Saving Faith in Jesus By Kenneth Jones
IF YOU were to go to a representative group of people and ask each of them, “Do you believe in Jesus?” most of them would say, “Yes.” But what would they mean by that? Would that mean that most of the people in the United States are genuine Christians living exemplary Christian lives? I think not.
Many a man who is not a Christian and does not claim to be can conscientiously say, “I believe in Jesus.” But each puts his own interpretation on the statement as he makes it.
One man means by the statement that he believes that a man lived one time whose name was Jesus. He could not be an honest student of history and believe otherwise. The time is past when scholars argued the fact of Jesus’ earthly life. The historical proof that Jesus lived is too conclusive to be questioned. But does it make one a Christian to believe that Jesus lived? Of course not.
Another man means by the statement that he believes that Jesus was a great man. But there is nothing essentially Christian in that. Washington and Lincoln were great men, but believing so does not save anyone. Even saying that Jesus was a great moral teacher and a great prophet does not make one a Christian. A Jew believes Jesus was a great teacher, and a Mohammedan calls him a great prophet, but both would be insulted if called Christian.
So what is that saving faith in Jesus Christ of which Paul spoke? “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). In order to clarify our thinking in the matter, let us break that saving faith up into particular things which we must believe.
The first requirement of saving faith is that you must believe in Jesus as the Son of God.You must believe in him as very God himself—even though he was temporarily in the form of man—vested with all the power and authority of God. When you believe this, you know that he and he alone is worthy of all your love, allegiance, and highest adoration. He is not merely man, not even the very best of men. He is God.
In the past half century there has been developed a so-called liberal theology which claims to assert Christ’s divinity while denying him his place in the Trinity. The followers of this theology begin by saying that they believe that Jesus was divine. They then proceed to explain that Jesus was divine in the same sense that all of us are divine, and no more.
They say that there is a spark of divinity in all of us which lifts us above the brute beasts and the rest of God’s creation. They speak glowingly of the way in which Jesus, as the greatest of men, shows us how high we too can rise merely by cultivating the goodness that is born in all of us. This sounds pleasant, but it leaves too much unsaid. If it is correct to say that we are in a sense divine, then Jesus is divine in the same sense and also in a far higher sense.
If Jesus was no more divine than the rest of us are, then we are idolaters when we worship him. All of our religion is based on a false premise in this is true. These same theologians say that they believe in the resurrection. Then they explain that they believe that Jesus lives today in the influence and lives of those who follow him—and nothing more. They deny that he ever came forth from the tomb or that he had any more power over death and the grave than any of us.
And so they go on. They claim to believe in Jesus, but the Jesus they believe in has first been shorn of his divinity, power, and authority by their interpretations.
We must believe in Jesus as the Son of God—not merely as we are sons of God, but as the second member of the Trinity, God himself.
To have saving faith in Jesus, you must believe in his teachings. He said, “If ye love me, keep my commandments. . . . If a man love me, he will keep my words.” So if you accept him, you must accept his doctrines. Jesus did preach doctrine, in spite of those who wish to water down the gospel until it is nothing but a string of platitudes and aphorisms.
Doctrine is something that is taught. And Jesus spent most of his time teaching. To be sure, he did not label his doctrines and state them in the form of a textbook on theology, but he taught just the same. And we cannot accept Jesus without accepting his teachings and the truths for which he stood.
Some ministers and congregations, often through a misunderstanding of the principle involved, have become afraid of what they call “doctrinal preaching.” But if our preaching is not doctrinal, it is not preaching. Jesus told us to go into the world and “teach all nations . . . teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” Teaching, then, is our great task.
First we must teach others what it means to be a Christian and how to become one. Then we must teach them how to avoid temptation and to grow into strong, dependable, soul-winning Christians. We must not shirk this task.
If you have saving faith in Jesus, you hate sin and love holiness. Holiness is a part of the teaching of Jesus—in spite of those who deny it. You cannot obey the injunctions of the Sermon on the Mount, for instance, without living a holy life. The holiness depicted there is more than a superficial conforming to certain precepts. It is rather a condition of the heart which makes itself manifest in a Christlike purity of life.
There is another phase of your belief in Jesus which is absolutely necessary if you are to be saved from sin. That is that you must entrust yourself to Him. In fact, this entrusting of one’s self is a part of the meaning of the Greek word which is translated “believe.” No matter how much else you may believe or do, you can never be saved until you unreservedly entrust your past, your future, your all to Jesus. When you have done this, he can be Lord of your life and can direct all your ways. He will then have perfect control of you.
Jones, K. E. (2005; 2005). Saving Faith in Jesus. James L. Fleming.
