Why Men Do Not Believe

Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, asked the brethren to "pray for us that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified, just as it did also with you; and that we may be delivered from perverse and evil men; for not all have faith." (2 Thess. 3:2 NAS) The question I want to deal with in this article is why men do not believe. This is a question that has bothered me over the years, for it seems only natural to believe. Yet, I cannot deny what is obvious to all, just as Paul said, "not all have faith." What does the Bible have to say about the reasons for unbelief?

Paul said of himself, in talking about his past, how he was a persecutor of Christians, and then says, "I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief." (1 Tim. 1:13 NAS) Thus, there was a time in Paul's life when he was an unbeliever. Yet, Paul, then known as Saul, was an honest man, for he says elsewhere in Acts 23:1 while standing before the Council or Sanhedrin that "I have lived my life with a perfectly good conscience before God up to this day" (NAS) or, as the NKJV puts it, "in all good conscience."

It would be easy to say unbelievers are all dishonest, but that will not work. Paul's case proves just the opposite. Paul, or Saul, was present from the very beginning of the Christian religion. In Acts 7, we are told that those who stoned Stephen "laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul." (Acts 7:58 NAS) And then we read in chapter 8, the first verse, that "Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death." (NAS) This was in the earliest days of Christianity.

One wonders why Saul was blinded to the miracles that were occurring in Jerusalem. Working back from Acts chapter 7, back from the time of Stephen's stoning, we find in Acts 6:8, "Stephen, full of grace and power, was performing great wonders and signs among the people." (NAS) The footnote to verse 8 in the NAS says "attesting miracles." Even earlier in Acts 5:12, we are told, "By the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people." (NKJV) Is it likely that Saul was totally ignorant of these events, of what had been going on? Read also Acts 5:15-16. Was he unaware of how Ananias and Sapphira had been miraculously struck down? Was he unaware of Peter healing the lame man at the temple gate in Acts 3? Was he unaware of the veil of the temple being rent on the day of Christ's crucifixion? Were the priests denying that? More questions could be asked.

It is highly unlikely that Saul was totally unaware of everything that had been transpiring. He says in Acts 22:3 that he was raised in Jerusalem. That does not necessarily imply he was an eyewitness to everything that went on there, but one is reminded of what Cleopas said to Jesus, unknowingly, on the road to Emmaus, "Are You the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days?" (Luke 24:18 NAS) That was said before the disciples generally knew that Jesus had risen from the dead, but one wonders if much the same could not be said of Saul in the days of which we speak. Are you the only one who does not know of the miraculous events occurring here in the name of Jesus Christ?

Yet, Saul was an honest unbeliever. My point is this: here we have a man with a world of evidence before him, but he is not willing to accept it. Why not? How do we explain it? I cannot except for one statement that Paul made later.

I refer to Gal. 1:13-14, "For you have heard of my former manner of life in Judaism, how I used to persecute the church of God beyond measure, and tried to destroy it; and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions." (NAS) Vine says the Greek word here for zealous means "an uncompromising partisan." Thayer says "one burning with zeal." Not just zealous but burning with zeal.

With unbelievers who are extremely zealous, even in their error, their misguided zeal blinds the mind and heart to the extent that even miracles have no effect upon them. Paul, evidently, fit into that category for a time. No doubt, this is one reason it is so hard to convert one who holds false doctrine zealously.

Paul says in Rom. 10:2 of his fellow countrymen, "I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge." (NAS) They were where he once was--religious but unbelievers—zealots. The Bible teaches that zeal itself is not a bad thing (Gal. 4:18), is good, but it must be based on knowledge.

Looking back over all of this, the one lesson that ought to be burned into our minds is that zeal does not make right. Zeal proves nothing about truth or error. The Catholics were zealous centuries ago, while burning men and women at the stake, just as Saul was in agreeing that Stephen ought to be put to death. Zeal is no measure of truth.

