Salvation Summaries

This post is one of my longer ones, but for those who are serious about learning how to become a Christian, or others who may question whether they really are one, this post will be well worth the time it takes to read it.

What does it mean to believe in Jesus?  

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV)

A Christmas pamphlet in our church had a funny section about believing, though it was in reference to Santa Claus rather than Jesus. According to it, there are four phases in a person’s life:

1) you believe in Santa Claus, 

2) you don’t believe in Santa Claus,

3) you become Santa Claus, and

4) you look like Santa Claus.

Young children believe in Santa Claus based upon their understanding of what believe means.  A number of older children and adults say they believe in Jesus, but do they really?

If we surveyed 100,000 adults in the United States and asked them if they believe in Jesus, what percent do you think would say “yes?”  60%?  70%?  More than 70%?  I don’t know the answer, but I believe a majority would say they believe in Him. And assuming most do, does this mean that most people in the United States are Christian? After all, John 3:16 says that if you believe in Jesus, you will receive eternal life.

The answer to this question is…no. Why? Most people’s understanding of what it means to believe in Jesus differs from how John (the author of the book of John) used this phrase and the word believe. John’s “believe” goes deeper than a standard dictionary definition of this word.  As a result, the percent of people who truly believe in Jesus is likely much lower. If I were a guessing man, I’d say it’s in the 10% – 15% range.

To show you what believe means (in the Bible), I will start with its dictionary definition, then move to a Bible definition using the word believe in its original Greek.  I will conclude with a discussion of several verses about eternal life that shed light on what believe in Jesus means.

Definition of believe according to a dictionary

According to Webster’s online dictionary, believe means:

• to hold as an opinion: supposed <I believe it will rain soon>
• to accept the word or evidence of <I believe you>
• to accept something as true, genuine, or real <believes in ghosts>
• to have a firm conviction as to the goodness, efficacy, or ability of something <believe in exercise>
• to have a firm religious faith

Of the above definitions, I believe most people would select any of the top three to constitute what believe means to them. In other words, in their view, and based upon a dictionary definition, believe means to accept as true something that is said, read or seen.  A minority of people may define believe in a slightly stronger way, moving from acceptance to a conviction in something.

If the people in our survey used this definition of believe when reading John 3:16 (“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.), what would they conclude?  They would say this: “I believe in the Son of God, and I also believe that whoever believes in Jesus will have eternal life. End of story.”

Now, if I were to ask these same people whether their belief in Jesus has affected how they live, or what they think, say and do, what would many of them say?  “No.”  Why? Because their belief in Jesus is simply an intellectual decision as to whether something is true; it does not move past the intellect to their heart.

I commented on this type of belief in my review of the Parable of the Sower from the book of Matthew.  In this parable, four types of people believe in Jesus, but only one bore fruit and was saved.  The others had what I call a “casual belief” in Jesus. The problem with a casual, or intellectual-only, belief, is that it does not save a person.

Definition of believe using its Greek word in the Bible 

To understand what believe means according to its use in the Bible, we need to move beyond a common dictionary definition to a Bible definition using a Bible dictionary, Bible encyclopedia, or a Hebrew/Greek lexicon.  My BibleWorks software contains all of these, and it also shows the originial Greek word for each English word in the New Testament. There are some online Bible Study tools websites that provide much of this for free.

The Greek word for the word believe in John 3:16 (and in a number of other verses with the word “believe” in John) is pisteuo. Pisteuo is derived from pistis, which is where we get the English word faith. As a result, believe, in this verse, is very similar to the word faith (and at least one commentator I read views believe as having the same meaning as faith).

Based upon the use of several lexicons, dictionaries and concordances, I came up with the following definitions for pisteuo:

• to be persuaded of
• to believe something to be true and hence worthy of being trusted
• to have confidence or place confidence in what is written or spoken, or in a person
• to trust one; entrust (see John 2:23-24)
• conviction and trust

Summarizing these definitions, I would define believe as follows:

• It begins with accepting something as true, but also includes trusting what is written or spoken, or in someone.  As such, it is not simply an intellectual decision; it involves the heart. 

Thus, if we were to apply this definition to John 3:16 (which says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.), it would mean that a person accepts as true that Jesus is God’s Son, and that Jesus gives eternal life to those who believe in Him.  But it would also mean that such person trusts in Jesus.  Trust, as you know, goes beyond acceptance.

Now, if we took another survey of adults and asked them whether they trust in Jesus, what percent do you think would say “yes?” I think its obvious that it would be lower than those who said they believe in Jesus.

Other verses about eternal life that shed light on what believe means

My general approach to understand a word or concept in the Bible is to look at all of the verses that contain this word or concept, wrap my arms around them, analyze them, and then summarize what the word or concept means.  I can then supplement my understanding of this with definitions of words and concepts from a Bible dictionary or lexicon.

In the book of John, it is clear that believing in Jesus is required for a person to receive eternal life, for there are many verses that say this.  However, other verses appear to require something other than believing in Jesus to receive eternal life.  Examples include receiving Jesus, coming to Jesus, and being born again.

