What do Christians HAVE to BELIEVE?

As longtime readers of this blog know, I came out of a religious organization (Worldwide Church of God) which asserted that beliefs were critical - that one must accept their teachings to be a part of God's true Ecclesia. However, while the Judeo-Christian Scriptures identify a few key beliefs as essential, it is impossible to find the same emphasis on beliefs within those writings. Are our beliefs about the nature of God (trinitarian, unitarian, etc.), rituals (baptism, eucharist, holidays, or Holy Days), the afterlife (heaven, hell, resurrection), prophecy (Israel, tribulation, second coming), and the like critical? In other words, what does Scripture reveal about what a person must believe to be a true disciple of Jesus Christ?

The epistle to the Hebrews informs us that, "without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." (Hebrews 11:6, ESV) Hence, we see that belief in God and his ability to reward us is essential in the servants of the Christian God. Even so, James makes clear in his epistle that belief must be demonstrated in the behavior of God's true followers. He wrote: "Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder!" (James 2:18-19, ESV) In other words, a person who truly believes in God and his ability to reward us must act like he/she believes (actually attempting to be an obedient and practicing servant).

Now, before we proceed, a word of caution is in order here. My former brothers and sisters within the Armstrong Churches of God would embrace that last paragraph, but their notion of the works that are necessary to demonstrate faith/belief are very different from those of most Christians. They believe that the works which James was speaking about included obeying the individual commands of Torah - the provisions of God's covenant with Israel (like observance of Sabbaths, Holy Days, clean and unclean meats, etc.). They simply do not understand that no one is justified by the deeds of the Law (Romans 3:20 and Galatians 2:16), and that Christians demonstrate their faith by striving to follow the two great commandments which Christ identified as the principles which underpin God's Law for all people for all times: loving God with one's whole heart and soul and loving each other as oneself (Matthew 22:37-40).

According to the Gospel of Mark, Jesus preached that anyone who would follow him must repent and believe the gospel <good news> (Mark 1:14). Unfortunately, this is another place where the Armstrong Churches of God go off of the rails. While (like all Christians) Armstrongites believe that Jesus came to this earth to save us from our sins and their consequences, they completely misunderstand the nature of his message - the gospel. They preach a message about the establishment of a literal Divine version of human governance over the Israelites and Gentiles of this earth! In other words, they ignore the fact that CHRIST AND HIS WORK represent God's Kingdom, and that CHRIST AND HIS WORK ARE the focus of the message - the good news! Indeed, Jesus Christ is at the center of ALL of the writings which comprise what we refer to as the New Testament canon! Don't believe me? Let's take a closer look.

In all four of the Gospel accounts (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John), it is stated over and over again that belief in Christ is essential to being considered one of his disciples. In the Gospel of Matthew, we read that Peter confessed that Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of the Living God" (16:16). Christ also warned of dire consequences for anyone who would cause anyone who believed in him to stumble (Matthew 18:6 and Mark 9:42). In the Parable of the Sower, Christ also made clear that a superficial belief in his message would not be sufficient to be a lasting disciple of his (Luke 8:4-15).

In the Gospel of John, we read that Jesus came to this earth to live here as a human and was rejected by his own people (John 1:9-11). However, for all of those "who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God" (verse 12, ESV). A little later in the same account, we read that Jesus was asked, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" (John 6:28, ESV) Jesus replied: "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." (Verse 29, ESV) Indeed, the author of the Gospel states at the end of his account: "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." (John 20:30-31) In fact, if you plug the word "believe" into a concordance, you'll see just how important the authors of these gospel accounts felt that it was to believe in Jesus Christ!

Even so, the Armstrong Churches of God scoff at traditional Christianity's favorite passage of Scripture. You know the one: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16, ESV) Indeed, they are quick to tell anyone who will listen to them that there is a whole lot more to salvation than simply believing in/on Jesus Christ. Instead, they believe that their little package of doctrines is THE TRUTH, and that "TRUE" Christians must believe and practice everything in the Bible, which they refer to as "God's word."

In doing so, they unwittingly make a mockery of Christ's statement that he was "the way, and the truth, and the life," and that "No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6, ESV) It also contradicts John's assertion that Jesus Christ is THE WORD OF GOD (John 1). Indeed, in the epistle to the Hebrews, we read that: "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." (Hebrews 1:1-3, ESV) In other words, God is communicating to humans exclusively through Jesus Christ and our belief/faith must be focused on HIM!

Once again, the essential nature of belief in Jesus Christ is the central message of the entire New Testament. In the book of Acts, we read that Paul and Silas instructed their Philippian jailer to "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." (16:31, ESV) In his letter to the believers at Rome, Paul wrote: "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved." (10:9, ESV) Paul also wrote to the saints of Galatia that "we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law" (Galatians 2:16, ESV). A little later, in the same epistle, he wrote that God's promise comes to believers by faith in Jesus Christ (3:22).

In his first epistle, John said that Christians receive what they ask for in prayer because they obey his commandments and strive to please him (3:21-22). Continuing, he wrote: " And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us." (Verse 23, ESV) Indeed, toward the close of this same epistle, John stated that "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." (5:13, ESV)

What do Christians HAVE to believe? To be a Christian, YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE THAT JESUS IS THE CHRIST/MESSIAH, the Son of God, and your personal Savior. THAT is the essential element for one to be identified as a believer! What you believe about other things is clearly secondary - In other words, it is NOT essential!