#STRask - Why Is It Necessary to Believe Jesus Is God?

Episode Date: February 19, 2026

Questions about why it’s necessary to believe Jesus is God, whether belief in the Trinity is required for salvation, and why one has to believe in the Trinity if the words “Trinity,” “God the Son,” and “God the Holy Spirit” aren’t in the Bible.   Why is it necessary to believe Jesus is God? Since the Trinity is so difficult for our little human minds to comprehend, is belief in the Trinity really required for salvation? Where do you see the words “Trinity,” “God the Son,” and “God the Holy Spirit” in the Bible, and if they’re not there, do I have to believe in the Trinity?

Thank you so much for joining us on hashtag SDR Ask. I'm Amy Hall and Greg Kokel is with me today. Amy. And our first question comes from Jim. All right. The Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is the only path to forgiveness and salvation, but why is it necessary to believe that he is God? For example, Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe in his deity,

but they recognize him as the path. Some religions believe in modalism. Couldn't that be acceptable? since the Trinity is so difficult for our little human minds to comprehend, is belief in the Trinity really required for salvation? Well, on the one hand, you could say, I don't see the connection. On the other hand, the text indicates that that's required. If you confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord, and believe in God that God raised the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10, okay?

when it says Jesus is Lord, a reference to Jesus as Lord, that's a divine title. Okay. The Lord is God. The Lord God. Nobody else was the Lord. And so this is the most common title given to Jesus. And in reference to Jesus throughout the Gospels and frequently in the epistles, Jesus said, unless you believe, a go ami, you will die in your sins.

Now, it's translated, I am, he sometimes, but it's just a-go-a-mee, I am. And there are a number of times where Jesus uses this Greek form of the name of God from Exodus, what for? I am that I am. That's where Yahweh comes from. However, it's the proper way to pronounce it, nobody knows, because whatever. The point is, he consistently identifies. himself with the God of creation, and so do his apostles, those who he spent three and a half years with and taught. It's kind of curious. Alex O'Connor made a claim that Jesus didn't really

believe he was God because what in John 10, when he has asked about, he makes this reference to, you are all gods or whatever, blah, blah, blah, blah. John, he could have said, they were in Estonian, and he could have said right then made it really clear, yes, I am saying I am God, but he doesn't say that. Therefore, Alex O'Connor, the atheist, thinks he missed his opportunity, which means he didn't really believe it. But what's curious about this is this is John recording Jesus. And all throughout John, you have a very high Christology. And especially starting in the first few verses, the beginning with the word was with God, and the word was God. All things came into being through him, and nothing came into being that has come into being. He's the uncreated creator. You have this high Christology. So why would you want to strain at that? Nat and John 10, like Alex O'Connor is that Jesus could have identified himself clearly as God, but he didn't do that. Yeah, he didn't clearly see he wasn't God either when, and tell him to put, I'm making, you're making a mistake. I'm not

claim to be God. Put the stones down. You know, they're about to execute. Anyway, so you see this pattern throughout, even though you have some naysayers like Alex O'Connor. The John understood what Jesus was getting at, and that's why all throughout his gospel, especially, but in many other places, you have a very high Christology. And it's these texts that indicate the necessity of understanding that Jesus is God. And even after the apostles died, when you have the first few generations of disciples who were disciples by the apostles, they're making the same claim against those who denied the deity of Christ, like the Gnostics. So I'm not sure I can give a theological justification for it. Well, if you don't believe in Jesus is God, that

well, maybe you're believing in a different Jesus than the one who is the real Jesus. And Paul talks about that in 2nd Corinthians. There were many other Jesuses, and that's true. They're all kinds. There's the Muslim Jesus. There's the Jehovah's Witness Jesus. There's the LDS Jesus. There's the New Age Jesus.

There's all kinds of different Jesuses. That's not the Jesus that saves. And so the identity of Christ turns out to be the thing that's the thing that's the Jesus. that's the most important. And I mentioned there's a number of references to this. I'm just thinking of some more. Towards the end of his ministry with the disciples, he said, who do people say that I am, blah, blah, blah,

who do you say that I am? And Peter says, you are the Christ, the son of God. There's two things. When John writes his gospel at the end, in chapter 20, he says, this evidence I've given you in the gospel is in order that you might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, two things. Son of God is a divine title, indication, I should say. And in believing he have life in his name.

So we have all these texts that tie a proper high Christology to salvation. and if you don't hold to the high Christology, then you don't hold, you don't benefit from the salvation that goes with the confession or the belief in Jesus as Messiah and Son of God. There are so many reference to these things in the New Testament that it's hard to, it's hard to, even if you don't give any theological justification for it, and I think there is one I offered it just a moment ago. You got to believe in the real Jesus because of the counterfeits. But the testimony, the text, is overwhelming about the importance and necessity of that. And you have to ask yourself, what is your gospel if you don't believe in the deity of Christ? Because that does affect his ability to save. Like all of those things play into our salvation.