Extreme zeal blinds. It gives one tunnel vision, all the while destroying one's ability to reason. We see this in radical Islam, but its blinding power is seen in many different places. Many hold to atheism with extreme zeal, along with the theory of evolution, especially in the academic world. The Nazi's of Germany of WW II come to mind as another example. People often have extreme zeal for whatever they believe in, resulting in the truth being hidden from them.

We also learn from Paul's case that truth is not dependent on my feelings about it. I may be totally opposed to the truth in all good conscience, but that will not turn my error into the truth, nor will it transform the truth into error. Jacob believed a lie and was sure Joseph was dead upon seeing the blood-stained robe of many colors (Gen. 37:33). His feelings did not make the error true. Trust your feelings and you risk your eternal life. "He who trusts in his own heart is a fool." (Prov. 28:26 NKJV) We must trust what God's word says and not our feelings about it.

Yet, I think there is little doubt that in religion today, feelings generally prevail over what is plainly recorded in scripture. How I feel about an issue is what matters. It is also what will destroy. It is what God says about an issue that counts, not how I feel about it. Too many of us want to tell God how he ought to view matters, view them the way we want.

Men also fail to believe when their minds will not allow them to think otherworldly. The truth is incomprehensible to them, beyond belief. They can only believe what they see or know with their senses. They live by human instinct. They cannot think beyond the physical flesh and blood realm of existence. Life after death, the resurrection of the dead, God, all these things are beyond comprehension to them. It just cannot be. It is incomprehensible. They see themselves as advanced evolutionary animals, but never consider the first cause or source.

A good Bible example of this was when Jesus went back to his hometown--Nazareth. The Bible reads in Matt. 13:54-58, "And coming to His home town He began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they became astonished, and said, 'Where did this man get this wisdom, and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?' And they took offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is not without honor except in his home town, and in his own household.' And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief." (NAS)

They said of him, "Where did this man get this wisdom, and these miraculous powers?" That should have been easy to answer if you were willing to admit the man did miracles. They admitted he did. However, all human reasoning was against Jesus being associated with deity, for they had known him and his family all their life. It made no sense to them. It just could not be. It was impossible.

Another example was when Jesus was resurrected. You remember when Mary Magdalene saw Jesus after he was resurrected and then went back to the disciples and told them. The Bible says, "They refused to believe it." (Mark 16:11 NAS) Then, when the two who were with Jesus on the road to Emmaus came back and reported the same to the disciples, after Mary had, the Bible says, "They did not believe them either." (Mark 16:13 NAS)

They were like Saul on the road to Damascus; they had to personally experience the miracle to believe. Jesus had to come into their presence, and when he did, he rebuked them for their unbelief (Mark 16:14). Men do not rise from the dead. How is it possible? It was beyond the realm of all human reason and experience, too wild to imagine.

What do we learn from these two examples--Jesus' trip to his hometown and the disciples' refusal to believe the resurrection? We learn that some cannot believe because their mindset is such that if a thing is outside the realm of human experience and personal knowledge, it is unfathomable and cannot be. The mind is closed to such things.

Today, we would say they have a scientific mindset. If a matter is outside the realm of scientific study, unrelated to all known laws of physics and science, then there can be no truth to the thing. Much of the world today does not believe in life after death or a resurrection of the dead. Their mindset will not allow it. Nothing exists that is beyond the realm of human scientific knowledge, as they see it, for that would be impossible, nothing other worldly that is, nothing of another dimension or realm of existence.

They are so stuck in this way of thinking about life that they have come up with what they consider the scientific answer to the earth's creation and life on earth. They will tell you what happened millions and millions of years ago with a straight face and will consider you a fool if you doubt them. They are convinced that men evolved from sea creatures that crawled up on shore millions and millions of years ago and evolved. They do not think that is an incredible thing. They can believe that because they think they can reason that out scientifically. The only foolishness with them is the idea of God.

