What Does It Mean To Believe?
Many times in the New Testament we are told that “he that believes will be saved,” “he that believes has everlasting life,” “he that believes is not condemned,” “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved,” etc. The verb
pisteuō occurs around 250 times with the underlying meaning "believe." Included in this usage is the very significant nuance of
"have faith, put one's trust in" the person of Christ, as the means by which God applies salvation to his people.
pisteuō most commonly means
"believe" in reference to saving faith in Christ. Examples of this meaning include Matt. 8:13; Mark 9:24; Luke 22:67; John 1:7; 3:15 ff., 36; 4:39 ff.; 6:29 ff.; 7:38 ff.; 11:25 ff.; 16:27 ff.; Acts 2:44; 4:4, 32; 11:17, 21; 15:5 ff.; Rom. 1:16; 4:24; 10:4 ff.; 1 Cor. 1:21; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 1:13; 1 Thess. 2:10 ff.; 1 Tim. 3:16; 1 Pet. 1:8; 2:6; 1 John 3:23; 5:1 ff. The serious consequences of not believing in Christ are noted in John 10:26. References to Abraham's "belief" (i.e., his saving faith) in God as a model of genuine saving trust are found in Rom. 4:3 ff., 11, 17 ff.; Gal. 3:6, 22; Jas. 2:23.
Jesus commands belief in the gospel in Mark 1:15; John 10:38; 14:1. The need to believe in God for answer to prayer is expressed in Matt. 21:22; Mark 11:23 ff. Luke 1:45; 24:25; John 2:22 refer to believing in the prophetic word of God. Heb. 11:6; Jas. 2:19 address the need to believe in God. The command not to believe false teaching is found in Matt. 24:26.
General references to "believe" with the sense of "accept as true," both positive and negative, are found in Matt. 21:32; Mark 16:13; 1 Cor. 11:18; 13:7.
—Expository Dictionary of Bible Words
This is no mere mental or verbal acknowledgement of Jesus as Savior, for as we have just seen, the Greek word that is translated as “believe, believeth, believed” conveys a much deeper meaning. The Greek word
pisteuo means
“to have faith in, commit to trust, by implication, to entrust, hence to entrust one's spiritual well-being to Christ" and is a faith or trust that is in action and not idle or stagnate. Thus it is more than merely acknowledging Jesus as one's Savior, for genuine pisteuo (belief) will produce evidence of that belief. It will produce a changed life, for all who are in Christ have become new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). In other words the one who genuinely believes will no longer live a life of sin, but his/her life will reflect Jesus Christ. He/she will be doing spiritual works that give evidence of genuine faith (James 2:14, 17-18, 26) Thus one who claims to believe in Jesus as His Savior and Lord, and is not producing spiritual works as evidence of that faith has not truly believed, but only made a pretense of accepting Jesus Christ. A person who is genuinely saved cannot help but produce evidence of that faith in action.
Rev. Jack Howell
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God to salvation to every one that believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:16)
