342. The preceding part of this chapter (337-339) showed that the faith that saves us is faith in the Lord God our Savior Jesus Christ. The question is, what is the first step toward faith in him? The answer is acknowledging that he is the Son of God. This was the first step toward faith that the Lord revealed and proclaimed when he came into the world. If people had not started by acknowledging that he was the Son of God, and therefore God from God, it would have been pointless for him, and later for his apostles, to have preached faith in him.
There is in fact something like this today among people whose thoughts are based on their own self-importance, that is, on their outer, earthly selves alone. They say to themselves, "How could Jehovah God conceive a son? How could a human being be God?" Therefore it is necessary to use the Word to establish and support this first step into faith; the following passages are offered for this purpose:
"The angel said to Mary, 'You will conceive in your womb and give birth, and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest. ' And Mary said to the angel, 'How will this take place, since I have not had intercourse?' The angel answered, 'The Holy Spirit will descend upon you, and the power of the Highest will cover you; therefore the Holy One that is born from you will be called the Son of God'" (Luke 1:31-32, 34-35). When Jesus was baptized, a voice came from heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:16-17; Mark 1:10-11; Luke 3:21-22). Furthermore, when Jesus was transfigured, a voice came from heaven saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him" (Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:35).
[2] "Jesus asked his disciples, 'Who do people say I am?' Peter answered, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. ' Jesus said, 'You are blessed, Simon, son of Jonah. I say to you, on this rock I will build my church'" (Matthew 16:13, 16-18).
The Lord said, then, that he would build his church on this rock, that is, on the truth and the confession that he is the Son of God. In fact, a "rock" means a truth, and also the Lord's divine truth. The church does not exist in someone who does not confess the truth that Jesus is the Son of God. That is why I said just above that this is the first step into faith in Jesus Christ - this is faith at its very outset.
John the Baptist saw and testified that Jesus is the Son of God (John 1:34). The disciple Nathaniel said to Jesus, "You are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel" (John 1:49). The twelve disciples said, "We have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (John 6:69). Jesus is called the only begotten Son of God and the only begotten from the Father, who is close to the Father's heart (John 1:14, 18; 3:16). Jesus himself confessed before the high priest that he was the Son of God (Matthew 26:63-64; 27:43; ; Luke 22:70). "Those who were in the boat came and worshiped Jesus saying, 'Truly you are the Son of God'" (Matthew 14:33). The eunuch who wanted to be baptized said to Philip, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (Acts of the Apostles 8:37). After Paul was converted, he preached that "Jesus is the Son of God" (Acts of the Apostles 9:20). Jesus said, "The hour is coming when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live" (John 5:25). "Those who do not believe have already been judged because they have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God" (John 3:18). "These things have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing may have life in his name" (John 20:31). "I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life and so that you may believe in the name of the Son of God" (1 John 5:13). "We know that the Son of God came and enabled us to know the truth. We are in the truth in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:20). "If any confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them, and they live in God" (1 John 4:15). Also elsewhere, as in Matthew 8:29; 27:40, 43, 54; Mark 1:1; 3:11; 15:39; Luke 8:28; John 9:35; 10:36; 11:4, 27; 19:7; Romans 1:4; 2 Corinthians 1:19; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 4:13; Hebrews 4:14; 6:6; 7:3; 10:29; 1 John 3:8; 5:10; Revelation 2:18.
There are many other passages in which Jehovah mentions his Son and the Son himself calls Jehovah God his Father, as in the following: "Whatever the Father does, the Son does. As the Father raises the dead and brings them to life, so does the Son. As the Father has life in himself, so he has given the Son to have life in himself, therefore all should honor the Son as they honor the Father" (John 5:19-27). This also happens in many other passages, including David: "I will announce this decision: Jehovah said to me, 'You are my Son. Today I fathered you. ' Kiss the Son or he will be angry and you will perish on the way because he will flare up with his brief anger. Blessed are all those who trust in him" (Psalms 2:7, 12).
[3] On the basis of these passages, we can now draw the conclusion that everyone who wants to be a true Christian and be saved by Christ has to believe that Jesus is the Son of the living God.
Those who do not believe this and think of Jesus as only the Son of Mary implant in themselves various ideas about him that are damaging and destructive to their salvation (see above, 90, 94, 102). One could say the same thing about them as about the Jews - instead of a royal crown, they put a crown of thorns on Jesus' head, give him vinegar to drink, and shout, "If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross" [see Matthew 27:40]. Or else they say what the devil who tempted him said: "If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread," or, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down [from the Temple roof]" (Matthew 4:3, 6).
People like this desecrate the Lord's church and his house of worship. They make it a den of thieves. They are the people who turn devotion to the Lord into something like devotion to Muhammad. They do not distinguish between true Christianity, which is worship of the Lord, and materialist philosophy. They could be compared to people riding in a carriage or a wagon on thin ice, and the ice breaks under them, and they sink, and they and their horses and carriage disappear into the icy water. They could also be compared to people who weave a life raft out of rushes and reeds, using tar to glue it together; and they set out onto the great expanse of the ocean, but out there the tar glue dissolves; and choked by the brine, they are swallowed up and buried in the depths of the sea.
