The Nugget:
Joh 8:24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. (KJV)
Joh 8:24 Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins. (LITV, Literal Translation of the Holy Bible, an e-Sword Bible resource)
My Comment:
Someone on Facebook raised the valuable question:
“Can anyone show me where the Bible says Jesus is God the Son?”
This question is an example of the “exact word fallacy,” where a questioner raises a question demanding an answer in the “exact words” the question specifies. Moslems employ this fallacy frequently. So do Jehovah’s Witnesses. There may be others who fall into this logical trap. Nevertheless, here is my answer:
My Response:
There are some things in the Bible that must be understood by necessary inference.
Joh 8:23 And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world.
Joh 17:5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Joh 8:24 Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.
From these passages, we can by necessary inference conclude:
(1) Jesus Christ had an existence with the Father from all eternity past;
(2) “I AM” does not merely mean “I exist.” “I AM” is a divine title which Jesus claimed for Himself. That is a title that belongs to God Himself. Therefore, as the Jewish audience correctly concluded in context, Jesus Christ was claiming to be God.
(3) Jesus Christ declared that if anyone does not believe in His deity (that He is the I AM of Scripture), that person will die in their sin. In other words, that person cannot be saved and does not have everlasting life.
From Scripture, therefore, we know that (1) Jesus is God; (2) Jesus is the Son of God; and (3) it is therefore by necessary inference proper to call Jesus God the Son.
