Bethel Church, Kenosis, and a False Gospel

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[Note: this is part of a larger article called “Bethel’s False Gospel and Other Issues.” That article is a follow-up to “Why Churches Must Avoid Music from Bethel, Hillsong, and Elevation.”]

One of the better-known issues at Bethel Church is Bill Johnson’s beliefs about the “kenosis” of Jesus Christ (or what Philippians 2:7 means when it says He “emptied Himself” when He came to the earth). Before continuing, I want to highlight the importance of showing grace with anyone’s explanation of this doctrine. The Bible doesn’t give us a detailed explanation of the actual mechanisms behind God Himself coming down from Heaven and taking on flesh. For the few faithful theories Christians have developed over the centuries, we may never know everything involved in Jesus living as 100% God and 100% man.

I argue we may never fully grasp it because it’s so outside of our own experience, and thus we have nothing to liken it to. Just like we can faithfully say things like “God has always existed,” we don’t know exactly what that entails because there’s nothing else in creation we can compare His eternal existence to. It’s true, but we can’t understand what it’s actually like. Compare that to statements like “God is omnipotent (all-powerful)” or “God is love,” and even though we may not fully grasp the extent of His omnipotence or love, we do understand those traits enough to grasp a fraction of what the Bible means when it describes Him that way.

So, as I said, I want to show reasonable grace to Bill Johnson because it’s very easy to poorly explain what happened when Christ “emptied Himself.” But, as we’ll see, even taking a measured approach to evaluating Bethel’s beliefs reveals dangerous beliefs.

Table of Contents

What is the “kenosis”?

As I said, this is what we understand about what Paul means when writing to the church in Phillipi:

but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:7)

We call it “kenosis” because of the Greek word kenoō, which means “to make empty.” And although this passage is the only one that uses this specific word regarding Jesus, the concept of what Paul is talking about is seen elsewhere:

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. (Mark 10:45)

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us… (John 1:14a)

By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3b)

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9)

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:9)

The question isn’t “is kenosis heretical?” because the Bible is clear that some kind of emptying happened. The question we must wrestle with is “What does it mean that Christ emptied Himself and took on flesh?” We ask this question regarding the actual function of His emptying (i.e., what was He actually emptied of?), as well as how we should respond to this reality.

First, let’s look at Bill Johnson’s consistent explanation for Christ’s nature and what it means for Christians today.

Bethel’s teaching

Simply put, Bill Johnson believes that Jesus functionally lived His earthly life as a man. I say functionally, because Bill Johnson and Dann Farrelly have recently tried to clarify that they don’t believe Jesus ceased to be God while on the earth. Rather, they say they believe that He remained fully God but lived with all the limitations of a man, without any of the privileges of God, so He could show us what we can do if we fully surrender to the Holy Spirit.

Bill Johnson has written a few statements that give us clarity into what he teaches, and therefore what Bethel as a whole believes and practices.

In 2012, he wrote, “If Jesus Christ performed His earthly miracles as God, I stand amazed. But if He did them as a man dependent on God, I am compelled to follow His lead.” 

This simple statement encapsulates Johnson’s core beliefs and what seems to drive the vast majority of Bethel’s work. He believes that Jesus’s self-emptying was, at least in large part, meant to show us that we are to live the supernatural, miracle-laden life of Jesus Christ. But it’s not just a one-off statement on social media. He said something similar in a 2016 sermon titled “Hosting the Presence” at the 7:22 mark.

He was consistent with this belief in an article for Charisma Magazine:

While Jesus is eternally God, He emptied Himself of His divine powers and became a man (see Phil. 2:7). It’s 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. Jesus is the only model for us to follow.

And later in the same article:

Jesus was clothed with the power of the Holy Spirit at His own water baptism, where, as a man, He had His personal encounter with the Holy Spirit (see Luke 3:22; John 1:32). Now the disciples would need the same.

The article’s main topic is the power and authority of believers to perform miracles. Nestled within this teaching is this foundational justification for that belief: that Jesus “emptied Himself of His divine powers,” allowing (or requiring) Him to perform miracles as a man. The reasoning for this is man-focused – He did it to show us what we’re supposed to do. I must emphasize that Johnson doesn’t explain what it means that Jesus emptied Himself of divine power, but he seems to assume that Paul’s statement that Jesus “emptied Himself” must be talking about His divine power (even though, as we see in Philippians 2, Paul says nothing about this emptying being His “divine powers,” whatever that might mean to Bill Johnson).

Johnson writes similarly in his popular book “When Heaven Invades Earth: A Practical Guide to a Life of Miracles.” It’s worth noting that Johnson has acknowledged that his language here has caused problems, but as we’ve seen, this book isn’t the only time he’s made statements like this. Thus, while attempting not to put words in Johnson’s mouth, this problematic wording isn’t a matter of an editor not catching a clumsy phrase. Instead, this is something he has repeated several times (emphasis mine):

Jesus lived his earthly life with human limitation. He laid his divinity aside as he sought to fulfill the assignment given to him by the Father to live life as a man without sin and then die in the place of mankind for sin. This would be essential in his plan to redeem mankind. The sacrifice that could atone for sin had to be a lamb( powerless), and had to be spotless (without sin).

Again, Johnson has recently clarified that he’s not saying Jesus ceased to be God. Nevertheless, he makes a twofold assumption that goes beyond mere wording: Jesus removed His divinity (or “divine attributes”) from Himself, and therefore lived a supernatural life that any other human is capable of. He subtly reinforced this by saying that Jesus had to be a powerless lamb. I’m sure Johnson would clarify that no human but Jesus could have lived the sinless life that made Him an acceptable sacrifice, though it’s difficult to determine how Jesus did this if He wasn’t the perfect God.

Johnson begins chapter 2, “Commission Restored,” with this (emphasis mine):

Jesus could not heal the sick. Neither could He deliver the tormented from demons or raise the dead. To believe otherwise is to ignore what He said about Himself, and more importantly, to miss the purpose of His self imposed restriction to live as a man.

Jesus Christ said of Himself, “The Son can do nothing.” In the Greek language that word nothing has a unique meaning—it means NOTHING, just like it does in English! He had NO supernatural capabilities whatsoever! While He is 100 percent God, He chose to live with the same limitations that man would face once He was redeemed. He made that point over and over again. Jesus became the model for all who would embrace the invitation to invade the impossible in His name. He performed miracles, wonders, and signs, as a man in right relationship to God … not as God. If He performed miracles because He was God, then they would be unattainable for us. But if He did them as a man, I am responsible to pursue His lifestyle. Recapturing this simple truth changes everything… and makes possible a full restoration of the ministry of Jesus in His Church.

He repeats this later in chapter 12 (emphasis mine):

For us to become all that God intended, we must remember that Jesus’ life was a model of what mankind could become if it were in right relationship with the Father. Through the shedding of His blood, it would be possible for everyone who believed on His name to do as He did and become as He was.

The logic is simple: if Jesus ever acted as God, then His lifestyle is unattainable. Conversely, if He functioned throughout His entire life only as a man, then His followers can do everything He did. Not only that, but as my final quote highlights, this supernatural Jesus-modeling is part of the gospel. Bill Johnson is clear that part of the gospel involves Jesus facing the brutality of the cross so that we can live a supernatural lifestyle. Thus, just as believers should expect to see the fruit of the Spirit as evidence of their salvation (Galatians 5:22-25), those whose sins have been paid for with the blood of Jesus Christ should see evidence of their salvation by performing signs and miracles.

It’s worth pausing here to remember that Bill Johnson, as God’s image-bearer, deserves to be fairly judged. Whatever other beliefs he may have, we don’t want to accuse someone of blasphemy if they don’t deserve it. 

Above, I linked a “Rediscovering Bethel” episode where Johnson and Farrelly try to set the record straight that they don’t believe Jesus stopped being God. Yet even though he doesn’t clarify what he does mean by Jesus emptying Himself of divine attributes, what has Bill Johnson consistently demonstrated through his actual teachings? Despite attempts to prove he’s within biblical orthodoxy, he teaches that we can do everything Jesus did. Part of Bethel’s gospel demands that genuine Christians must model Him in the supernatural. After all, that’s what He died for, and we should expect Jesus to accomplish everything He set out to do.

Bill Johnson and those in his camp use other verses to justify this belief. For the sake of space, I will simply address them in the “What’s the issue?” section below.

What “kenosis” can’t mean

As I said at the beginning, there are a handful of theories that offer faithful understandings of exactly what Jesus set aside and how He lived His life as a man. And while we may not know which is the most accurate, there are some things we should be mindful of when evaluating any theory of the kenosis. That’s because many attempts to explain this haven’t just been wrong; they’ve actually changed who God is. So let’s discuss what Christ’s emptying can’t mean so that we can better evaluate the claims of Bethel and, hopefully, anyone else trying to explain this complex concept.

First, it cannot mean that Jesus stopped being God. Simply put, God cannot cease to be who He is any more than He can make a human a fourth member of the Trinity. God, as an eternal being (Psalm 90:2), is unchanging in His nature (Malachi 3:6, Hebrews 13:8)  and indivisible in His essence (Deuteronomy 6:4, John 10:30), and thus cannot stop being God.

Likewise, it cannot mean that Jesus removed one or more attributes from Himself. Though coming in the limited form of a human, He didn’t lose any part of His divine nature by taking on a human nature. Theologians call this mystery the “hypostatic union,” meaning that Jesus had both a human and a divine nature at the same time, with neither competing with the other nor blending into a third nature. Jesus maintained all of His attributes at all times (Hebrews 13:8).

A third explanation we must avoid is to claim that Jesus had a sort of amnesia, forgetting He was God until later on in His life. Although His human nature suffered the typical developmental needs we’d expect (learning to walk and talk, feed Himself, and even going through some trial and error in carpentry), we also see that He understood His divine nature as a child (Luke 2:49). If that’s confusing, and even frustrating, get through one more paragraph and I’ll address this.

It also can’t mean that Jesus acted only as a man, without ever accessing His divine attributes or rights. I’ll delve deeper into the “why” of this later, because while Bill Johnson has recently sought to remain within the biblical boundaries of kenosis, what he teaches would, in practice, imply that Jesus was more like a Spirit-filled prophet who just happened to live a perfect and obedient life. A summary of the issues this presents is, simply put, that we do see Jesus act as God during His time on the earth.

