BY GREG HOLT on OCTOBER 30, 2022 • ( 0 )

Be absolutely certain that your “faith” is based on what Jesus says, not what you think He says

By Greg Holt

This writer has over the years dealt with many people who have attempted to persuade me shall we say, that the doctrine of the Trinity is false.  Another completely erroneous concept and false doctrine held by some religions (especially the Jehovah’s Witnesses) is that Jesus is merely the son of God, and not God the Son.

The doctrine of the Trinity and the fact that Jesus is God is backed up all throughout the Bible; there is ample evidence of these facts.

“O foolish Galatians (Believers), who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you?” Galatians 3:1 (Non-italics mine)

So if one disbelieves in the Trinity, and thereby the Triune God – is your salvation in doubt?  This writer will say yes.  What about belief in Jesus as God, if one does not believe that Jesus is much more than the son of God, and is in fact God Himself – then is that person’s salvation in doubt?  No, this particular person’s salvation is not in doubt whatsoever – this particular person was never saved to begin with.

“And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.”  1 John 5:11-12

The Bible contains no evidence that Jesus is NOT God

The Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that Jesus is God, and in fact believe that Jesus was created by God as the archangel Michael.  There is absolutely no evidence to support this ludicrous claim.  What this claim by the JV’s does support is the danger of drawing ones own conclusions independent of Scripture, and the fallacy of supposed revelation that is not backed up by God’s Word – the Bible.

If Jesus is not truly God, then we have ourselves some extremely serious problems, the first of which is that the entire Bible and it’s core message; God loves us and wants to redeem us through His Son Jesus Christ – is all an elaborate lie.

If we only read one chapter out of the entire Bible, just ONE –  1 John 5 makes it abundantly clear that Jesus Christ is an essential and integral part of HOW we are able to receive the gift of salvation.  Just as we cannot save ourselves, so too there is no salvation without Jesus, period, end of story (1 John 5:11-12).

Simply put: anyone who denies the deity of Christ, that He is the Messiah and is directly responsible for the priceless gift of salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9) given to men – that person in no possible way possesses eternal life and is damned now and forever.  Unless and until said person receives the revelation by Holy Spirit that Jesus IS God etc.

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

“This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”  1 Timothy 1:15

^“13 who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins:”  Colossians 1:13-14

I have of course over the years taken the time to respond to these people because these issues (lies) really bother me, and are a perpetual burden on my heart.  These particular people are self-assured that they are saved, that they do indeed possess the God-given gift of eternal life – except that they do not.  These people along with various others, will stand before Christ at the end, and in complete shock and astonishment – will be told by Christ the Judge, go away from Me, I never knew you, some of these will have even performed miracles in Christ’s name (Matthew 7:21-23).  Be sure therefore that your faith is based on what Jesus says, not what you think He says.  What YOU think is irrelevant.  As Pastor Greg Laurie often says in his sermons and books – if you don’t agree with something the Bible says, “change your opinion.”

^“Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.”  2 John 1:9

There is no other possible interpretation able to be made when reading the Bible other than the fact that Jesus is divine, He is God.  The only possible way to come to a different conclusion is to completely disregard a large portion of the Bible’s text, and to be reading the Word of God with zero discernment and no infilling of Holy Spirit.

“⁸…according to the power of God; ⁹ Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, ¹⁰ But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.”  2 Timothy 1:8-10

The claim that Jesus is merely the son of our God and not God Himself is totally ridiculous.  I will not here go into all the Scriptures that people have thrown at me and others while loudly proclaiming that Christ is just a man, or my personal favorite: Jesus was a great moral teacher, but He was not God, what utter foolishness.  If one has read the Bible, even only the New Testament, it is blindingly obvious that Jesus Christ is God.

One last point here, in the Old Testament:

• The great I Am in whom Abraham rejoiced was none other than Jesus Christ (John 8:56–58)
• Moses was inspired and motivated by the Lord Jesus (Hebrews 11:26)
• The Redeemer who led Israel out of Egypt was Jesus (Jude 1:5)
• The Rock that all drank from in the wilderness was Christ (1 Corinthians 10:4)

The Bible does support the concept of the Trinity

Regarding the Trinity, you can look all you want (as pointed out by unbelievers) in the Bible, the Trinity will not be found in it.  Yet the Bible does indeed support the doctrine of the Trinity.

God is one; there is only one God.

• “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.”  Deuteronomy 6:4
• “Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.”  Galatians 3:20

There are three distinct Persons of the Trinity, yet one God.

