BELIEF
To become a Christian, one must believe in God. “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6). Furthermore, one must believe that Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the only Begotten Son of God (John 3:16). When Jesus walked this earth, to the Jews He declared, “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” (John 8:24).
Belief and faith pertain to the same thing in one’s life. “Believe” is a verb showing that action is required on the part of the person trusting the thing or the one in which that person believes. “Faith” is a noun permitting us to think of belief as a thing. In either case the words reference a state of mind that shows confidence and trust in God, Christ, and the Gospel system to save one from one’s sins. (Sin is the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4; Jam. 4:17; Rom. 1:16). Sin is the only thing that can separate man from God. As the prophet Isaiah wrote: “But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear” (Isa. 59:2). Furthermore, all have sinned against God and, thus, are separated from Him and in need of a savior (Rom. 3:23; 6:23; Mat. 18:11).
To be able to believe in something or someone requires adequate evidence and/or credible witnesses proving that the thing or the one in which we believe is worthy of our complete trust and confidence. As the apostle Paul wrote to the church in Thessalonica, “Prove all things; hold fast that which is good” (1 Th. 5:21). How such a belief is formed in man regarding God and His only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul wrote, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). A simple definition of faith is this, taking God at His Word. Why is the foregoing the case regarding faith? The answer is, because the Word of God reveals adequate evidence proving the Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the only Begotten Son of God. As Jesus said of Himself to His apostles, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him (John 14:6, 7). The apostle John wrote, “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name (John 20:30, 31). Thus, the fundamental purpose of the first four books of the New Testament (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) is to prove that Jesus is God’s only Begotten Son, the only Savior of the world.
We have all heard of the erroneous view that knowledge goes only so far, then we must take “a leap of faith” when it comes to the existence of God, the Deity of Christ, and the plenary verbal inspiration of the Bible. Such could not be further from the truth. This is the case because most people accept empirical knowledge as the only kind of knowledge there is, but that is not the case. Empirical knowledge comes from what we can examine with our five senses (seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting). This is the knowledge that limits science to knowing what can be examined through man’s five senses. However, there is knowledge that comes through contemplation and deductive reasoning. It is appealed to daily in our justice system and is necessary in many cases to prove someone to be guilty of a crime. For example, that which evidences design implies a designer capable of producing the design. Thus, if one’s faith in God is accurate it is because of one’s inferring that the design of the universe implies a designer capable of designing and bringing into existence the universe, namely God. Moreover, of Jesus being Deity, the inspired apostle Peter preached, “Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know” (Acts 2:22). The apostle also appealed to evidence implying Christ’s Deity when he gave adequate evidence that Christ was raised from the dead to die no more (Acts 2:29-32). Please understand that what may be known by implication is just as knowable as that which is explicitly said. Thus, if our knowledge of Christ is wrong our faith in Christ based on said erroneous knowledge is wrong. But one’s faith in Christ comes by the Word of God—the knowledge revealed in the Bible that proves Jesus Christ to have been Deity in the flesh on earth (John 1:1, 2, 14). This is the faith that must be formed in one concerning God and His Christ, for it is essential to one’s salvation.
Is one saved by faith only? No, that doctrine is not found in the Bible. It is false. James wrote, “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” (Jam. 2:17). Indeed, James also penned, “the devils believe and tremble” (2:19). Merely and only assenting to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God is a dead faith, saves no one, and is only on the devil level of faith. Again James wrote, “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only” (Jam. 2:24).
The works of which James writes are not works of merit or works of the Law of Moses. By them no one can be saved (Eph. 2:9; Gal. 2:16). The works of which James writes are works of obedience, the only way one can show another his love of and faith in God, Jesus, and Godly things (John 14:15; Ecc. 12:13, 14). James uses Abraham as an example of faithful obedience to God’s will in writing, “Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect” (Jam. 2:22)? Thus, the faith that saves is the faith that obeys—not a partial or imperfect faith in Christ (Heb. 5:9; Rom. 6:17, 18).
Yes, faith in God and Christ is essential to salvation, but faith alone will save no one. Indeed, there are many things that save one—the death of Christ, the blood of Christ, confession or faith in Christ, the Bible, the love of God—but not one of them or anything else that saves us can do so alone.