What must I believe to be saved?

Answer

The question of what we must believe to be saved leads us to the essence of the gospel. It involves understanding our identity and the purpose of Jesus coming into the world to rescue us. Once we embrace and acknowledge these truths, we are granted the eternal life gift “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”, (Romans 6:23) and we become God’s children (John 1:12-13).

Faith is essential for salvation—we need to believe specific truths to attain salvation. “The righteous will live by faith” “For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.'” , (Romans 1:17, NLT), and “without faith, it is impossible to please God” “And without faith, it is impossible to please God because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”, (Hebrews 11:6). The truth we must believe is the gospel, the joyful news that Jesus died for our sins and rose again on the third day (see 1 Corinthians 15:1-8). We must have faith in this gospel truth. In essence, we must rely on Christ and His work on our behalf. Salvation is exclusively found in Him “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”, (Acts 4:12).

Part of accepting the gospel is acknowledging that we have sInned and fallen short of the glory of God «for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; », (Romans 3:23). This is significant because it acknowledges why Jesus entered the world to save us. If we do not believe we need to be saved, we will not care about salvation. Passages such as Acts 16:31 and Romans 10:9 state that we must believe in Christ to be saved, and this belief begins with admitting that we have not lived up to the perfect moral standard of a holy, righteous, and just God (see 1 John 1:8-10). Indeed, we cannot meet the demand of His perfect moral standard because of our depravity: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9;cf: Matthew 7:21-23).

The seriousness of sin is seen in its consequences: spiritual death and the reality of divine wrath. In John 3:36, Jesus contrasts those who believe in the Son and those who do not, saying, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.” The consequence of sin is more than dying; it is also being eternally separated from God in a fiery hell. The gospel, however, is a message of hope: we can have eternal life through faith in Christ. So, while sin separates us from God, belief in Christ draws us close to Him «And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. », (John 17:3). In Christ, our sins are forgiven «Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: », (1 Peter 2:24).

To be saved, we must believe in the resurrection of Christ. The physical, bodily resurrection of the Lord is the foundation of the Christian faith. This significant event proves that Jesus conquered Satan, sin, and death. If He had not risen, then we would still be trapped in our sins “and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.”, (1 Corinthians 15:17). But He did rise from the grave, powerfully showing that all who trust in Him will conquer sin and death and will live with Him forever. As Jesus told His disciples, “Because I live, you also will live” “Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.”, (John 14:19).

The gospel is not complex. We are not required to perform religious rituals, recite a series of incantations, or comprehend a mysterious set of facts. Quite the opposite: we must stop our works, set aside our pride, and embrace God’s grace through faith. To be saved, we must believe that Jesus, the Savior, died for our sins and rose again to eternal life. We put our complete trust in Him. We place our eternal destiny in Him and His goodness. He f

God forgives and saves us, not because of anything we have done or could do, but because He is loving, kind, gracious, and merciful “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;”, (Titus 3:5). Today, will you believe in Him for salvation?

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