But what else does the Bible have to say about why men do not believe? Paul says in 2 Cor. 4:3-4, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." (NAS)

When a person is young and seemingly has what he or she perceives to be 40 or 50 years of productive life left in this world it is easy to get so caught up in education, acquisition, achievement, career building, marriage, and raising a family that there is no time or interest in a spiritual life. This continues once started pretty much on into old age.

These are people who don't believe because they have never given themselves a chance to believe. There is always too much to do, too much going on, to even give thought to God or the gospel.

Luke describes these people as those beside the road, "who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they may not believe and be saved." (Luke 8:12 NAS) The Bible says, "A natural man, does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." (1 Cor. 2:14 NAS) The natural man is the man caught up in that which is natural to man--the desire for the life of this world. The things related to God are foolishness to him, the Bible says.

In Matthew's account of the parable of the sower, Jesus says of such a one of whom we are speaking that he did not understand the word and thus "the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart." (Matt. 13:19 NAS) He does not say why such a person does not understand, but we know without his saying simply by asking a couple of questions. Did God give us his word in such a way that it could not be understood and thus was to be hidden from man? What was God's intent when he gave us his word?

A man who does not understand God's word is a man who has no desire to give it the time and attention necessary to learn it, for he has other things of more interest on his mind. He is Paul's natural man of 1 Cor. 2.

The natural man here is one whose mind is centered solely on achievement and enjoyment of this world. Jesus said, "How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another, and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?" (John 5:44 NAS) This is the kind of man we are talking about, a man centered on achievement or acquisition in this world.

Then there are men who simply enjoy sin, which the Bible speaks of as the "passing pleasures of sin." (Heb. 11:25 NKJV) Jesus said, John 3:19-20, "And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed." (NAS) "Men loved the darkness" is just another way of saying they loved sin. These are people who do not want to believe, for they love sin (love the darkness) and thus are unwilling to believe.

I have not at all exhausted this study of why men do not believe. I am always searching to understand, but it is time to conclude for now. I conclude with this: belief is a choice. If it were not, how could we be condemned for not believing? "He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned." (Mark16:16 NKJV)

We believe what we want to believe, and we can always find a way to justify our belief. That said, there is always a motive for believing the way we do. This is not to say evidence does not exist for what we may or may not believe but it is to say our heart's desire often leads us to not weigh the evidence that is available fairly and impartially. We become subjective rather than objective in our reasoning process. Truth does exist, but the heart makes it hard to find in the minds of men.

If the God of the Bible does not exist, it frees us up to enjoy what the Bible calls "the passing pleasures of sin" (Heb. 11:25 NAS) without any threat of retribution. We can achieve and receive the adoration and praise of men. It is a lot more convenient if God does not exist, at least in the here and now. We do not want him to exist; we do not want the Bible to be true, if our love is for this life and this world.

Those who do not believe have the same evidence as those who do believe. What makes the difference then? Often it comes down to just this one thing. The believer has a desire for "a better, that is, a heavenly country." (Heb. 11:16 NKJV) The unbeliever is satisfied with this world and does not want another. One wants and desires God, the other does not. The evidence remains the same for both.

If the unbeliever came to belief he would have to change his life. He loves this world. It is soothing to his soul to not give the Bible a thought. We believe what we want. The unbeliever wants to believe it is not so, for he has a great stake in it not being true. He has staked his eternal life on it not being so. The Bible cannot be true for if it is he stands condemned. He has no desire to believe that. We believe what we want to believe. That is why disbelief is a sin. It is a sin because it was and is a choice. Bad choices in life just about always lead to disaster. The Bible being true, surely the choice of disbelief will be no exception.

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The Chastening of the Lord

People often have a misconception about God. They cannot imagine that God would ever bring upon us trials and tribulations, punish us for our sins, or do anything in this life but bring us good--good as we see it. God is love, God is grace, and the very idea that God would ever send upon us anything but that which is most pleasant is abhorrent to our way of thinking.

