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Regarding the believers’ present, we have seen God’s calling, the Spirit’s separation, and our repentance. Repentance is followed by believing, and believing is followed by baptism. In this message and in the message following we shall seek to give a thorough definition of what it means for a Christian to believe in Christ.
First, we have received Him who is the Word, the very God, and the true light; that is, we have believed into His name, which denotes His person. All this is revealed clearly in chapter one of the Gospel of John. Verse 1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Verse 9 tells us that this One is also the true light, “which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” The Word is God Himself defined, explained, and expressed. The word “enlightens” refers to the inward enlightening which brings life to the ones who receive the Word. Verse 12 goes on to say, “As many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” This verse indicates that to believe is to receive. To believe into the Lord Jesus is to receive Him as the One who is the Word, God, and the true light.
The believers have believed into the Son of God, who has the eternal life, and into the Son of Man, who was lifted up as the brass serpent on the cross, to have an organic union with Him. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” This verse speaks of believing in the Son of God. The Greek preposition for “in” here actually means “into” and signifies union with Christ by believing into Him.
First John 5:11 tells us that eternal life is in the Son of God. The testimony of God is not only that Jesus is His Son but also that He gives us the eternal life which is in the Son. The Son of God is the means for God to give us His eternal life. Because the life is in the Son (John 1:4) and the Son is the life (John 11:25; 14:6; Col. 3:4), the Son and the life are one. If we have the Son of God, we have eternal life, because eternal life is in the Son. Actually, eternal life is the Son, and the Son is the embodiment of the Triune God. Therefore, when we receive the Son of God by believing into Him, we have the eternal life that is in Him.
John 3:14 and 15 say, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.” These verses speak of having eternal life, the divine life, the uncreated life of God, by believing into the Son of Man. Here the Lord Jesus applies to Himself the type of the brass serpent (Num. 21:4-9), showing that when He was in the flesh, He was in “the likeness of the flesh of sin” (Rom. 8:3), which likeness was the form of the brass serpent. It had the form of the serpent but not the poison. Christ was made in the likeness of the flesh of sin, but He had no participation in the sin of the flesh (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15). When in the flesh He, the Son of Man, was lifted up on the cross, He dealt with Satan, the old serpent (John 12:31-33; Heb. 2:14). Now we may have eternal life by believing into Him. The Greek word rendered “that” at the beginning of John 3:15 is better translated “so that” or “in order that.” This indicates the goal of the lifting up of the Son of Man. The Son of Man was lifted up in order that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.
The issue of our believing into Christ as the Son of God and the Son of Man is that we have an organic union with Him. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, we believe into Him. By believing into Him we enter into Him to be one with Him organically, to partake of Him, and to participate in all that He has accomplished for us. This means that by believing into Him we are identified with Him in all that He is and in all that He has passed through, accomplished, obtained, and attained. Therefore, by believing into Christ we have an organic union with Him and thereby become one spirit with Him (1 Cor. 6:17). This is the meaning of the expression “organic union.” By faith in the Son of God and the Son of Man we have been brought into an organic union with Him.
We have believed into Christ Jesus to be justified with the righteousness of God. Justification is God’s action in approving us according to the standard of His righteousness. We may justify ourselves according to our standard of righteousness, but this does not enable us to be justified by God according to His standard. We need justification by faith. Justification by faith means that we are approved by God according to the standard of His righteousness. God can do this because our justification is based on the redemption of Christ. When Christ’s redemption is applied to us, we are justified. If there were no such redemption, it would not be possible for us to be justified by God. Redemption is the basis of justification.
Acts 13:39 says, “From all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses, in this One everyone who believes is justified.” Here “this One” is the Lord Jesus, the One who has been resurrected to be God’s firstborn Son and our Savior. Through Him we are justified from all the things from which we could not be justified by the law of Moses. Actually, the One by whom we are justified is Himself our justification. Today Christ in His resurrection is our justification. Hence, we should not regard justification as something apart from Christ.
Galatians 2:16 says, “Knowing that a man is not justified by works of law, but through the faith of Christ Jesus; we also have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by works of law, because by works of law no flesh shall be justified.” The word “flesh” here means fallen man who has become flesh (Gen. 6:3). No such man will be justified by works of law. Furthermore, in Galatians 3:11 Paul tells us, “Now that by law no one is justified before God is evident.” In these verses Paul tells us clearly that no one is justified by the works of law.
