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I. Repentance:
А. The meaning of repentance.
B. Repentance being a gift from God.
C. Repentance being prior to believing.
D. The relationship between repentance and salvation.
II. Believing:
А. The meaning of believing.
B. Faith being given by God.
C. What to believe in.
D. What is obtained immediately upon believing.
In this chapter we come to the matters of repentance and believing. Repentance and believing are the conditions for man to obtain salvation. In order for man to obtain God’s salvation, he must repent and believe. God accomplished redemption for man through Christ and will apply Christ’s accomplished redemption to man through the Holy Spirit because of His great love. However, if man does not repent and believe, redemption cannot become salvation to him. Man must repent and believe in order for God’s redemption to become salvation to him.
According to the original language in the Bible, repentance is related to a change of mind. This differs from the human understanding of repentance, which is related to correction and self-reformation. Since man fell, his mind has turned away from God toward many persons, things, and matters. Moreover, man is dominated by his own mind, “doing the desires...of the thoughts” (Eph. 2:3). Man speaks what is in his mind and acts according to his thoughts. Whether the desires of his thoughts are good or evil, man’s mind is turned away from God while facing a host of persons, things, and matters apart from God. Since man’s mind is turned away from God and turned toward matters apart from God, his deeds and behavior are continuously apart from God and directed toward other things. Therefore, man needs to repent, to have a change in his mind. Once man’s mind changes, his deeds and behavior will change.
1. “That they should repent and turn to God” (Acts 26:20).
Since man’s mind rules his actions and behavior and is turned from God to many things outside of God, there is a need for a change in his mind so that he may turn in both his thoughts and deeds from things apart from God back to God. Originally, man’s thoughts are toward things apart from God, and these direct man to carry out things that are apart from God. Everything related to the fallen man, who is controlled by his mind, is turned from God toward things apart from God. When man sins and commits evil, he is turned from God. However, when he does things that are outwardly righteous and good, he still has his back toward God. Just as his sinful and evil acts are apart from God and toward wickedness, his proper and good acts also are apart from God. If he loves the world, he will choose the world instead of God, but if he wants to ascend above the world, he will strive toward that goal rather than God. If he wants to be fashionable, he will choose modernity instead of God, but if he is content to be old-fashioned, he still will not be directed toward God. If he is stingy and greedy, he will direct his efforts toward money instead of God, but if he is charitable and generous, he will direct his efforts toward charity rather than God. If he is gluttonous and lascivious, he will long for things instead of God, but if he is self-disciplined and virtuous, he still will not long for God. He can set his mind on a host of things, having no thought in the slightest toward God. All his thoughts and doings are related to goals, but none of these goals are God Himself. He wants everything except God. Consequently, man needs to repent and turn to God; he needs to have a change in his mind. Such a turn begins with the mind; then it will affect his outward actions and behavior until his entire life and being are turned toward God.
Repentance is not self-correction or even a forsaking of things but a turn to God. A person who loves going to movies may feel it is wrong and stop going. This is the human concept of repentance, not the biblical concept. According to the Bible, a person should repent because he is convicted of his love for movies instead of God. His change of mind is from movies to God, and henceforth, he desires God instead of movies. Repentance according to the human concept does not cause a person to turn to God; this is not the repentance that God desires. A person may give up movies, but if he turns to other things, even proper things, his mind is still not turned to God. The repentance that God desires is a turn of the human mind toward Himself. This is not simply a matter of correction but a matter of no longer rejecting God. This is not a matter of changing from being bad to being good but of turning from godless things back to God Himself. Thus, one needs to repent of what he regards as proper and good. Even the most proper and upright person can be turned away from God very much. He may be faultless but without God; he may deplore evil but reject God. Thus, he needs to repent, to have a change of mind, to turn from proper and good things back to God. True repentance causes man to turn back to God, to turn from not wanting and not facing God.
2. “Repentance unto God” (Acts 20:21).
Since repentance is a turn to God, genuine repentance must be a repentance unto God. Those in the world demand a repentance unto uprightness and goodness, but God requires a repentance unto Himself, not just to what is good and right. A person may change from being wicked to being kind and from being wrong to being right, without turning to God. Before such a change, he is toward evil rather than toward God; once he changes, he may pursue (or be inclined toward) things that are good and proper, but he is still not toward God. This is not the repentance that causes man to receive salvation. According to the Bible, the repentance that results in man’s salvation can never be unto anything other than God Himself. Nothing outside of God can be the object of true repentance.