There is no doubt that when one looks at the big picture that God only does what is best for us for our eternal welfare. Loving parents are like that with their children. All that they do in regard to their children is for the child’s welfare if they are the kind of parents they ought to be. Does that mean, however, that all they do is pleasant from the child’s point of view?

Are we not God’s children? How is it that we would think that God would not send us some unpleasantness in our lives for our own good to correct us and make for us a pleasant and happy future? Sometimes our fleshly children need to be disciplined so they can learn how to conduct themselves and not become involved in self-destructive behaviors. We all come into this world knowing nothing but that which is instinctual. We all need to learn how to live to succeed and if this is true in the physical material world how much more is it true in the spiritual realm?

Hebrews 12:5-11 can be a bit difficult.  What is the chastening of the Lord? How does God do that? How can I recognize it when it is occurring? Questions naturally come to mind.

To refresh your memory of this passage I quote it here:

“(5) And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; (6) For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives.’(7) If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? (8) But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. (9) Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? (10) For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. (11) Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but grievous; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.” (NKJV)

There are some points that are readily apparent when one reads the passage, despite the questions one might have.

(1) Verse 5 makes it clear that this chastening is a rebuking from God, for we are not to be “discouraged when you are rebuked by Him.”

(2) It is something to be endured, “If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons.” (verse 7) When one “endures” a thing it generally means the thing being endured is unpleasant.

(3) It is a correction, “we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?” (verse 9)

(4) It is for our profit, “he for our profit” chastens us. (verse 10)

(5) It is painful, “no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful.” (verse 11)

(6) "It yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness." (verse 11)

The question remains as to how God chastens us and why in a more specific sense. I do not claim to have all the answers, but the book of Amos sheds some light on the subject.

All students of the Old Testament are aware of how time after time God’s people would become unfaithful to him and how he would punish them. However, was it just always a matter of punishment for punishment’s sake? No, not always.

“Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt.” (Amos 3:1 NKJV) God speaking, obviously, but then note what he says in chapter 4:6, "'Also I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, And lack of bread in all your places; Yet you have not returned to Me,' Says the LORD." (Amos 4:6 NKJV)

Take a look at another passage, verses 7-8 (same chapter): "'I also withheld rain from you, When there were still three months to the harvest. … Yet you have not returned to Me,' Says the LORD." (Amos 4:7-8 NKJV)

Or how about verse 9: “'I blasted you with blight and mildew. When your gardens increased, Your vineyards, Your fig trees, And your olive trees, The locust devoured them; Yet you have not returned to Me,’ Says the LORD.” (Amos 4:9 NKJV)

I think the reader will get the idea, but if you wish to read more of the same go ahead and read verses 10 and 11.

It becomes clear that the purpose of these troubles, trials, and tribulations was to get the children of Israel (God’s children) to repent and return to him. Why would we think it strange if God was found to still be working today in the same manner to get people to repent--that is, through trials, tribulations, and troubles?

One could say that was on a national scale in Amos' time and did not involve individual action. There is truth to that, but I doubt the man who lacked bread in his house (verse 6), suffered from drought (verses 7-8), suffered from blight and mildew and locusts (verse 9), was thinking much on a national level. His problems were personal: no food, no water.

And, besides, how does a nation repent unless the people who comprise that nation repent on an individual basis? There can be no national repentance without individuals repenting.

There will be in life trials and troubles. No one can say when such occurs that it is a specific instance of God chastening, but it may be. Hebrews 12 teaches beyond doubt that if you are a child of God you will be chastened. God’s desire is that we are always repenting of sin in our lives and that we are always drawing nearer to him and becoming more and more what he would have us be.

I think Albert Barnes, the commentator, put it best when he made the following comments on the Hebrews 12:6 passage: “And as there is in the life of every child of God something that deserves correction, it happens that it is universally true that ‘whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.’” Would any of us disagree with that? I think not.

