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Do you need to believe Jesus is God to be saved?

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Many claim that they are saved but do not believe that the Lord is God come in the flesh.

I have always been taught this in my life.

John 8:24 “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

The above verse plainly says that we need to believe that Christ is God in the flesh.

Those that do not believe this vers say that Christ did not mean "I am" to be Yahweh—the Lord.

What do others believe, is this doctrine needed for salvation or not?



am (1510)(eimi) Eimí is the usual verb of existence, meaning to be or to have existence. For example, in Jn 1:1 eimi is used 3 times all in the imperfect tense (Gk = "en") to describe the Word's (Jesus') continual existence, continual presence with His Father and continual existence as God.

Ego eimi - See also Jehovah - I Am and the Tetragrammaton. Jesus Himself used ego eimi to express His eternal self-existence (without beginning, without end) in Jn 8:58 = "“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” He was saying He was Yahweh (I Am the One Who Is). Jesus is clearly claiming that He is God! The Jehovah's Witness New World Translation (2013) translates Jn 8:58 incorrectly as "I have been" which Greek scholars say is absolutely incorrect! Compare other "I Am" statements by Jesus = Jn 4:26, 8:24, 28, 13:19, 18:5, 6 ["they drew back and fell to the ground!" = His Name "I Am" literally knocked an entire band of from 300-600 soldiers backward abruptly and hard onto the ground! His Name is indeed powerful!], Jn 18:8. see similar use in Ex 3:14 above). In Ge 17:1 God addresses Abram declaring "I am (ego eimi) God" (cp similar uses in Ge 26:24, 31:13, 46:3, Ex 3:6, 7:5, 8:18, 14:4, 18, 20:2, 29:46, etc). Note that there are about 174 uses of "ego eimi" in the Septuagint and 48 uses in the NT, but not all uses refer to God (e.g., Mt 14:27). There are 24 uses of ego eimi in John's Gospel and most do refer to the Messiah. E.g., in the first occurrence, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman "I Am" (ego eimi) (Jn 4:26) when she made a reference to the Messiah (Jn 4:25). In fact ego eimi introduces His great "I am" statements in John = "I am"..."the bread of life" (Jn 6:35, 41, 48, 51), "the Light of the world," (Jn 8:12), "the door" (Jn 10:7, 9), "the good shepherd" (Jn 10:11, 14), "the resurrection and the life," (Jn 11:25), "the Way and the Truth and the Life" (Jn 14:6); "the true Vine" (Jn 15:1, 5). At Paul's conversion on the Damascus Road Jesus told him "I am (ego eimi) Jesus Whom you are persecuting." (Acts 9:5). In the final use of ego eimi in Scripture Jesus affirms "I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." (Rev 22:16) -

It is notable that Jehovah had used "I Am" in the Old Testament in Isaiah 43:10 where He declared “that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He (ego eimi).’ In fact as shown above, ego eimi is used repeatedly in Isaiah 41-48, in passages that would have been very familiar to these Pharisees who prided themselves on their knowledge of the Old Testament. It is difficult to imagine that they did not understand that Jesus was clearly stating that He was the eternal God repeatedly described by their own prophet Isaiah!

Hendriksen on I am... - The meaning is: that I am all that I claim to be; the One sent by the Father, the One who is from above, the Son of man, the only-begotten Son of God, equal with God, the One Who has life in himself, the very essence of the scriptures, the bread of life, the light of the world, etc. The fact that rejection of the Son—failure to believe in him and to obey him—results in everlasting death is expressed not only here in Jn 8:24 but also in Jn 3:36 (see on that verse), which may be viewed as an explanation of Jn 8:24. (BORROW Exposition of the Gospel according to John - Chapters 7-21)