True repentance is granted to men by God because of His mercy.
1. “God...to give repentance” (Acts 5:31 see also 2 Tim. 2:25).
Because God wants man to receive His salvation, He enlightens man’s mind by His Spirit so that man will see his condition of being far from God and realize his need to turn back to God. Then He touches man’s feelings and gives him a repentant heart so that he will turn from everything apart from God back to God. Initially, people love sin, covet the world, and desire many things. One day, however, God, by the Holy Spirit, has mercy on them, causing their thinking to turn from sin, the world, and other things back to God.
2. “God has given repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18).
Many people, who never had a desire for God or even considered God, were graced by God at a certain point in time through His mercy; God arranged their environment in order to give them a heart to repent and wholeheartedly turn back to God.
3. “God’s kindness is leading you to repentance” (Rom. 2:4).
Because man forsakes God, commits sin and evil in rejecting God, and offends God, he should be punished and destroyed by God. Yet God exercises forbearance and patience because of His kindness. His patient and forbearing kindness leads man to repentance so that man may turn to Him. The reason that so many have survived terminal illness, calamities, wars, bombings, plane crashes, and disasters at sea is because God’s kindness patiently bore with them, giving them the opportunity to be led to repentance so that they might turn back to God and obtain salvation.
Every genuine act of believing is preceded by repentance. Every true act of repentance is followed by believing. Believing is the proof of repentance. Where there is repentance, there is also believing. These two acts are closely related and cannot exist without each other.
1. “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).
One must repent in order to believe in the gospel. There is no believing without repentance. Believing without repentance is not genuine. Real faith comes from believing, which follows repentance. How can a person receive the gospel without an inward change? Without an inward turn, an outward confession of the gospel is useless.
2. “Repentance unto God and faith in our Lord Jesus” (Acts 20:21 see also 19:4).
There must first be repentance unto God before there can be faith in the Lord Jesus. In order for the heart to believe in the Lord Jesus, the mind must first turn to God. Only those whose minds are turned to God can receive the Lord Jesus as their Savior. Those whose minds are not turned to God cannot sense their need of the Lord Jesus and therefore will not have faith in Him. When a person acknowledges his own sinfulness and corruption, including the fact that he has turned away from God and rejected God, he will grieve and become remorseful. Then he will turn to God and be able to believe in his heart in the Lord Jesus as his Savior. To believe in the Lord Jesus, he must first repent to God.
God specifically sent John the Baptist to preach repentance so that men might turn and believe in the Savior whom He would send and to prepare their hearts to receive His salvation. After John the Baptist came to preach repentance, the Lord Jesus followed to tell people to believe. Repentance is for believing and ushers in believing.
There is a definite relationship between repentance and salvation. One must repent in order to be saved, and in order to obtain salvation, one must pass through repentance.
1. “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” (Matt. 3:2).
The kingdom of the heavens is the ruling of the heavens. This heavenly kingdom, this heavenly reign, is expressed first as a reality in man today and will then be practically manifested in the millennial kingdom. To share in this heavenly kingdom and rule, man must repent. When man is turned away from God, he is not restricted by God and does not submit to God’s rule. He is wild and unrestrained, doing whatever he wants, however he wants, and thus commits unimaginable acts. His sinful and evil deeds are not under God’s rule, but even his charitable and just deeds are not under God’s rule. Whatever he does is not subject to God’s authority. In order for the kingdom of the heavens to reign in him, he must repent; he must have a change in his mind. He must turn from everything that is not restricted by God and not subject to His rule, submitting himself to the heavenly reign to be under the rule from above. Moreover, if he wishes to participate in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the future, he must live in the reality of the kingdom today, allowing heaven to rule in him. For this he must repent. Only those who repent and turn from everything that is not subject to God and who submit to the heavenly authority may partake of the kingdom of the heavens. Only these will live in the reality of the heavenly kingdom today and enter into its manifestation in the future.