There are other cautions we may need to take, but this at least sets the boundary for how we try to understand how Jesus, the eternal God of the universe and second member of the Trinity, could take on a human nature. With some of these, we may get frustrated because “if it can’t mean this, what else could it mean?” But this is where we need to tread with reverence to God, recognizing that while He has revealed much about Himself in the Bible, there are some things we simply cannot understand. Thus, we must avoid “comfortable” answers that diminish or change some aspect of who God is. If the Bible has revealed something about God, sometimes we must accept it as a “divine mystery,” or a revealed truth about God that humans just cannot understand.

Faithfully understanding the “emptying”

Throughout Christian history, there have been numerous “confessions” (statements intended to teach or clarify a biblical belief) that have summarized a faithful understanding of who Jesus is as both fully God and fully man. There have also been several scholars and theologians who have done extensive work to faithfully and biblically understand what this means. For our purposes, I’m not going to make a definitive declaration on what this emptying actually was beyond what the Bible clearly reveals. Instead, I’d like to set up some guard rails that will not only protect us from creeping into heresy, but also give us a means of evaluating how others try to explain it.

I’ll warn you, this is lengthy. But what Bethel believes about the incarnation of Christ is foundational to their version of the gospel and explains why they do the vast majority of the things they do. Thus, it’s fitting that we slow down and carefully think through the kenosis so we can better appreciate the danger of Bethel’s interpretation.

1. Paul’s discussion of “emptying” was about Christ’s humility in becoming like us, not losing His divine attributes.

who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. (Philippians 2:6-7)

It’s easy to read Paul’s words and get distracted by the singular phrase “emptied Himself,” stirring up all sorts of questions and wonder in our minds. Many discussions have been held, and theologies developed about what Paul might be saying about Christ’s nature. It can even be frustrating because Paul says so little else to explain what he’s saying about Christ’s nature.

Except that Paul is actually fairly clear. The problem is that his point is far less exciting than we may prefer. Look at the fuller context:

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:1-11)

Note the text that I bolded: these are all commands Paul is giving to this church. Reading these commands, we can imagine that this church had pride issues. People likely thought they deserved a certain amount of honor or respect, and perhaps even considered some members beneath their notice. These commands are like a sandwich, where Paul starts with “be of the same mind” and ends with “have this mind among yourselves.” The “meat” of this sandwich shows how Paul wanted them to be united in love, humility, and service to one another.

The text I underlined explains Paul’s reasoning: Jesus Christ, our God and Savior, humbled Himself. The One who truly deserves all honor, worship, and glory didn’t leverage His rights as God to ignore those who don’t deserve anything from Him but judgment. 

Instead, the One who deserves our obedience became the one who obeys. 

The king became a servant.

The source of life experienced death. 

This resulted in Christ’s glory as our Savior. He is the one who will have others kneel before Him and voice His worthiness. Jesus has always been worthy of worship, yet for a time He humbled Himself for our sakes (2 Corinthians 8:9).

Paul’s point has nothing to do with addressing the mechanisms behind Christ’s incarnation. His goal wasn’t to make us build a theology of how much of Christ changed, nor is Paul in any way saying Christ “lost” something or spent His earthly ministry acting in a way that we are to mimic. This rich passage has two essential points for Paul’s audience.

First, he’s essentially saying “be like Jesus,” but it’s not about the “exciting” stuff. He’s showing the utter foolishness of those who think they are too good to love and serve their brothers and sisters in Christ. He highlights the reality that no human is below another, especially when we realize that God, whose worth is greater than any human’s, humbled Himself for us. If the God of the universe would do that, how dare anyone in that church count themselves as more significant than another? Thus, they need to model Jesus’s humility.

Second, he reminds them that this unity isn’t a negative. They not only have the ability to be united because of Christ, but they also have the privilege of modeling their Savior by loving and serving their brethren. This wasn’t a task to take lightly; instead, it was one to cherish because it allowed them to participate in the life Christ has called them to.

Is that a boring explanation? If you’re a Christian, I sure hope not. But “be united in love, humility, and service” is certainly less sensational than something that appears to be a cryptic description of how Christ’s nature may or may not have changed. Paul isn’t encouraging us to get twisted in theological knots, trying to tease out what a single word means at the expense of ignoring a far greater command. And, for the purposes of this article, it’s clear that Paul isn’t calling us to model Christ’s abilities, but rather His love and humility.

2. It’s natural to wonder how Christ’s incarnation actually worked

Paul didn’t try to get into the theological weeds about the “what” and “how” of Christ taking on human nature, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is addressing something mysterious that actually happened. After all, what does it mean that:

  • The God outside of time and space (Colossians 1:17) existed in a human form that is bound by time and space?
  • Jesus Christ never changes (Hebrews 13:8), yet there was a moment when He had a nature He had never had before?
  • The all-knowing God had to learn to walk or read?
  • The God who needs nothing (Psalm 50:12) needed food and sleep?
  • An immortal being (1 Timothy 1:17) took on mortality?

A lot of questions come up when we try to understand how the God we see in the Bible could come as a man without losing or modifying His attributes. So, it’s not inherently wrong to wonder what Christ’s incarnation entails, even if we can’t use Philippians 2 to lead the discussion. But as we explore this question, we must not only be comfortable with the fact that we can’t fully understand it, but also be very careful not to let our preferred beliefs affect how we explain Christ’s humanity.

3. The kenosis was about God’s glory and our salvation

Although Paul’s words in Philippians 2 in no way imply that Christ’s “emptying” had anything to do with His divine attributes, it does tell us what it was really about:

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11)

This is what excites Christians. While we faithfully serve Christ on the earth, we eagerly await the return of our king. Although He lived His earthly life in humble obedience to the Father, He is now the one who is exalted above all else. In the future, all people will recognize Jesus for who He is. He’s not a lowly, unremarkable man from Israel. He is, and always has been, our God.

One criticism of Bill Johnson’s teaching on kenosis is that it’s very “me”- focused. It’s built around all the cool things we get to do because Jesus died to give us the ability to do what He did. But I don’t want us to lose sight of the fact that Christ’s humbling wasn’t just about His exaltation. We do benefit, but not in a way that is satisfactory to worldly-minded people:

For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:19)

Jesus didn’t die for our physical healing or to give us a life of supernatural experiences. Instead, the true excitement for Christians is that we, who are unworthy of anything but Christ’s just judgment, have instead received His righteousness. We can live a life of fame or one of humble simplicity, and both are just as meaningful because our hope doesn’t rest in the goods or experiences of this life, but in the eternal life we have in Jesus Christ.

4. Jesus did come as a human

Those who endeavor to study Christ’s incarnation must remember that the Bible clearly reveals that Jesus wasn’t pretending to be a human. He wasn’t the projection of a person like the Wizard of Oz, nor like the Greek myths that featured gods who simply took on a human or animal form at will. Note a few ways we see Jesus demonstrate His true humanity:

Born and developed as a human

And she gave birth to her firstborn son… (Luke 2:7)

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. (Luke 2:52)

Experienced human needs

And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. (Matthew 4:2)

… Jesus, wearied as he was from his journey, was sitting beside the well… (John 4:6)

After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.” (John 19:28)

But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” (Mark 4:38)

Experienced human emotions

Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. (John 11:32-35)

Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” (Matthew 26:38)

Prayed to the Father as humans do

But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray. (Luke 5:16)

Jesus lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father…” (John 17:1)

Learned obedience through suffering

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. (Hebrews 5:7-8)

Died as humans must

And Jesus uttered a loud cry and breathed his last. (Mark 15:37)

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil (Hebrews 2:14)

Christ’s genuine human nature is an inescapable reality in the gospel narratives. However, we also see that He didn’t just live as a human in complete submission to the Holy Spirit.

5. Jesus did live as God

This is one of Bethel’s core beliefs: that Jesus didn’t do a single thing on earth as God because one of the primary purposes of His life was to show us everything we should expect to do. Bill Johnson says it himself: “If Jesus Christ performed His earthly miracles as God, I stand amazed.” Bill Johnson doesn’t believe this, which is unfortunate because we clearly see Jesus act as God, which should cause all followers of Jesus Christ to stand amazed. 

Forgave sins as God

“And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:5-7)

The scribes’ question makes it clear how shocking Christ’s behavior was. Jesus wasn’t prescribing a means for them to find forgiveness; rather, He took it upon Himself to declare them forgiven by His own authority. They know only God can forgive sins, yet rather than seeing that God was before them, acting as only God can, they thought Him either blasphemous or insane. Nevertheless, we can look back and see that Jesus didn’t do something His followers are meant to do by forgiving sins under their own authority and power.

Some argue that Christians can, in fact, forgive sins based on Christ’s words in John 20:23. However, we want to read those words in their full context and note that while the scribes were shocked that Christ was forgiving people under His own authority, Christians aren’t the ones who decide whether one’s sins are forgiven or not. Rather, Christ sends us to declare what He’s already said: He forgives all who trust Him for salvation.

Showed His authority over the natural world

And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. (Mark 4:39)

And in the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. (Matthew 14:25)

When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew)… (John 2:9)

As with the forgiveness of sins, nature obeyed Him because He is the creator and sustainer of the entire universe. There was no “maybe” about whether nature would do what He commanded. Though we do see apostles and Old Testament prophets interact with the natural world, they always do it under the authority and command of God.

Heard people’s thoughts

And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? (Luke 6:8)

No created being can hear someone else’s thoughts, not even Satan (see my video and written series on Satan). Throughout Scripture, the incredible knowledge of a person’s thoughts is attributed to God alone. This unique capacity is cause for awe and humility from the biblical writers:

for you, you only, know the hearts of all the children of mankind (1 Kings 8:39)

Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD; how much more the hearts of the children of man! (Proverbs 15:11)

O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

You know when I sit down and when I rise up;

you discern my thoughts from afar.

You search out my path and my lying down

and are acquainted with all my ways.

Even before a word is on my tongue,

behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. (Psalm 139:1-4)

Thus, when the gospel writers say that Jesus knew the thoughts of the people around them, they aren’t cluing us in to a power we should expect to have. Instead, they’re creatively signaling that Jesus Christ did something only ever attributed to God. Thus, we see Him acting in a way reserved for God alone, proving that He is more than just a man.

