Shincheonji has a different Jesus from mainstream Christianity. They do not believe that Jesus is God; however, they are willing to lie to potential new recruits about this belief and claim that they do believe that He is God.
View of Jesus
Shincheonji denies the Trinity, denies the Deity of Jesus, denies Christ’s pre-existence and that he was only an “idea”, or the fulfillment and manifestation of God’s salvation plan, and denies Christ’s bodily resurrection in the sense that when he returned to the Father and was covered by a cloud in Acts 1:9-11, he became a Spirit body, and denies His future glorious Second Coming.
Deity of Christ
Shincheonji does not believe that Jesus shares the same “essence” as the Father in the same way a Christian does. Meaning, Jesus does not have the exclusive attributes of God, like being omnipresent, omnipotent, and whatever makes God, God. Instead, they view Jesus as the exact “imprint” or “image” of God, as shown in Colossians 1:15. The way SCJ interprets that verse is that Jesus is the perfect “agent”, or “prophet”, or “character” of God in human flesh, but he himself is not God, but instead is a creature who is fulfilling the Old Testament.
A Shincheonji member will claim that they believe that Jesus is divine, but not in the same way as a Christian. Instead, they believe that Jesus is divine since he was born of the Holy Spirit, that He is the unique begotten Son of God whose blood is needed for the atonement of our sins. He is also an exalted creature whose worthy of worship, as the Father exalted Jesus as seen in Hebrews 1.
Pre-existence of Christ
Shincheonji denies the pre-existence of Christ. When confronted with verses like John 1:1-14 for example, they would make an Unitarian argument, claiming that God’s Word, the salvation plan, is manifested by Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Promise of God, but Jesus is not God himself.
In Shincheonji terms, Jesus is the prophecy and fulfillment of God’s ultimate salvation plan, where in the beginning God had a salvation plan to conquer death, as seen in Genesis 3:15, and that Jesus is the manifestation of the salvation plan in flesh (John 1:14).
Bodily Resurrection
Shincheonji believes that Jesus resurrected physically at first, but, when he returned to the Father, he returned in a Spirit body. When Jesus’s body was hidden by a cloud in Acts 1:9-11, Shincheonji then makes the assumption that when this event occurred, Jesus’s body became a spiritual body.
They cite the fact that God is in Spirit, John 4:24, and how flesh cannot enter the Kingdom of God (1 Corinthians 15:50). They would also cite 1 Peter 3:18-20, claiming that Jesus is now preaching to the spirits in prison to give those who never had the chance to hear the “open and revealed word” the possibility to repent.
Virgin Birth
Shincheonji does believe in the virgin birth, because then he was not corrupted with the seed of man, resulting in having a sin nature through the original sin of Adam. They also believe that Jesus needed to fulfill all of the Old Testament prophecies, including the virgin birth as referenced in Isaiah 7:14.
Spiritual Marriage
Shincheonji believes that the Father “spiritually married” the son. What this means is that the Father indwelled within the body of Jesus, and they became “one” in terms of united in purpose and will. However, when citing that verse of John 10:30, Shincheonji does not believe that the Father and Jesus are “one” in nature; Jesus is still a human, while the Father is God and in Spirit.
They believe that Jesus is the perfect “image” of God, similar to how mankind is born of the image of God (Genesis 1:26), but is still a human being and a creature.
Jesus, the “Promised Pastor of the Old Testament”
Shincheonji believes that Jesus is the “Promised Pastor of the Old Testament”. Meaning, that he is a “vessel” or basically a prophet who speaks on behalf of God. Jesus not only fulfilled all of the Old Testament prophecies, he also overcame the world (John 16:33), and established Spiritual Israel through the 12 Disciples, similar how Jacob overcame and started physical Israel in the Old Testament (Genesis 32:28).
However, shortly after His ascension and the death of the Apostles, the Christian church fell into spiritual darkness, and now has sent another “Promised Pastor” on his behalf, Lee Manhee, to restore the truth through a “new spiritual Israel”, and established the 12 tribes to fulfill the book of Revelation.