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God sent the prophet Jonah to Nineveh and He sent other prophets
to other parts of the ancient world. Yes, people before the
apostles were saved.
Believe in the Trinity?
Must one believe in the Trinity? The answer is no! Today, all
that God requires for us to be right with Him is that a person
believe that Jesus Christ died and returned to life in order
to forgive our sins; that is the “gospel message.” The
word “gospel” means “Good News.”
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Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I
preached to you . . . that Christ died for our sins
according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried,
and that He was raised on the third day according to
the Scriptures . . . (NASB) 1 Corinthians 15:1, 3-4
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Nothing more is required. Baptism is not required; penance
is not required; there is no purgatory, and self-abuse of
any kind is not required. All one must do is believe in Jesus.
But what does it mean to believe in Jesus? Some think it
means to believe intellectual facts; but that cannot be true
since the apostle Paul said,
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. . . if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and
believe in your heart that God raised Him from the
dead, you will be saved . . . (NASB) Rom. 10:9
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Just Believe In God?
When God asks us to believe in Jesus some people assume that
means they have accepted some facts. But when the apostle Paul
wrote to the Corinthians, he appealed to them by using the
facts that they knew about Jesus’ death and return to
life (1 Corinthians 15:1-8) to call them to believe. That implies
something more than just an intellectual belief. The medical
doctor Luke provided Theophilus an entire book of facts about
Jesus to help him believe in Jesus.
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. . . it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated
everything carefully from the beginning, to write it
out for you in consecutive order, most excellent Theophilus;
so that you may know the exact truth about the things
you have been taught. (NASB) Luke 1:2-4
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Belief means that we start with some facts about Jesus and
then entrust ourselves to Him. That is, we must trust or
depend that He is God. He died for our sins, and can and
will forgive our sins if we want Him to do that. There is
no other person who can do this.
Conclusion:
Before Jesus Christ, God saved men and women as long as they
believed in God with what little understanding they had.
They had to believe in the true God and not in some idol
or general divine knowledge as the Hindus and others would
have us believe. I believe they also had to have some understanding
about the coming Messiah - Jesus Christ. We know that Job
knew about the Messiah.
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. . . I know that my Redeemer lives . . . (NASB) Job
19:25
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Today, God requires that we
believe Jesus
was the God-man, that He died and returned to life, and that
only through Him can we have our sins forgiven. God wants to
save every man and woman, but He leaves that choice to each
of us.
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The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count
slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for
any to perish but for all to come to repentance. (NASB)
2 Peter 3:9
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