Held authority over life and death

For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. (John 5:21)

When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” (John 11:43–44)

Then he came up and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” And the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. (Luke 7:14-15)

Yes, we do see resurrections apart from Jesus. But note the differences between Christ’s authoritative command and a prophet or apostle’s prayerful request for God to act:

Then he stretched himself upon the child three times and cried to the LORD, “O LORD my God, let this child’s life come into him again.” 22 And the LORD listened to the voice of Elijah. And the life of the child came into him again, and he revived. (1 Kings 17:21-22)

But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. (Acts 9:40)

Lazarus is the one time we seem to see Jesus pray before commanding someone to return to life. Yet even in this prayer, Jesus is very clear that He does it to demonstrate who He is to those around Him:

So they took away the stone. And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they may believe that you sent me.” When he had said these things, he cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.” (John 11:41-44)

Though apostles and prophets have been God’s human instruments in raising the dead, no one can come close to modeling how Jesus does it by His own, unfailing authority. Bethel Church even made headlines through a multi-day attempt to raise a little girl from the dead, with countless failed commands for her to “wake up.” We don’t want to make light of this, and I’ve discussed the tragedy in detail elsewhere, but it serves as a somber reminder that Bethel’s theology simply doesn’t hold up to reality and, in fact, causes significant harm.

As a final note, not only does Jesus have the authority to raise others, but He also decided when He would die. This command over death is untouchable for anyone who isn’t God, because all of us are alive precisely as long as God decrees it. We have no authority to decide if or when something takes our life from us, meaning we cannot do everything Jesus did.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.” (John 10:18)

Demons obeyed Him by His own authority

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” (Luke 4:35-36)

Exorcism is a favorite in Pentecostalism. There’s even an entire movie about so-called “spiritual warfare” that I’ve discussed here. People often assume that casting out demons is a uniquely Christian practice, but people did it long before Jesus arrived:

And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? (Matthew 12:27)

Then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists undertook to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits, saying, “I adjure you by the Jesus whom Paul proclaims.” (Acts 19:13)

In Matthew, Jesus makes us aware that Jewish leaders were already casting out demons. Likewise, Acts shows us that there were even wandering exorcists who didn’t follow Christ. So, Jesus and the apostles casting out demons wasn’t unique. As we see in the Luke passage above, what was unique was that Jesus did so with absolute authority. Even the apostles had to do so under Christ’s authority:

But Paul, greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” (Acts 16:18)

What is noteworthy is that Jesus never had to appeal to anything higher than Himself. If He were just a man like the apostles, He would have had to do so under some other power or authority. But because Jesus acted as God, He cast out demons in a way that calls for us to stand in awe of Him, not model Him in authority.

Identifies as God

Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8:58)

My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” The Jews answered him, “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” (John 10:29-33)

Christ’s opponents made it abundantly clear that Jesus didn’t act as a man empowered by the Holy Spirit. He spoke and operated as God Himself, something that was so obvious to the audience that they wanted to execute Him for blasphemy. It’s another demonstration of how Jesus didn’t live a life we can model. He did things as God, not just as a perfect, obedient human. 

Receives worship instead of rejecting it like angels and apostles did

Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)

And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Matthew 14:33)

“Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. (John 9:38)

We often read about people worshipping Jesus and thinking nothing of it. But at the time, this would have been another form of blasphemy for anyone other than God Himself. Jesus accepted worship without correcting someone by saying, “No, no, don’t worship me. I’m just a man living in obedience to the Holy Spirit.” Instead, Jesus received the worship reserved for God alone because, even during His earthly ministry, He lived as man and God.

Compare that to when people tried to worship angels or apostles:

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” (Revelation 22:8-9)

And when the crowds saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in Lycaonian, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, Hermes, because he was the chief speaker. And the priest of Zeus, whose temple was at the entrance to the city, brought oxen and garlands to the gates and wanted to offer sacrifice with the crowds. But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of it, they tore their garments and rushed out into the crowd, crying out, “Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men, of like nature with you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. (Acts 14:11-15)

Both angels and men refuse to do what Jesus did in receiving worship. They are very aware of the sharp distinction between what is appropriate for Christ and themselves. Despite Christ’s humanity, he never once modeled how we ought to live as a focus of worship. 

Wields divine judgment

“The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son.” (John 5:22)

Christ will judge people. Though we will rule with Christ in the future, even that rulership is under His authority. Yet even during His earthly ministry, Christ still possessed this unique authority.

Has divine glory

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. (John 2:11)

And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. (John 17:5)

We possess no inherent glory of our own. Jesus lived as God without ever losing or diminishing His glory. Although the weight of who Jesus is seemed veiled for a time (and was unveiled at the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17:2), He nevertheless lived as the glorious God of the universe, worthy of all praise and worship.

Possessed omniscience

But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) (John 6:64)

Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” (John 1:48)

The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” ….. 39 Many Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me all that I ever did.” So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them, and he stayed there two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.” (John 4:17-18, 39-42)

These are instances in which Jesus seems to inherently know things a human shouldn’t know. He knew what Judas would do, He saw Nathanael in a way that wasn’t just physically seeing him from a distance (otherwise Nathanael’s awe makes no sense), and His ability to know the woman’s past was so noteworthy that people were willing to believe the Messiah had finally come based just on her testimony, which was later confirmed when meeting Jesus themselves.

The point, again, is that Jesus did these things as God, not as a model for us.

Said He, not the Father, was “Lord of the Sabbath”

So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.” (Mark 2:28)

Not much to say here, other than that Jesus was able to declare what was right and wrong by His own authority as “Lord of the Sabbath,” an action that would be blasphemous for us to model.

Sends God the Holy Spirit

“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me. (John 15:26)

There is a subtle blasphemy in songs and prayers that involve commanding the Holy Spirit to do things. The relationship among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is unique in that they are equal in their divine essence and worth, yet differ in their functions. The Holy Spirit isn’t a lesser person of the Trinity, yet He is the one who is sent by both the Father and Son. According to Bill Johnson, and as reflected in Bethel’s music, one could argue that we can model Jesus by commanding the Holy Spirit. It’s blasphemous to even consider, yet this is how Bethel’s theology plays out.

He commands angels

Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” (Matthew 26:52-54)

On the night of His arrest, Jesus chastises Peter’s attempted defense. Jesus’s logic is simple: Peter should have realized that He could send tens of thousands of angels to defend Him if He desired. The only reason He wasn’t is that Jesus was obediently fulfilling Scripture.

It’s also interesting that, although Jesus could command angels as He pleased, Bill Johnson actually warns the readers of “When Heaven Invades Earth” not to model Jesus in that way:

While God has provided angels to assist us in our commission, I don’t take the posture that we are to command angels. Some feel they have that liberty. However, I believe it is a dangerous proposition. There is reason to believe that they are to be commissioned by God Himself in response to our prayers.

Though I commend Johnson for encouraging some caution, it’s worth noting that the page just before the above statement contains this quote from earlier:

For us to become all that God intended, we must remember that Jesus’ life was a model of what mankind could become if it were in right relationship with the Father.

Jesus modeled what we could become, yet we shouldn’t command angels as He could. It’s baffling, but it’s another piece of evidence of just how problematic Bethel’s beliefs are.

Spoke divine commands in a way the prophets never did

“You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. Matthew (5:21-22)

Jesus, as God, had the authority to speak in a way no prophet or apostle ever has. While every other human has said some variation of “Thus says the Lord,” Jesus spoke as the Lord. He told people that things like the commandment against murder went far deeper than they realized. He didn’t say this as a Spirit-led man communicating on behalf of God, but rather spoke as God.

So what? He did that because He’s God!

In some of these examples, it can be tempting to find it unfair to hold up Bill Johnson’s theology against some of the things Jesus did. Of course we shouldn’t think we should do certain things Jesus did. After all, we should expect God to receive worship or to speak with the authority He intrinsically possesses as God. Bill Johnson doesn’t seem to mean we should do those things.

But that justification proves the very contradiction of the singular belief that lies at the heart of so much of what Bill Johnson and Bethel Church stand for. They believe we should do certain things because Jesus did them, justifying it with the unfounded and unproven argument that “if He did them as a man dependent on God, I am compelled to follow His lead.” Yet there are areas where we simply cannot follow His lead because we cannot live and act as Jesus did. Bill Johnson is, quite simply, wrong.

And the entire foundation of Bethel’s theological system crumbles when we realize an core truth: Jesus didn’t die so we can model His supernatural life, be free from disease, or gain material wealth. Jesus didn’t die for all the exciting things Bill Johnson encourages hundreds of thousands of people to pursue. Bethel Church’s gospel is a false gospel, built upon interpreting the Bible through the beliefs they want to hold, rather than centering their beliefs around what God has revealed in His word. 

Summarizing the kenosis

As we transition into examining Bethel’s beliefs, I’ll summarize the kenosis, Christ’s “emptying,” like this: If we allow Scripture to set our boundaries, then it’s clear that the “emptying” wasn’t a loss of deity, but rather that Jesus humbled Himself by taking on humanity. God also makes it clear that the purpose of this was His glory and our salvation, not to model a supernatural lifestyle that Christians must seek to emulate. The specifics may be a mystery, but God has made these things very clear.

What’s the issue?

I’ll be honest: when I first started researching what Bethel believes about Christ’s emptying, I thought people would be disappointed in my findings. The kenosis is one of the issues people bring up about Bethel, sharing single-sentence quotes and accusing Johnson of saying Jesus stopped being God. But as you’ve seen, some of my quotes show that Bill Johnson clarifies that he’s not saying Jesus wasn’t God. And, technically, I do think Bill Johnson believes that.

However, the more I read the context of Johnson’s words, and understood them amidst so many other things I’ve read and listened to from Bethel Church, I realized that what they believe about Christ’s self-emptying is central to their belief system. They need Jesus to have no access to His deity for the majority of their day-to-day lives to make sense. If Jesus acted as God at any point in His life, it means that much of Bethel’s foundation crumbles beneath them.

So what follows is a necessarily thorough breakdown of the many issues I’ve found with what Bethel believes and practices regarding what it means for Christ to have taken on humanity. 

Bad theology leads to a false gospel (again)

Bill Johnson said:

Through the shedding of His blood, it would be possible for everyone who believed on His name to do as He did and become as He was.

Bethel Church believes that part of Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross was to grant us the ability to perform works like Christ, even greater works than Him. Jesus died to do this. That means that it’s not optional: performing miracles is evidence of salvation.