God’s salvation not only causes us to escape perdition and obtain eternal life, but it also saves us under God’s authority, allowing heaven to rule in us and us to be subject to the heavenly reign. To share in such a salvation of God, we must repent from all that refuses the rule of God and submit ourselves under God’s heavenly government. There is a crucial relationship between repentance and our participation in the heavenly kingdom.
2. “Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight His paths...all flesh shall see the salvation of God” (Luke 3:4-6).
God’s salvation is the entrance of the Lord into man to be his salvation. For man to obtain God’s salvation, he must first allow the Lord to enter into him. Repentance prepares the way for the Lord to enter. Before God sent the Lord Jesus to bring salvation to men, He first sent John the Baptist to preach repentance so that a straight and smooth way might be prepared in men’s hearts for the Lord to enter. If one does not repent and have a change in his mind, turning his whole being to the Lord, the Lord has no way to enter into him to bring in God’s salvation, even if He so desires. Yet when a man’s mind turns to God to make a way for Him, the Lord immediately enters into him to be his salvation.
3. “Repentance for forgiveness of sins” (Luke 24:47 see also 3:3; Acts 5:31).
The Lord’s gospel causes man to repent and to receive forgiveness of sins. To forgive sins, God must first grant man repentance. If man does not regret his sin of turning away from God and return to God in his heart, he will not believe in the Lord Jesus. Thus, he will not be able to obtain God’s forgiveness. To be forgiven, man must repent and regret his dead works to turn back to God (Heb. 6:1).
4. “Repentance unto life” (Acts 11:18).
The Lord’s gospel causes man to be forgiven so that he may obtain the Lord’s life (Col. 2:13). Hence, for man to obtain the Lord’s life, he must repent, realizing that his life is corrupt and that his living, which is outside of God, is evil. He will then rebuke himself, loathe himself, repent, and turn to God. In this way his sins will be forgiven, and he will receive the Lord’s life.
5. “Repent and...be baptized” (Acts 2:38).
Baptism issues from a person’s believing in the Lord Jesus and receiving His salvation. Before a person believes, he must repent. One must first repent, then believe and be baptized. Baptism is related to repentance, and it is also related to salvation because baptism is a step that should be taken after receiving salvation.
We have already seen that there is a difference between worldly repentance and the repentance spoken of in the Bible. Similarly, man’s definition of believing and the Bible’s sense of believing differ from each other. Believing, as understood by man, is simply agreement or concession. Believing, according to the Bible, far exceeds this.
1. “As many as received Him...those who believe into His name” (John 1:12).
To receive Christ is to believe into Him. To believe is to receive; it is not just to agree or confess but also to receive. One who merely agrees with the teaching that the Lord Jesus died for man to redeem man from his sins cannot be considered as having believed. Even if he admits the fact of the redemption of the Lord Jesus, he still cannot be counted as one who believes. Believing does not include just agreement and acknowledgment; rather, believing is receiving. What is agreed with and acknowledged may not necessarily be received, but what is received is definitely agreed with and acknowledged. Hence, only receiving can be counted as believing. A person must exercise his heart and spirit to receive the Lord Jesus, not only agreeing and acknowledging that He is the Savior but also receiving Him into him; this is to really believe in Him.
2. “He who believes has eternal life”; “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life”; “Come to Me and drink. He who believes...” (John 6:47, 54; 7:37-38).
To eat the Lord’s flesh and drink His blood is to believe into Him. Through eating and drinking, one receives all that he has eaten and drunk into his being. The Lord gave His flesh for us to eat so that we may have His life; He gave His blood for us to drink so that we may enjoy His redemption. In order to give His flesh and blood for us to eat and drink, the Lord Jesus had to die. Through death His body was broken and His blood was shed so that we may eat and drink of Him. We should exercise our spirit and heart to receive the Savior who died and bled for us, and we should also receive His redemption, which issued from His death. We should receive His Body that was broken for us so that we may have His life, and we should receive His blood that was shed for us so that we can experience the effectiveness of His redemption. By receiving Him and His redemption, we eat His flesh and drink His blood, that is, we believe into Him.
