Believing in Jesus

[Elijah John]

What did the authors of the Synoptic Gospels mean by "believing in Jesus"

1)That he was the Messiah?
2)That he was the incarnation of God?
3)That he was the Son of God? (what exactly does the term mean?)
4)That he died to "pay for" the sins of humanity?
5) To believe in Jesus preaching about repentance the mercy of the Father?
6) Other? (Please specify) Or a combination of the above?

And what does the author of the Gospel of John mean by "believing in Jesus"?

Does John mean the same thing by "believing in Jesus" as do Matthew, Mark or Luke?

Examples please.

[ttruscott]

What did the authors of the Synoptic Gospels mean by "believing in Jesus"

ImCo,
they all meant to trust Him at His word even without proof. Not belief of a proven fact but faith in an unproven hope....

[PinSeeker]

What did the authors of the Synoptic Gospels mean by "believing in Jesus"

1)That he was the Messiah?
2)That he was the incarnation of God?
3)That he was the Son of God? (what exactly does the term mean?)
4)That he died to "pay for" the sins of humanity?
5) To believe in Jesus preaching about repentance the mercy of the Father?
6) Other? (Please specify) Or a combination of the above?

Um, yes. But actually more than that... much more. Try this:

If I believe that Jesus is the Son of God the same way that I believe that Vladimir Putin is the leader of Russia, have I fulfilled the conditions needed to be saved? Or is there more to belief than that?

Well, it doesn't fulfill the conditions, because the devil believes it. And the devil believes it because when Jesus came into the world and began to confront the demonic powers of the Devil, they said out loud, "We know who you are. You are the holy one of God. You are the Son of God." So the Devil is absolutely orthodox in his belief in the incarnation of the Son of God in Jesus Christ. To believe in orthodox Christology is not to be saved. The Devil is very orthodox when it comes to his understanding of Christ.

So what is missing is not believing in the fact that Jesus is the Son of God but delighting in that fact, embracing that fact, and making Christ the treasure and the Lord of your life by surrendering to him.

In other words, "belief" is seeing him for who he really is, seeing him as infinitely valuable as the Son of God. It's not just acknowledging the fact that he is the Son but also seeing him as infinitely precious and valuable. Satan, on the other hand, does not view God as precious and valuable. He hates Christ, and Christ is a threat to his own value.

But when the Holy Spirit begins to work in our lives we're not deceived like that anymore. We recognize that our value is nothing compared to Jesus' value. Instead, we just want to know him, be with him, enjoy him, follow him, and celebrate him. That transition -- that change of heart, so that we are now looking away from ourselves to Christ and embracing all that God is for us in him -- that is what faith is. That is what belief is. That is what saves.

And to expound a bit more:

The whole concept of faith is one of the most misunderstood ideas that we have, misunderstood not only by the world but by the church itself. The very basis for our redemption, the way in which we are justified by God, is through faith. The Bible is constantly talking to us about faith, and if we misunderstand that, we’re in deep trouble.

The great issue of the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century was, How is a person justified? Martin Luther’s controversial position was that we are justified by faith alone. When he said that, many of the godly leaders in the Roman Catholic Church were very upset. They said, “Does that mean that a person can just believe in Jesus and then live any way they want to live?� In other words, the Roman Catholic Church reacted fiercely because they were afraid that Luther’s view would be understood as an easy-believism in which a person only had to believe and never had to be concerned about bringing forth the fruits of righteousness. It was crucial that those who were involved in the Protestant Reformation carefully define what they meant by saving faith. So they went back and did their studies in the New Testament, specifically on the Greek word pistein, which means “to believe,� and they were able to isolate three distinctive aspects of biblical faith:

The first is the Latin term notitia: “believing in the data� or the information; it’s an intellectual awareness. You can’t have faith in nothing; there has to be content to the faith. You have to believe something or trust someone. When we say that a person is saved by faith, some people say, “It doesn’t matter what you believe, just as long as you are sincere.� That’s not what the Bible teaches. It matters profoundly what you believe. What if I believed that the devil was God? That wouldn’t save me. I must believe the right information.

The second aspect of faith is what they call assensus, or intellectual assent. I must be persuaded of the truthfulness of the content. According to James, even if I am aware of the work of Jesus -- convinced intellectually that Jesus is the Son of God, that he died on the cross for my sins, and that he rose from the dead -- I would at that point qualify to be a demon. Even the demons recognize Jesus, and the devil himself knows the truth of Christ, but he doesn’t have saving faith.

The crucial, most vital element of saving faith in the biblical sense, is that of personal trust. The final term is fiducia, referring to a fiduciary commitment by which I put my life in the lap of Jesus. I trust him and him alone for my salvation. That is the crucial element, and it includes the intellectual and the mental. But it goes beyond it to the heart and to the will so that the whole person is caught up in this experience we call faith.

And what does the author of the Gospel of John mean by "believing in Jesus"?

See above.

Does John mean the same thing by "believing in Jesus" as do Matthew, Mark or Luke?

Yes.

Examples please.

Matthew (22):
But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?� And He said to him, “ ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.�

Mark (12):
One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?�
Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.�

Luke (10):
And a lawyer stood up and put Him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?� 26 And He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How does it read to you?� 27 And he answered, “YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND; AND YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.� 28 And He said to him, “You have answered correctly; DO THIS AND YOU WILL LIVE.�

John (15):
Jesus said, "This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends if you do what I command you."

[brianbbs67]

Well , if we believe strongly in someone, we would want to follow their example. If we believe them divine, we would want to follow their way as well. Thus , the beginning of the Way.(of Christ) Should not we imitate our Savoir? Live as he did?