By claiming that Christ’s death allows all believers to perform miracles as Jesus did, Bethel Church adds a mark that Christians must evaluate as evidence of salvation. If part of Christ’s work on the cross was to make it “possible for everyone who believed on His name to do as He did and become as He was,” then if someone can’t do those things, they aren’t truly saved. That means that, to call yourself a Christian, you should be able to match or exceed Christ’s ability to:

  • Command the dead to be raised after being dead for a few days (John 11:43-44)
  • Restore sight to the blind (John 9:6-7)
  • Cure the paralyzed (Mark 2:9-12)
  • Instantly, and testably, remove terrible diseases from the body (Luke 17:11-19)
  • Cast out demons without fail (Mark 5:8-13)
  • Calm violent nature events (Mark 4:39)
  • Walk on water (Matthew 14:25-27)
  • Feed thousands of people with a few fishes and loaves of bread (Matthew 14:19-20)
  • Turn water into wine (John 2:7-10)
  • Know people’s thoughts (Mark 2:8)

At the very least, if you can’t even match the miracles Jesus does, then you aren’t experiencing the life He died for. To claim you are saved but can’t do the supernatural would be like saying you’re a Christian who will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire. There are certain reality that must to be true of any Spirit-indwelt person, because Jesus’s death can’t fail to accomplish its purpose. I’ve demonstrated that Bill Johnson absolutely believes that part of Christ’s death on the cross was to give all Christians the ability to perform His miracles.

But if that’s not true, then Bethel teaches a false gospel. It means they are intentionally adding to what Jesus did on the cross. They are claiming something about the Christian life that Jesus never did. More than that, the bulk of their very identity is in this false gospel. They have an entire school devoted to teaching young men and women to live the life that, according to Bethel, Christ died to give them.

Some may read this and find it unfair because Bill Johnson didn’t say that. However, this is a necessary conclusion to his false teaching. If Jesus died to forgive sins, and our sins aren’t forgiven, it means we aren’t saved. Similarly, if Jesus died so we could model His life, and we can’t even do a single, genuine miracle like He did, what other conclusion can someone make except that they aren’t saved? 

Read Bethel’s own words from their “Beliefs” portion of their website:

We believe in the ongoing, sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a holy life and minister super-naturally.

And in their Core Values, under “Jesus Empowers Supernatural Ministry,” it says:

The Cross of Jesus does not simply make us good people; it creates a new kind of people who walk in His power and are naturally supernatural.

2 Corinthians 5:17; 1 Peter 2:9-12; 2 Peter 1:3-4; Mark 16:17-18.

The Holy Spirit gives every believer the supernatural power to witness and release miracles, signs, and wonders.

John 14:12; Acts 1:8; Acts 2:16-18; 1 Corinthians 12:7-11; 1 Corinthians 2:4-5; 1 Corinthians 4:20; Matthew 10:8; John 20:21-23.

If a so-called Christian is incapable of holy living (not perfect living, but holy living), they can’t be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. If they aren’t “naturally supernatural,” they aren’t experiencing a key aspect of the cross of Jesus. According to Bethel, the ability to “minister super-naturally” is just as evidential of being indwelt by the Spirit. If you can’t do the supernatural, you aren’t indwelt by the Spirit, which means you aren’t sealed by Him for the day of redemption, and thus you are not a Christian.

One last quote from “Jesus Empowers Supernatural Ministry” shows that the ability to perform miracles is a key aspect of giving the gospel:

We owe the world an opportunity to experience the power of God and an invitation to salvation because Jesus sent us into the world, just as the Father sent Him, in the power of the Holy Spirit.

John 20:21-23; 1 Corinthians 2:4-5; John 17:18; 1 Thessalonians 1:5; Matthew 28:18-19; Matthew 5:14-16; Luke 10:1-9.

Remember that this false gospel is no different from what they teach about Christ’s death and our diseases (also from their Beliefs):

We believe in the victorious, redemptive work of Christ on the cross provides freedom from the power of the enemy – sin, lies, sickness, and torment.

Bill Johnson and those who affirm his teachings have proven themselves to be false teachers. They speak much of Jesus, but the Jesus they believe in is different from the one we actually see in Scripture. Their Jesus can be emulated and surpassed. Their Jesus never acted as God, and thus the instances where He seems to act as God are replicable. Their Jesus died to give us holiness and supernatural abilities. Despite claims to the contrary, their actual teaching and actions demonstrate that the forgiveness of sins is equally important as the power we gain to live as “naturally supernatural” people. And if you’re willing to listen to sermon after sermon, read through various writings, and sit through all of “Rediscovering Bethel,” you’ll see that, functionally, even the forgiveness of sins becomes little more than a means for us to do cool stuff right now.

I want to end with this emphasis: the core issue isn’t that Bill Johnson doesn’t carefully articulate what he believes happened when God came to the earth as a man. People get too hung up on that, and it ends up giving him a free pass because he has made statements that he doesn’t believe Jesus stopped being God. 

What’s really at issue is that Johnson has changed the very essence of the gospel. He’s added to what Jesus did, made promises where God hasn’t, and has given people the ability to measure their salvation by whether they can do what Jesus did. And because no one can do what Jesus did, they also diminish the worth and glory of Christ to make people believe that lengthening legs, dulling someone’s headache, or claiming to do extraordinary things only when no one is around to record them is the same as what Jesus did. 

Using Bethel Music in light of their false gospel

I’ll say this again at the end, but I want to remind readers that this article serves a larger purpose. I’m not here to beat up on a person or a group. Churches around the world invite Bethel Church into their weekly services through their music, and those tasked with protecting Christ’s sheep tell their congregations that these wolves are safe. I understand that many leaders use them without truly appreciating the danger Bethel poses, assuming it’s just a quirky church rather than the ravenous wolves Paul warns about in Acts 20:28-30. But if we acknowledge that they are false teachers, we have an obligation to honor and obey God.

Remember Paul’s warning:

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8)

If Bethel does indeed teach a false gospel, inviting them into our churches isn’t treating them as “accursed.” Their music is catchy and well-made. People like it and respond to it emotionally. It’s popular. But none of those justify asking enemies of the cross to participate in our corporate worship of the very Savior they dishonor.

What follows will address other issues related to this discussion. However, these issues are secondary to their hostility to the true gospel of Jesus Christ. If readers get nothing else out of this article, may the takeaway be that Bill Johnson and Bethel Church are false teachers who need to be clearly marked, avoided, and warned against.

God’s word must change to fit Bethel’s theology

Bethel regularly commits the fatal error of eisegesis (eye-suh-JEE-sis), or reading their own beliefs into the text instead of getting the meaning from the text. Rather than carefully studying and allowing God’s word to define their beliefs, they begin with what they need to be true (namely, that performing miracles is a normal and expected part of life) and then interpret God’s word in whatever way is necessary to confirm it. As I discussed above, one of the core foundations of everything Bethel does is the belief Jesus died so we can model His life exactly; thus, the Bible itself must be under the authority of Bethel’s beliefs, only allowed to say what supports them.

For many Christians, this is a common error. It’s not good, but most Christians only know how to approach the Bible and ask, “What does this mean to me?” rather than “What was the author trying to communicate?” It’s just a fact, at least in America, that few Christians are taught how to read the Bible for context (learn more about it here and under my Bible Reading topics). So while we should desire to understand God’s word rightly, it’s unwise to fault every person who gets a problematic interpretation due to poor Bible-reading methods.

But Bethel Church’s leaders aren’t well-meaning Christians earnestly struggling through difficult passages.

How they choose to interpret God’s word is neither accidental nor harmless. They are teachers who have spent decades building a theological system, forcing their beliefs onto various Bible passages, and training hundreds of thousands of people to follow them. And because their ministry, books, teaching, and music need God’s word to say what they want it to say, the Bible must bend to support Bethel’s interpretation lest everything collapse.

I’ve addressed Philippians 2:7 above, showing that it simply doesn’t mean what Bethel needs it to mean. The context of this verse makes it clear that Paul doesn’t even have it in mind that Jesus “set aside His divinity,” whatever that means, but rather Paul uses Christ as an example of humility that his readers needed to model. If Bethel were to acknowledge this, then Bill Johnson would have to do the very thing he can’t do:

If Jesus Christ performed His earthly miracles as God, I stand amazed.

Instead of being amazed at the glory of Christ, as a Christian should, Bill Johnson and those around him must continue to tell others they do miracles like Jesus without a shred of proof. 

Of course, that should raise a question: What do we do with the other passages they use to defend their beliefs? Philippians 2:7 may not mean what Bethel claims, but are all the other verses they used also pulled out of context? I’ll end this section by addressing the passages they commonly use to support their belief that Jesus never acted as God while on the earth.

So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. (John 5:19)

Bill Johnson wrote (emphasis mine):

Jesus could not heal the sick. Neither could He deliver the tormented from demons or raise the dead. To believe otherwise is to ignore what He said about Himself, and more importantly, to miss the purpose of His self imposed restriction to live as a man.

Jesus Christ said of Himself, “The Son can do nothing.” In the Greek language that word nothing has a unique meaning—it means NOTHING, just like it does in English! He had NO supernatural capabilities whatsoever! 

It’s a clever way to try simplifying the verse, but we shouldn’t ask “What does nothing mean?” Instead, good Bible reading means that we ask, “What did Jesus mean when He said ‘nothing’?” John 5:19 doesn’t say Jesus had “NO supernatural capabilities whatsoever,” but if Bill Johnson is right then the surrounding context of the verse should at least hint that this claim, which is core to Bethel’s beliefs, is true.

Since Bible passages don’t sit in isolation, we need to understand what led up to Jesus making this statement. The scene begins in John 5:1, where Jesus is in Jerusalem and heals a paralyzed man on the Sabbath, the day of the week that Jews were strictly forbidden from doing any labor. To understand Christ’s words in verse 19, we’ll jump into the narrative at verse 15. I’ve bolded the points I want to discuss, but I encourage you to read the whole thing:

15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.”

18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.

19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. 21 For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. 22 For the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

25 “Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. 33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from people. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”

This is why it’s so dangerous to read a single Bible verse and try to build a theology around it. Yes, Jesus said “I can do nothing,” but there is nothing in the rest of what He said to remotely imply He had “NO supernatural capabilities whatsoever,” as Bill Johnson claims. 

Jesus starts off by highlighting the fact that He is God. God rested on the Sabbath, yet He’d still been working in creation; therefore, Jesus must likewise do work on the Sabbath. People wanted to kill Him because He made Himself “equal with God.” 

