The Jewish belief is that dreams are the medium through which God speaks to the faithful. The disciples, seeing Jesus and interacting with him in their dreams, convince them that Jesus survived death and was in the eternal realm of God.
They saw Jesus in dreams and realized he was in the realm of God, which is the reward of the righteous. This convinced them that Jesus was right and they would survive death too, if they had the faith and courage to hold out till the bitter end.
Their faith had absolutely nothing whatever to do at all with a belief, an irrational belief, that Jesus was God.
You two have been arguing semantics.
When we discuss God in the modern age - most people automatically think of one God, creator of heaven and Earth. The term "gods" is present in older manuscripts and Biblical translations but has been changed to angels and kings in modern versions.
Both Jesus' followers and even some of his naysayers acknowledged that Jesus was a prophet, teacher and healer. The people closest to him felt and believed he was even more. Jesus himself did not want these types of titles being spread about him - he wanted individuals to believe in his message because of the miracles and healing it provided - not because of a title given to him by others.
Mark 1:
Jesus Heals a Man With Leprosy
40. ;A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees, “If you are willing, you can make me clean.”
41. Jesus was indignant. He reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” 42. Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed.
43. Jesus sent him away at once with a strong warning: 44.
“See that you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them.” 45. Instead he went out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people still came to him from everywhere.
Here, not only did Jesus tell the man not to tell anyone, he also instructed him to follow the Mosaic Law of cleansing sacrifice as a testament to the religious leaders. Why? "Because Jesus did not come to abolish the law but to fulfil it."
In Mark 7, Jesus again instructs them not to speak of it:
31. Returning from the region of Tyre, Jesus traveled by way of Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, and into the region of the Decapolis. 32. Thereupon people brought to him a deaf man who had a speech impediment and begged him to lay his hand on him. 33. He took him aside, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into the man’s ears and, spitting, touched his tongue. 34. Then, looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him,
“Ephphatha!” which means, “Be opened!” 35. At once, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened, and he spoke properly.
36. Then he ordered them not to tell anyone, but the more he ordered them not to do so, the more widely they proclaimed it. 37. Their astonishment was beyond measure. “He has done all things well,” they said. “He even makes the deaf able to hear and the mute able to speak.”
In Mark 10, Jesus states that it is through faith that the man is healed - emphasizing faith and understanding:
46 Then they came to Jericho. And as Jesus, his disciples, and a huge crowd were leaving Jericho, a blind man, Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, Mark was sitting by the roadside asking for alms. 47When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout, “Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!” 48. ;Many rebuked him and told him to be silent, but he only shouted all the louder, “Son of David, have pity on me!”
49. Jesus stopped and said, “Call him.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take heart! Stand up! He is calling you!” 50. Casting aside his cloak, he jumped up and went to Jesus. 51. Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “Rabbi, let me receive my sight.” 52. Jesus said to him,
“Go on your way! Your faith has made you well.” Immediately, he received his sight and followed him along the road.
Again in Matthew 22:
22Jesus turned and saw her.
“Take heart, daughter,” he said, “your faith has healed you.” And the woman was healed at that moment.
It is evident through these passages (and many more) that the people praised and raised Jesus to prophetic levels by his works and teachings - to the point that it eventually caused the religious leaders to bring accusations of blasphemy against him, among other charges.
One must also understand that Jesus spoke and taught in a Spiritual sense - meaning that his personal relationship with God was one of Father and Son. He spoke about it from a very spiritual place of love and understanding - not form a place of forced authority. He repeatedly stated that it was through people's faith in God that they were healed - it was through their faith in God that they understood his teachings and so forth.
Through his passion and sacrifice - he became deified among the people. In pagan Rome - he could have easily been regarded as a "Son of god" and later even a "god" There are historical accounts of Romans mocking Christians stating that they followed the Jewish version of the god Dionysus - among others.
If you take note - when Pilate questioned him, he asked him if he was "The King of the Jews" - he did not ask him if he proclaimed to be God. Why? Because to Rome, him being deified among the people would not have been something utterly offensive in pagan Rome. What would have caused issues is if Jesus proclaimed that he was King of the Jews over Caesar - which Jesus never claimed.
Throughout the writings of the Apostles- Jesus is referred to as "The Son of God" and was praised as being one with the Father in the Spiritual sense. The Holy Trinity specifically states that God is The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit - 3 persons - one God.
To conclude, Jesus spoke of being spiritually one with the Father. That said -
he still spoke of the Father as a separate person when giving his final instructions his Apostles:
John 16:
25;“I have used figures of speech
to explain these things to you.
The hour is coming
when I will no longer use figures,
but I will tell you about the Father in plain words.
26;When that day comes,
you will make requests in my name.
I do not say
that I will entreat the Father on your behalf.
27;For the Father himself loves you
because you have loved me
and have come to believe
that I came from God.
28I came from the Father
and have come into the world.
Now I am leaving the world
and returning to the Father.”
