What Precisely Must One Believe About Jesus?
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THREE POINTS OF CLARIFICATION
The Issue Is What We Must Do,
Not What God Must Do
It is possible to speak about what God had to do for us to obtain eternal life.
That is, however, a different question than asking what we must do to receive
eternal life. In this paper I am discussing the latter question.
Some will find fault with my position because I hold that one need not
believe or even be aware of much of what God did to provide justification.
However, I will attempt to show from Scripture that we are not required to believe
everything the Bible says in order to have eternal life.
The Issue Is the Minimum One Must Believe
Many people would say that there are four key truths that must be believed
before a person can be justified:
We are sinners who are separated from God.
Jesus Christ died on the cross.
His death was sufficient payment for all our sins, even future ones.
Jesus Christ rose bodily from the dead.
Others would add additional elements like the deity of Christ, the virgin
birth, the sinlessness of Christ, and fulfilled prophecy.
Let me state my contention on this point in two ways. One can believe those
four points and yet not believe in the core truth, which is justification by faith