Must we believe that
Jesus is God to be saved?
Answer;
This is a very difficult question
because the answer is both yes and no. I
don’t mean to be wishy-washy in that response. It just that the answer to this
question condemns some very good religious people to an infinite eternity of
burning in hell; and release some not so good people to be in the presence of
God for eternity.
The paradox of good and bad people should not come as a
surprise to the Christian, we know that we are saved not by works but by faith
so, therefore, where we put our faith
makes a whole lot of difference. Scripture clearly teaches that “without
faith it is impossible to please God.”
Hebrews 11:6 and
this truth is the foundation of all that we can know, it is not faith that
saves but in the right thing faith that saves!
It sadden me to see so many
devout religious Christian-ish sects and persons that pray and read their
bibles yet cannot see the clarity of the scripture concerning the deity of Jesus Christ in whom they should have
their faith. (See list
below) the clarity of His dual nature screams out so prominently that is it
almost deafening to one that believes. However this question is not about those
that believe Jesus is God, but to those that do not believe, more directly, the
question is can they not believe Jesus is God and be saved? In the opening paragraph, I answered both yes and no. I did
this because circumstance and situations dictates the truth of this question.
With that said let us look at those circumstances when the answer is yes.
When we consider the
circumstances when the answer is yes, the first thing we have to do is delve
into the possibility that someone can be saved with every knowing Jesus. All of
the Old Testament saints were saved without ever knowing Jesus. They put their
faith not in the person Jesus Christ but in the promise of a coming messiah of Genesis 3:15.
Looking forward to a messiah that would reconcile us back to the Father. So
that those that had put their faith in a coming messiah sinned on credit so to
speak. In that God had put their sin in forbearance until Jesus had come.
The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ
for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his
blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed
over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the
justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Romans 3:22-26 ESV
Then Jesus died for the sake of
the world, not just the elect as the reformed say. Rather the blood of Jesus
Christ is able to wash away the sins of the world, but to have the salvific
power of the blood of Christ applied to us we must reach for it. This is
because salvation requires us to come into a love relationship with our God. Since
love is a free act, it is impossible to force someone to love you, God has to
open the opportunity for the unregenerate (non-believer) to either
accept or reject the offer of love.
The Old Testament saints had the
law, which along with the prophets and
the gospel are called special revelation. The scripture teaches that special
revelation (the law, the prophets, and
the gospel) is perfect in converting the soul. (Psalm 19:7) so then those which did not accept
the special revelation denied God, or Jesus Christ (having no faith or not the
correct faith) and were not saved. Now that answers the question
about the saint of the Old Testament, but what about those that have never
heard of Jesus? What about those that lived and died before the preaching of
the gospel, or those who live in remote areas of the world where they never
heard of Christ, or even Yahweh, those in some far of jungle or desert where there was no knowledge of the God
of Abraham whatsoever? Does God regulate them to an infinite hell in eternity
because of where they were born? Or when they were born?
Genesis 18:25 says that God judgment is right and
just, that the wicked and the righteous will not be treated the same. This
statement comes on the heel of God’s conversation with Abraham as he pleads
with God for the life of his nephew Lot in the city of Sodom. As we know from
the story, God removes Lot and his family before =destroying the city so that
not even one righteous is punished with the wicked. So the scripture (special
revelation) give us an understanding of
God’s justice, he does not punish the righteous. But only the wicked. Now that
we understand that let's move on.
Romans 1:20-23 says “For his
invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have
been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the
things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or
give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their
foolish hearts were darkened. 22Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images
resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.
This passage carries with it a
whole lot of weight, in that it implies that through general revelation
everyone knows God, and how general revelation by itself is enough to know
God. So that they who have never heard
the Gospel, in particular, are without excuse.
99.9% of the time this is where
most people end this conversation, you are guilty of sin, and just because you
have never heard the gospel, or you were born at a time, or a place where the
gospel was not available, it your problem not God’s failure. Go to hell and get over it!
My only problem with this type of
thinking is;
1. It is
not in line with what the Bible tells us about God’s will.
(Matthew 18:16, and 2
Peter 3:9) both teach that it is not God desire (will) that any
should perish but that all should come to repentance. The whole Old Testament
is about the Jews failing and God renewing them again. They not only had second
changes but many chances and God never turned his back on them. In fact,
we see a God that chased after a failing nation time and time again even in
spite of their weakness. Yet today’s
exclusivist would have you believed that this same loving God just neglected a
world of people with whom the gospel never reached because of time or location
then condemns them for not accepting the Gospel of which they have never heard.
Let me repeat Genesis
18:25 again “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do (what is)
right?”
2. It
does not match up with the attribute of God.
Romans 5:8
shows us that the love of God is sacrificial, this is again expressed in John 3:16,
and I John 4:9-10.
So we have a God that desire that all will be save but only seeks the salvation
of a select few. This does not come into conflict with the attribute of God’s
love, as much as it is a problem with God being a respecter of persons.
Moreover,
the attribute of God’s love is unconditional, in that God does not say “if
you do this I will love you, or if you don’t do this I will love you”
rather God’s love affords even the most horrific murderer the opportunity to be
loved and saved through faith in Christ.
