In our study of some 40 Baha’i books and periodicals, we discovered a significant number of denials of the Gospel teachings and the person and work of Jesus Christ. Yet Udo Schaefer claims, "One thing, however, must be stressed. The attitude of the Baha’i towards Christianity is clear: he acknowledges its divine origin and believes in the Word of God as testified by the Gospels."²  It is odd, then, that the Baha’i believer entirely leaves out the Gospels in his "independent investigation of truth." For if the Gospels are uncorrupted, and this is historic fact, then Jesus taught that He and His words were eternally authoritative and that He alone, the Person of Jesus, was the only way to God (Matt. 24:35; Jn. 14:6). "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels" (Lk. 9:26).

Despite this comprehensive denial of Jesus Christ, we are told that "a person cannot be a Baha’i unless he believes in Jesus Christ"! Obviously, then, Baha’is believe in "another Jesus" (2 Cor. 11:4 NAS), and not the biblical Jesus.

Baha’u’llah was "a fuller and more glorious Revelation" of God than Jesus Christ despite Scripture telling us that Jesus Christ is the radiance of His [God’s] glory [cf. Col. 1:15; 2:2-3] and the exact representation [Gk. charakter] of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power (Heb. 1:3). Anyone who reads the Gospels will see at once that a fuller revelation of God than in Jesus is not possible.

For example, Isaiah 53 is applied to the Persian Baha’u’llah⁸ despite the fact that the prophecy refers to the Hebrew Messiah (and also to the Jewish nation’s rejection of the Messiah). How can Isaiah 40-55 possibly predict Baha’u’llah when so much of it (for example, chapter 53) was already fulfilled at the time of Christ, 1900 years before Baha’u’llah even existed? And why does Sears leave out Isaiah 53:6 and 12, which refer to the Messiah dying for our sins? Did Baha’u’llah claim to do this, or are those verses omitted because Jesus did?⁹

Because Baha’is seek to deal with biblical data concerning the Messiah, they should abide by the biblical data in its entirety. What does the Bible say about the Messiah? The Messiah was Jewish, and of course will be Jewish when He returns in His second Advent (see Isa. 11:1-2 NAS, out of "the stem of Jesse," King David’s father). Baha’u’llah was not Jewish, a descendent of King David, but Iranian. Very specific and dramatic signs are to accompany the Messiah’s return (see, for example, Matt. 24), none of which were present for Baha’u’llah’s arrival. The Messiah would not have human birth at His return (2 Thess. 1:7-10), but Baha’u’llah did. The Messiah would return directly from heaven to Jerusalem (Acts 1; Zech. 14), but Baha’u’llah did not. The Messiah would set up an immediate worldwide Kingdom (Zech. 14), which Baha’u’llah apparently forgot.

Baha’u’llah had no misgivings at all with usurping Christ’s glory for himself. He tells us, "I am the One Whom the tongue of Isaiah hath extolled…. Jesus, the spirit of God… hath once more, in My person, been made manifest unto you."¹¹  According to Dr. William Miller’s research, even ‘Abdu’l-Baha (at least for a time) claimed to be Christ, in spite of the fact that he was "a successor to Baha’u’llah only as head of the community of believers, not as a Manifestation of God."¹²  However, he eventually repudiated the claims, as they apparently caused him some embarrassment: "I am Abdul’ Baha and no more"; "I am not Christ, I am not Eternal God."¹³

But a Baha’i view of Christ is not what we get from reading the Bible. The importance of Jesus and His words cannot be underestimated. Those who claim to believe in Him should listen carefully to what he says:

Nevertheless, Jesus had absolute faith in a literal reading of the Old Testament (Matt. 19:4-5; Jn. 5:47; 17:17), which Baha’i denies, and He emphatically denied people’s ability to self-perfect or save themselves (Jn. 6:29, 47, 63), which Baha’i affirms. According to the Bible, Jesus Christ is not some special creature whom God chose to dimly manifest His unknown being. He is God Himself: "for in Christ all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form" (Col. 2:9). He is above all rule and authority:

One day every person will bow and worship Him:

Indeed, no greater wisdom can be found anywhere than in Jesus, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3). His relevance and reign was not for a temporal age, but forever:

For conservative, staunchly monotheistic Jews to say such things of a mere "man" is either utter blasphemy or absolute truth. Jesus’ Jewish disciples conceded the latter for the following reasons:

1. Christ claimed to be God and performed attesting miracles, the quantity and quality of which have never been duplicated throughout history (Jn. 5:18; 10:30-33; 19:7).

2. He resurrected Himself from the dead to prove His claims (Jn. 2:19; cf. Matt. 27-28; Mark 16; Lk. 24; Acts 2:24; Rom. 4:24).

3. The Jews could turn to their divinely inspired Old Testament and see that the Messiah was to be God (Isa. 9:6; Mic. 5:2; cf. Matt. 22:43-46) not a Baha’i-type manifestation, and that Jesus had fulfilled Old Testament messianic prophecy in detail (as we documented in The Case for Jesus the Messiah).

18 F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews, New International Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1973), p. 6)