He further says: “It should be a matter of deep concern when we are afflicted in any manner, not to treat the matter lightly, but to derive from our trials all the lessons which they are adapted to produce on the mind.” (comments on Heb. 12:5, Barnes Commentary on Hebrews)

Whether it is illness, financial setback, or whatever negative thing it may be that comes into our life, we ought to be brought closer to God by it, repent if need be of sin, live more spiritually, and live for eternity. It may or may not be God’s chastening, but we need to learn our dependence upon him. We are not going to get out of this life alive. What is left if not God? He knows that. He thus chastens us as needed. Why? The answer is for our good and because he loves us, desiring only the eternal best for us. Let us then, “despise not thou the chastening of the Lord.” (Heb. 12:5 KJV)

[For further study on this topic see the book of Haggai, the TEV version, chapter 1 and 2:17. See also, same version, Amos 4:6-12.]

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Is It Too Late—Am I Too Far Gone

I am writing this article primarily for those wayward Christians who went back into the world and who would now like to return to God but feel that it is too late for them. They feel like their life has been too sinful and for too long for God to have them back. They believe they are eternally condemned with no hope of being saved.

The Bible has never taught a doctrine of “too late” to a person who is truly penitent and who is willing to turn from sin and turn back to God. The doctrine that is taught is that God is “longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV)  “‘Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?’ says the Lord God, ‘and not that he should turn from his ways and live?’” (Ezek. 18:23 NKJV) Bear with me as we read a few more passages before commenting.

"Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.” (Ezek. 18:27-28 NKJV)

Jesus said, “I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matt. 9:13 NKJV) Paul, writing by means of the Holy Spirit to the Christians in Corinth, said, “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.” (2 Cor. 7:9-10 NKJV) There was sin in the church at Corinth as revealed in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, sin among the Christians there. Were they lost because of their sin? They would have been, but they repented, bringing rejoicing into Paul’s life. God forgave them when they repented. It was “repentance leading to salvation.”

Repentance is not just for the individual who is not a child of God, not just for the alien sinner, not just for the one who has never come to God or known God, but for all sinners. John says, in addressing Christians, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” (1 John 1:8 NKJV) The only person for whom it is too late, who is too far gone to be saved, is the person who is unwilling to repent and turn to God, whether that repentance and turning is a first-time event or an unlimited number of times.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 NKJV) We only confess once we have repented. One does not make a sincere confession without repentance. But note the promise God gives, forgiveness and cleansing. It is a promise of God, therefore certain.

When Peter asked the Lord how many times he ought to forgive a brother who sinned against him, the Lord’s response was “up to seventy times seven.” (Matt. 18:22 NKJV) No one believes Jesus meant for us to keep a record so that when we have forgiven a person 490 times, we cease forgiving that one. He clearly meant there is no end to forgiveness for one who repents. God’s desire is for us to forgive as freely and willingly as he does.

The children of Israel, the fleshly descendants of Jacob, were God’s chosen people under the Law of Moses. They were to God then what Christians are to him now. All who have read the Old Testament realize how the majority of them went into idolatry and departed from God as the years rolled by. Eventually, God allowed them to be overrun by the Assyrians and then the Babylonians because of their great sin. However, God was always calling for their repentance to spare them until it came to the point where it was no longer possible for them to repent due to their hardness and stubbornness of heart.

God’s desire for their repentance, in their time, is his desire for the Christian’s repentance today, when the Christian has gone back into the world, departing from faithfulness. Listen to God’s pleading.

“Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon.” (Isa. 55:7 NKJV)

“How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? … My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.” (Hosea 11:8 NKJV)

“‘Now, therefore,’ says the LORD, ‘turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.’ So rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the LORD your God, for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and He relents from doing harm.” (Joel 2:12–13 NKJV)

“‘Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,’ says the LORD GOD. ‘Therefore turn and live!’” (Ezekiel 18:31–32 NKJV)

“But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is lawful and right, he shall live because of it.” (Ezek. 33:19 NKJV)

Yes, all the passages just quoted are from the Old Testament and have direct reference to the children of Israel, God’s chosen people at that time, but God’s character has not changed. Jesus came into the world to save sinners (Luke 5:32), not just alien sinners but all sinners. In fact, Jesus, when he came into the world, first went to the lost sinners of the house of Israel, the lost sinners among God’s chosen people, to first seek their repentance and teach them the truth. God desires his children’s repentance.