The Lord intends to give Himself to man in order to come into man to be his salvation. He is the bread of life to enter man so that man can have life and be filled (6:35). His life is the river of living water that enters into man to quench his thirst so that he may be satisfied forever (4:14). To believe in Him and to obtain His salvation, man must, by his spirit and heart, receive Him into himself. Simply understanding and apprehending Him with the mind or agreeing with Him and acknowledging Him with the will are inadequate. We must receive Him with our spirit in order to obtain Him. Food and water can never fill or quench our thirst if we only agree with and confess their ability to fill and quench our thirst. In order to benefit from food and water, we must eat and drink. By the same token, we cannot obtain the Lord’s salvation merely by agreeing with and acknowledging the Lord Jesus. We need to receive the Lord into us to enjoy Him as salvation. If food and water do not enter into us to mingle with us, we cannot receive the supply from them. Similarly, if the Lord Jesus does not enter into us to blend with us, we cannot obtain His salvation. The Lord’s salvation is like the supply that food and water bring to people; it is subjective and must be mingled with us. Just as we receive food and water through eating and drinking, we must receive the Lord Jesus through believing. Thus, in the Bible eating and drinking are used to illustrate our believing in the Lord.
3. “Believes into Him” (John 3:16).
In this verse the preposition into follows the word believes. This preposition is the same word as in Romans 6:3, which refers to being “baptized into Christ Jesus.” Hence, according to the original language, to believe the Lord Jesus is to believe into Him. When one is baptized, he is baptized into Christ; likewise, when one believes, he believes into Christ.
To believe is not just to receive but also to enter into. To receive the Lord is to receive Him into our being, allowing Him to mingle Himself with us, whereas to enter into the Lord refers to our entrance into Him to be joined to Him. One who truly believes in the Lord Jesus enters by faith into Him and becomes one with Him. To believe is not simply to have faith in the Lord Jesus’ ability to save; it is also to enter into Him by faith and to be joined to Him. For this reason the Bible speaks of a saved person as being “in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:17). Only those who are in Christ and are joined to Christ can share in His redemption, for His death is counted as our death and the Lord’s resurrection is reckoned as our resurrection. There is no substitution without union. Substitution is based on union. The Lord’s death replaces our death and is counted as our death because of our oneness with Him. By faith we enter into the Lord and are joined to Him and become one with Him. Hence, His death is our death, and His resurrection is also our resurrection.
We must not only believe in the Lord Jesus’ ability to save us, but we must also believe into Him to be united with Him. Otherwise, we cannot share in Him and His redemption. If Noah believed that the ark could save him but failed to enter into the ark, he would not have been saved. He not only believed that the ark could save him but also entered into the ark and was joined to the ark. The experience of the ark became his experience. The ark’s passing through the flood (typifying Christ’s passing through death) was Noah’s passing through the flood. When the ark emerged from the waters (typifying Christ’s rising out of death), Noah also came out of those waters. This is how the ark saved Noah. Genuine believing causes man to obtain the Lord’s salvation, which is to believe into the Lord and to be joined to Him. Any believing that is not a believing into is not true believing and cannot save man. One must believe into the Lord in order to participate in His redemption and to obtain the salvation that is in the Lord.
Therefore, on the one hand, believing is a matter of receiving, and on the other hand, it is a matter of entering into. To receive means that Christ enters into us, and to enter into means that we enter into Christ. The Bible speaks of our being in Christ as well as Christ’s being in us (1 Cor. 1:30; Gal. 2:20). Our being in Christ is our union with Christ; Christ being in us is His oneness with us. Thus, believing causes us to be joined to Christ and causes Christ to be joined to us. Genuine believing always unites the believer to Christ and Christ to the believer.
4. “How then shall they call upon Him into whom they have not believed?” (Rom. 10:14).
Genuine believing is always preceded by repentance and followed by calling. Believing without repentance beforehand is unreliable, and believing without calling afterward is ineffectual. Whether one’s believing involves receiving and entering into depends on whether there is repentance before and calling after believing. Repentance leads man to receive the Lord, whereas calling confirms his entrance into the Lord. If a person’s mind turns to God, his heart will surely receive the Lord, and his mouth will definitely call upon Him. This happens spontaneously. If one confesses that he believes in the Lord and yet has never called upon Him, his believing is not real believing but merely agreement or acknowledgment. These cannot save. Only those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (v. 13).
