What Does Believing In Jesus Really Mean? I
Acts 16:31, after Paul and Silas are miraculously released from prison, the jailer obviously impressed with fantastic occurrences that freed them asks the simple question “what must I do to be saved?” To which they gave an equally simple answer, “believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved”. Simple. And isn’t that in line with modern day prescriptions? No need to break down the 10 theological points or the 4 spiritual laws or taking them down the Romans road. For it is a simple belief in Jesus that will unite you to God and that’s all that’s needed. Or is it?
I think we live in a day where it is easy to confess Christianity, to say that I believe in Jesus. When asked “are you a Christian”? Response…yes, I believe in Jesus. One may even go so far as to claim the sinner’s prayer as their rite of passage into Christianity. I believe in Jesus because he died on the cross for my sins and I’ve asked Him into my heart. Well, then it’s a done deal.
But I think a further examination of what believing in Jesus entails and also what transpires in the Acts account of the jailer. For it is interesting that, despite the simple prescription that Paul provides, vs. 32 indicates that they spoke the word of the Lord to him. My Expositor’s Bible commentary indicates that speaking the word of the Lord to him was to explain the good news of redemption in Christ for them in terms they can understand. It sounds like there was more to believing in Jesus than just saying, yes I believe in Him. The had to break it down for him and unpack what believing in Jesus meant.
I think this is significant. It seems to me, and I could be wrong, that in an effort to accommodate seekers of Christianity and not make salvation invitations too burdensome, that we’ve lost this very important explanation process. They just need to know that Jesus died for their sins. Why bore them with details. What is even worse are the “altar calls” that I have heard that doesn’t even include this basic point. Your life is not going right? You know something is missing? You want to get right with God? Come to the altar. Now I am not saying that every situation is going to warrant a long diatribe, but if an offer of salvation goes forth, isn’t it fair for people to know what we are asking them to believe? Are even professing Christians aware of the basis of their belief? Does the simple message of Jesus dying for sins really get the point across, especially to an unchurched, badly-churched or other world-view person? Will it really get to what is being asked of people to put their trust in?
And trust is a key factor in belief. Now I am a lowly 2nd semester greek student, but I find it interesting that the root is the same for both the verb “believe” and the noun “faith” (if would learn to type in unicode I could actually put the greek word here). The BDAG Greek-English lexicon provides these explanations for the verb, believe as the following:
- to consider something to be true and worthy of one’s trust
- to entrust oneself to an entity in complete confidence
So believing in something means that there must also be trust. I think many people are aware of the events concerning Christianity, especially those who have been grounded in church. But giving something a intellectual assent is not the same as believing. I can look at a chair and believe that it is a chair and that it is designed to hold me up when I sit down it. But the use of the chair will not be activated if I don’t have faith in the chair that it will in fact do what it is designed to do. It will not be valid for me unless I place my trust in it. So belief in Jesus Christ must entail an element of trust.
But what are we trusting in? Christianity has gone through 2,000 years of historical development through which many deviations from the central message has occurred. What do you imagine they explained to this jailer of what believing in Jesus meant? I believe the accounts in Acts clearly outline principles that incorporate this element of trust into what believing in Jesus really means. And when reconciled with the whole counsel of Scripture identifies key elements that incorporates a faith in Jesus Christ.