James says, “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.” (James 5:19-20 NKJV) It is a Christian who has wandered away here, and the sins, even if a multitude, are covered when the sinner is turned by repentance. No, a wayward Christian who will repent is not too far gone due to the number of, or severity of his sins, or the time he has been away from God, not too far gone to be saved.

God forgave Manasseh. Manasseh was a king in Judah who was as nearly as evil as one can get. You can read about him in 2 Kings 21 and 2 Chronicles 33. His reign began when he was only 12 years old, and he reigned for 55 years. Just to name a few of his many sins, he sacrificed his son in the fire (idol worship), practiced witchcraft and divination, consulted mediums and spiritists, set up a carved image of the idol Asherah in the temple, made altars for the Baals, worshiped nearly anything and everything but God. He also shed much innocent blood to the extent he filled Jerusalem with it (2 Kings 21:16). He led Judah into sin worse than the heathen nations before them. Yet, God forgave him when he repented (2 Chron. 33:10-20). God will forgive if we genuinely repent. I doubt your sins will be any greater than those of Manasseh. It is not too late to repent and return to God. He will have you back, and you can still receive salvation. 

God is love. He loves the sinner even if he cannot accept him without repentance. Hear Hosea, “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Go again; show love to a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulteress, just as the Lord loves the Israelites though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.’” (Hosea 3:1 CSB) God loved his people even when they were idolaters and had abandoned him. Do we doubt today that he loves the Christians who have wandered away from him? Do we not think he desires their repentance and return to him?

In the book of Revelation, we have Jesus’ message to the seven churches of Asia. We must remember the church is Christians, not an abstraction. The message there, to more than one body of Christians, is to repent. God’s desire is not to destroy people. Repentance was not just an Old Testament thing exclusive to Israel and Judah. Repentance is for every person who needs to repent of the sins they are living with. “God … now commands all men everywhere to repent.” (Acts 17:30 NKJV)

It is easy to give up and go on living a sinful and hopeless life, but that is exactly the kind of life it is – hopeless and ultimately disastrous. And, it is not a happy life. When a person knows within themselves they are not what they ought to be, there is no joy. It is no way to live, even if it seems everyone else is living that way. The joyful life is the hopeful life, a life lived with peace with God. Why not repent and turn and live, for that is God’s invitation to each of us when we get caught up in the world and find ourselves away from God.

Jesus, in his own words, says to each of us, “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” (Luke 15:7 NKJV) “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 6:2 NKJV)

Repent and return is God’s message to all his wayward children. If this article applies to you, why not now? Salvation is knocking at your door. What holds you back? Why wait? Open the door for you know, according to the old hymn, “who at the door is standing.”

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What Must a Person Believe to be Saved by the Gospel of Christ

That the gospel of Christ must be believed (as well as obeyed) to receive Christian salvation is made abundantly clear by the apostle Paul in one of the best-known passages found in the Bible--Rom. 1:16: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek." (Rom. 1:16 NAS) It thus becomes essential that we learn what it is that an individual must believe in order to be saved if we seek the salvation of our souls. What is included in the gospel that must be believed?

Paul helps us out and gives us a good start in defining the gospel in 1 Cor. 15:1-4: "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures." (NAS)

We learn from this passage two things found in the gospel, thus things that must be believed. (1) Christ died for our sins. (2) He was resurrected from the dead. We will discuss each.  We will not discuss his burial for that has never been an issue.

