So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household." Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes. And immediately he and all his family were baptized. Acts 16:31-33
What does the Bible mean when it says we are to “believe” to be saved? It might be wise to state first what it does not mean. It does not mean to merely believe a set of historical facts Jesus. Believing the facts about Christ and the gospel is essential, but as James writes, “the demons believe” (James 2:19) and they certainly are not saved.
Once a person believes the facts about Christ and the gospel, he must believe the truth claims about Jesus are also true. Speaking from experience, I believed the historical facts about Christ and the gospel, I even believed they were true. I believed that Jesus really did die on the cross and rise from the dead to provide forgiveness of sins. I would have even defended that belief. But it is not saving faith if a person doesn’t have any heart to trust in and follow Jesus as the Savior to whom he owes everything, and the Lord whom he must follow.
Some are afraid to attach the need for repentance to faith for fear that it makes salvation by works—which it is not. Salvation is by faith alone, but saving faith cannot be devoid of works of repentance, or that faith is “dead” (James 2:26). And dead faith saves no one!
The Bible further explains how the repentance that is inseparably a part of saving faith is not something that unsaved people do in the strength of their sinful flesh (John 1:11-13). Rather, a person must be born again by the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-ff). Those who are born again are given two gifts: the gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), and the gift of repentance (Acts 11:18; 2 Timothy 2:25). Each person is responsible to believe and repent (God does neither for us) but He gives those who are born again the ability and the desire to trust in and follow Christ. Because lost people are dead in sin, without the gifts of faith and repentance no one would ever believe and follow Christ savingly.
Why is this important? Tomorrow…