John MacArthur on I Am - Jesus was applying to Himself the tetragrammaton (YHWH, often transliterated as Yahweh)—the name of God that was so sacred that the Jews refused to pronounce it. Unlike many modern cult groups (such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses), the Jews of Jesus’ day understood perfectly that He was claiming to be God. In fact, they were so shocked by His use of that name, in reference to Himself (cf. vv. 28, 58), that they attempted to stone Him for blasphemy (v. 59). (ED: See also Jehovah - I Am and the Tetragrammaton).... To be a Christian one must believe the full biblical revelation about Jesus: that He is the eternal second person of the Trinity, that He entered space and time as God incarnate, that He was born of a virgin, that He lived a sinless life, that His death on the cross is the only sufficient, substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of all who would ever believe in Him, that He rose from the dead and ascended to the Father in heaven, that He now intercedes for His own redeemed people, and that He will one day return in glory. To reject those truths about Him is to “be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3), to worship “another Jesus” (v. 4), to be cursed by God (Gal. 1:8–9), and ultimately to hear the Lord say, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matt. 7:23).

Notice the Jews' question in (Jn 8:25, cp Jn 10:24 and His answer in Jn 10:30!) even though He clearly has just told them He is "I AM"! Jesus emphasized that the fatal, unforgivable, and eternal sin is failure to believe in Him as Messiah and Son of God. All other sins can be forgiven if this one is repented of.

I AM is the self-designation for God in many Scriptures .(Ex 3:14 Dt 32:39; Isa 41:4, 43:10, 11, 13, 25; 44:6 46:4; 48:12; etc.), to render Hebrew “I (AM) He.” Jesus' use of this phrase is clearly a claim to Deity as the reaction to His claim clearly demonstrates in (Jn 8:58,59). The incorrect rendering of the Jehovah's Witnesses in their NWT only serves to illustrate the difficulty of evading the meaning of the phrase and the context.

Preceptaustin.com
 

Do you need to believe Jesus is God to be saved?​

What do others believe, is this doctrine needed for salvation or not?
I believe one must believe Jesus is God to be saved. The fact that Jesus is God seems undeniable. A correlation between Jesus being God as a requirement for salvation is not as clear. John 8:24 and the surrounding verses allude to this fact, but it is convoluted.

John 20:31 and 1 John 5:13 are the verses I use to support the assertion that one must believe Jesus is God to be saved.

Aside: Rick Brown wrote a good piece on what one must believe to be saved and he disagrees.
https://www.ijfm.org/PDFs_IJFM/17_4_PDFs/02_Brown_Beliefs_hw.pdf
 
Jesus said this to the Jews who had the Old Testament.
I think all somebody has to know is that Jesus is the OT Messiah and that God used Him as a sacrifice for their sins. Otherwise, we are getting at salivation through knowledge rather than through faith.
 
To be a Christian one must believe the full biblical revelation about Jesus: that He is the eternal second person of the Trinity, that He entered space and time as God incarnate, that He was born of a virgin, that He lived a sinless life, that His death on the cross is the only sufficient, substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of all who would ever believe in Him, that He rose from the dead and ascended to the Father in heaven, that He now intercedes for His own redeemed people, and that He will one day return in glory.
I did not know all of this before I became a Christian . Did you ?
 
Otherwise, we are getting at salivation through knowledge rather than through faith.
But that is a contradiction. Faith is "the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another".
Faith is knowledge dependent upon hope which is "a particular event that one considers possible".
One must have knowledge of the thing hoped for. One cannot be saved without knowledge of Christ.

.... maybe just a matter of semantics ...

Herman Bavinck – Reformed Dogmatics: There is a danger in reducing the faith to quantitative measurement. Such an arithmetic of belief obscures the qualitative, gracious, person, organic relation to Christ. Faith is trust in the grace of God and not calculable. The content of faith is not reducible to an arithmetic addition of articles. All believers, in principle, share the same knowledge and trust in the grace of God to save.

So my definition of "saving faith" is: Faith consists more of certainty that “Christ is Lord (and therefore I obey), God and Savior” and not the “discernment of other facts”.
 
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But that is a contradiction. Faith is "the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another".
Faith is knowledge dependent upon hope which is "a particular event that one considers possible".
One must have knowledge of the thing hoped for. One cannot be saved without knowledge of Christ.

