Question: Is the following statement true?
Whoever desires to be saved should above all hold to the catholic faith.
Anyone who does not keep it whole and unbroken will doubtless perish eternally.
Now this is the catholic faith:
That we worship one God in Trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confounding their persons nor dividing the essence.
For the person of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another.
But the divinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son and such is the Holy Spirit.The Father is uncreated,
the Son is uncreated; the Holy Spirit is uncreated. The Father is immeasurable; the Son is immeasurable; the Holy Spirit is immeasurable.
The Father is eternal;
the Son is eternal;
the Holy Spirit is eternal;
And yet there are not three eternal beings;
there is but one eternal being.
So too there are not three uncreated or immeasurable beings; there is but
one uncreated and immeasurable being.
Similarly, the Father is almighty; the Son is almighty; the Holy Spirit is almighty.
Yet there are not three almighty beings;
there is but one almighty being.
Thus, the Father is God;
the Son is God;
the Holy Spirit is God.
Yet there are not three gods;
there is but one God.
Thus, the Father is Lord;
the Son is Lord;
the Holy Spirit is Lord.
Yet there are not three lords;
there is but one Lord.
Just as Christian truth compels us
to confess each person individually
as both God and Lord,
so catholic religion forbids us
to say that there are three gods or lords.
The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten from anyone.
The Son was neither made nor created; he was begotten from the Father alone.
The Holy Spirit was neither made nor created nor begotten; he proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Accordingly, there is one Father, not three fathers; there is one Son, not three sons;
there is one Holy Spirit, not three holy spirits.
None in this Trinity is before or after,
none is greater or smaller; in their entirety the three persons are coeternal and coequal with each other.
So in everything, as was said earlier,
the unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in unity,
is to be worshipped.
Anyone then who desires to be saved
should think thus about the Trinity.
But it is necessary for eternal salvation
that one also believe in the incarnation
of our Lord Jesus Christ faithfully.
Now this is the true faith:
That we believe and confess
that our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s Son,
is both God and man, equally.
He is God from the essence of the Father,
begotten before time; and he is man from the essence of his mother, born in time;
completely God, completely man,
with a rational soul and human flesh;
equal to the Father as regards divinity,
less than the Father as regards humanity.
Although he is God and man,
yet Christ is not two, but one.
He is one, however, not by his divinity being turned into flesh, but by God’s taking humanity to himself. He is one, certainly not by the blending of his essence, but by the unity of his person. For just as one man is both rational soul and flesh, so too the one Christ is both God and man.
He suffered for our salvation;
he descended to hell;
he arose from the dead on the third day;
he ascended to heaven;
he is seated at the Father’s right hand;
from there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
At his coming all people will arise bodily
and give an accounting of their own deeds.
Those who have done good will enter eternal life, and those who have done evil will enter eternal fire.
This is the catholic faith: That one cannot be saved without believing it firmly and faithfully.
Answer: NO! It most certainly is not! If true, then propositional revelation itself is a proper object of saving faith. It is one thing to say that we are morally obligated to believe the true state of affairs in general, especially when it comes to who & what God is & what God is like, but it quite another to say that propositional statements in & of themselves are proper objects of saving faith.
In other words, the LORD Himself is the proper object at saving faith. People are able to believe true statements about any number of true propositions about God, Christ, the world around us, math, numbers, the plots of any number of literary works, & so on without trusting in God, Christ, the world around us, math, numbers, & the plots of any number of literary works, & so on for their own personal salvation.
Question: What about John 8:24?
24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.”
Is this text teaching you face to believe in the Trinity to be justified?
Obviously not, insofar as in John 8:24 Yeshua refers to Himself as to His divinity as God, not necessarily any specific member of the Godhead.
Yeshua is theandric - fully God & fully human. As to God, not created, infinite, eternal, & unchangeable in being, wisdom, power, justice, holiness, goodness, & truth. As to humanity, created, finite, ephemeral, & mutable as to being, wisdom, power, justice, holiness, goodness, & truth.
So, as to divinity, God speaks and reminds them that they are to call on His name —- THE LORD’s name —- not YESHUA’s name — to be saved. God Himself is their Creator & Deliverer. As to Yeshua’s humanity, He himself is not our Creator, & he is only our Deliverer in a derivative sense. It is GOD who justifies (Romans 8:33), not Yeshua as to His human nature.
“Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.”
In context, in John 8:24, Yeshua has informed the Pharisees that He is a just judge & that God, whom He calls His Father, is also their judge.
So, as to Christology, we can follow 2 tracks: “What He was saying as to His divinity & what He was saying as to His humanity?”
You judge according to the flesh; I judge no one. 16 Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for it is not I alone who judge, but I and the Father who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the testimony of two people is true. 18 I am the one who bears witness about myself, and the Father who sent me bears witness about me.” (John 8:15–18)
As to divinity, the author is claiming that He Himself (Hashem) has come & is standing there as their judge. He’s also pointing to Yeshua’s humanity & informing them that he (Yeshua as to His humanity) too is their judge.
The Pharisees scoff & argue. Yeshua replies as a single entity & reminds them that they (the Pharisees) judge by appearances because they are blind to the fact that He is who & what He is & resents Him for daring to lawsuit them. He outright tells them that they don’t know God, whom He calls “Father.”
So he said to them again, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews said, “Will he kill himself, since he says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 He said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” (John 8:21–24, ESV)
As to His divinity, He is judging them for their works righteousness & unbelief. It’s a common theme in all four Gospels. As to His humanity, he is informing them that He is willing to die for God & God’s message & that, if they refuse to recognize him, they are, in effect, choosing to be their own Deliverers.
Just what I have been telling you from the beginning. 26 I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” 27 They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the Father.
Here, He reinterated as to His Divinity that He (God) is their Deliverer, not themselves. As to His humanity, he’s agreeing with who & what the LORD is & that, as to his humanity, he is a just, true judge sent from God & they ought to listen & obey God’s message instead of constantly remonstrating with Him & oppressing Him & anyone else who agrees with Him.
The text isn’t informing us that a body of propositional truth about who & what Yeshua was & is must be believed in order to be justified nor is it stating that we must believe God is triune in order to be justified. It’s saying what the rest of the Bible teaches: God is our ultimate Creator - Deliverer & that everybody who sins, especially those who go the route of hardcore works righteousness, holier than thou judginess, & acts of oppression on the order of the Pharisees with whom Yeshua was engaging, must repent & lay down their works righteousness that lies at the root of that attitude/posture in order to be justified.
That said, because we have a general obligation to believe in the objectively true state of affairs, we ought to believe that Yeshua is exactly who the Bible teaches He is — the theandric God-man who is the only Mediator between us & God, whose Person & Work underwrites God’s covenant(s) & Who stands above us all as righteous & true judge as to both His humanity & His divinity.
This is the Way! This is Our Prayer!
O LORD, Hear Our Prayer(s)!
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