of this doctrine. Now there will be presented a scriptural refutation of the basic teachings regarding the JDS errors which are based upon their contention that Jesus literally became "sin" with mankind's sinfulness and died spiritually.
Contrary to JDS teaching, the Scriptures clearly show that Jesus remained pure and holy, both on the cross and in His death.
Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things...but with the precious blood of Christ, as a lamb without blemish and without spot (I Peter 1:18-19).
If one knows anything at all concerning the typological nature of the Old Testament sacrifices, especially the sin-offering, then the erroneous nature of the JDS contention, which states that Jesus actually became "sin," is all too evident. The JDS teachers and their supporters reveal a serious lack of understanding concerning the meaning and nature of the biblical sacrifices. Following the Old Testament type, Jesus did not become "sin" -- He was a sin-offering. The sin-offering was MOST HOLY to God. This important fact will be evident in the discussion which follows.