Jesus immediately follows up His argument, and their accusation, by pointing out that He’s not doing these things of His own will. Keep in mind what He says in 43: “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.” There was something very important about Jesus not doing these things under His own initiative. But it wasn’t because He didn’t have the ability, but rather it’s because He’s demonstrating His supreme authority.

That’s why I bolded the text that I did. This entire narrative is focused on the fact that Jesus was given unique authority by God. And while it’s lost on us, some of the things He said are bold claims that He was their promised Messiah.

First is His claim to the right to execute judgment as the “son of man” in verse 27. Jesus using the title “son of man” isn’t Him pointing out that He’s flesh and blood, but rather a call back to a prophecy in Daniel:

I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed. (Daniel 7:13-14)

When Jesus calls Himself the “son of man,” He’s telling them “I’m the one Daniel saw. I’m the promised Messiah.” That’s why He says in verse 39: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.” The One they’d waited for is right in front of them, yet they stood around thinking they could sit in judgment over Him.

Another critical passage Jesus alludes to in John 5:19 (and His similar statements in John 8:28, 12:49, and 14:10) comes from Deuteronomy:

15 The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— 16 just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ 17 And the LORD said to me, They are right in what they have spoken. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. (Deuteronomy 15:15-19)

Keep this passage in mind when you read John 5. He’s telling them that He is the One God had promised so long ago. He was here doing what the Messiah should do – not speaking His own words, but rather speaking what God had commanded Him to speak. This is also why people asked John the Baptist if he was “the Prophet” in John 1:21, because this “Prophet” figure had profound meaning to the Jews in that day.

Jesus states that He can do “nothing” at the beginning of a lengthy argument against the accusations thrown at Him. There’s no way to read all of His words and conclude He lacks power. He said “nothing,” but He clearly doesn’t mean what Bill Johnson thinks He means. Instead, His entire argument defends the fact that He alone has ultimate and unique authority, granted to Him by God, because Jesus is the promised Savior of the world. 

Now, let’s tie this all together by trying to simply answer an important question: Why did it matter if Jesus spoke on His own or not? Why were they waiting for a Prophet who would prove their identity by speaking God’s words in a way that was different from how other prophets had? 

The short answer is that it demonstrates the unity, not inability, within the Trinity. Jesus can’t act on His own because His will is never outside of the Father’s. Though the three Persons are equal in essence and value, they operate differently. The Son never usurps authority over the Father, nor does the Spirit usurp authority over the other two (see John 16:13 as a perfect example). 

We may also miss that Jesus is talking about being in absolute harmony. He doesn’t segment Himself to only speaking when the Father tells Him to speak, nor acting uniquely only when the Father tells Him to, as though there were other times where He lived under His own will. Rather, He highlights that everything He does is in absolute alignment with the Father’s will. This would not only be necessary for Him to live a sinless life (which I’ll discuss later), but it was also necessary because Jesus was 100% God, and could never act in a way that wasn’t aligned with His deity. 

Bethel takes a passage that clearly elevates Jesus Christ as our promised Messiah and instead uses it to diminish Him. Bill Johnson keeps claiming, without any evidence, that Jesus is saying He, in fact, has nothing unique about Him that sets Him apart from any other human. Again, this isn’t just a mistake someone makes when wrestling through a passage. This interpretation of John 5:17 (and similar passages) is necessary to maintain Bethel’s version of Christianity.

[I had to chuckle while writing this because immediately following Deuteronomy 15:15-19 is another verse Bethel has to twist to maintain their preferred beliefs: But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die. (Deuteronomy 15:20).]

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. (John 14:12)

Johnson writes in “When Heaven Invades Earth”:

Jesus’ prophecy of us doing greater works than He did has stirred the Church to look for some abstract meaning to this very simple statement. Many theologians seek to honor the works of Jesus as unattainable, which is religion, fathered by unbelief. It does not impress God to ignore what He promised under the guise of honoring the work of Jesus on the earth. Jesus’ statement is not that hard to understand. Greater means “greater.” And the works He referred to are signs and wonders.

Johnson later, I believe rightly, argues that “greater” doesn’t mean greater in number. The language here indicates that “greater” is about quality, not quantity. The problem isn’t what “greater” means, but what “works” Jesus accomplished during His earthly ministry.

Let’s take Bill Johnson’s conclusions to their logical end. Imagine Jesus really did mean that the miracles we perform would be greater, more supernatural, and even more impossible than what He did. If that’s the case, then at the,very least we should expect the book of Acts to show the apostles and “everyday” believers doing things more impressive than what Jesus did.

Here’s a list of everything performed directly by the apostles. Note that this doesn’t include events like Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5) or the earthquake (Acts 16) where the text implies God acted on His own instead of through the apostles. I’m also not repeating miracles of the same caliber (such as multiple instances of healing the paralyzed), because Bethel’s argument is about the magnitude of the miracle:

  • Acts 2:4-13. The apostle spoke in “tongues,” allowing other people to hear the gospel in their own language (check my 3 part series to understand why this wasn’t a mysterious language like Bethel and others teach).
  • Acts 5:12-16. They perform many signs and wonders that aren’t described (we see this later in Acts as well). They seem to always be able to heal the sick and cast out demons. Peter’s shadow is also able to heal the sick.
  • Acts 9:36-43. Dorcas is resurrected, likely within a day or less of dying.
  • Acts 13:8-11. Elymas is struck blind after opposing the apostles (I’m being generous, because this seems like Paul is conveying a message, not causing him to go blind under his own initiative).
  • Acts 14:8-10. Paul heals a man paralyzed from birth (this seems to be the most significant recorded healing, but note there are many similar instances throughout the book).
  • Acts 16:16-18. Paul commands a demon to leave a girl.
  • Acts 19:6. Believers receive the Holy Spirit and begin speaking in tongues and prophesying.
  • Acts 19:11-12. Paul performs “extraordinary” miracles, and the cloth materials he touches heal the sick and demon possessed.
  • Acts 28:3-6. Paul is bitten by a viper without suffering any harm from its venom. 

Again, I didn’t record every event, but rather every unique instance. Upon receiving the Holy Spirit, these are the great acts that the apostle performed. Some of them were different from what Jesus did, and you could argue that Paul’s ability to heal by sending out pieces of cloth is “greater” than Jesus healing someone who touched a robe still attached to Him. And while we don’t want to discount the reality that God did work miracles through the apostles, let’s objectively ask which of those are greater than:

  • Calming an entire storm
  • Hearing people’s thoughts
  • Walking on water
  • Turning water into wine
  • Feeding thousands with a few fish and bread loaves
  • Raising the official’s son from several miles away
  • Raising Lazarus after he’d been dead for several days

Bethel boasts that their theology is true, with Johnson even saying that “Many theologians seek to honor the works of Jesus as unattainable, which is religion, fathered by unbelief.” So for those who are truly Christians, and therefore are capable of doing greater works than He did… what does Bethel actually do? Stick around long enough and you’ll see three different types of miracles:

  • Marvelous, incredible works relayed through stories. These are often very emotional, dramatic, and highly supernatural. Yet, we must note that they’re conveniently never recorded in an age of smartphones.
  • Small, invisible things done in public, like someone saying their back no longer hurts
  • Absolute failure to do anything, which Bethel teaches is either due to a lack of faith or because it’s not God’s will.

Although Bethel’s website boasts plenty of testimonials of miraculous healings, there’s no evidence to support any of them. Bethel was even bold enough to partner with a medical research group to study those who claimed to be healed through Bethel’s healing ministry, with little to nothing to show after several years. Not only is Bethel unable to reproduce a miracle similar to what Jesus did, but the only evidence they have of greater miracles exists in stories.

And the lack of evidence matters, because it contradicts the entire purpose of miracles.

Read through the gospels and the book of Acts, and you’ll notice a pattern: miracles happen, but the end result is that people either believe the gospel or are chastised for not believing. The focus is never on the miracle’s greatness, but on whether people believe Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Because Christ didn’t come to do cool stuff; He came to point people to their only hope for the forgiveness of sins and a promise of eternal life.

If Bethel, or any Christian, could perform greater acts than Christ, the entire purpose would be thwarted if people couldn’t see them and respond with belief. Why have such supernatural encounters in a church where most people are supposed to be Christians? Why go out and perform miracles on the street with little emphasis on the gospel of Jesus Christ? If they’re modeling Christ, then we should expect people to walk away from encounters with Bethel thinking about Jesus, not miracles. 

Finally, note the differences in the frequency of successful miracles. Jesus never failed to heal someone. Likewise, throughout the book of Acts we see no indication that the aposles failed to heal people. There’s no mention of failing to heal someone because it wasn’t God’s plan. 

But that was the early church, when Christianity was still young and growing. What do we see of healing miracles once the gospel spreads and the church matures? 

No longer drink only water, but use a little wine for the sake of your stomach and your frequent ailments. (1 Timothy 5:23)

Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus. (2 Timothy 4:20)

As the years went on, the supernatural seemed to wane. While Peter or Paul could heal anyone on command in Acts, we later see that Timothy, Paul’s “son in the faith,” was given medical advice for his frequent ailments. Likewise, Paul had to leave a traveling companion behind because they were too sick to travel. This isn’t what it looks like to do greater works than Jesus, the One who never failed to heal someone. 

Simply put, miracles existed for the sake of the gospel. With so few people preaching it, and an entire world in need of it, miracles expedited the apostle’s ability to preach the word. But as Christianity grew and churches became established, the supernatural and exciting was replaced with the steady faithfulness of the local church. People heard the gospel from their neighbors, and after nearly 2,000 years, we’ve seen something begin in a small region of Israel and spread across the globe. Over time, millions of people from all nations, tribes, and tongues have trusted in Jesus Christ to save them from their sins.

This demands a question: What did Jesus mean by “greater works” in John 14:12, if we weren’t meant to surpass the miracles He did? The context makes it clear that the works we’re meant to do aren’t in performing the miraculous, but in spreading the gospel. Read all of John 14 on your own, but I’ll bold the relevant statements below:

Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 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 authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. 13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.

25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.

That’s a lot, but it’s vital that we not puzzle over a single verse and divorce it from its context. While a lot is going on in John 14 (which is part of a much larger scene from chapters 13-17), the overall theme is believing in who Jesus is. Even in verse 11, right before He talks about doing greater works, He says “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” Jesus’s emphasis in this entire dialogue has nothing to do with them performing the supernatural, but everything to do with belief. Notice how He ends this particular dialogue: “I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.”