One must believe that Christ died for a purpose, to accomplish a goal--he died for our sins. He died as a propitiation for our sins. "He himself is the propitiation for our sins." (1 John 2:2 NAS) Or, as some other translations put it, “he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins” (NIV, CSB, NRSV). Jesus was "the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29 NAS) He “appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.” (Heb. 9:26 NKJV) He was God's sacrificial lamb who died to make atonement for the sins of mankind.

God cannot be a God of justice nor can he maintain his honor if he allows man to violate his law and run amok without consequence. No one respects a law or its author if the law can be broken without a penalty for doing so. "Sin is the transgression of the law" of God. (1 John 3:4 KJV)

God cannot be glorified by men who show disrespect by violating his laws at will. When men violate God's law by sin it shows disrespect for God and dishonors him. It displaces the natural order of things and puts man over God, man’s will over God’s will, man over his maker. God will not allow that to happen. "Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap." (Gal. 6:7 NAS)

"The wages of sin is death." (Rom. 6:23 NAS) One could almost say God, by definition of what it means to be God, has to punish sin. His nature demands it, and justice calls for it.

While God will uphold his honor and his glory the Bible also teaches that God loves man, "for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son" (John 3:16 NKJV), and does not desire that any man perish for he is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV) As far back as Ezekiel we read the words of God, "'I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,' says the Lord God. 'Therefore turn and live.'" (Ezek. 18:32 NKJV) "God is love." (1 John 4:8 NAS)

God's desire for man is man's salvation, but "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." (Rom. 3:23 NAS) The question then became one of how God could save man and, at the same time, be just? Sin had to be punished if justice was to exist.

The answer was to punish sin through his son's death on the cross. "He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by his wounds you were healed." (1 Peter 2:24 NAS) Christ took man's place. He took man's punishment for sin. Thus, one thing man must believe, that is absolutely essential to salvation, is that Christ died for our sins just as it is stated in 1 Cor. 15:3 and that he obtained atonement for them in his death.

A second thing Paul says we must believe is that Christ was raised from the dead. He says in Rom. 1:4, in speaking of Jesus, that he was "declared with power to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead." (Rom. 1:4 NAS) Jesus' resurrection proved that he was who he claimed to be, proved him to be God's son, which meant he had the power to forgive sins and save man. His resurrection was essential. Paul goes so far as to say, "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless." (1 Cor. 15:17 NAS) Why would that be true? Because without the resurrection, it would have shown Jesus to be an imposter.

Think about it as follows. If Jesus was lying all the while he was on earth about who he was and what he was doing that would make him a liar and a deceitful man. Would a righteous God resurrect such a man and join in the deception? Not if God is good and just. If Jesus is not resurrected, it shows God wants no part of him. However, Jesus was resurrected, which showed that God placed his stamp of approval on Jesus' life and teaching and his sacrificial death, to provide a means for the forgiveness of sins.

In believing Jesus was resurrected, one is thus accepting of the fact that Jesus was and is the Lord and Savior of man and the Son of God. Jesus predicted his own death and resurrection (see Matt. 16:21, 17:22-23, 20:18-19 and other similar scriptures throughout the other gospels) and taught the necessity of his own sacrificial death (John 3:14-15) in order for man to be saved. His resurrection provided proof that his word was good in all that he taught and that man can have faith in him.

What else must one believe to be saved by the gospel of Christ? One good way to find out is to examine the preaching of the apostles and evangelists as recorded in Acts as they went out into the world attempting to convert people to Christ. First, a couple of premises need to be laid down for if you do not accept the premises you will not accept the apostle's and evangelist's inspired teaching on the subject. Premise one is that they preached the gospel. Premise two is that what one taught by inspiration as essential all taught by inspiration as essential, whether the item is mentioned or not. If this were not the case, then you would have multiple gospels being preached with one apostle preaching one thing and another something different.