So I don't think it's just rejecting the deity of Christ that you're rejecting. It will affect your understanding of the gospel in some way. And if what saves us is not what Jesus tells us to do, but it's actually Jesus himself. And it's knowing him and being united to him. If you don't know him, then how are you being saved by him? And I just want to say, one thing about, and you touched on this by saying that it's so clear in the text, so Jim asked, couldn't that be acceptable since the Trinity is so difficult for a little human minds to comprehend, is belief in the Trinity really required for salvation? But in reality, the aspects of the Trinity are not difficult to comprehend. What's difficult is for us to understand that by analogy because there's nothing else we can compare that to. But the idea that there is one God, that's not hard to comprehend.

We all understand that the Father is God, the Son is God, the Spirit is God. These things are all clear in the text. Again, that's a concept. It's not difficult to understand. And then the Son is not the Father. The father is not the Son. The son is not the Spirit, et cetera. Again, a simple concept.

Now, how we fit all these together is harder to kind of picture because we're not. we have nothing to compare to, but those aspects of the Trinity are actually quite simple. So if all of those things are explained in the text and you reject one or more of them, then now you're rejecting the revelation God has given of himself. And so all of these things are an indication that you are not actually submitted to God, that you have some other God that you're worshipping, basically. It's a good way to put it. Think of the First Commandment.

I mean, the same kind of argument could be made. Why do the details matter? There's Molek, there's Ba'al, there's Ashrith, there's Yahweh. I mean, so what? They're all worshipping God, and people, of course, make this same claim today. There's only one God, right? therefore everybody who worships God is worshiping the same God. No, wrong.

That doesn't follow. And so it's interesting. You've got to get God right even from the very beginning, right? And at least from the law, before that, you have Abraham being called by God. Leave your people in your land and come. And so now you have a different God calling. And it was understandable back then. They call it Hino-theism, or we call it that now, but the idea that different groups of people had their God,

and the success of the group of people reflected the power of their God, okay? And so now you've got Abraham being called by Yahweh, and we learn, as time goes on, that these other gods aren't any real gods at all. They're phonyes. But that takes time. Nevertheless, the point is Abraham was to worship this particular God, not the other ones. It mattered. The details mattered. And then when it comes to the time of Jesus, you have the same thing. And incidentally, if Jesus is not God, it's hard to make sense. If you have a low Christology, it's hard to make sense of how it is that a mere man

could pay for the sins or the penalty that would be an eternal penalty for a multitude, an innumerable multitude of people who end up in perdition. All right. I mean, how does one man pay for all these people? And how is that an example of the love of God? For God so loved the world that he gave, his only gotten son, so that he could beat up his son and kill his son and crucify his son as expressed for God's love?

See, it doesn't make any sense. maybe if the son says I'll do it, which is the case here, then that would be an evidence of the love of the sun. No greater love has anyone than this that a man lay down his life for a friend. So that's Jesus' love, but how is it God's love? It can't be an expression of God's love unless it's God who does the suffering, which is exactly what the text says. Well, this goes to the very nature of the gospel itself. I mentioned this before, but think about it. what you said was, if he's not God, how could he have paid for all the sins of all the people?

And the answer is, what happens is when people say that Jesus is not God, what happens is their gospel changes. Yeah. And now the gospel, quote, gospel is about doing certain things to gain salvation. So if it doesn't matter, well, if that's the way we get to God by doing certain things, then the identity of Jesus doesn't really matter. Right. But if we come to God through Jesus, then the identity of Jesus definitely does matter, both

in who he is and his ability to save. Right. And that's precisely what we are trusting in when we put our faith in Christ, his full ability to do that. And anyway, so the text is really clear. This is, for Christians at least, this would be, that should be. be an adequate argument because of the clarity of the text in so many places. So let's get into that question just a little bit more specifically, because this question

follows from that. It comes from Ernie. Where do you see the words Trinity, God the Son, God, the Holy Spirit, in the Bible? I have been taught this all of my life, but have not found it in the Bible. If it is not in the Bible, do I have to believe it? Well, I guess my answer to the first aspect of the question is, so what? I didn't see God the sun, God, the Spirit, God, you didn't see those words. You don't see the word Trinity in there either. There are lots of words that are tied to. theological realities that no one takes exception with which words are not in the text. But this is, this is the point, or this is irrelevant, okay?