“²⁰ Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; ²¹ that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. ²² And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: ²³ I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”   John 17:20-23

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…”  Genesis 1:26

God said: let us make man in our image.  The text of Genesis would not use plural words denoting more than one if there was not more then one distinct manifestation of God (not to be confused with the unbiblical belief of modalism) if you will, or more properly, more than one Person.

“Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language…”  Genesis 11:7

And again, the word in reference to God used in the text is us, plural, meaning more than one.

“¹⁶ And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: ¹⁷ And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”  Matthew 3:16-17

In this text of Matthew we see all three of the Persons of the Trinity represented.  Jesus, (God the Son) who is both God and man is baptized, then the Spirit, (God the Spirit) alights upon Jesus, then God the Father expresses His pleasure in God the Son – Jesus.

“Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”  Matthew 28:19

In Matthew 28:19, Jesus is speaking, and He says to: teach all nations about God, and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit – all three Persons of the Trinity.

God is one God, but is three distinct Persons.  Can we fully explain this?  No.  Does that make the doctrine of the Trinity untrue as some claim?  No it does not.  Insisting that the Trinity is false because we cannot find the word Trinity in the Bible and because we cannot fully understand it is like saying that time does not exist because we cannot physically see it.

 There is no salvation without Jesus Christ

Galatians 3:26 states that we are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.  Why does Paul make that distinction?  The answer is because God exists in three Persons, and this passage yet again affirms the deity of Christ.  We place our faith in Jesus Christ, (Ephesians 2:8-9) and through that faith we are saved, and through that faith (and Jesus’ intercession for us – Hebrews 7:25; Romans 8:34) we have an unlimited connection to the throne of grace, to the Father (Hebrews 4:14-16).

“Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.”  1 John 2:23

The Bible tells us that we must believe in Jesus as well as the Father.  This is made crystal clear to us, if you do NOT believe in Jesus as God, then you do NOT have the Father – meaning that one is not saved.  Eternal salvation requires belief in Jesus as God, no other “option” or belief is left open to us.

In John 10 Jesus says He gives eternal life to people, and that none will be “plucked” out of His hand.  Jesus also states that He and the Father are one.

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.”  John 14:1

“⁶ Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ⁷ If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also…”  John 14:6-7

The meaning in the above verses is very clear, Jesus is not only the son, Jesus is God.  No one who believes disputes that the Father is God.  How is it then that despite the overwhelming amount of evidence in the Bible that Jesus IS God, people still disbelieve?  NO man comes to the Father but by me (Jesus).  If the only way to the Father is through Jesus Christ, then Jesus is and must be God.

If ye had known me (Jesus), ye should have known my Father also.  (Non-italics mine)  How can that statement possibly be misconstrued?  Jesus is clearly stating here that He is indeed God.

The Father shares His glory and power with no man

In Matthew 19 Jesus says that all should be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Jesus also says that all power, in heaven and on the Earth has been given to Him.  How can anyone thinking logically, as well as operating in the Spirit – determine that Jesus is just a man after reading these statements?  Would God really share His power with a mere man?  Not hardly.  Could a mere man even begin to be able to handle the immense power of God?  Could a mere man have taken the sin of the world upon His shoulders, while on the cross?  Nope.  But Jesus being both God and man could and did do all of the above.

“And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”  John 14:13

Is the Father (whom those that believe do not dispute is God) going to glorify Himself in the Son if said Son is a mere man?  Not a chance, God does not, and will not share His glory with any man.  If a man cannot even do something do simple as save himself, how then can a man share in the glory of the Most Holy Father?

Jesus serves the Father so He cannot be God

Yet another fallacy is that since Christ is subservient to the Father (and this IS true) He cannot possibly be God.  Wrong.

Christ is subservient to the father, and the Spirit is subservient to the Father and Jesus, so what.  This does not mean that Jesus is not God, or that Jesus and the Spirit are in any way less then the Father.  This is simply how God has chosen to do things, who are we to question that?

• The Father only – knows the timing of the end  (Mark 13:32)
• Jesus created the universe and maintains it through His power  (John 1:1–3; Colossians 1:16-17)
• Jesus intercedes for us with the Father  (Romans 8:34; 1 John 2:1; Hebrews 7:25)
• We come to the Father through Jesus  (John 14:6; Matthew 11:27)
• Jesus prayed to the Father to send Holy Spirit to us  (John 16:7)
  Holy Spirit lives within us  (1 Corinthians 3:16; 2 Timothy 1:14; Romans 8:11)
• Jesus has been given all power and authority in Heaven and on the Earth  (Matthew 28:18; John 3:35)
• Jesus will rule for a set time and then hand the Kingdom over to the Father  (1 Corinthians 15:24-25)
• The Father works through Jesus and the Spirit (1 Peter 1:1-2; Genesis 1:1-2; Romans 14:17-18; John 14:16-17; Matthew 3:16-17)

The point here is that all three are God; all three have their “jobs” if you will.  The Trinity is real, and Jesus IS God.