To call upon the Lord is to pray to the Lord from the spirit and the heart, asking for His forgiveness and deliverance; it is to receive the Lord and His salvation through prayer, praise, and thanks. Praying or calling upon the Lord in this way is proof that one has indeed believed into the Lord and possesses real faith.
5. “A great number who believed turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:21).
True believing causes man to call upon the Lord. It also makes him turn to the Lord. To believe is not only to turn from sin and the world but to turn to the Lord in order to belong to the Lord. There is no real believing that does not lead man to turn to the Lord and become His. If a person truly believes in the Lord, he will spontaneously turn to the Lord and become the Lord’s. Whether or not one’s believing is real and proper depends on whether he has turned to the Lord and belongs to the Lord.
True repentance is a gift of God; true believing, even more so, is a gift of God.
1. “Faith...is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).
Faith that leads to salvation cannot be generated by man; it is given by God. God imparts faith into man through the revelation of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit reveals the Lord Jesus and His redemption to man (Gal. 1:16), causing him to see and know the Lord Jesus and His redemption, faith is automatically generated in man. Belief in the heart is based on a vision in the spirit, and such a vision always comes from the revelation of the Holy Spirit. Without the revelation of the Holy Spirit, the human spirit cannot see, and when man’s spirit fails to see, his heart will not believe. Faith comes from the revelation of the Holy Spirit, and it is given to man by the Holy Spirit’s revelation.
2. “The grace of our Lord superabounded with faith” (1 Tim. 1:14).
God imparts faith into us because His grace is exceedingly abundant, not because we have any virtue or strong points. His grace is so abundant that we now possess a living faith unto salvation, even though we had sinned by rejecting Him, being unwilling and unable to believe.
3. “Have been allotted faith equally precious as ours” (2 Pet. 1:1).
Since faith is a gift of God, faith is allotted and does not come from us. Peter called the faith that has been allotted to us through God’s exceedingly abundant grace “precious.” Faith is precious. It enables us to believe in what we could never believe in, and when it enters into us, it is obtained once and for all and will never leave us. It is impossible for any man to believe in the mystery and centrality of the gospel of God. According to human reasoning, it is not believable that the Lord Jesus is God incarnated, was born of a virgin, died to propitiate man’s sins, rose from the dead, ascended into the heavens, is seated at the right hand of God, and will return one day. But when this precious faith enters into our being, we can and must believe. The more we believe, the more we feel pleasant and comfortable. Once we obtain this precious faith, it can never be lost. Once we obtain this precious faith, we will never disbelieve. It is impossible for us to truly not believe, even though we may occasionally deny Him, because the precious faith given to us is in us.
Faith has an object. We cannot pay attention simply to faith and neglect the object of faith. If the object of faith is wrong, it will be difficult for our faith to be proper. Hence, we must be clear and accurate concerning the object of faith so that we know what to believe in.
1. “Believes into the Son”; “Believe into the Son of God” (John 3:36; 9:35, see also v. 38).
God is triune — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. The Father is the source, the Son is the expression, and the Spirit is the transmission. God who dwells in unapproachable light is the Father (1 Tim. 6:16; James 1:17); God expressed is the Son (John 1:18; Col. 1:15; Heb. 1:3); and God coming into man is the Spirit (1 John 3:24). The Son is God expressed. The expressed God is the very Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord being the Son of God means that He is the expression of God and is God expressed. He is God (John 1:1), and He is one with God (10:30). To be manifested among men, He became flesh and took the form of a man to be the Son of Man (1:14; Phil. 2:6-7; Luke 19:10). Although He became the Son of Man, His expression was that of the Son of God. The Son of God is the One whom we should believe in. He alone should be the object of our faith.
2. “Believe on the Lord Jesus” (Acts 16:31).
We do not believe in a religion, even Christianity, nor do we believe in a certain teaching, not even a teaching about Christ. Rather, we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who is both God and man. The object of our faith is not a dead religion, that is, dead Christianity, or a dead doctrine, that is, a dead teaching concerning Christ, but the living Lord Jesus, the living Christ. Although Christ is Jesus the man, He is also the Lord and God. He is called Lord because He is God; He is called Jesus (meaning “Jehovah the Savior”) because He became a man. He is God and man. We believe on the Lord Jesus who is both God and man by receiving Him as our Savior through faith, thus entering into Him to be joined to Him.