Why all the man made definitions that only confuse and divide us?

The scripture shows us what faith is. Faith is a noun.

Faith is something. Faith is substance; the substance of the the we are hoping for.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1

Faith comes from God.

We receive faith from God when He speaks to us.

We also receive grace from God which is the divine ability that enables us to do what we can not do without it.

Grace gives us the ability to do what we hear God say to us.

Grace is the divine ability or power to obey what we hear Him say; by which we receive faith.

Grace is something as well as Someone.

Grace is the Holy Spirit; the Spirit of Grace.

Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? Hebrews 10:28-29

Grace is the power of the Spirit that enables us to believe the Gospel.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. Romans 1:16


Grace, the Spirit of Grace enables us to believe and therefore obey the Gospel.





JLB
 
Many claim that they are saved but do not believe that the Lord is God come in the flesh.

I have always been taught this in my life.

John 8:24 “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

The above verse plainly says that we need to believe that Christ is God in the flesh.

Those that do not believe this vers say that Christ did not mean "I am" to be Yahweh—the Lord.

What do others believe, is this doctrine needed for salvation or not?



am (1510)(eimi) Eimí is the usual verb of existence, meaning to be or to have existence. For example, in Jn 1:1 eimi is used 3 times all in the imperfect tense (Gk = "en") to describe the Word's (Jesus') continual existence, continual presence with His Father and continual existence as God.

Ego eimi - See also Jehovah - I Am and the Tetragrammaton. Jesus Himself used ego eimi to express His eternal self-existence (without beginning, without end) in Jn 8:58 = "“Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.” He was saying He was Yahweh (I Am the One Who Is). Jesus is clearly claiming that He is God! The Jehovah's Witness New World Translation (2013) translates Jn 8:58 incorrectly as "I have been" which Greek scholars say is absolutely incorrect! Compare other "I Am" statements by Jesus = Jn 4:26, 8:24, 28, 13:19, 18:5, 6 ["they drew back and fell to the ground!" = His Name "I Am" literally knocked an entire band of from 300-600 soldiers backward abruptly and hard onto the ground! His Name is indeed powerful!], Jn 18:8. see similar use in Ex 3:14 above). In Ge 17:1 God addresses Abram declaring "I am (ego eimi) God" (cp similar uses in Ge 26:24, 31:13, 46:3, Ex 3:6, 7:5, 8:18, 14:4, 18, 20:2, 29:46, etc). Note that there are about 174 uses of "ego eimi" in the Septuagint and 48 uses in the NT, but not all uses refer to God (e.g., Mt 14:27). There are 24 uses of ego eimi in John's Gospel and most do refer to the Messiah. E.g., in the first occurrence, Jesus tells the Samaritan woman "I Am" (ego eimi) (Jn 4:26) when she made a reference to the Messiah (Jn 4:25). In fact ego eimi introduces His great "I am" statements in John = "I am"..."the bread of life" (Jn 6:35, 41, 48, 51), "the Light of the world," (Jn 8:12), "the door" (Jn 10:7, 9), "the good shepherd" (Jn 10:11, 14), "the resurrection and the life," (Jn 11:25), "the Way and the Truth and the Life" (Jn 14:6); "the true Vine" (Jn 15:1, 5). At Paul's conversion on the Damascus Road Jesus told him "I am (ego eimi) Jesus Whom you are persecuting." (Acts 9:5). In the final use of ego eimi in Scripture Jesus affirms "I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star." (Rev 22:16) -

It is notable that Jehovah had used "I Am" in the Old Testament in Isaiah 43:10 where He declared “that you may know and believe me and understand that I am He (ego eimi).’ In fact as shown above, ego eimi is used repeatedly in Isaiah 41-48, in passages that would have been very familiar to these Pharisees who prided themselves on their knowledge of the Old Testament. It is difficult to imagine that they did not understand that Jesus was clearly stating that He was the eternal God repeatedly described by their own prophet Isaiah!