Jesus died on the cross and therefore cannot be God

Another idiotic argument thrown down by the apostates and atheists is this: Jesus died on the cross, God cannot die, and therefore Jesus cannot be God.

WOW, really?  How is it that people can be so blind?

John 10:18 is KEY to annihilating this unbiblical and foolish argument, to wit:

First let me remind everyone that Jesus Himself stated in John 10:18 that He willingly lays down His life, and has the power to take it back up again – no one takes it from Him.  The Romans killed Jesus so-to-speak by crucifying Him – but ONLY because Jesus allowed it to happen!

Second, Jesus human body died, His spirit did not.  When we as humans die, it is only our physical body that dies, our spirit, which is eternal does not die.  This is a small part of why Jesus inhabited a human body, the spirit cannot die, but the physical body can.

The truth of the resurrection of Jesus Christ

^“12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: ¹⁴ and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. ¹⁵ Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. ¹⁶ For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: ¹⁷ and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. ¹⁸ Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. ¹⁹ If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. ²⁰ But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. ²¹ For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. ²² For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”  1 Corinthians 15:12-22

In the New Testament, Jesus, Peter, and Paul, all raised people from the dead – i.e., resurrection from the dead.  Why then do some take exception to the resurrection of Jesus Christ as if it could not and did not happen?

The Apostle Paul tells us that without the resurrection of Jesus, there is no salvation or forgiveness; our faith in Jesus would be in vain, because there would be no eternal life, no forgiveness of sin, no nothing at all.  Game over, you are dead and that’s that.

Adam was the first man to have walked the earth, and it was by Adam that sin first entered the world, and all men became mortal.  Adam sinned, and we thereby all posses a sin nature.  No one needs to be taught to sin, you will see this even in very young children, i.e., the sin nature.

Man broke God’s law, but the problem is that man had (has) no power to fix what he broke.  Enter in Jesus Christ – Jesus was born here on earth as a human boy, but with no father.  God is a Spirit, the Spirit of Christ blended with the humanity of Mary and produced a human child (Via the help of Holy Spirit – Luke 1:35).  This human child however also retained the divinity of God – Jesus Christ, man and God in the same body (Hebrews 2:5-18).

Remembering that by man came death through sin (the first Adam), redemption from sin came via the second Adam, Jesus Christ.  A man sinned, and by the wisdom of God, a man had to PAY for that sin.  It would be an impossibility for a mere man to redeem all of mankind, but the God-man (Jesus) could do it.  If a man could be the perfect sacrifice (there is no forgiveness without blood – Luke 22:20; Hebrews 9:6-28; Colossians 1:14), then a man picked at random could have been crucified long before Jesus came to this earth, and there would have been no need for the blood sacrifice of our Lord to save us.

Think of this if you will, just the thought of what Jesus faced on the cross (and directly before that) was enough to prompt Jesus to pray to His Father: “And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.”  (Matthew 26:39)  Jesus praying this prayer three times shows us just how troubled He was at what was to come (the crucifixion).  This three time prayer also emphasises the importance of what Jesus was going to do/allow to happen, the number three in the Bible is a number of great significance.  Anything that is repeated three times in the Bible is a clear signal for us to pay attention.

Jesus is the literal bridge between the Father and us; you cannot have one without the other.

Jesus came to this earth and gave of Himself the ultimate gift, so that He could forgive us and bless us, gifting us with eternal life, which is what He desired from the beginning.  We as humans completely messed up the plan, and God in His infinite love and mercy stepped up and paid the price for sin that HE decreed, for what WE did wrong.

Yet even that is not what amazes me the most.  What does amaze me the most?  God is outside of time, He is omnipresent meaning God knows all things at all times, He therefore knew with complete and absolute certainty what was going to happen in the future after He created man.  Knowing what the Lord knew, and how high the personal cost of the creation of man would be to Him – God STILL chose to create man.

And THAT ought to blow your mind, it certainly does mine.

The Must Read Interview with Satan – How to be Saved

Greg Holt

About the author: Greg is a strong believer in Jesus Christ and is also a political analyst, author, and is the Editor-in-Chief for the National War Council. By day he is a self-employed non-emergency medical transport driver, as well as being an author and blogger.  His articles are first published on Inspirational Christian Blogs, and I Am Not Ashamed of the Gospel of Christ! From there the articles are widely published on many well-known conservative websites.  If you would like to republish his articles, please feel free to do so leaving all links intact and crediting the author and the website that the article appeared on.