In Peter's gospel sermon in Acts 2, the first such sermon ever preached after Christ's ascension and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, Peter preached repentance and baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38). Was one required to believe him? Was this something a person had to believe to be saved? Was what he preached a part of the gospel? Did he preach by inspiration that day? Is a man required to believe he must repent of sins? Is a man required to believe he must be baptized for the remission of sins? If a man is not required to believe it, why preach it to people? Why preach it to people who need the gospel if it is not a part of the gospel?

Sadly, most of the world is not willing to accept Peter's gospel preaching in Acts 2, but 3,000 that day did. "So then, those who had received (does the word "received" mean believed?--DS) his word were baptized; and there were added that day about three thousand souls." (Acts 2:41 NAS) The truth is deep down people know Peter preached by inspiration; they know he preached the gospel, but their religious tradition will not allow them to accept the part about baptism.

Philip in Samaria (Acts 8:12), Philip also in preaching to the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8:35-38), Ananias in preaching to Saul of Tarsus (Acts 9:17-18 and Acts 22:16), Peter in preaching to Cornelius and his household (Acts 10:48), Paul in preaching to Lydia (Acts 16:14-15) and to the Philippian jailer (Acts 16:31-33), Paul again in Corinth (Acts 18:8) and then later to the 12 at Ephesus (Acts 19:1-5) all preached baptism in preaching the gospel. How do we know? We know because in each account at the end of the preaching, we find those who were receptive to the preaching being baptized. It is impossible to be baptized if you are ignorant of baptism which is the case if it is not being preached, preached as a part of the gospel in those conversion accounts. Thus, we see that one must believe there is a need to be baptized after repentance and then do it.

Well, what else? Well, a man must believe he needs to confess Christ and then do that as well. "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation." (Rom. 10:9-10 NAS)

The only scripturally qualified candidate for baptism is a person who believes and has repented of his sins. One can only know a person is a believer if they tell you, which requires a confession by the mouth of the Lord Jesus. The fact that some religious groups sprinkle those too young to know or believe anything and call it baptism does not make it so. Scriptural baptism has prerequisites. Without those, you just have someone getting wet. Even worse, those people grow up believing a lie, believing they have been baptized. Bible baptism requires a penitent believer in Jesus Christ, which disqualifies infants, toddlers, and young children.

In John 3:16, we are told that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life." (NAS) Who is this person one must believe in? The text teaches it is the only begotten Son of God. It is "he who believes in the Son” who has eternal life (John 3:36 NAS). One must believe Jesus was and is the Son of God.

John, near the end of his gospel, speaking of things that had been written, 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." (John 20:31 NAS) Jesus said, "Unless you believe that I am he, you shall die in your sins." (John 8:24 NAS)

When Jesus asked his disciples in Matt. 16 who men said he was, they told him, but then he asked a more specific question, "But who do you say that I am?" (Matt. 16:15 NKJV) Peter responded, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matt. 16:16 NKJV) Upon this fact, Jesus built the church (Matt. 16:18) of which he is the Savior (Eph. 5:23). This foundational truth that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, is the confession men need to make out of believing hearts to obtain salvation. Men must believe Jesus was/is the son of God and be willing to confess the same.

The faith we hold must lead to an "obedience of faith" (Rom. 1:5, 16:26), which is to say it is not just a conceptual faith held inactive in the mind but one that leads a man or woman to act according to that which they have come to believe. As James says, "faith without works (obedience--DS) is dead" (James 2:26 NAS).  Dead things do not bring life (salvation). If one's faith stops at the point of intellectual faith alone, and leaves out repentance, confession of Jesus, and baptism, then it is dead. It is dead for two reasons. One, it stopped short of full faith in the gospel message, which required these things, and two, it was never "obedient to the faith." (see Acts 6:7 NAS)

The last thing that must be believed is that God is a rewarder of those who seek him. "And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." (Heb. 11:6 NAS) When one believes and obeys the gospel, he has been a seeker after God. We must then believe, having done that, that God has forgiven us of our sins. They are cast off, done away. We are forgiven. This is the gospel that we must believe.

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