I have recently been reading the Bible. I have found that "God sent His son that whosoever believes in Him shall be saved." This I have known for a while now, what I find peculiar is the use of the word "believe." It looks like it could be misinterpreted "whosoever has mental assent in Jesus being the Christ and the Son of God shall be saved." But then I read that fornicators, drunkards, homosexuals, adulterers, etc. will not inherit the kingdom of God. So then it seems that it takes more than just mere belief in Jesus as savior. I'm interested in finding out what others think the belief being referred to is. How can I be sure that I have the right kind of belief & will be saved?
:-)

The bible says that certain letters were written that people may KNOW they are saved. So how can one tell if they're saved? What do you think?

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this.

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Jon Doe

Hey,

Read some of article's written by John Wesley, on salvation by faith, his writings describe very well what the bible teaches on this subject.

Nelsons Bible Dictionary Describes well:

FAITH - a belief in or confident attitude toward God, involving commitment to His will for one’s life.
According to Hebrews 11, faith was already present in the experience of many people in the Old Testament as a key element of their spiritual lives. In this chapter, the various heroes of the Old Testament (Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and Moses) are described as living by faith. In addition, the Old Testament itself makes the same point. Abraham "believed in the Lord" (Gen. 15:6); the Israelites "believed" (Ex. 4:31; 14:31); and the prophet Habakkuk taught that "the just shall live by his faith" (Hab. 2:4).
In the New Testament, "faith" covers various levels of personal commitment. Mere intellectual agreement to a truth is illustrated in James 2:19, where even demons are said to believe that there is one God. Obviously, however, they are not saved by this type of belief. Genuine saving faith is a personal attachment to Christ, best thought of as a combination of two ideas-reliance on Christ and commitment to Him. Saving faith involves personally depending on the finished work of Christ’s sacrifice as the only basis for forgiveness of sin and entrance into heaven. But saving faith is also a personal commitment of one’s life to following Christ in obedience to His commands: "I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day" (2 Tim. 1:12).
Faith is part of the Christian life from beginning to end. As the instrument by which the gift of salvation is received (Eph. 2:8-9), faith is thus distinct from the basis of salvation, which is grace, and from the outworking of salvation, which is good works. The apostle Paul declared that salvation is through faith, not through keeping the law (Gal. 2:16).
Finally, in the New Testament, faith can refer to the teachings of the Bible, the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). In modern times, faith has been weakened in meaning so that some people use it to mean self-confidence. But in the Bible, true faith is confidence in God or Christ, not in oneself.
Youngblood, Ronald F., General Editor; F.F. Bruce and R.K. Harrison, Consulting Editors, Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary, (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson) 1997, c1995.

So yes it is more than a mere mental assesnt, You can claim christ is God, and qoute all the bible, But if you are not trusting in His work on the cross, trusting in Him to save you, that is not saving faith.

Even more so Jesus said unless your righteousness surpass's the righteouness of the pharisees you shall by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Pharisees, knew the torah, prayed, gave money, obey commandments outwardly. Although Christ said unless your righteousness surpass's them you will not enter heaven. This shows, we all are sinners, must repent, and trust in the savior, and His work, Are whole nature must be changed inside out, Born again, only God can do this.

Hope that helps, gtg.

In Christ,

joshua

Thanks for your insight. That helps.

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Jon Doe

I hope this also helps:

“But what does the word 'believe' mean? It means two things, which are in the word itself. It means an acknowledgment of the truth, that is, the reaction which says: 'That is true', or 'He is true', 'I believe He is true'. But it means more than that. The word in the Greek means: 'Believing that it is true, you commit yourself to the one who says it.' John puts that in another way in one place: "As many as received him" (John 1:12). That is only another way of saying 'They committed themselves to Him'. Believing is not only a mental thing: it is the committing of the life to the one whom you believe. I once heard Dr. Billy Graham put it in a very simple way. I was sitting on the platform just behind him, and, as you know, he is quite a big man physically. He could put his weight on to the platform where he stood. He said: 'Now, when I come on to this platform I do not stand on the steps and say: I wonder if the platform will hold me or whether, if I get on to it, it will collapse and let me down. I have such confidence in this platform that I walk right on to it and commit myself to it. I have no question about the platform. I put my full weight on to it.' He went on to say: 'That is what the New Testament means by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ.' 'That believing'... that is, committing yourself to the Lord Jesus.“.

This is taken from chapter 2, “The Nature of Divine Life” in T. Austin-Sparks’ Dicipleship in the School of Christ.

http://austin-sparks.net/english/books/discipleship_in_the_school_of_christ.html


There are two audio tapes by Major W. Ian Thomas which may be helpful. They are available at a small cost.

# 24 The Nature of Faith
#34 Believer at the Gas Station: Foolish Galatians! (Galatians 3:1-4)

http://www.gospelcom.net/tb/html/torchbearer_tapes/flash_frame.htm

Click on Speaker, Major W. Ian Thomas, and scroll down to 03-01


Roger

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Roger P.

Matthew writes:
“The bible says that certain letters were written that people may KNOW they are saved. So how can one tell if they're saved? What do you think?”


“And many other SIGNS truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: But these are written, that ye may BELIEVE that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have LIFE through his name” (John 20:30-31).


In that second chapter of the book, [u]Discipleship in the School of Christ[/u], Austin-Speaks deals carefully, thought by thought, with the three parts of the verse to which I think you refer—signs, believing and life.

I had to lift the material on BELIEVING from the context, so I would encourage you to take a look at the context –- particularly
a) the connection between the SIGNS and the BELIEVING (“these are written
[i]in order that [/i] you may believe”)

as well as
b) the BELIEVING itself and the reception of eternal LIFE (“and that, believing, you may have…”)


Roger

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Roger P.