Sermon Tone Analysis

Word of Faith teaching about the Atonement.

Explanation: Many WoF leaders teach that Adam had a nature like God’s until sin entered the world.

At the point of sin, Adam and Eve’s nature took on the nature of Satan, not just a corrupted human nature.

Following this line of reasoning, Jesus also had to take on the nature of Satan in order to make a suitable payment for humanity.

Therefore, many WoF leaders teach that Jesus “experientially” took on the nature of sin and became demonic like Satan.

The reference used is which declares, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”

This verse does display the exchange that took place on the Cross.

Jesus, the sinless Son of God assumed our sin debt on the Cross as payment to a righteous and holy God with a settled disposition of wrath against sin.

The verse does not mean that Jesus took on the nature of sin itself.

If Jesus had even one sin on His own personal, experiential account, He would not have been able to make a suitable and sufficient payment.

Continuing the WoF train of reasoning: Since Jesus had a sin nature, He had to descend to Hell where he was tortured by demons for 3 days.

At the end of that period, God reached down and Jesus was the first person to be “reborn” in Hell.

After Jesus resumed His Deity, He busted out of Hell and ascended to Heaven to be with the Father.

Example: video or audio clip of Joyce Meyer / Kenneth Copeland

Argument: This is a heretical teaching that is not only wrong, but dangerously wrong.

This heresy has the 2nd person of the Trinity losing His divine nature for a period of time and then having to be “reborn” in Hell to regain it.

This teaching is in direct contradiction to which declares that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

The WoF leaders reach this erroneous conclusion by misreading which describes Jesus as “the beginning, the first born from the dead” In the KJV the term is begotten.

The WoF misinterpret this term.

It means “unique, one of a kind” and they teach that it literally means Jesus was the first person to become “reborn.”

They also misunderstand the nature of exchange in .

Believers receive the imputed righteousness of Jesus.

He places His righteousness on our account, while removing our sin debt and placing it on His account.

This is a real transaction which results in positional justification for us.

It does not mean that Jesus experienced our sin in a way that gave Him a sin nature that needed to be paid for like ours.

This heresy also ignores the truth of which states that “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” Jesus suffered for sins on the Cross, and since He suffered there, it would not be possible for Him to suffer again in Hell.

Did Jesus descend to Hell?

There are some evangelicals who teach that Jesus did descend to Hell at some point during the three days between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection.

This understanding is mainly derived from two passages in the NT: and

“Therefore it says, ‘When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.’

(In saying, ‘He ascended,’ what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower regions, the earth?” [Ephesians 4:8-9]

1 Peter 3:

The passage in Ephesians is most likely referring to the Incarnation (descent) and His Glorification (Ascent).

When Jesus ascended, He did gift all believers with the presence of the Holy Spirit, along with His associated gits.

The passage in 1 Peter is more difficult, and decidedly hard to comprehend.

In all the NT, 1 Peter 3:18–22 is considered one of the most difficult and enigmatic passages to interpret.

The Apostles Creed is also a source of teaching that Jesus descended to Hell, as it explicitly states this position.

It is important to remember the Creed is not the Bible, and that it was not formalized until the latter part of the 4th century.

Given these factors, I believe the Bible does not teach that Jesus descended into the realm of Hell in any fashion.

There is room to hold to this minority view, and some conservative evangelicals believe this.

Where the teaching departs from orthodoxy and strays into heresy is when it is taught that Jesus suffered in Hell for us and had to be reborn to regain his divinity.

There is absolutely no biblical support for this position