John 8:24 why are you still in your sins if you do not believe that Jesus is God?

[TrevorL]

Greetings "Jesus is YHWH",

12 I Am Sayings of Jesus, not 8 as most scholars discuss. The JW's and every other unitarian cannot refute the truth below regarding Jesus as the Great I AM.
8. I Am
“unless you believe I Am He you will die in your sins” John 8:24
9. I Am
Before Abraham was born I AM- John 8:58

As a Biblical Unitarian, I notice that you missed quoting John 8:28 in your list. Please refer to my previous comments, copied below:

I suggest that John 8:24 is part of the theme in John's Gospel of whether or not Jesus is the Messiah, and also on the next level, of whether or not Jesus is the Son of God. It is interesting that immediately after John 8:24 Jesus uses the same expression "I am he" again, and I doubt very much that he is claiming to be Deity, as he highlights that he is The Son of Man and absolutely dependent on God, his Father.
John 8:28 (KJV): Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things.
I would even suggest that the popular verse John 8:58 should also be translated "I am he" and is part of this theme:
John 8:58 (KJV adjusted): Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am he.

I also have a thread on the Yahweh Name, and the early posts of this was to claim that Exodus 3:14 should be translated as "I Will Be" as per Tyndale, RV and RSV margins and AB Davidson, not "I AM". I also disagree with your forum title "Jesus is YHWH". There is One God, Yahweh, God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ is the Son of God Psalm 110:1.

Kind regards
Trevor

 

[PeterDona]

John 3:16 does not say, "God so loved the world that He sent His only Son that whosoever is able to know everything there is to know about His nature and Character and that of His son Jesus Christ, whether He is God or not, or how he was able to be our substitute for sin and rise again from the dead, would not perish but would have eternal life. Look up John 3:16 and see what it actually says.

Hm, yes, I actually took some weeks to think about this.
What is the level of sufficient knowledge? Well, I think that the deity of Christ is a must-believe dogma. Decided by the Church that this is something you must believe. So our inquiry could also be: what caused the Church to make such a demand?

After thinking about John 3:16 again, it came to my mind that what you are asking for, is actually right there in the middle of the verse. I am referring to the term "his only begotten Son". Now, some recent thinking about the greek term "monogenes" would indicate that it could be better translated "unique". Example this reference: click

In what way then was Jesus unique? For me, it positively addresses his being divine, since he must be more than an angel (see also for this hebrews 1, a reference that popped into my mind here, but you may already be well familiar with that passage).

regards, Peter

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Hm, yes, I actually took some weeks to think about this.
What is the level of sufficient knowledge? Well, I think that the deity of Christ is a must-believe dogma. Decided by the Church that this is something you must believe. So our inquiry could also be: what caused the Church to make such a demand?

After thinking about John 3:16 again, it came to my mind that what you are asking for, is actually right there in the middle of the verse. I am referring to the term "his only begotten Son". Now, some recent thinking about the greek term "monogenes" would indicate that it could be better translated "unique". Example this reference: click

In what way then was Jesus unique? For me, it positively addresses his being divine, since he must be more than an angel (see also for this hebrews 1, a reference that popped into my mind here, but you may already be well familiar with that passage).

regards, Peter

Believing the simple Gospel that Jesus died for our sins on the Cross and putting our trust in Him is what saves us and causes us to be born again of the Holy Spirit. It is after we are born again that we learn the wider theological issues concerning the character and nature of Jesus.