3. The
only people that advocate this absolute exclusivity of the Gospel are those
that have already heard the gospel
and believe they are saved through the accepting of the gospel. It seems to assert
a level of piety whereby they say “I’m better than you solely on the
grounds that they were predisposed to the
hearing of the gospel.”
Now we have something called
special revelation which is the Bible, Old and New Testament, the Bible teaches
that special revelation (the law, the prophets, and the gospel) is perfect in
converting the soul. (Psalm 19:7) This is not so of general revelation,
this is because the bible teaches that the gospel (the highest level of special
revelation is the power of God unto salvation (Romans 1:16) So then those that have herd the
gospel (special revelation) are without excuse, (atheist) that because they
know there is God (as reveled in the gospel) they do not honor Him as God or
give thanks to Him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish
hearts were darkened, claiming to be wise the bible says they are fools.
So then this denial of the
existence of God makes it impossible for those
that have heard the Gospel to be saved. Since they deny the existence of God
they, of course, deny the Jesus is God.
He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the
Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:15-16
What about those that claim that
they are believers, yet say that Jesus is not God? This is the crux of the
problem and the root of the initial question. So let's address those that deny
the Trinity. It is interesting to note that all of the major heretical
religious versions of Christianity agree on one thing: they all reject the
doctrine of the Trinity. And it think it is important to understand that this
rejection is like pivot foot in basketball, it determines if we are inline with
right understanding of the scripture or
not.Yet it is not the doctrine of the Trinity
as much as it is the person of Jesus Christ.
I’ve said this a million times how a person or group see Jesus Christ
determines there salvation.
Those that do not accept the
doctrine of the Trinty deny the deity of
Jesus Christ. For the Trinity says the Father is God, the Son is God and the
Holy Spirit is God. So denying any of the three
set you in alignment with those of Romans
1:20-24. But more specifically, the
scriptures say when we deny the Son we deny the Father, and when we confess the
son we have the Father
“Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the
one who confesses the Son has the Father also” 1
John 2:23
John 8:24 warns us that
unless we believe we will die in our sins
I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you
believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” John 8:24
Therefore
the scriptures are clear that Jesus is God, So then denying He is God will
result in death without forgiveness. This may sound like the mindset of the
exclusivist but this is much different in that it allows everyone especially
those that have special revelation to accept or deny. So then they are saved by
faith in Jesus Christ (believing He is God) Or they do not receive the salvific
power of the gospel because they deny God in the man Christ Jesus.
1.
Scripture teaches that he is God
a. John 1:1, 14
b.
Colossians
1:19 “For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell”
c.
Philippians 2:5-6 “You must have the
same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think
of equality with God as something to cling to”
d.
2 Peter 1:1 “ …by the righteous ness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ”
e.
2.
He is worshiped as God
a.
John 20:28 Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!”
b.
1 Peter 1:1 “… by the
righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ”
c.
Hebrews 1:6 “And let all the
angels of God worship Him”
d.
Matthew 14:33 “ And those who
were in the boat worshiped Him
e.
Matthew 28:9 “And behold,
Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up
and took hold of his feet and worshiped him.
f.
Matthew 2:1-2 “For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship
Him.”
g. And even
prayed to as God “Acts 7:59 “They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the
Lord and said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”
3.
He forgives Sin which is only ascribed to God
a.
Luke 5:20-21; “Man, your sins are forgiven you.”
b. Matthew
9:2 “And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the
paralytic, “Take heart, my son; your
sins are forgiven.”
c. Mark 2:5-7 “5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed
man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” 6 Now
some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves, 7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s
blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
4. Jesus
says He is God, makes Himself equal with God.
a.
John 10:30 “I and the Father are one.”
b.
John 5:23 “ so that all will honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He
who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him”
c.
John 10:30 “The Jews answered Him, “For a good work we do
not stone You, but for blasphemy; and because You, being a man, make
Yourself out to be God.”
d.
John 5:18 “For
this reason, therefore, the Jews were seeking all the more to kill
Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath
but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.”
e.
James 8:57-58 “So the Jews said to Him, “You are not yet fifty years old, and
have You seen Abraham?” Jesus said to
them, “Truly, truly, I say to
you, before Abraham was born, I am.”
f.
John 13:19 “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen
you will believe that I am He”
5.
God the Father calls
the Son God!
a. Hebrews 1:8 But of the Son he says, “Thy throne, O God, is
forever and ever,”
b. Psalm 45:6 “Thy throne, O God,
is forever and ever,”
6. He
possess the Attributes of God.
a. He
is Omnipotent
i. Philippians
3:20-21
b. He is Omniscience
i. Colossians
2:2-3
ii. John 13:18-19 “I
am telling you now before it happens, so
that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.
c. He is Omnipresence
i. Ephesians
1:22-23
7. Many
of the events ascribe to the Father, He applies to Himself
a. Matthew 23: 34,
37 (Sending the prophets)
b.
God the Father stated, “To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall
swear”
(Is
45:23). The same exact description is also applied to Jesus (Phil 2:10-11).
c.
The Bible teaches that “God” is judge (1 Sam 2:10; Ps
50:6; Ecc 12:14; many others). But so is Jesus (Jn 5:22, 27;
9:39; Acts 10:42; 2 Tim 4:1, 2 Corinthians 5:10).
8.
Tcharves "FireSepaks"