For the true Christian the one supreme test for the present soundness and ultimate worth of everything religious must be the place our Lord occupies in it. Is He Lord or symbol? Is He in charge of the project or merely one of the crew? Does He decide things or only help carry out the plans of others? All religious activities may be proved by the answer to the question, is Jesus Christ Lord in this act?
There are a great many bogus Christs among us these days. John Owen, the old Puritan, warned people in his day: ‘You have an imaginary Christ and if you are satisfied with an imaginary Christ you must be satisfied with an imaginary salvation.’
There is only one Christ and the truly saved man has an attachment to Christ that is intellectual in that he knows who Christ is theologically. For you know there is the romantic Christ of the female novelist and there is the sentimental Christ of the half converted cowboy and there is the philosophical Christ of the academic egghead and there is the cozy Christ of the effeminate poet and there is the muscular Christ of the all-American halfback. But there is only one true Christ, and God has said that He is His Son.
We are under constant temptation these days to substitute another Christ for the Christ of the New Testament.—A.W. Tozer, Gems from Tozer
Also see these related Tozer posts:
Beyond the Symbols By A.W. Tozer
A.W. Tozer, Movies, and Knowledge Of The Holy
