An Overflow of Beliefs

Last week we saw briefly that Jesus is indeed God in human flesh. So if Jesus is God, then whatever He teaches is truth and can be trusted. Jesus taught that the Bible is the Word of God and should be believed. But a lot of people out there don’t believe the Bible or they add to and take from what the Bible says, thus making their own version of “Christianity.” So what really makes a belief a Christian belief. There are four major essential Christian beliefs that serve as our compass to navigate through a world full of false and mistaken beliefs.

The first essential is the belief that Jesus is God. We’ve already discussed this. However, this belief also implies the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. That means there is one God, but He exists as three co-equal and co-eternal Persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That’s hard for us to grasp, but it’s not a contradiction. It may go beyond our ability to reason, but it doesn’t go against reason. A simple, yet limited illustration, is an equilateral triangle. There’s one “thing” that is a triangle by nature, yet there are three distinct, yet equal, angles that exist in this triangle. Likewise, with God, there’s one “What” and three “Who’s.”

The second essential is the belief in salvation by grace alone through faith alone (Eph 2:8-9). This simply means that our sin demands justice and Jesus’ death and resurrection paid the demands of justice. We can accept His payment for us through faith, or active trust in Him. It’s nothing we deserve and it’s nothing we can earn through being “good enough.”

The third essential is the belief in the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Some people believe He didn’t rise from the grave while others believe He was “recreated” in a spirit form. Paul says in 1 Cor. 15 that if Christ didn’t rise from the grave then our beliefs are futile and meaningless. The resurrection of Jesus is one of the most verifiable events of ancient history.

Finally, the Gospel message itself is our last essential belief. Gospel means “good news.” And the fact that Jesus came as the God-man, died in our place and is alive today offering all who believe in Him forgiveness, hope, and an eternal relationship with Him is the best news in the world.

For His glory,
Adam Tucker