He says something similar to the crowd who wanted to do His works:

Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” (John 6:28-29)

The works of Christ weren’t amazing simply because they were entertaining or impressive. His greatest work during His ministry was calling sinners to turn from their sins and trust who He was. The miracles existed because a) He’s God and we should expect Him to act as God, but also b) because Christ’s time was limited, and miracles proved in an instant what a one-on-one relationship with someone can’t do nearly as quickly. Jesus’s earthly ministry started the seed of the gospel, which then rapidly grew in Acts. The flash of the supernatural made way for the deep roots of God’s people knowing and teaching His word.

So when we do “greater works,” we aren’t talking about doing greater miracles than Jesus, but giving the gospel to more people. This not only explains why Jesus said what He did in the context, but it also helps explain why we, in fact, don’t live in a supernatural time in the church. The need for immediate proof of the gospel’s messengers has ended, as God has called so many people to be His children and spread the gospel through ordinary means. 

The spread of the gospel is the only thing we see that is “greater” than what Jesus accomplished. That may not be as exciting to many, but as Christians we can only rejoice that God has used the faithfulness of His people across the generations to tell others about Jesus Christ. But we don’t need the miraculous because we have plenty of time to faithfully understand God’s word, live as Christ’s light in the world, and tell others the good news of the one who died for their sins. If this is God’s design, we should be concerned if that’s not exciting enough for us.

Finally, I must point out the entire point of the gospel of John. John didn’t write it to make sure we knew the sorts of miracles we should expect to perform. When we read what John chose to record, we must never forget that it’s pointing us to the truth of who Jesus is:

Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31)

Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (John 20:21)

Toward the end of the “Rediscovering Bethel” video, addressing what they believe about the kenosis, Dann Farrelly implies that John 20:21 means He sent us out to do the miraculous like He did. Based on how thoroughly I’ve covered the previous 2 verses, I’ll keep this very short and just highlight that Jesus sent His disciples out to preach the gospel (Matthew 28:18-20). Miracles aided in their actual commission, but weren’t a necessary part of it. This remains consistent with what I’ve discussed.

The problem is twisting God’s word, not struggling to understand it

As I said before, I don’t fault anyone for struggling to understand the hypostatic union, the understanding that Jesus was 100% God and 100% man. No one should question their salvation because the human mind is incapable of understanding this divine mystery, let alone articulating it perfectly. What we must condemn Bethel Church for is intentionally distorting God’s word and making Christ’s nature conform to fit their beliefs. They have twisted the Bible and the Savior it reveals to suit their own purposes. 

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel — 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. (Galatians 1:6-7)

There are some things in them [Paul’s letters] that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. (2 Peter 3:16b)

Christ becomes the means, not the end

In Bethel’s “Core Values,” they clarify this point: 

We do not pursue a relationship with God just so we can perform signs and wonders.

They even cite this passage in Matthew to prove their point:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

That is a great sentiment, but as we’ve seen throughout this entire series, that’s not Bethel’s practice. Instead of being known for spreading the gospel and living faithfully, Bethel is primarily focused on pursuing the supernatural. They cite Matthew 7:21-23 to claim they don’t pursue God to get the supernatural, yet look at what Jesus said right before this passage:

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits. (Matthew 7:15-20)

We’ve seen throughout this series that Bethel preaches a false gospel. Just in examining what they teach about the kenosis, we’ve seen their need to force God’s word, and His very nature, to come under the authority of their desire for a certain kind of lifestyle. Over and over, Bethel Church, led by Bill Johnson and others, misses the entire point of miracles. They were always meant to be a means to an end, yet so much of Bethel’s structure is directed toward the strange, unique, emotional, and exciting.

Bethel’s words do not match their actual teaching and practice. Their actions demonstrate that Jesus is just a means of having what they truly want: cultural power, emotional highs, Bible-adjacency, and a sea of people blinded by the deception. They rejoice because of their experiences, not because of the salvation they have in Christ.

Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10:20)

The life Bethel promises is, sadly for many, a myth that cannot be allowed to grow in the true churches of Jesus Christ.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 4:3-4)

If you want to think more about this, study John 6. Pay attention to lines like these that show the wrong reason people followed Jesus compared to the motivation they really needed:

Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27 Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal.” (John 6:26-27)

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. (John 6:47)

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God. (John 6:68-69)

Baseless assumptions and a touch of blasphemy

I want to reemphasize that Johnson (and Bethel Church, by extension) insist they don’t believe Jesus ever stopped being God. They dedicated an episode of Rediscovering Bethel to clarifying this, and even started the video by telling people to read Bethel’s “statement of faith” to see that they aren’t heretical. They are aware that Johnson’s words have caused great confusion, yet in claiming “We aren’t saying Jesus ceased to be God,” they never really clarify what it does mean that Jesus emptied Himself of divine power. 

If “divine power” can be removed from God without changing who He is, then divine power isn’t an inherent part of who God is. It is something outside of Himself, able to be added to or removed from Himself without affecting His essence.

This is heresy.

There are two fancy theology terms that many Christians may never consider, but help us think through this: divine simplicity and immutability. For the sake of this discussion, bear with me as we briefly get into the weeds of something that will hurt all our brains but is crucial for seeing yet another way Bethel doesn’t have a true understanding of biblical Christianity.

First, divine simplicity. Saying God is “simple” doesn’t mean He’s easy or simplistic. Far from it! When we talk about simplicity, we mean that God isn’t made of parts.

Think of a phone. You can add or remove things from it and it’s still considered a “phone.” Over the decades, adding microchips and removing physical phone lines have given us wildly different devices without even changing the fact that they are still “phones.” 

People are similar. We can have things added or removed from us without changing that we are still human. Likewise, we can choose to do or not do some things without changing our very nature. For example, I can be loving, patient, kind, generous… or not. Those external things might make me a better or worse human, but I don’t need those to be a human. 

That’s because phones, people, and everything else in creation are complex things. We’re composed of different physical and (for humans) spiritual attributes. We can add or remove things. Especially as humans, we gauge our love or wisdom by comparing ourselves to something external to us (God’s character) to see how we measure up in those areas. 

God, by contrast, is simple. He doesn’t have anything about Him that can be divided, nor does He ever exercise certain attributes more than others. For example, God isn’t loving: God is love (1 John 4:8). It’s an essential characteristic of His nature. Thus, God could never stop being love (or just, or holy, or anything else) because that’s who He is. He’s all of these things, perfectly and maximally, at all times. We see this confusion today when people want God to be more loving than He is just, but He cannot choose to be more of one thing and less of another.

So God is simple in that He can never lose, reduce, or increase anything about Himself. To do so would make Him no longer God. So when Bill Johnson says “While Jesus is eternally God, He emptied Himself of His divine powers and became a man,” he may claim Jesus didn’t cease to be God, but the very act of losing His divine powers betrays the very reality of God being incapable of having any part of Himself added or removed.

Next, immutability. Perhaps simpler than divine simplicity, immutability simply means that God never changes (Malachi 3:6). We know that, but we can often fail to embrace how significant this is. It doesn’t just mean that God has a stable personality, but rather that He never changes anything about His nature. He doesn’t learn new information, grow or weaken in patience between the Old and New Testaments, or become a better or worse version of Himself. God isn’t stagnant, but He also never changes.

Yet for Jesus to one day have divine powers, and the next day not have them, means that He changed who He had always been from before time began.

Now let’s tie it all together.

Bethel Church starts with the demand that we can model Jesus’s miracles. To justify that, they must interpret Philippians 2:7 to mean that Jesus did something that let Him operate in a way that we can imitate. The only way this is possible is for Jesus to no longer have divine powers, meaning anything supernatural He wanted to do had to happen without being God.

Nowhere does the text imply this, but it’s necessary for their beliefs to exist.

So by claiming that Jesus actually removes a part of Himself, they violate two important qualities that make God who He is. First, they turn Him into a being who can have parts added or removed. Second, He now becomes someone who can change. 

Consider a terrifying impact Bethel’s theology has: If God can change His nature, He can change His mind. We cannot trust that a God capable of changing will always be satisfied with Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. We have no hope for eternal life, because God may one day decide to set aside His goodness or justice next. 

Johnson’s need to believe we are capable of the supernatural blasphemes the very nature of who God is, and it all starts because he makes various claims about God’s word that have no support in the context.

Also, we must see the sheer absurdity of teaching that Jesus set aside His divine power when we read Colossians or Hebrews:

He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Hebrews 1:3a)

And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. (Colossians 1:17)

If Jesus set aside His divine power, the universe would have unraveled. 

Bethel fails to understand sin and perfect obedience

Whatever it means that Jesus lived as a man, it cannot mean that He did everything to show what fallen humans are capable of. Jesus lived a perfect and obedient life, which is something genuinely impossible for any mere human to do by the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s because Johnson fails to understand what sin is and how Christ could obey perfectly.

First, we must ask: “What is sin?” We talk about it a lot, but we rarely define it. We have specific commands in the Bible that clue us in, but why are some things considered sin while others aren’t?

In Hebrew and Greek, sin means the same thing: missing the mark. It’s a term one might use when failing to hit a target with an arrow. And it perfectly describes why God defines sin the way He does.

We often think God is good because we compare Him to some notion of “good” and say, “Ah, yes, God does this perfectly!” Likewise, many people accuse God of evil because they likewise hold God up to a standard and declare that He doesn’t measure up. But in both cases, we miss the point that we discussed above: God is good. He is the standard and definition of what “good” is. He can never be anything less than perfectly good, because He can never be more or less than who He is.

This relates to sin because when we say sin is “missing the mark,” it means our thoughts or actions fail to achieve the “bullseye” that is God’s character. Anything that fails to conform to God’s revealed character and will is, by definition, sin. It’s anti-God. 

So when we say that Jesus never sinned, we mean that He never did anything less than what the character and nature of God is. That’s because only God can fully act according to God’s nature. He made statements like this because Jesus didn’t exist outside of who He was as God:

For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. (John 6:38)

And this takes us back to Bethel. Who is capable of perfectly hitting the “mark” of God’s goodness and character 100% of the time? Who could live without any hint of lawlessness or accrue any measure of guilt for violating God’s laws, which are reflections of His very nature? Only God. He is perfectly unique in that only God can be God. 

And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. (Mark 10:18)

Here, Jesus points out a flaw in their thinking: If Jesus is good, not just doing good things, He must be God. No one who isn’t God could claim that goodness is an inherent and irrevocable part of their nature, not even a man in full surrender to the Holy Spirit. Someone surrendered to the Spirit may reflect God’s goodness, but can never claim it as part of who they are.

