Many Christians today have an understanding of Christ that, according to Sinclair Ferguson, ‘is more informed by Santa Claus than Scripture.’ He speaks of the Santa Christ – and he is not nice but naughty.
Sinclair Ferguson identifies 3 ‘Santa Christs’.
1. The Pelagian Jesus. Pelagius taught that all people are naturally good. His Jesus then, like Santa, simply asks whether we have been good enough. So just as Christmas dinner is simply the better dinner we really deserve, Jesus becomes a kind of added bonus that makes a good life even better. He is not seen as the Saviour of helpless sinners.
2. The Semi-Pelagian Jesus. This view regards man as sick because of sin yet still capable of some good, especially with some help. This Jesus, Santa-like, gives gifts to those who have already done the best they could! You don’t have to be perfect, just pass in answering the soft question “Have you done your best this year?”
3. The Mystical Jesus. This one is getting very popular today. Like Santa he is important because of the good experiences we have when we think about him, irrespective of his historical reality. In fact it doesn’t really matter whether the story is true or not; the important thing is the spirit of Santa Christ. For that matter, while it would spoil things to tell the children this, everyone can make up his or her own Santa Christ. As long as we have the right spirit of Santa Christ, all is well.
But we get a very different picture don’t we when we turn to the Bible.
There we soon discover that Jesus did not come to add to our comforts. He did not come to help those who were already helping themselves or to fill life with more pleasant experiences. He came on a deliverance mission, to save sinners, and to do so He had to destroy the works of the Devil (Matt. 1:21; 1 John 3:8b).
He did not come merely to add something extra to life, but to deal with our spiritual insolvency and the debt of our sin. He was not conceived in the womb of Mary for those who have done their best, but for those who know that their best is “like filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6)—far from good enough—and that in their flesh there dwells no good thing (Rom. 7:18). He was not sent to be the source of good experiences, but to suffer the pangs of hell in order to be our Saviour.
– Based on an adapted excerpt from Sinclair Ferguson’s ‘In Christ Alone’