3. “Believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God” (John 20:31).
While Christ is the title of the Lord Jesus related to His office, Son of God is the title of His person. With reference to His office, He is the Christ of God; in relation to His person, He is the Son of God. As the Son of God, He expresses God and declares God; as the Christ of God, He came to accomplish God’s will and to fulfill God’s plan. We must believe that He is both the Christ of God and the Son of God. Although His name is Jesus, He is also the Christ who accomplished God’s will and fulfilled God’s plan. Although He became the Son of Man, He is also the Son of God who expresses and declares God. Indeed, He became Jesus to be our Savior, yet we must believe that He is the Christ who fulfilled God’s will and completed His plan. Although He came to die for us to redeem us as the Son of Man, we must believe that He is the Son of God who expresses and declares the very God Himself. He became Jesus and the Son of Man to be our Savior so that He might deliver us, but in order to obtain His salvation and life, we must believe that He is the Christ of God and the Son of God.
In different times and ways the Bible repeatedly shows and leads man to believe that Jesus is the Christ of God and the Son of God (Acts 5:42; 9:20, 9:22; 18:5, 28; Rom. 1:4; Matt. 16:16; John 11:27). Satan endeavors to keep man from believing that the Lord Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God (9:22; 10:36; Matt. 26:63). If we consider that the Lord Jesus is just a man, we cannot receive salvation. Whoever thinks that Jesus is merely a son of man cannot obtain His life. We must first believe that the Lord Jesus is the Christ of God before we can obtain His salvation. This is because He accomplished God’s redemption according to God’s will and plan. God imparts salvation to us in Christ (Gal. 1:4; Eph. 1:5; 1 Cor. 1:30). To receive His life, we must believe that Jesus, the Son of Man, is also the Son of God because “this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (1 John 5:11-12).
4. “Believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead” (Rom. 10:9).
The Bible does not require us to believe in the death of the Lord Jesus but in His resurrection. His death is acknowledged by all, yet no one can believe in His resurrection without the revelation of the Holy Spirit. His death redeemed us from our sins objectively; His resurrection imparts life into us subjectively and makes us one with Him. Without this subjective union, His objective redemption would have no impact on us. Therefore, in order to be saved, we must believe that God has raised the Lord Jesus from the dead. Without resurrection our faith is vain, and we are still in our sins (1 Cor. 15:14, 17). For this cause, when the early apostles preached the gospel, they especially preached concerning the Lord’s resurrection, because they were witnesses of His resurrection (Acts 1:22; 2:32; 3:15; 4:33).
5. “Believe in the gospel”; “Christ died for our sins...was buried, and...has been raised” (Mark 1:15; 1 Cor. 15:3-4).
Only by believing in the gospel, not in some common teaching, can a person be saved. The gospel is not a common teaching; it specifically speaks of Christ dying for our sins, being buried, and rising again. If Christ and the redemption accomplished through His death and resurrection are not the center of a teaching, it is not the gospel and cannot lead one to believe and be saved. Only the gospel that speaks of Christ and the redemption He accomplished through His death and resurrection can save people. We should believe in this gospel as the object of our faith. The Holy Spirit will reveal Christ, His death, burial, and resurrection to us in this gospel. Through this gospel we know Christ and His redemption and are led to believe in Him. To believe in Christ and His redemption is to believe the proper gospel and is the proper believing.
6. “Not believed in the testimony which God has testified concerning His Son” (1 John 5:10, see also vv. 11-12).
God gave His Son to accomplish redemption for us so that we may have eternal life. Then, by means of the Bible, He testified concerning His Son and His accomplishments. The testimony of God concerning His Son is the words in the Bible that deal with the person and work of Christ. The Lord Jesus and all that He has accomplished are in these words of testimony, the Bible, for us to believe and receive. If we do not believe these words of testimony, we cannot believe in the Son of God and in the accomplishments contained in the testimony. For us to believe in the Son of God and in what He has accomplished, we must believe the words of God’s testimony. The moment we believe in these words of testimony, we obtain the Son of God and His accomplishments.