Yet when Bethel claims that Jesus lived as a man to model how we ought to live, what do they claim? What is the necessary conclusion to saying that Jesus didn’t live and act as God on the earth? That Jesus’s perfect righteousness was a thing He achieved, not a reflection of who He is. 

Even by the power of the Holy Spirit, no one is capable of meeting God’s standard because His character and nature are outside themselves. Some may do better than others at occasionally hitting that mark, but because God is love, justice, holiness, etc., then only He is perfectly capable of being all those things at all times. 

Yet it’s that very perfection that allowed Jesus to be our sacrifice. By claiming that He lived a perfect life as a man, Bethel’s belief system demands that God is not unique in His perfections. If they’re right, a human can be holy enough on their own merit to perfectly submit to the Holy Spirit, and after that, they can do all the things Christ did. 

Yet if we’re honest, why don’t we perfectly submit to the Holy Spirit? Why can’t we be perfect like God is perfect? Because while the Holy Spirit is God, we are not God. The Holy Spirit is in us, but He is not us. We are humans who must choose to obey something outside ourselves. We may submit to the Spirit, but we don’t do it because it’s part of our nature to be all that God is.

And because we aren’t God, how could we possibly ever do that? How could we choose to be what we aren’t? We can certainly act and live in ways that please God, and in eternity, we are thrilled at the reality of living without sin. In the future we’ll be perfectly conformed to Christ’s holiness, but we’ll never possess perfection as an attribute of our nature.

In short, Jesus didn’t act as a man who obeyed through human willpower and determination. While having a human nature, it was never contrary to who He was as God. He never “missed the mark” because the One acting in His humanity was the Son of God. He wasn’t a Spirit-filled creature who struggled against His nature, but God in human flesh who lived and died to be our perfect sacrifice. As the God-man, His obedience was human, but perfect because His very nature could never be turned off or set aside. 

Diminishes Christ’s actions to match His followers

As discussed in the main section, Bethel claims that Jesus only acted by the Spirit’s power and never as God. Yet we saw several instances where Jesus did things no human follower can expect to imitate because He did them as God. In making Christ little more than a man, they diminish the works He did so they can be attainable for us while simultaneously elevating humans beyond what Scripture teaches.

This is where Bethel also confuses what it means to “imitate” Christ:

For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. (1 Pet 2:21)

However, reading the immediate context of this verse makes it clear that Peter (inspired by the Holy Spirit) and Bethel are talking about two different things:

For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God. 21 For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. 22 He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 23 When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. (1 Peter 1:20-23)

The context of this isn’t saying that Christ calls us to participate in His divine abilities or supernatural life. What Peter says is far more basic: he’s telling the believers to imitate Christ in suffering, to do good even when others do evil to them. He’s telling them to imitate Christ by enduring. Again, there’s no hint that we’re called to imitate Christ’s miracles, only His character.

It may seem like it honors Christ’s humility to make His works achievable, but the end result diminishes who our Savior was during His time on the earth. They rob Him of the awe and worship He deserves and turn it back on us. By making His followers equal with Him, we end up becoming the focus of the gospels. 

Confuses the meaning of Jesus’s anointing and “by the Spirit”

Bill Johnson regularly flattens the biblical writers by assuming a single term always means the same thing in any context. He sees “nothing” or “works” and builds an entire theology without letting the language around those words define it for him. “Presence” is, well, present in many of their songs, but their definition doesn’t match how biblical writers use it. 

He takes similar shortcuts with discussing the Holy Spirit, treating the third person of the Trinity like a simple machine that does the same thing any time He’s present. We see a similar, surface-level understanding of “anointing” as well, as Bethel Church often uses the word “anointing” to call upon their ability to perform supernatural ministry. And when someone confuses these, they take who Jesus was and diminish Him to the same level as imperfect humans.

We need to understand two things: the significance of “anointing,” and what Jesus meant when He said He did things “by the Spirit.”

Anointing

And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; 17 and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17)

We get our word messiah from the Hebrew word “masiah” and Christ from the Greek word “Christos.” Both words mean the same thing: anointed one. Jesus and others used this title to explain something significant to the Jews of that time, and it’s why the Holy Spirit descending on Him was so important. It didn’t give Him supernatural abilities, but marked Him as the Messiah.

As with many things in the gospels, Christ’s anointing wasn’t just a random occurrence, but was a call back to the Old Testament and another piece of evidence that He was the Savior they’d been waiting for. The Old Testament contained prophecies that specifically told them to watch for the One who was anointed:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound (Isaiah 61:1)

Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness; 7 you have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions (Psalm 45:6-7)

Know therefore and understand that from the going out of the word to restore and build Jerusalem to the coming of an anointed one, a prince, there shall be seven weeks. (Daniel 9:25b)

Other anointings throughout the Old Testament added weight to what it meant for Jesus to be anointed. We see several instances of anointing:

  • Prophets were set apart to deliver God’s messages and were said to speak by the Spirit (1 Peter 1:21)
  • Kings and other leaders were set apart to rule with authority, and some of them received the Spirit, at least temporarily.
  • Priests were set apart to serve God and represent Israel, symbolically anointed by oil but never described as receiving the Spirit
  • Objects were set aside to be used expressly for God’s purposes (for example, the Ark of the Covenant), anointed with oil, and, obviously, never received the Spirit

Of these, only kings and prophets were anointed by the Holy Spirit, meaning He would rest on them and empower their ministry. But kings, priests, and objects would also be anointed by having oil poured on them as a symbol of being set apart for God’s purpose, empowered to fulfill that mission, and publicly identified as belonging to God. 

When the Old Testament looked forward to the “anointed one,” or Jesus, and others affirm that He is “the Christ,” they’re claiming that He was the One whom kings, prophets, priests, and even consecrated objects were pointing to. Jesus unites all three human roles into a single person. The Spirit’s anointing and the Father’s confirming words made it unmistakable that this was the One the Old Testament had been pointing toward.

We mustn’t confuse the anointing of others with that of Jesus, because anointings weren’t just the impartation of the Spirit for God’s work. Old Testament figures required the Spirit to fulfill God’s purpose because they were otherwise imperfect and limited. Jesus, the God-man, didn’t have that problem. His anointing did what anointings always did by publicly declaring who He was as prophet, priest, and king. It told everyone that He was the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ who was uniquely appointed to redeem humanity.

By the Spirit

But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Matthew 12:28)

Unlike Bethel’s theology, Jesus doing things by the Spirit doesn’t imply a lack of ability or authority to do them otherwise. Things like casting out demons “by the Spirit of God” are similar to His statements about doing the Father’s will instead of His own. All of them show us the perfect fellowship of the Trinity.

A simple way to think of the Trinity, as we see them function in Scripture, is like this:

  • The Father declares what will happen
  • The Son accomplishes what the Father declares
  • The Spirit applies what the Son accomplished

For example, look at creation.

  • The Father says “Let there be _____” (Genesis 1)
  • The Son creates what the Father declared (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16)
  • The Spirit gives life to what was created (Gen 1:2, Job 33:4, Psalm 104:30)

This isn’t the Trinity functioning separately, but rather it helps us see how they work together through Scripture to accomplish everything God does. We see the Trinity functioning like this even in Matthew 12:28.

  • The Father sent the Son to, among other things, perform miracles to prove He was the Messiah
  • The Son perfectly obeys the Father and uses His authority to cast out demons
  • The Holy Spirit, in ways the Bible doesn’t explain, removes the demon from a person

Now compare this to when Paul casts out demons:

And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour. (Acts 16:18)

Paul does something similar to what Jesus did in casting out a demon. The key difference is that Jesus did it as a function of the Trinity, yet under His own Father-given authority. Paul, on the other hand, casts them out in the name of Jesus Christ, not under his own authority or power. Jesus’s power and authority are inherent to Himself as He sends the Spirit to do the Father’s will, while the Spirit empowers Paul to function under Christ’s authority.

Peter says similarly, denying that he has any inherent power (something Jesus never does):

And when Peter saw it he addressed the people: “Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we have made him walk? (Acts 3:12)

It may seem like a minor detail, but it’s actually crucial to understanding what is so twisted about Bethel’s interpretation. If Jesus simply acted as a man, then the three persons of the Trinity don’t function together in miracles. It claims that the Father bypasses the Son and moves straight to sending the Holy Spirit to apply the work being done, meaning the Son is absent from the work of God. Instead, if God’s work is done as the Trinity, then we have no way to claim that Jesus did things the same way we must, and we should instead be in awe of the glory of God.

Jesus didn’t act by the Spirit instead of divine power. He acted by the Spirit as part of His perfect harmony with the other two Persons of the Trinity. Jesus lived and acted as a perfect man, yes, but never instead of acting as God.

Bringing it together

Jesus’s anointing wasn’t to compensate for an inherent weakness in His human nature, but rather to reveal who He was as the “anointed one.” Jesus worked by the Spirit, but that’s not much different from how Jesus still sends the Spirit to accomplish the Father’s will today. The work of the Trinity is a mystery, but we can see a pattern of harmony through the Bible: the Father declares, the Son accomplishes, and the Spirit applies. Jesus, with a complete and distinct human nature, never acted as a human separated from God.

Bethel teaches that Jesus’s anointing was exactly the same as what we experience as those who are inherently weak and lacking the ability to obey God’s will and participate in His plan. They elevate man by diminishing who Christ is and what He did on the earth as the God-man who acted on the authority He received from the Father. They take His authoritative miracles and blur the line between what He did as God and what His disciples have done. The end result of Bethel’s theology is that Christ doesn’t need to be worshipped as God, but admired as the perfect example of what we can all become.

Misses what we really do through the Spirit

I’ve shown the fatal flaws in Bethel’s theology, but it doesn’t help readers to know the false without highlighting what the Bible says is true. So what role does the Holy Spirit play in our lives? If He’s an active part of our lives, what things are possible through Him that wouldn’t otherwise be achievable?

I’ll briefly list them below, but note that it focuses on things we do through the Holy Spirit, saying nothing about topics like regeneration or sealing. Those are foundational and necessary for what we’ll discuss, but the Spirit accomplishes those apart from us. Instead, I’ll focus more on His role as Helper (John 15:26).