So, if I introduce Abby and Eva to my friends, I said, these are my daughters, Abby and Eva. And somebody raises a complaint. You never said you're a father. The notion of a father is entailed in having daughters, having children. It's entailed in that. It's irrelevant if I don't use that word. Okay, so if John says of the word who became flesh in John chapter 1, if he says all things were created through him, and apart from him,

nothing was created that has been created. Isn't that enough detail about that individual to say that that individual called the word is the uncreated creator? It's crystal clear in that verse, verse 3 of John 1. And if he is the uncreated creator, gee, who's that? Who is the only uncreated creator? God. He created all things. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

So when Jesus, when the Word, who became fleshed Jesus of Nazareth is identified as the one who created everything, that is enough to say that this is God. Okay. But he is not the same as the Father. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. And when you see the word God frequently in the text, it's accompanied with the phrase the Father. So the distinction is made that God, when the word God is used, is the Father. God the Father. Actually, that phrase is used frequently, God, the Father.

Was that part of the question? It's not in there. It's in there all the time, God the Father. Trinity, God, the Son, God the Holy Spirit. Oh, okay. God the Father's in there. But then we have the Word being the uncreated Creator. Now, the word is distinct from the Father.

from the Father, from God the Father, the one the Word, who now we know becomes Jesus when he takes on humanity. Therefore, he is God too. Now, how do you distinguish God the Father from God the Word? Well, the word is called the Son of God. So He is God, the Son, by entailment. It doesn't use that phrase. It says, Son of God. That means distinct from the Father, but Son as creator, of all things that were ever created, means he's uncreated. Therefore, he's a different person, though he is part of the Godhead, God, the Son.

And we, I mean, people strain it this language. Well, if it's not in the Bible, should I... It is in the Bible, just not in the words you're demanding of it. But if, if Jesus is called God, which he is, in different places. And if he has the characteristics of divinity like the Creator, and he has the privileges, he is to receive worship. He did receive worship, but you worship God alone.

But Jesus received worship. These things all fit together. God says, I will not share my glory with another, but he glorifies Jesus. Yeah, there it is. You know, and read John chapter 5. you know, Jesus talks about, so all would honor me even as they honor the Father. What? I give life to whoever I will.

What? These are brash statements. And they're the statements of a lunatic unless they're true of Jesus. So there is an abundance in the record of these kinds of statements that, allow us to draw the conclusion scripturally that Jesus is God, but he's not the Father, who is also God. And the way that I put it in others, I didn't think of this, but others, you see, they're like one what and three who's, some way of putting it. If you want to, the best way to capture it all in one, or there is one God with three centers of consciousness.

One God, three centers of consciousness within that God. They call it hypostasis, but that's the technical theological word. The point is, okay, here's the best we can do. You're right. There's no parallel. There's no analogous circumstance in the world because God's unique. And most of the parallels or the illustrations fail badly, as it turns out, describing something that's actually heretical.

but that the text teaches these things is pretty clear. And this is why my approach to this is that it's a solution. The Trinity is a solution. It's not a problem textually. If you reject that, you have huge problems with the text. Now, if you don't care about the text, all right, then no big deal. Well, he said if it's not in the Bible, do I have to believe it? So we're saying, yes, it's in the Bible.

And think about the Holy Spirit. if the scripture is inspired by God, is breathed out by God, and yet it also says the Holy Spirit spoke through the mouth of David, again, you have the Holy Spirit being God, and that's just the first one that comes to mind for me. Yeah. And all of those other details, pretty much most of them that I mentioned, specifically apply to the Spirit as well, called God has divine prerogatives and exercises to find. behaviors, so to speak. So these are, there's somebody uses the acronym Hand, H-A-N-D, honors and titles. I think that came from Rob Bowman and Ed Komachowski.

Ed Kowicewski, right. Yeah, they're, what was the name of their first book? Something about Jesus. It's putting Jesus in his place. Yes, I think that's it. I think that's it. They've expanded that by another 150 pages or something out in a different title. But, yeah, they use that as a way of keeping in mind.

You know, I just use divine title called God. Essentially, they do the things that only God could do, and they have privileges that God gets, like being worshipped, for example. So the bottom line is that these things are in the Bible. People didn't just out of the blue come up with the idea of the Trinity and impose that on the Bible. It came from the Bible and was argued for using the Bible. That's right. And this goes with the previous question we had.

But hopefully that'll make that a little more clear to you. Ernie, thank you so much for a question. And thank you, Jim, also. And we'd love to hear from you. If you have a question, you can always send that on X with the hashtag STRASK. And we always look forward to hearing from you. This is Amy Hall and Greg Cogel for Stand to Reason.