Saving Faith and the Divinity of Jesus
Faith has an object and a content.
The object of saving faith is our Lord Jesus Christ. However, a name is simply an emblem of the truths associated with a person’s character, and that it is a person’s character that sanctifies, or sullies his name, not the name that sanctifies or sullies a person’s character. We believe that this is why God has “magnified His Word above His name” (Psalm 138:2). It is the eternal truths of God’s divine nature, as revealed in His word, that give meaning and awe to His name. Accordingly, we believe that the name “Jesus” and the word “gospel” are not magic words, and that to simply speak of “Jesus” or the “gospel” when divorced from the essential truths of Jesus Christ and His glorious gospel is to preach “another Jesus” (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4) and “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6-7) in whom and in which there is no salvation. A cursory examination of cults and movements afoot will disclose that Jesus is taught to be:
- the brother of Lucifer (Mormonism);
- a prophet who will be raised from the dead along with Mohamed and “break the cross” (end the myth that He died on the cross to pay for our sins), (Islam);
- a homosexual.
In view of the above beliefs about Jesus (and many other false teachings), it can be stated with certainty that faith in J-E-S-U-S has never saved anyone, and never will. The gospel message is not a lesson in how to pronounce Jesus’ name according to the preferences of a certain language or culture. Saving faith is faith in certain truths and attributes ascribed to Jesus; knowledge of who Jesus is, and what He accomplished for us at the cross. To this end, any saving profession of faith in Jesus Christ must include an affirmation of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Eternal God who became a man.
Because belief in the divinity of Jesus is repeated over and over in Scripture as part of the message of salvation (Matthew 16:16-18; John 8:23-24 & 58; 11:25-27; 20:31; Acts 9:20; 16:30-31; 1st John 5:13), an adherence to doctrines and beliefs that are logically incompatible with the divinity of Christ must necessarily constitute a denial of the message of salvation. To believe such is therefore to believe in “another Jesus,” (2nd Corinthians 11:3-4) and “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6-7).