“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life.”
John 5:24
What do you do when you hear some form of information? You may accept it as factual, or you might not believe it at all. When we are young, we may not believe the stove is hot. In fact, possibly the orange glow of the burner or open flame is appealing to the eye and the warmth is nice feeling on a cold day. However, if you chose to touch it, you will certainly be burnt and certainly believe what your mother may have warned you about. Belief is established when presented with truth, yet, when we hear truth, we have the option to believe it or not.
In matters of faith, belief is an integral part of the God's plan for saving man. Last week I wrote about hearing, and that it is the basis of that plan. We must hear, but what do we do once we hear? If we are to come to faith, we must hear the truth and belief the truth. This leads us to salvation that is found in Christ Jesus. Jesus said, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16 The word believeth is special. It is a verb, a present active participle. The rule is that the present tense of a verb denotes duration, i.e. denotes that something "goes on" happening. So when Jesus says whosoever believeth in Him, He is saying that it is an ongoing thing. I imagine if you were burned by a hot stove you would remember and keep on believing right?
To believe is not coming to a mental ascent based on your own cognitive ability, it is coming to a realization based on the truth of the Word. We may see evidence in creation that points us to the possibility of a God, but the Word is what tells us who that God is. A God we can hear about, believe in, and come to be His child. He is the God who, if we keep on believing, will lead us to eternal life.
Belief or faith is not an absolute in salvation but they are but steps along the way to come to be a child of God. We see from the Scriptures that none of the five steps of the Gospel Plan are absolute but all must be satisfied for one to be in Christ.
Grace and Peace,
Ryan
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