Hendriksen on I am... - The meaning is: that I am all that I claim to be; the One sent by the Father, the One who is from above, the Son of man, the only-begotten Son of God, equal with God, the One Who has life in himself, the very essence of the scriptures, the bread of life, the light of the world, etc. The fact that rejection of the Son—failure to believe in him and to obey him—results in everlasting death is expressed not only here in Jn 8:24 but also in Jn 3:36 (see on that verse), which may be viewed as an explanation of Jn 8:24. (BORROW Exposition of the Gospel according to John - Chapters 7-21)

John MacArthur on I Am - Jesus was applying to Himself the tetragrammaton (YHWH, often transliterated as Yahweh)—the name of God that was so sacred that the Jews refused to pronounce it. Unlike many modern cult groups (such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses), the Jews of Jesus’ day understood perfectly that He was claiming to be God. In fact, they were so shocked by His use of that name, in reference to Himself (cf. vv. 28, 58), that they attempted to stone Him for blasphemy (v. 59). (ED: See also Jehovah - I Am and the Tetragrammaton).... To be a Christian one must believe the full biblical revelation about Jesus: that He is the eternal second person of the Trinity, that He entered space and time as God incarnate, that He was born of a virgin, that He lived a sinless life, that His death on the cross is the only sufficient, substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of all who would ever believe in Him, that He rose from the dead and ascended to the Father in heaven, that He now intercedes for His own redeemed people, and that He will one day return in glory. To reject those truths about Him is to “be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ” (2 Cor. 11:3), to worship “another Jesus” (v. 4), to be cursed by God (Gal. 1:8–9), and ultimately to hear the Lord say, “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matt. 7:23).

Notice the Jews' question in (Jn 8:25, cp Jn 10:24 and His answer in Jn 10:30!) even though He clearly has just told them He is "I AM"! Jesus emphasized that the fatal, unforgivable, and eternal sin is failure to believe in Him as Messiah and Son of God. All other sins can be forgiven if this one is repented of.

I AM is the self-designation for God in many Scriptures .(Ex 3:14 Dt 32:39; Isa 41:4, 43:10, 11, 13, 25; 44:6 46:4; 48:12; etc.), to render Hebrew “I (AM) He.” Jesus' use of this phrase is clearly a claim to Deity as the reaction to His claim clearly demonstrates in (Jn 8:58,59). The incorrect rendering of the Jehovah's Witnesses in their NWT only serves to illustrate the difficulty of evading the meaning of the phrase and the context.

Preceptaustin.com
Hello electedbyhim, Yes, Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Love, Walter And Debbie
 
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Greetings "electedbyhim",
John 8:24 “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
The above verse plainly says that we need to believe that Christ is God in the flesh.
Those that do not believe this vers say that Christ did not mean "I am" to be Yahweh—the Lord.
Yes, I claim that John 8:24 together with John 8:28 is part of the theme of whether or not Jesus is the Christ:
John 8:28 (KJV): Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
I notice that you did not quote this verse which is in the immediate context, and it clearly cannot be construed to say that Jesus is here speaking of his independent Divinity, but here he speaks of his humanity, and his complete dependence on the One God, His Father. I also consider that John 8:58 should also be translated as "I am he".

You claim that "I am" is equivalent to Yahweh, but I disagree here as I believe that Exodus 3:14 should be rendered "I will be". Please refer to my thread:

Kind regards
Trevor
 
Hey All,
This is a great question electedbyhim.

"Do you need to believe Jesus is God to be saved?
What do others believe, is this doctrine needed for salvation or not?" Quote from electedbyhim

Well if we think about it, it sorta makes sense that
 
Greetings Walter and Debbie, and Josef,
Hello electedbyhim, Yes, Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
"Do you need to believe Jesus is God to be saved?
What do others believe, is this doctrine needed for salvation or not?"
No that is an erroneous doctrine and not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that salvation comes from believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
John 20:30–31 (KJV): 30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Kind regards
Trevor
 
Hey All,
This is a great question electedbyhim.

