Belief in Jesus Christ
Posted on April 9, 2007
Filed Under Matt Clifton, Salvation
by Matt Clifton
We continue now in our series of articles on how one can know for certain he or she is a Christian. In our last article, we noted that faith comes from hearing the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). This necessarily rules out the ideas of being “born a Christian” because our parents were Christians, or becoming a Christian by a miraculous action of God apart from hearing His word. It also shows that one does not become a Christian by being baptized as a baby, since faith must precede both baptism and becoming a child of God (Gal. 3:26-27; Acts 8:36-37). Furthermore, since there is no hint of a “sinner’s prayer” in the scripture, we learned that one cannot become a Christian in that way, either.
So, the origin of faith in Christ is the gospel of salvation (Rom. 1:16). But what kind of faith in Jesus Christ must one have in order to be a Christian? We are all familiar with the discussion between Jesus and the Jewish ruler Nicodemus recorded in John chapter 3. We are especially familiar with John 3:16, where we read that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.
But what, exactly, are we to believe about Him? There are Bible “scholars” who believe that Jesus was only a “wise teacher,” denying that He was divine. There are people who admit that Jesus existed, but do not attribute any supernatural qualities to His life. There are other religions who believe Jesus was a great prophet, but no more than that. Will this sort of belief save them?
The answer is a resounding “no!” In the opening chapter of John’s gospel account, the writer makes the statement that “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1). Then in John 1:14, he tells us that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us! So it is easy to see that John is telling us that Jesus is more than just a “wise teacher” or a “good man,” but rather that He is God!
It is clear that Jesus says we must believe that He is the Son of God, the expected Messiah, in order to be saved. Jesus says in John 8:23-24, “You are from below, I am from above; you are of this world, I am not of this world. Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
How clear Jesus makes things for us! He tells us that we must believe that He is the Messiah. When Peter made his confession of the Christ in Matthew 16:16, he said to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” With this confession Jesus was pleased (Matt. 16:17).
So the type of faith we are to have in Christ is one that has confidence that Jesus is God in the flesh, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. But there’s a little more. Our faith must also be one that trusts and acts! In Luke 6:46 Jesus says, “Why do you call me “˜Lord, Lord,’ and do not the things I say?” He goes on to say that those who hear His words and do them will be like a man building a house on a solid foundation. But the one who hears and does not do His word will be like a man building a house with no foundation, and the collapse and ruin of that house will be great (Luke 6:49). After all, the scriptures tell us that even the demons believe in God (James 2:19) and recognize that Jesus is the Son of God (Matt. 8:29), but it does them no good since it is not combined with trust and obedience. James further tells us that faith without works is dead (James 2:17).
We’ve learned now that faith is produced only by the Word of God, and that no one ever became a Christian except by hearing or reading the gospel, and obeying it. We’ve learned today that the kind of faith we must have to be a Christian is one that has confidence that Jesus is God who came in the flesh, the Messiah who came to save us from our sins. In the next article we will look at Jesus’ requirement for repentance.
RELATED POSTS:
Confessing Christ before men
We Are Not Those People!
A Time for Non-Conformity
Hearing the word of God
Counterfeit Christianity
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