Believing in the Lord Jesus is not according to human imagination, presumption, and tradition but according to God’s testimony. We do not believe in a Savior of our imagination, presumption, and tradition but in the Savior of whom God has borne testimony. Man presumes and promotes the thought that great effort must be exerted to rely on Jesus, to beseech Him for deliverance, and to look to Him for the gift of salvation, as if He has not already accomplished salvation. This is not God’s testimony. God witnesses in His Word, the Bible, that His Son has already accomplished the work of salvation and life-impartation. The only thing that is required of man is to receive God’s Son and His accomplishments, according to God’s witness and words. Believing in Jesus does not require an exercise of human strength to trust and rely on Him. Rather, it is simply to receive Him and what He has accomplished by faith, according to God’s Word.
The testimony of God concerning His Son is that “God gave to us eternal life and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life” (vv. 11-12). Man must believe this testimony to gain the Son of God and the life that is in Him.
7. “Believed the Scripture” (John 2:22 see also 5:46-47).
One who desires to believe in the Lord Jesus must believe in the Scriptures, for the Scriptures testify concerning Him (v. 39). Moreover, the Lord Jesus is the living Word of God (1:1). The Scriptures are the words written by God (2 Tim. 3:16). The living Word of God, the Lord Jesus, is the reality of the Scriptures, the written Word of God. The written Word of God, the Scriptures, is the revelation of the Lord Jesus, the living Word of God. Thus, a man cannot believe the Scriptures if he does not believe in the Lord Jesus; likewise, one who does not believe the Scriptures cannot believe in the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus and the Scriptures are inseparable. To believe in Him, one must believe the Scriptures. A “Christian” who does not believe the Scriptures is an unbeliever, a false Christian.
Once a person believes in the Lord Jesus as described above, he immediately obtains the following ten items:
1. “Forgiveness of sins” (Acts 10:43; 26:18).
Once we believe, God forgives all our sins, solving our problems with Him.
2. “Washed” (1 Cor. 6:11).
Once we believe, we are forgiven of our sins and even washed of them. Forgiveness spares us from the record of sin; washing eliminates the trace of sin. After being washed, our condition is as if we had never sinned or been contaminated by sins.
3. “Sanctified” (Acts 26:18; 1 Cor. 6:11).
Once we believe, God forgives our sins and washes us. Then He sanctifies us to Himself.
4. “Justified” (Gal. 2:16 see also 3:8; Rom. 3:28; 1 Cor. 6:11).
Once we believe, God not only sanctifies us but also justifies us, declaring that we are righteous.
5. “Reconciled to God” (Rom. 5:10).
Once we believe, God forgives us and washes us from our sins thereby solving the problems that existed between us and Him. In so doing, He sanctifies and justifies us. Hence, the moment we believe, we are reconciled to God and are at peace with God.
6. “Begotten...of God” (John 1:13, see also v. 12; 1 John 5:1).
Forgiveness, washing, sanctification, justification, and reconciliation solve the problems between us and God outwardly. However, we not only have outward problems with God, we also have inward problems related to our life and nature. Hence, once we believe, God regenerates us within. We are regenerated when we believe; that is, we are born of God.
7. “Eternal life”; “Passed out of death into life” (John 6:47; 5:24).
The life we receive when we are regenerated is the life of God. God’s life is eternal; therefore, it is called eternal life. Once we believe, we experience regeneration and obtain eternal life. When we receive eternal life, we in fact pass out of death into life.
8. “The Holy Spirit” (Eph. 1:13).
Once we believe, we are regenerated and obtain the life of God, and God gives us the Holy Spirit to dwell in us.
9. “Freedom” (Gal. 5:1 see also John 8:36).
Once we believe, all our inward and outward problems are resolved, and we obtain God’s life and the Holy Spirit. We also obtain full liberation and freedom and are no longer bound and fettered.
10. “Saved” (Eph. 2:8; Acts 16:31; Luke 7:50).
Once we believe, we are saved, completely saved. Salvation includes a broad spectrum of things. The items listed above are given by God to us as our salvation. We obtain a complete salvation with all its riches the moment we believe. We do not need to gain anything more after believing; we only need to experience more of what we have gained.
These items are only briefly discussed here. Beginning in chapter 6, we will study each item separately, except for the eighth item, the Holy Spirit, which we discussed in chapter 4.