This raises the question whether these other things are independent of believing in Him, or similar to believing in Him.  If they are independent, but required for a person to go to heaven, then John 3:16 would not make sense, for it says that believing in Jesus is all one needs to do to receive eternal life.

However, if they are similar to, related to, or part of what believing in Jesus really means, then John 3:16, and other eternal life verses (that say something other than believing) make sense.  Why? Because they would all be saying the same thing, but in different ways.

Let me provide a few examples for you and I think this will make more sense.

Receive Jesus – John says in 1:12, “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…”  When a person becomes a child of God, that person is born again and thus saved. If receiving Jesus results in eternal life, and believing in Jesus results in eternal life, than receiving Jesus must be similar to believing in Jesus.  Verse 1:12 essentially confirms this, as the middle part of that verse (“those who believed in his name”) restates the meaning of the first part of the verse (“Yet to all who received him.).

Born again – Jesus says in John 3:3, “…Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” He repeats this in John 3:5 and 3:7.  When a person is born again, he/she can see or enter the kingdom of God, and thus receives eternal life.  If being born again results in eternal life, and believing in Jesus results in eternal life, then being born again must be related to, or similar with, believing in Jesus.  Here again, there is a verse in John that seems to confirm this, and it is the part of the one I showed above.

In John 1:12-13, John says “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”  

Come to Me – Jesus says in John 5:39, “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.”  Thus, a person who “comes to Jesus” receives eternal life from Him.  If coming to Jesus results in eternal life, and believing in Jesus results in eternal life, then coming to Jesus must be related to, or similar with, believing in Him.  Actually, there are two other verses in John that seem to confirm this.

The first one is in John 6:35, where Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”  In the second sentence of this verse, the latter part is essentially restating the former part.  In other words, the “he who believes in me will never be thirsty” is the same thing as “He who comes to me will never go hungry.”  In either case, the person will be eternally fulfilled, or receive eternal life.

The second one is in 7:37-38, where Jesus says, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.  He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, ‘From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.’” Thus, Come to Me and believes in Me, in this verse, appear to mean the same thing.  If it is true that coming to Jesus means essentially the same thing as believing in Jesus, then believing in Jesus means a lot more than people think it means. Why?  Because coming to Jesus is a big deal. In fact, it’s not only a big deal; it’s a very big deal. According to Matthew 16:24-25, coming to Jesus means that you deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Him. It also means that you must be willing to lose your life for Him.  Matthew 16:24-25 Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.

Follow Me – Jesus says in 8:12, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”  Thus, this verse says that anyone who follows Jesus will have eternal life.  Jesus says something similar in John 12:26, “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me…” If following Jesus results in eternal life, and believing in Jesus results in eternal life, then following Jesus must be related to, or similar with, believing in Jesus.

Obey Me – John says in 3:36, “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”  As a result, this verse indicates that obeying Jesus is part of believing in Him.

Flesh and blood – Jesus says in John 6:54, “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”  Now, I don’t claim to perfectly understand this verse, but here’s my best guess as to what it means: the mention of Jesus’ flesh and blood would seem to refer to His death on the cross, where He died to save His people from their sins.  The eating of His flesh and blood would thus require a person to, somehow, partake of Jesus in His death.  Romans 6:2-5 talks about a person being united with Christ in His death, and if this takes place, that person will also be united with Christ in His resurrection.  Doing this would result in eternal life. Thus, if eating Christ’s flesh and drinking His blood results in receiving (eternal) life from Him, and if believing in Jesus results in eternal life, then eating Jesus’ flesh and drinking His blood must be related to, or similar with, believing in Jesus.

Conclusion

If you believe in Jesus, you will receive eternal life, and thus go to heaven when you die. However, believing in Jesus means much more than most people think it does.

Believing in Jesus is more than an intellectual decision to agree that something is true; it also includes trust, and therefore moves past the intellect to the heart.  Believing in Jesus is very similar to having faith in Him; in fact, it comes from the Greek word for faith, and at times is used interchangeably (see Romans 4:3 and 4:9).

From a review of other verses about how to gain eternal life, we see that there are even more aspects to believing in Jesus than simply trusting in Him. Believing involves, or is related to, receiving Him, being born again, coming to Him, following Him, obeying Him and making sacrifices for Him.

When a person trusts in Jesus and does these things (receives Him, comes to Him, follows Him, obeys Him, makes sacrifices for Him), what happens? That person changes.  And these changes show up in what a person thinks and says and does. If your belief in Jesus has not changed your way of life, it is possible – even likely – that your belief in Him is not the type of believe that saves.

If we took a survey of 100,000 adults and asked them if they believe in Jesus, a majority would likely say “yes,” but in reality, only a small percentage would truly believe in Him if they correctly understood what believe really means.

Years ago, I witnessed to a member of my family about becoming a Christian.  To make it simple, I talked about the need to believe in Jesus, and had John 3:16 in mind.  This family member said “but I do believe in Jesus.”  That was more than 10 years ago, and from all indications, this family member is still not saved.  Now I know why.