We cannot have an authentic witness to the world without having an authentic apologetic of Christianity. Hence, the use of reasonable apologetics and biblical distinctives cannot be sacrificed at the altar of political correctness and cultural contextualization.
Paul Copan
If you have been following this blog, you will know that I've written several articles on Gnostic influence in the North American Church! I am shocked at the amount of theology I have had to relearn as I've studied this topic. These Gnostic influences have infiltrated the church so deeply because they often sound really spiritual.
Today, we will cover Cruciform Theology - another form of false teaching with Gnostic roots that has taken hold in many progressive churches. This one is perhaps the most deceptive in that it maintains a culturally sanitized image of Jesus Christ to use for the interpretation of all other scripture.
Let's be honest, it is not surprising in an era of gaslighting and deception that we would also see deceptive theology creep into the Church. Many Christians in North America are getting their historical and philosophical understanding of Christianity from Hollywood (think movies like "The DaVinci Code"), TikTok, and YouTube. There is also a great deal of "bad information" available from celebrity Big Eva teachers; that is, the increasingly progressive, naturalist evangelical leaders in North America. As Christians… there has never been a time where it is more important to "test all things and hold fast to what is true".
What is Cruciform Theology?
Cruciform theology is the belief that the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is the definitive revelation of God's character, emphasizing a theology shaped by the cross.
Immediately, all believers would say, "Hey, that's a good thing!"; and I agree! Let's keep going…
Cruciform theology says that the cross is not just an event but the ultimate expression of God's nature. This perspective sees God as fundamentally self-sacrificial, loving, and non-violent, traits most vividly displayed through Jesus's crucifixion. This theology argues that the cross redefines power, beauty, and wisdom, showcasing a God who goes to the extreme of becoming sin and curse to reconcile humanity.
Okay, this all sounds great so far… but do you notice something missing from this? Nothing is said of God's justice or his holiness. What the Cruciform belief does is it remakes Christ into a "marketable" form that is achieved through selective readings of the New Testament, into a new "kinder, gentler" image culture is comfortable with. It is a naturalist viewpoint!
This approach deeply impacts how one reads the Bible, particularly the Old Testament, suggesting that any depiction of God that doesn't align with the cruciform character of God (self-giving, love, enemy-embracing) should be seen as God accommodating to human understanding or reflecting how humans perceive Him rather than His true nature. This hermeneutic seeks to reconcile what might appear as contradictions or violent acts attributed to God with the loving God revealed on the cross.
This same approach is used by other naturalist teachers when describing Genesis 1-11 - when their understanding of science opposes the scriptures… their understanding wins, and scripture is sidelined.
Those who embrace Cruciform beliefs would say that those portions of scripture where a violent act occurred are not, in fact, inspired but rather stories of men taking a wrong view of God. They would say: "God surely didn't say that!".
There is a ton of difficult scripture… I get it. I understand the discomfort with some Old and even New Testament passages. That said, I've learned, and am also learning, to be comfortable with the uncomfortable. I'm learning to study and sift through the whole Bible as well as working to grasp the historical context that readers would have understood (this is called hermeneutics).
Cruciform Theology is lazy biblical study that diminishes the scriptures to nothing more than any other ancient text. It views scripture as a book that was written by a bunch of flawed people who obviously didn't understand God as well as we do today.
It's not the first time that false teaching of this nature tried to take root in the Church. Around 144 AD, a teacher named "Marcion of Sinope" appeared. Like the Gnostic beliefs that had already arrived on the scene, Marcion felt uncomfortable with the God of the Old Testament; but rather than grapple with those beliefs, he chose to also remake God into an image he was comfortable with.
Marcion taught that there were two gods: the wrathful, vengeful God of the Old Testament, whom he identified as the Demiurge, and the higher, benevolent God of the New Testament, who was the Father of Jesus Christ. This dualistic theology separated the Christian God of love from the Jewish God of the Law.
Like modern-day Cruciform teachers, he more or less rejected the Old Testament almost entirely, if not entirely, and also rejected many parts of the New Testament that did not align with his view of God as a benevolent, forgiving, kind god who would never issue justice.
Marcion saw Jesus as a savior sent by the "higher" God to reveal the truth about salvation and to rescue humanity from the Demiurge's world. He emphasized a belief that Jesus only appeared to have a physical body and did not actually suffer or die. While we know that modern Christians who hold a Cruciform view do not hold such a position… they are alike in remaking their scriptural views in the image of the God of their imagination.
In Marcion's teaching, salvation was through faith in Jesus and rejection of the material world and the law of the Demiurge (Old Testament). This faith was not about ethical living but a spiritual enlightenment that recognized the true God as portrayed by Jesus.
It is interesting how many Christians see Christ as exclusively kind, patient, and forgiving while ignoring or even discounting his passion for Truth and Justice. Jesus never taught us to discount the Old Testament or to write off the difficult passages as uninspired… on the contrary - he confirmed them.
Further to this, Paul Copan says in his book "Is God a Vindictive Bully?":
"Jesus himself was involved in severe judgments and "violence" against the wicked. We've seen that Jesus rejected personal retaliation but nevertheless resisted evil persons and actions. Outside his Sermon, Jesus himself forcefully resisted evildoers: (a) he made a whip, overturned tables, and drove out money changers from the temple, and "He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple" (Mark 11:16); (b) he, "Jesus"—yes, that's in our best Greek New Testament manuscripts—not only "[saved] a people out of the land of Egypt" but also "afterward destroyed those who did not believe" (Jude 5); (c) he forcefully confronted Saul, the persecutor of Christians, striking him blind as he was thrown from his horse (Acts 9:3–9); (d) he ("the hand of the Lord") struck Elymas blind (Acts 13:11); (e) he threatened to "strike… dead" (apoktenō en thanatō) Jezebel's followers after promising to cast the false prophetess on a sickbed (Rev. 2:20–23 NIV)."
Is Jesus then a bully? Nothing could be further from the truth, for we know the selfless act of sacrifice he made. We know his teachings… instead, we would be wise to remind ourselves that the Lord our God is one God and that his attributes of justice, holiness, and zeal for righteousness are the same in both the New and Old Testaments.
Did you know that God's love for mankind is mentioned more often in the Old Testament than in the New Testament? These are things we miss when we take shortcuts on theology! There most certainly are difficult passages which require additional study and perhaps some discomfort as we discern what the excerpt is saying. In a recent article about Bible inerrancy, I talked about how we should read the Bible as a whole - not trying to place our own filters on it or trying to make specific verses standalone theological stances. As the most hyperlinked book in history; the Bible will confirm itself in terms of theology.
For more study on this, see the link below. I also suggest purchasing Paul Copan's book entitled "Is God a Vindictive Bully?"
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