On July 6, CNN’s Chris Cuomo and Don Lemon were defending the destruction of statues in America when Lemon offered a strange comparison between Christian devotion to Christ and America’s reverence of the Founders, “But here’s the thing,” he claimed, “Jesus Christ, if that’s who you believe in, Jesus Christ, admittedly was not perfect when he was here on this earth. So why are we deifying the Founders of this country? Many of whom owned slaves.”
It’s fuzzy what he meant by “admittedly,” because Christians have taught the biblical truth of the sinless nature of Christ for two millennia. But his error gained a lot of attention in the news and on social media. And not in a good way. After all, it is not as if it is some big secret that Christians teach the sinless nature of Jesus Christ.
But let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe Lemon’s mistake is excusable. He didn’t claim to know or understand biblical theology, and, as a skeptic, it really doesn’t matter to him. And what’s even more unsettling is that he was simply parroting the views of millions of Americans.
In April, George Barna’s research group published its American Worldview Inventory 2020. The study reported that Americans’ belief in God as an “all-powerful, all-knowing, perfect and just creator of the universe who still rules the world today” has declined from 73% thirty years ago to 51% today.
And 44% of Americans said that, during his time on earth, Jesus was fully God and fully man, but they also affirmed that He sinned.
George Barna’s interpretation of this data is accurate. “[We] can no longer assume that people have a solid grasp of even the most basic biblical principles, such as those concerning the existence and nature of God.” Or, of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
But what about you? If you profess faith in Jesus Christ, and you were asked to explain the reason that Christians believe in the sinless nature of Jesus, could you do it?
Why does that matter? Three reasons. First, it matters for the mission of the church in the world. A church full of Christians who operate from a less than biblical perspective on God’s nature, God’s purpose, and the person of Jesus Christ is a church with a powerless gospel (1 Cor. 1:18, 1 Thess. 1:5).
Second, a church with a less than biblical understanding of Jesus Christ and His nature are producing confused and complacent disciples. That’s how a church becomes a social institution rather than a biblical community (1 Cor. 2:5).
But third, and most of all, our celebration of our salvation hinges on what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.
See, biblical Christianity does not claim to be one choice among many religions, and it does not claim that Jesus Christ is one among many religious leaders. The unique nature of Christ is the core of Christianity. So let’s be clear. When it comes to Christianity, it’s all about Jesus (John 1:14, 1 Tim. 2:5).
A Christian worldview is grounded in the biblical teaching that God is one God in three Persons. This is non-negotiable, and it distinguishes us from other religions. It is, by the way, the reason that it is impossible to claim that Christians believe in the “same God” as other world religions.
We believe that the one true God, by nature, is one God in three Persons. Each Person–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is God, co-equal in every sense. The Bible doesn’t try to explain this but assumes it and reflects it consistently (for instance, 1 John 4:13-15, John 14:26, 2 Cor. 13:14).
The Son of God is the second Person of these three. He came to earth and took on bodily form (became incarnate) in Jesus Christ. He was fully God and fully human. In power, nature, and character, He is equal to the Father and the Holy Spirit, limited only by His accommodation to a human body while he walked the earth. He chose this accommodation so that He could implement the salvation that the Father had orchestrated for humanity (Phil. 2:5-11).
Muslims believe that Jesus was not God, but a prophet like Muhammed. Jews consider Jesus to be an embarrassment, a teacher who was caught up in a radical movement and then, like many false messiahs in his day, was killed. End of story.
But we make the radical, fully-biblical and non-negotiable claim that Jesus Christ was our Creator, the one and only God, walking around in human flesh and ultimately doing what we could not do for ourselves—sacrificing Himself to provide redemption for our sins (John 1:34, Eph. 1:7).
But to do that, He had to be perfect. Our redemption required blood to be shed from a perfect, spotless Lamb, a Person who, though He was tempted, had never sinned (John 1:36, Heb. 4:15).
And Jesus fulfilled that requirement (Eph. 1:7). You and I sin daily, perhaps moment by moment. We sin in word, thought, action, and even in omission (1 John 1:8). But Jesus never sinned.
His sinless nature qualified Him to die in your place on the cross, which He did voluntarily. Because He loves you. And His death resulted in His resurrection to provide you eternal life (Acts 4:12). The sinless and perfect sacrifice of Christ on the cross, resulting in His resurrection, is the fundamental and absolute core of the Christian faith (1 Cor. 15:3-5, 1 Peter 2:24).
Maybe Don Lemon can get this wrong. Or maybe he just doesn’t care if he gets it right.
But if you call yourself a follower of Christ, you have to get this right, to hold onto this, and to never forget it–Jesus Christ, the Son of God, lived a sinless life.
Why? Because He did it for you (2 Cor. 5:21). His perfect life for your broken life. Because that’s how much God loves you.
You know that he was revealed so that he might take away sins, and there is no sin in him (1 John 3:5).