"Do you need to believe Jesus is God to be saved?
What do others believe, is this doctrine needed for salvation or not?" Quote from electedbyhim

Well if we think about it, it sorta makes sense that we should believe in something intelligently. If we believe that John is quoting Jesus word for word in John 3:16, then we also have to believe what John wrote about Him in chapter one.

John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John calls Jesus God. Jesus was before the beginning. Jesus spoke the beginning at the beginning, and created everything that is created.

Do you need to know all of this to receive Jesus?
As I wrote this, I kept asking myself did I need to know this.
You know what? I didn't know all of it when I received Jesus. I received Jesus at four years old.
I just knew that Jesus loved me.
That I was a sinner. (Yes I knew when I was lying even at four.)
I understood that Jesus died so I could live forever.
I knew that living forever sounded pretty cool.(And living forever still sounds way cool, waaàay cooool.)
So I said yes, I want Jesus to be with me.

So no. A person does not have to understand that Jesus is God to believe in Him. The gospel is a simple message that a child should be able to understand. The more complex we make it, the less people will understand any of it.

Keep it simple.

I have a worksheet; using just seven verses so it is easy to memorize, or just read from it. I will post it here. Use it however you can.


1. All have sinned.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

2. We have no righteousness within ourselves.

Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

3. Unforgiven sin leads to death.

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

4. God provides a way for us, through His Son Jesus Christ, to have our sins forgiven, and have everlasting life. (Salvation)

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

5. Jesus will provide forgiveness, and salvation, if we receive Him into our lives.

Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

6. When Jesus enters our lives, He cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

7. Once we are cleansed, we are, in Christ, new creatures.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

How do we get there? If we are truly repentant, here is a simple prayer asking for forgiveness.

Jesus, I know that I am not where I should be with You. I repent of my sins, and ask You come into my life; and to cleanse me from all unrighteousness. Thank You Jesus. Amen.

Keep salvation simple.

We can learn who Jesus is when we start reading John. John gets right to the point.

I hope this helps.

Keep walking everybody.
May God bless,
Taz
 
Hey All,
Please ignore post 11. It posted before I was finished. Post 13 is my official post. (Good thing I'm not a 13aphobe.)

Taz
 
Greetings Walter and Debbie, and Josef,


No that is an erroneous doctrine and not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that salvation comes from believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
John 20:30–31 (KJV): 30 And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: 31 But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.

Kind regards
Trevor
Good morning Trevor, Philippians 2:6 Who Being In The Form Of God, Thought It Not Robbery To Be Equal With God

Love, Walter And Debbie
 
No that is an erroneous doctrine and not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that salvation comes from believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
Well your answer is incomplete. You have to define:
... what is the definition of "Christ"
... what is the definition of "Son of God"

What aspects of the definition of "Christ" and the definition of "Son of God" must be believed to be saved? For example, if "Son of God" means Jesus is the 2nd person of the Trinity then basically you're saying one must believe Christ is God to be saved.

What does it mean to be the "Son of God"
"To be the Son of God is to be of the same nature as God. The Son of God is “of God.” The claim to be of the same nature as God—to in fact be God". ... https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-Son-of-God.html

John 20:31 but these have been written so that you may believe [with a deep, abiding trust] that Jesus is the Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed), the Son of God; and that by believing [and trusting in and relying on Him] you may have life in His name.
 
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Greetings "electedbyhim",

Yes, I claim that John 8:24 together with John 8:28 is part of the theme of whether or not Jesus is the Christ:
John 8:28 (KJV): Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
I notice that you did not quote this verse which is in the immediate context, and it clearly cannot be construed to say that Jesus is here speaking of his independent Divinity, but here he speaks of his humanity, and his complete dependence on the One God, His Father. I also consider that John 8:58 should also be translated as "I am he".

You claim that "I am" is equivalent to Yahweh, but I disagree here as I believe that Exodus 3:14 should be rendered "I will be". Please refer to my thread:

Kind regards
Trevor
Is Jesus God?



