What Precisely Must One Believe About Jesus?
Page 9
9
Of course, it is not merely in John`s Gospel that we find that the precise
proposition to be believed is that Jesus guarantees eternal life to all who simply
believe in Him. We find this throughout the New Testament and in the Old
Testament as well.
4
But This Denies the Centrality of the Cross
If the minimum one must believe is that Jesus guarantees eternal life to all
who simply believe in Him, then the cross seemingly is not central to evangelism.
That the cross is central is undeniable. That belief in the cross is essential for
one to be born again is a different question entirely.
If we look at what God had to do to give us eternal life, then we run into
many truths including special creation, the virgin birth specifically in Bethlehem,
the sinlessness of Jesus Christ, the hypostatic union, substitutionary atonement by
crucifixion between two sinners, burial in a rich man`s tomb, bodily resurrection
three days later, etc. But that is not to say that one must understand or believe all
these things in order to have eternal life.
Paul's Gospel Message Includes the Cross
And Resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-11)
Clearly we know from 1 Cor 15:1-11 that the gospel Paul preached was that
Christ died, was buried, rose, and appeared to many people after His resurrection.
4
See, for example, Gen 15:1-6. See also Sidney D. Dyer, The Salvation of Believing Israelites Prior to the