What Do You Actually Have To Believe To Ensure Salvation?

[TexUs]

As you can see, you've already pushed most of the people away- I'm the only one left.
You may continue this discussion by yourself, then.

 

[BritGuy]

As you can see, you've already pushed most of the people away- I'm the only one left.
You may continue this discussion by yourself, then.

The issue is resolved in my mind, the only question is whether anyone on here is willing to accept correction.
I do meet them from time to time.

 

[Lute]

even the demons believe an tremble

 

[logabe]

even the demons believe an tremble

Good point Lute...it's important what you believe. Let me explain.

In Deut. 30:11-14, Moses says,

11 For this commandment which I command you today
is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach.
12 It is not in heaven that you should say, "Who will go
up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it,
that we may observe it?"
13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, "Who
will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us
hear it, that we may observe it?"
14 But the word is very near you in your mouth and in
your heart, that you may observe it.

Moses told the people that this revelation was not far away. No
one had to go to heaven or cross the sea to bring it to them.
Instead, Jesus Christ came to them from heaven with the word.
So obtaining the word was "not too difficult" for them.

Paul quotes Moses in Romans 10:6-8, but then explains to us
exactly what that word was in verse 9. It is to confess Jesus
Christ and believe in Him. Hence, the Israelites in Moses' day
were to receive and believe the Commandments, which were
the expression of the mind of Jesus Christ. Paul explains
Moses' statement by defining that Word in Rom. 10:9,

9 that 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.

Moses had admonished Israel to hear/obey all that the Lord had
spoken. Paul tells us in Rom. 10:17 that "faith comes from
hearing." Hence, if the people would "hear," the result would be
FAITH. And faith is the whole point of the discussion.

Faith in Who? Faith in Yahweh, the Lawgiver, who is revealed as
Jesus Christ under the New Covenant. One cannot truly believe
in Yahweh and yet reject Jesus Christ. Furthermore, to believe in
Jesus Christ as a mere teacher, prophet, or good man is
insufficient. One must believe in the actual work that He came to
do on earth, that He died for our sins and was raised from the
dead.

This word was given directly to Israel at Mount Sinai, and so Israel
did not have to cross the sea to hear it. Other nations, however,
were not so fortunate, because the world was a much bigger place
in those days than it is today. Some nations did not hear the word
for thousands of years, and some have not yet heard. Though its
availability was localized in Moses' day, it was a word for all men,
for Paul tells us in Rom. 10:11-13,

11 For the Scripture says [in Isaiah 28:16], "Whoever
believes in Him will not be disappointed."
12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek;
for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches
for all who call upon Him;
13 for "whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will
be saved" [Joel 2:23].

Paul interprets the "whoever" and "whosoever" in a universal sense,
showing that this word given to Israel at Sinai is not just for them
alone. It was certainly more difficult for others to hear the word, but
nonetheless, the word applied equally to everyone.

There are many who have taught that the Law is exclusively for Jews,
and that the ethnos are given a different revelation. Such teaching is
entirely foreign to Paul's thought process, for he quotes Moses
regularly and applies the word to all men equally.

Yet the main problem has been the restriction in distributing the
word to all men. Paul addresses this in the next verses:

14 How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have
not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom
they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a
preacher?
15 And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just
as it is written [in Isaiah 52:7], "How beautiful are the feet
of those who bring glad tidings of good things!"

God gave the word directly to Israel, but then He required preachers
to distribute that word to the rest of the world. This was Israel's
advantage, for they were the first to receive the word. Most of the
others had to wait for God to send apostles to them, bearing "glad
tidings of good things." Some waited for many generations. This
would be terribly unfair, if those sitting in darkness were to be lost
forever or--worse yet--were to burn in hell forever. But we see from
Romans 5 that God's intent is to save all men either in this life or in
the next.

16 However, they did not all heed the glad tidings; for
Isaiah says [in 53:1], "Lord, who has believed our report?"

Isaiah tells us that not everyone believes this report. They do not
believe that Yeshua is the Yahweh of the Hebrew scriptures, nor do
they believe that He would come to die as the Lamb of God in Isaiah
53. Paul well understood this lack of faith, for he confronted it daily.

17 So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the
word of Christ.

Faith does not come merely by hearing the word of God, but
specifically by the word of Christ. The King James Version reads,
"the word of God," but the Greek texts read "the word of Christ." It is
not enough to claim to believe "the word of God" apart from faith in
the One who inspired that word--Jesus Christ.

Logabe