Part 2 of The Trinity and Salvation

How much do you have to know about the Trinity to be saved?

In the first entry on this topic, I examined briefly the link Jesus made between believing in his Deity and the forgiveness of sins.  Believing in the Jesus of Scripture, then, means you believe Jesus is God.  

Let’s not stop there, because the terms Jesus and God mean something very specific to Christians and something different in other religions.  Regarding the use of words, Walter Martin said, “We must scale the language barrier of the cults.”   Words carry the meaning we pour into them and we must define our words’ meanings clearly before proceeding to explain our hope to others.

The Mormons say they believe in Jesus, the Son of God.  But the meaning they pour into the name Jesus and Son of God proves that the Jesus they believe in is not the Jesus of the Bible.  The Mormon Jesus was born in heaven as a spiritual offspring to a god and goddess, as did his brother, Lucifer.  He had a beginning and became a god later.  Trinitarians do not believe this about Jesus, the Son of God.

Oneness Pentecostals claim to believe in the Jesus of the Bible, yet their Jesus did not exist as the Son of God with the Father for all eternity.  The Oneness Pentecostal Jesus is the Father.  Then, when the Father took on flesh, he became the Son of God.  The Oneness Pentecostal Son of God had his beginning in the womb of Mary.  The Divine Nature of the Oneness Son of God has always existed, not in relationship with the Father, but as the Father.  Trinitarians do not believe this about Jesus, the Son of God.

Jehovah’s Witnesses also have a Jesus the Son of God.  But Jehovah created him as Michael the Archangel and then he somehow became the Son of God, born of Mary.  Trinitarians do not believe this about Jesus the Son of God.

C. H. Spurgeon said, “...men would think it folly to deal at a shop where the bread (so called) was not bread—where the food that was given was so adulterated as to yield no nutriment… Oh, how many souls are poisoned by listening to a ministry that is not full of Christ!  This rings true especially in regard to preaching Christ.  We must believe in the Son of God of the Bible--for he alone can save from sin.

Trinitarians believe the Bible teaches these things concerning Jesus' identity:

1. The Son of God, being God and equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit has always existed and is also known as the Word.
2. The Son of God, has always been in relationship with the Father as a Son (not in the sense of being a created offspring, but as far as relating as family can define such a bond).
3. The Son of God is a person, in the sense that He can relate to others through love, communication, submission and Lordship.    Person is used here in a theological sense, and is not the same as human or being.  
4. The Son of God took on a human nature and his earthly parents named him Jesus by revelation.

In the next post, I will offer a summary of Biblical evidence for each of these items.  Please leave a comment below or repost to twitter or Facebook.