The Object of "Belief"

I have been having discussions of and on with a young woman who says that she has not been able to find the "faith" to "believe." Her questions have tended to fall into the chicken or the egg category. I tried to gently suggest that she believe, but she is not, for lack of a better term, at that place. What does the word, "believe" mean to her? How does it relate to salvation?

The word believe appears throughout the Gospel of John. In the Greek, it appears in various forms of the word, "pisteuo," pronounced "pist-yoo'-o." In the context when Jesus is using it, the idea is clearly to commit one's trust to Him. The Amplified Bible usually renders the word as "trust in, cling to and rely on" when it is applied to Jesus, which of course means accepting the Gospel as factual truth. In other words, to believe in Jesus is to believe what the Bible says about Him.

The Bible says that Jesus is God's Son, fully human and fully divine, and that He is the only one through whom one can be saved from the penalty for one's sins. One must believe that He, personally, died for our sins in our place and was raised from the dead. One has to turn from believing in one's self, or from personal apathy about one's sins and place their trust in the facts about Jesus as written in the Bible, and trust in them as their means of spiritual salvation.

I did a word search, and "believe" is used about 49 times through the book of John. It often includes a preposition like "in, on, or upon." That would not indicate that salvation is something that one can do as a work of righteousness. It makes salvation a gift. Salvation through the Savior exists with or without us. It is there, as a gift, but we have to turn from our sins and "believe" in Him, placing our trust in Him. We can trust in the person of Jesus Christ, according to the message of the Bible and the gift becomes ours, or we can reject it.

That means that Jesus must be the object of our faith. He is the only object. The word "believe", by itself or "faith" by itself are without any worth. It is not the intensity of our belief or of our faith that bring us salvation. It is the object of our belief and faith, in the person of Jesus Christ that brings us salvation. In Him, and no other, as the Bible says.

I guess this is what I and another man were unable to get across to this woman. She seems to have faith in "faith," but faith can only lead to one's salvation when one's faith is in the correct object. Faith in "faith" still leaves one dead in one's sins.

Repentance is very key in connection with "belief" and salvation. The word "repent" means to change one's mind about a particular thing. Salvation is completely apart from works, good deeds or religious expressions. The Bible says that we all fall far short of God's holiness. But, as His expression of His love, He sent His Son to die for our sins. That is why when we believe, we must repent too. We must change our minds about our ability to be "good enough" on our own to go to heaven. We can't earn heaven. We must trust in, cling to and rely on Jesus to take us there.

This is really good news, and that's what the Gospel is about. Romans 1:16 says the gospel "is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes." If, like the young woman I and some of my friends have been talking to, one is not saved, the first step toward knowing God is to believe the facts of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and in believing, place one's trust in Him because of His goodness and grace, to save one from one's sins.