Believing in the Lord Jesus
We have a basic problem understanding the word believe in the Bible because of how we use it in English. The problem is that we use in at least two ways. It can mean a simple belief in a fact of history or science. I call that believing with our "head." The other way is to believe with our "heart" which is to trust in someone or something. When we read the Bible, we must always keep in mind that the word believe always means to trust from our heart. Once we see this reality the essentials of salvation will become very clear to us. The account of Paul and Silas with the jailer in Philippi is a good example. (Acts 16:30-31) After the earthquake the jailer was relieved that the prisoners did not escape, so he led them out of the prison. Then, he asked, "Sirs what must I do to be saved.?" Paul and Silas told him, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved - you and your household." Let's make sure we see the full meaning of what they told the jailer.
They did not mean for him to simply believe that Jesus existed or even to believe with his head that Jesus died and rose again for his sins. No, the word for believe in Greek has the same root word as the word faith. What they said very literally was ,"Exercise faith in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." Once we trust Jesus with our whole life, we can no longer live our own way and go our way, we turn from our way and our sins, and we follow Jesus. That is why faith requires repentance. Then, we exercise faith that His death, burial, and resurrection is the only sacrifice that can save us from our sins. We trust in Jesus alone to forgive us of our sins. Then, when we trust the Lord Jesus, we are surrendering to Him, because if we trust Him as Lord, then we are His servants. He is the Master, and we trust whatever He says, whatever He tells us to do. When we believe in the Lord Jesus like that we are saved, along with our household or anyone else who exercises such faith in the Lord Jesus.
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Tomorrow, I intend to read Acts 17-20.