The image of the crucified Christ is central to traditional Christian thinking. It lies at the heart of the doctrine that Jesus saved humanity from sin by his supreme sacrifice. In the Christian Bible, the story of Jesus reaches its climax with his crucifixion and resurrection. So deeply embedded is this idea, that the Cross has become the symbol of Christianity.
Yet this narrative about Jesus’ mission has been questioned from the earliest days. Several groups within the Christian movement, known by the umbrella term of "Gnostics", maintained that Jesus had simply come to bring enlightenment – gnosis, spiritual knowledge of God. In the Gospel of Truth, one of many gospels that did not make it into the official Christian Bible, it explains Jesus’ mission:
“Through him he enlightened those who were in darkness because of forgetfulness. He enlightened them and gave them a path. And that path is the truth which he taught them. He appeared, informing them of the Father, the illimitable one. He inspired them with that which is in the mind, while doing his will. Many received the light and turned towards him... He gave them thought and understanding and mercy and salvation and the Spirit of strength derived from the limitlessness of the Father and sweetness.”
As for his crucifixion, some Gnostic groups doubted it really happened at all and it certainly had nothing to do with our salvation. For them, Jesus came to save us from ignorance, not sin.
What became the “official” view that Jesus’ died to save us from our sins, seems to have its origins in the contemporary reaction to his unexpected and ignominious death. Many of his followers believed he was the Messiah, a figure from Jewish theology, someone sent by God to free Israel from Roman rule and return it to its Golden Age (the word Christ comes from the Greek translation of Messiah). So naturally they expected a triumphant, all-conquering being. The shock of his arrest, trial and horrific crucifixion bewildered his followers. This was not supposed to happen. After a time, an explanation emerged that far from it all going horribly wrong, this was all part of a Divine plan, an atonement for humanity’s sins. They believed his resurrection showed Jesus’ triumph over his suffering and death.
As the Church authorities sought to impose this doctrine, the persecution of the “heretical” views of the Gnostics began and their writings were ordered to be burnt. And yet these ideas persisted. At the 2nd Church Council at Nicaea, 750 years after Christ’s supposed crucifixion, the authorities found it necessary to again condemn these writings. The great spiritual movement of the Middle Ages, the Bogomils and Cathars, which swept much of southern Europe, maintained these Gnostic beliefs. Jesus came to show the way humanity could regain ‘Paradise Lost’ and it was not through his crucifixion, but his teaching.
Jesus’ Mission
What then, was Jesus’ mission? My own insight came in a powerful dream, seeing him bring a great spiritual light for all humanity. As I explain in The Community of Christ:
“If his ministry has a central point, it is the Sermon on the Mount. For there he was as the morning sun. His very being was filled with such a light that it radiated across the world: subtly, invisibly, yet with unimaginable power...He was literally, the Light of the World – a light that could not be extinguished through any outward “death”. He raised the vibrations of the entire planet through his presence here on earth and he did it while he was alive. As for dying for our sins, we are as responsible now for our own behaviour as we ever were. Those who somehow believe they can escape the consequences of their actions because they believe in Christ as their saviour, are in for a rude shock when they get to the other side.”
We do not have to accept all the layers of theological wrapping paper in which Jesus is presented to us by traditional Christianity. We are all free to seek the truth of Jesus’ mission for ourselves.
By Simenon Honoré
The views expressed in this article are not necessarily those of Spirit of the Rainbow as a whole.
If you want to further explore Jesus and his mission, you can read The Community of Christ.
Or watch the video series, Exploring Jesus Ourselves.
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