In God’s New Testament economy we are justified by faith in Christ. We may be so familiar with the expression “justified by faith in Christ” that we take it for granted. Faith in Christ denotes an organic union through believing. The proper preaching of the gospel is the preaching not of a doctrine but of Christ, the Son of God, the One who is the embodiment of the Father and who is realized as the Spirit. The faith in Christ by which believers are justified is related to their appreciation of the Son of God. Actually, this appreciation is their faith in Christ. Out of their appreciation for the Lord Jesus they desire to possess Him. The Christ who has been preached to them will become in them the faith by which they believe. Therefore, faith is Christ preached into us to become our capacity to believe through our appreciation of Him.
This faith creates an organic union in which we and Christ are one. The expression “by faith in Christ” actually denotes an organic union accomplished by believing in Christ. The term “in Christ” refers to this organic union. Before we believed in Christ there was a great separation between us and Christ. But through believing we have been joined to Christ and have become one with Him. Now we are in Christ, and Christ is in us. This is an organic union, a union in life.
It is by means of our organic union with Christ that God can reckon Christ as our righteousness. Because we and Christ are one, whatever belongs to Him is ours. This is the basis on which God counts Christ as our righteousness. Through the organic union with Christ, we share whatever Christ is and has. As soon as this union takes place, in the sight of God, Christ becomes us and we become one with Him. Only in this way can we be justified before God.
We should not have a mere doctrinal understanding of justification by faith. According to the concept of some Christians, Christ is the just One, the righteous One, on the throne in the presence of God, and God reckons Christ to be our righteousness when we believe in Christ. This understanding of justification is not adequate. In order to be justified by faith in Christ, we need to believe in Him out of an appreciation of Him. As the Lord Jesus is infused into us through the preaching of the gospel, we spontaneously appreciate Him and call on Him. This is genuine believing. Through such a believing we and Christ become one. As a result, God reckons Christ as our righteousness.
When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we had this kind of experience, although we did not have the terminology to explain it. First, we began to sense the Lord’s preciousness. This gave rise to the faith that joined us to Christ organically. From that time onward, Christ and we became one in life and in reality. Therefore, justification by faith is not merely a matter of position but also an organic matter, a matter in life. The organic union with Christ is accomplished spontaneously through the living faith produced by our appreciation of Him. This is to be justified by faith in Christ.
Romans 3:22 speaks of “the righteousness of God through faith of Jesus Christ to all those who believe.” The righteousness of God is what God is with respect to justice and righteousness. God is just and right. Whatever God is in His justice and righteousness constitutes His righteousness. Furthermore, all that God is in His justice and righteousness is actually Himself. Therefore, the righteousness of God is not merely a divine attribute — it is God Himself.
Although we are justified with the righteousness of God, we, the justified ones, actually have Christ as our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). However, we may incorrectly think that we have the righteousness of Christ. Our righteousness is not the righteousness of Christ; it is Christ Himself. Christ Himself as a person, not His attribute of righteousness, has been made the righteousness of God to us. God has made Christ, who is the embodiment of God Himself, our righteousness.
In Romans 1:17 Paul, speaking of the gospel, says, “The righteousness of God is revealed in it out of faith to faith.” The gospel is powerful (v. 16) because the righteousness of God is revealed in it. According to John 3:16 salvation is out of God’s love, and according to Ephesians 2:8, salvation is by God’s grace. But in Romans 1:16 and 17 Paul does not say that salvation is out of the love of God or by the grace of God but says that it comes by the righteousness of God. We have been saved by God’s love and grace, but we have been saved especially by God’s righteousness. God’s love and grace may change in relation to us, but it is impossible for God’s righteousness to change. Because Christ has fulfilled all the righteous requirements of the law, has died for our sins, and has been resurrected for our justification (Rom. 4:25), God is bound by His righteousness to save us. God cannot change His mind concerning this, for He is bound by His righteousness. Therefore, for our salvation we stand on God’s righteousness. With the righteousness of God we, the believers in Christ, have been justified through our believing into Christ.
