Many people are believers in many things but few have taken the trouble to ask this question. We live in belief times. Religions point people to believe in deities and their saints while the secular world appeals to the populace to believe in icons and the modern philosophy motivates people to believe in themselves.
As Christians, we need to pause and ask ourselves what does it mean to believe in Jesus Christ? To address this question, however, the best place to begin from is asking what belief really before we address its nature when it is addressed to its object (Jesus Christ).
WHAT IS BELIEF
In simple terms ‘Belief is an acceptance that something is true either based on empirical evidence or without proof at all‘ and living and acting equally the same with evidence and without evidence
Everything factual and assumptive in life survives and thrives on belief. Assumptions might evolve into practical facts if the belief attributed to them is stable and facts might be reduced to heresy minus believers.
NEW TESTAMENT DEFINITION OF BELIEF
In the New Testament Greek, ‘Belief‘ is a verb and the term is Pistueo and the root word from which we get the English word ‘faith‘ is Pistis.
Faith (pistis) means firm persuasion, assurance, firm conviction. However, Belief (pistueo) means to trust in and rely upon, commit to the charge of, a mental persuasion and to confide in.
When you look at these two Greek new testament words, you are justified to conclude that they are synonymous and the New Testament writers use them interchangeably to mean the same thing.
The Scriptural definition of faith/belief we have is in Hebrews 11:1 and it says:
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen.
From this definition, we learn two fundamental aspects of Biblical Belief as opposed to all other philosophies of Belief/Faith. We learn that Biblical faith/Belief is:
- SUBSTANTIAL
- EVIDENTIAL
THE HOW OF BELIEF
Now that we have established what Belief is, this leads us to what it means to believe in Jesus Christ. To appreciate this, we begin by how belief is constructed in conscious beings like us.
According to Romans 10:17, it comes by HEARING and just hearing not anything but the WORD OF CHRIST. We already have the first two stages of what it means to believe in Jesus Christ. It is by hearing first. Because without this audibility by human internal or external sound receptors belief is impossible (Romans 10:14).
So here we say that to believe in Christ means to, first of all, have (hear) him right and hear the right information about him. Since he is the object of belief he must be gotten right. In case he is misrepresented or confused then the whole belief system is wrong (2Corinthians 11:4).
What it means to believe in Jesus, therefore, is first getting the facts from and about him correct (Acts 4:4). You cannot claim to believe in what you do not understand, belief begins at that stage. That is why Hebrews 11:1 told us that it is EVIDENCE.
However, it doesn’t start and end there. Belief in Jesus Christ is not orthodox head knowledge. It is not a collection of facts about Jesus neither is it the ability to recognise who Jesus is. If this was all there was to believe, then Satan and demons beat all of us at this (James 2:19, Mathew 8:29, Luke 4:41). While all this is important, belief is a coin with two sides, that of EVIDENCE (facts oriented) and that of SUBSTANCE (mystical face).
Believing in Jesus means trusting in his PERSON (substance) even when he makes no POINT (evidence). Believers in Christ consider evidence to be on equal footing with no proof at all as long as it is Jesus in focus.
Jesus is the Lord and saviour but for him to qualify as your Lord and saviour is by your belief, without it, his lordship and being the saviour is of no effect at all on your life. Jesus forgives sins but only believers are forgiven and only those who understand who he is exactly know how his forgiveness works.
Salvation is by his Grace but through one’s belief. Note that salvation and eternal life can only access us through our belief (Ephesians 2:8-9, John 3:16-17, Acts 16:31). Without it, we cannot impress God regardless of how morally good we are (Hebrews 11:6, Ephesians 2:9).
I could go on and on but here is a practical example that summarises all that we have discussed in answering the question of what it means to believe in Jesus Christ.
ABRAHAM
- He heard the word = Romans 4:13
- He turned (repented) = Romans 4:18-19
- He embraced the hope without facts = Romans 4:18
- He did not waver in his commitment = Romans 4:20
- He rejoiced in it as an Accomplishment even before he received a thing = Romans 4:20
That is what it means to believe in Jesus Christ.
God bless you, I invoke Truth, Reason and Faith (2Tim 2:7)
Priest Isaiah-White
@Think & Become
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John4:24)
iTiS Well of Worship Fellowship (John 4:24) 