Some who deny that Jesus is God make the claim that Jesus never said that He is God. It is correct that the Bible never records Jesus saying the precise words, “I am God.” This does not mean, however, that Jesus never claimed to be God.


Is Jesus God? — Jesus claimed to be God.

Take for example the words of Jesus in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one.” We need only to look at the Jews’ reaction to His statement to know He was claiming to be God. They tried to stone Him for this very reason: “You, a mere man, claim to be God” (John 10:33, emphasis added). The Jews understood exactly what Jesus was claiming—deity. When Jesus declared, “I and the Father are one,” He was saying that He and the Father are of one nature and essence. John 8:58 is another example. Jesus declared, “I tell you the truth … before Abraham was born, I am!” This is a reference back to Exodus 3:14 when God revealed Himself as the “I AM.” The Jews who heard this statement responded by taking up stones to kill Him for blasphemy, as the Mosaic Law commanded (Leviticus 24:16).

Is Jesus God? — His followers declared Him to be God.

John reiterates the concept of Jesus’ deity: “The Word [Jesus] was God” and “the Word became flesh” (John 1:1, 14). These verses clearly indicate that Jesus is God in the flesh. Acts 20:28 tells us, “Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood.” Who bought the church with His own blood? Jesus Christ. And this same verse declares that God purchased His church with His own blood. Therefore, Jesus is God.

Thomas the disciple declared concerning Jesus, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Jesus does not correct him. Titus 2:13 encourages us to wait for the coming of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ (see also 2 Peter 1:1). In Hebrews 1:8, the Father declares of Jesus, “But about the Son He says, ‘Your throne, O God, will last forever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom.’” The Father refers to Jesus as God, indicating that Jesus is indeed God.

In Revelation, an angel instructed the apostle John to only worship God (Revelation 19:10). Several times in Scripture Jesus receives worship (Matthew 2:11; 14:33; 28:9, 17; Luke 24:52; John 9:38). He never rebukes people for worshiping Him. If Jesus were not God, He would have told people to not worship Him, just as the angel in Revelation did. Beyond these, there are many other passages of Scripture that argue for Jesus being God.

Is Jesus God? — The reason Jesus must be God.

The most important reason that Jesus must be God is that, if He is not God, His death would not have been sufficient to pay the penalty for the sins of the world (1 John 2:2). A created being, which Jesus would be if He were not God, could not pay the infinite penalty required for sin against an infinite God. Only God could pay such an infinite penalty. Only God could take on the sins of the world (2 Corinthians 5:21), die, and be resurrected, proving His victory over sin and death.

Is Jesus God? Yes. Jesus declared Himself to be God. His followers believed Him to be God. The provision of salvation only works if Jesus is God. Jesus is God incarnate, the eternal Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:8; 22:13), and God our Savior (2 Peter 1:1).
 
I did not know all of this before I became a Christian . Did you ?
For 3 solid years before I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord (from age 10 to 13), Jesus Himself spoke to me almost daily, revealing Himself to me and calling me to follow Him. I accepted Him at age 13, and suddenly, I knew who He was/is, that He is God. And suddenly, the scriptures were opened (KJV was no problem).
 
So no. A person does not have to understand that Jesus is God to believe in Him. The gospel is a simple message that a child should be able to understand. The more complex we make it, the less people will understand any of it.
It's one thing to not have full understanding, and another to deny who He is, when one is able to read scripture. I have seen MANY deny the truth of scripture, which is one and the same as denying Christ is who He says He is.
 
I accepted Him at age 13, and suddenly, I knew who He was/is, that He is God. And suddenly, the scriptures were opened (KJV was no problem).
Exactly ! After we become a born again Christian that is when the understanding and knowledge comes to us from the Holy Spirit :) . What we need to know to become a Christian is very basic but to fight the spiritual battles we will face as a Christian we will need more understanding and knowledge . Empowerment from the Holy Spirit .
 
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