What Precisely Must One Believe About Jesus?
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Unfortunately, there is but one condition of justification and eternal life, and
none of those are it. The sole condition is to believe in Jesus Christ for eternal life.
People can do any or all of the things just listed and yet believe that more
than faith in Jesus is necessary to have everlasting life.
My concern is not simply academic; it is also exceedingly practical. If we
don`t tell people the right message, then we make it very hard for them to believe
and be born again. The more garbled our presentation of the saving proposition, the
less likely a person will understand and believe it.
CONCLUSION
The issue here is not what was essential for God to do for man to have
eternal life. The issue is what we must do in order to gain eternal life. Those are
clearly not the same.
My faith is in Jesus Christ who died and rose again on my behalf. I cherish
His death and resurrection. But I know that the reason I have eternal life is because
I believe Jesus when He says, He who lives and believes in Me shall never die
(John 11:26). The fact that I believe more than that does not make me any more
regenerate than I would have been if I had simply believed on Him for eternal life,
without knowing how He was able to fulfill this promise.