To believe is to believe on, to take the ground and stand on, the Lord Jesus to be saved. Acts 16:31 says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved.” This indicates that we believe not only into Christ but also on Christ. This is to take the ground and the standing on the person of Christ and all that He has accomplished, both of which constitute the belief, the faith, of God’s New Testament economy. We believe on Christ as the ground and standing so that we may be saved.
Mark 16:16 says, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned.” This verse does not say “who does not believe and is not baptized.” This indicates that condemnation is related to not believing; it is not related to not being baptized. Believing is sufficient for one to receive salvation from condemnation. To believe is to receive the Lord Jesus not only for forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43) but also for regeneration (1 Pet. 1:21, 23) that we may become the children of God (John 1:12-13) and the members of Christ (Eph. 5:30) in an organic union with the Triune God (Matt. 28:19).
Romans 1:16 tells us that the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes.” In the book of Romans salvation includes not only salvation from God’s condemnation and from hell; it also includes salvation from naturalness, self-likeness, individualism, and divisiveness. This salvation saves us to the uttermost, enabling us to be sanctified, conformed, glorified, transformed, built up with the others as the one Body, and not divisive in the church life. For all who believe, the gospel is the power of God unto such a full, complete, and ultimate salvation.
Our believing in Christ is through the hearing of the word, which is “the word of the truth of the gospel” (Col. 1:5). The truth of the gospel is the reality, the real facts, of the gospel. In Romans 10:14 Paul asks, “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” Believing in Christ requires the hearing of Him, and hearing of Him requires the preaching of the gospel. Acts 4:4a says, “Many of those who heard the word believed.” This word is “the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Eph. 1:13). Through hearing the word of the gospel we believed in Christ.
In Mark 1:15 the Lord Jesus said, “Repent and believe in the gospel!” To repent is mainly in the mind; to believe is mainly in the heart (Rom. 10:9). To believe in something is to believe into the thing which we believe. It is also to receive the things which we believe into us. To believe in the gospel is mainly to believe in Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31), and to believe in Him is to believe into Him (John 3:15-16) and receive Him into us (John 1:12), so that we may be organically united with Him. Such a faith in Christ (Gal. 3:22) is given to us by God (Eph. 2:8) through our hearing the word of the truth of the gospel (Rom. 10:17; Eph. 1:13). This faith brings us into all the blessings of the gospel (Gal. 3:14). Hence, this faith is precious to us (2 Pet. 1:1). Such precious faith requires repentance to precede it.
In Mark 1:15 the Lord Jesus preached that we should believe specifically in the gospel. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (v. 1), the gospel of God, and the gospel of the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ, the Son of God with all the processes through which He has passed, including incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, and all the redemptive work He accomplished, is the contents of the gospel (Rom. 1:1-4; Luke 2:10-11; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; 2 Tim. 2:8). Hence, the gospel is of Him. The gospel was planned, promised, and accomplished by God (Eph. 1:8-9; Acts 2:23; Rom. 1:2; 2 Cor. 5:21; Acts 3:15), and it is the power of God unto salvation to all believers (Rom. 1:16), that they may be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:19) and regenerated by Him (1 Pet. 1:3) to be His children (John 1:12-13; Rom. 8:16) and enjoy all His riches and blessings as their inheritance (Eph. 1:14). Hence, it is the gospel of God. It brings the believers into the realm of the divine ruling that they may participate in the blessings of the divine life in the divine kingdom (1 Thes. 2:12). Hence, it is also the gospel of the kingdom of God. Therefore, the full contents of the gospel are the same as that of the New Testament with all its bequests. When we believe in this gospel, we inherit the Triune God with His redemption, His salvation, and His life with its riches for our eternal portion.
John 20:31 says, “These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” “Christ” is the title of the Lord Jesus according to His office, His mission. This title denotes His work to accomplish God’s purpose. “The Son of God” is the Lord’s title according to His person. His person is a matter of God’s life, and His mission is a matter of God’s work. He is the Son of God to be the Christ of God. He works for God by the life of God so that by believing in Him we may have the life of God to become children of God.
Because Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, we need to believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God. We must believe that He is the One who is the divine Person coming to carry out God’s commission for His eternal purpose. By believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, we have life in His name.