Know God’s will 

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)

Knowing God’s will isn’t grounded in feelings, impressions, dreams, a voice in our mind, or any other supernatural thing others claim. Romans 12:2 makes it very plain that knowing God’s will is about having a mind transformed by the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:5-6). As He teaches us, grows us, and helps us submit to God’s word, we’ll know God’s will because we’ll know God. 

Nowhere in the Bible are we told we’ll know God’s specific will regarding things like which job to take or who to marry. Instead, knowing His will means that, by having our minds molded by Him instead of the world, we’ll be able to make wise choices that seek to glorify Him (James 1:5). Read the verse again: a transformed mind, not a gift of prophecy nor a warm fuzzy feeling, is how we know God’s will.

Understand truth

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. (John 16:13)

these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10)

Understanding the Bible is more than just an intellectual exercise. Any unbeliever can memorize facts, recite doctrines, or quote verses. It’s only through the Holy Spirit that we understand what the Bible means to God’s people. It’s the Holy Spirit who makes the Bible a living and life-changing document, instead of just words on a page. The principle Christ gave to His disciples is true today; the same Spirit who inspired the words we read in the Bible is the same one who makes them alive to readers today. He’s the one who stirs our desire to live out what we read in the Bible or hear from the pulpit. From the day of salvation until the day we leave this world, it’s the Spirit who brings God’s word to life and changes us with it.

Discern truth from error

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (1 John 4:1-3)

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)

God may gift some people to more clearly identify or explain truth and error for the sake of the other believers, but we’re all called to practice discernment. But how do we weigh whether something is true? It’s not by special revelation (“God spoke to me”), intuition, or proof-texting a single verse. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit who makes God’s truth plain to us, sharping our minds through Scripture and maturing our judgment over time. Not only that, but we discern truth from error together, working to grow in our understanding of truth so we can not only protect ourselves, but lovingly warn those around us who may not recognize a particular danger (Hebrews 5:12–14, Acts 17:11, Galatians 6:1).

Speak biblically

When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. (Matthew 10:19-20)

Many believers have seen this play out in their lives. When talking to a hurting friend or defending their faith against a coworker, we’re able to say things that seem far wiser than we know we are. When we’re surrendered to God, He somehow uses the Holy Spirit to give us the words we need to glorify God. This is why we ask God for wisdom when we speak instead of simply relying on our own cleverness or oratory skills.

As always, caution is critical. This doesn’t promote spontaneous prophecy or revelation. In no way should we ever claim “God told me _____.” We want to ground our understanding of Christ’s words with how the Spirit works, which primarily involves maturing us and molding our minds and speech around biblical truths. Speaking biblically means being biblically formed, and sometimes the Spirit seems to bring things to mind in the midst of that. Jesus doesn’t mean we speak on behalf of God.

Kill sin in our lives

For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. (Romans 8:13)

A common question is: Does God kill sin in our lives, or do we? And the cliched, but still correct, answer is “yes.” We are called to actively live for God through the power of the Spirit. We cannot stop sinning under our own power, but at the same time God doesn’t call us to sit idly until the Spirit fixes everything. We are “led” by the Spirit in this work, but it’s still work that we can either obediently participate in or disobediently resist.

Live confident in our salvation

For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:14-16)

We aren’t meant to “feel” saved, as though our position before God depends on our emotional state. Instead, we can live confident in our salvation because the Holy Spirit allows us to. In the passage above, we even see a practical outworking of this confidence is that the Holy Spirit leads us to the live believers lifemeant to live instead of falling back into sin or law-keeping.

Grow in holiness

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:16-24)

We have two choices in life: walking in the flesh or walking in the Spirit. If we hate the works of the flesh, the only solution is to walk in the Spirit. Likewise, if we are walking in the flesh, it’s an opportunity to repent and identify the areas where we aren’t walking in the Spirit. But the main point is this: we do this by the Spirit. Our lives are meant to be marked with the character of Jesus (see verses 22-23). This is what true, Spirit-powered living looks like.

Boldly proclaim the truth

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. (Acts 4:31)

If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. (1 Peter 4:14)

In the face of fear or hostility, how do we stand for the gospel? How do we endure suffering? It’s through the power of the Holy Spirit as He sustains us. He is the one who gives us what we need to proclaim the truth, regardless of the cost. This boldness lets us follow after Christ’s character as faithful witnesses to His truth.

Pray

Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. 27 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. (Romans 8:26-27)

praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. (Ephesians 6:18a)

We pray, but imperfectly. We often approach God like the worldly-minded, praying for the wrong things or with wrong motivations (James 4:2b-4). We pray narrowly, asking God to act in a specific way (“give me this job,” “bring me a spouse”) instead of praying according to God’s will. The Holy Spirit mysteriously participates in our prayers, and in our weaknesses or ignorance, He talks to the Father for us, likely praying as we ought to pray, even as He continues to do His work in teaching us to think well so we can pray rightly.

Remember who Jesus is, and what He’s taught so that we can live for Him

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. (John 14:26)

For the apostles, this promise meant the Spirit would ensure faithful transmission of Christ’s words and teachings. For us today, the Holy Spirit illuminates those same writings so that we can know and trust who Jesus is. He sets that truth in our mind so that we can live “according to the Spirit,” no longer desiring to live like the world. 

Summarizing it all

That’s a lot, and it’s not even all we could discuss. The Christian life is rich, complex, and saturated with ways the Holy Spirit works in and through us to live a life surrendered to Christ. But you’ll notice a consistent theme throughout Scripture: living by the Spirit means knowing and practicing truth.

Doing things “through the Spirit” doesn’t mean becoming powerful like Christ, but rather living faithfully to Him.

It’s yet another symptom of being dissatisfied with the true Christian life

As you’ve been reading my breakdown of Bethel and the kenosis, you may notice a theme in how Bethel’s interpretation differs from what God’s word reveals. Time and again, Bethel goes for a dynamic, exciting, man-focused understanding of the text. Their reading leaves us feeling empowered, filled with wonder, and excited to experience what they claim God promises. 

Meanwhile, as we slowly examine Scripture in its context, I understand if some different words popped into your mind:

  • Dull
  • Tame
  • Boring
  • Unexciting
  • Mundane
  • Normal

I wouldn’t be surprised if some readers are upset because I make the Christian life sound so… average. And by the world’s standards, the Christian life is painfully boring. Because the Christian life is one of repentance, obedience, faithfulness, endurance, and slowly growing in holiness.

But if that’s what the Bible really reveals about the Christian life, why are Bethel and similar churches so popular? Why do people respond to messages of self-empowerment instead of what Galatians 2:20 tells us about not living for ourselves? Why do millions flock to teachings about personal fulfilment instead of the humility, self-denial, and others-focus of Philippians 2:3-4? How could so many people be drawn to Bethel’s teaching about living an exciting, dynamic, supernatural life if it’s all nonsense?

The reasons are many, but the explanation is simple.

People love being adjacent to the Bible without allowing God to violate what they want most. They want to be close enough to Christianity without experiencing discomfort. They want to call Jesus “Lord” while remaining masters of their own lives.

For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. (2 Timothy 2:3-4) 

We often think of people with “itching ears” as those drawn to a gospel where God loves and accepts everyone without repentance. We think we’re very wise to guard ourselves against liberal theology. But God doesn’t warn us about one kind of false teacher, nor should we always expect false teachers to be easy to spot. We’re warned that they are, in fact, masters at blending in with God’s people.

But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. 3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. (2 Peter 2:1-3)

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. 14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 15 So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)

For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. (Jude 1:4)

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. (Matthew 7:15)

False teachers don’t parade around with neon signs announcing their deceptiveness. We should never assume we can recognize them on gut instinct alone. If this series has proven nothing else, it’s that we must think slowly and carefully about what people teach. So often, false teachers are so close to the truth that it’s challenging to distinguish their imitation gospel from the real thing. 

Thus, despite how harsh and direct this series is, I don’t fault believers for struggling to recognize Bethel’s false teaching. It’s easy to sit for years under these teachings and feel like you’re growing. They’ve created an entire culture that keeps affirming your experiences while encouraging you not to ask questions by claiming that doubters have an “antichrist spirit” (which I’ll address in a future section).

For Christians, what matters now is what they do with this information. When someone who has been truly saved by Christ realizes they’re under a false teacher, it’s time to make a choice. They can continue believing something familiar or exciting, even if it requires ignoring the clear teachings of Scripture. Or they can praise God for letting them see the truth so they can start following Christ. They can leave false teachers and join themselves to a local body of believers led by a pastor who follows after the Good Shepherd. 

When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. 5 A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers. (John 10:4-5)

The teachings of Bethel Church and leaders like Bill Johnson are attractive to those who are spiritually enthusiastic, struggling with purpose, morally conservative, and believe they relate to God through personal experiences and heightened emotional moments. So much of Bethel’s theology is geared toward the individual because it’s a religion built for an individualistic society, emphasizing personal revelation, personal anointing, personal purpose, and personal power. It’s one that promises health, wealth, excitement, happiness, and a feeling of belonging amongst those seeking those same experiences and desires. 

Not everyone who follows Bethel is a false convert. However, any true believer under the sway of men like Bill Johnson are saved despite their false teachings. But even those true believers under this false teaching are likely there for a simple reason: they’ve been taught to be dissatisfied with the ordinary life of faithfulness that God calls us to. 

They want the life of Paul in the book of Acts who brought the dead back to life, not the Paul in Philippians 2:27 who couldn’t even heal his traveling companion from a debilitating health condition. They’re fascinated by Peter’s healing shadow, not his reminder to endure suffering with patience and hope. They’re drawn to Bethel’s manipulative teachings about signs and wonders and become poisoned against what God actually calls them to in life.

But God never promised us an exciting life. He gave us the Holy Spirit so that we can live faithfully. A life lived in submission to the Spirit is one of humility, perseverance, prayer, and obedience in all areas of life. It desires holiness, not happiness, excitement, or emotional encounters.

Bethel has to change the very nature of who Christ is, and compromise so much of God’s word, to make their theology work. God and His word must submit to Bethel’s teachings, not the other way around. They bear all the marks of false teachers who, like the false shepherds in Jeremiah 23, have “perverted the words of the Lord.”

If Bill Johnson is a false teacher, and if Bethel is a false church, then God’s people can have no part in it. It doesn’t matter how clever the words are, how exciting their stories or promises feel, or how their music moves us. God’s people participate in Bethel for many reasons, but none of them change the truth. If they teach a gospel other than the one taught in Scripture, if they deserve the label “false teacher,” then God’s word is clear about what we do next:

As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:9)

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