Is a person a Christian once they believe Jesus Christ is Lord ?

[QuestionQuest74]

If a person believes Jesus is God are they now saved ?

 

[d taylor]

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The Gospel of John puts it this way believe in the name of Jesus to receive Eternal Life salvation.

That is believe that Jesus is the resurrection and the life, The only begotten Son of God/The promised Messiah. These two names Son of God and Messiah can be used interchangeably.

but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.

 

[HTacianas]

If a person believes Jesus is God are they now saved ?

The writer to the Hebrews spells out the "elementary principles of Christ". It is written in the form of a lecture:

Heb 6:1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,

Heb 6:2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.

If we look to those in the new testament, primarily Acts, you'll see that that is the process they went through in becoming Christian. Acts 16:30-33 tells the account of the jailer who at first believed, then was instructed, then baptized. We have to assume that he was baptized in water and then by the Spirit through the laying on of hands of an Apostle. Acts 9:17-18 has the account of Paul, who certainly believed after his experience on the road to Damascus, but was then baptized by Ananias. Ananias apparently had the gift of conveying the Holy Spirit as well as the gift of healing. The story of the men of Samaria is given at Acts 8:5-17. You should pay close attention to their story.

So to answer your question, we know for certain that faith, water baptism, and baptism by the Spirit is how someone becomes a Christian. Any other way is not "biblical", so to say, and is some other thing.

 

[hislegacy]

Paul very clearly states:

Rom 10:8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation​

 

[Fervent]

This question seems to be one that is entirely wrongheaded. The only reason for asking it would either to be looking for cause to judge others, or out of an attempt to do the bare minimum to be blessed with salvation. Completely different attitude than someone who follows a Lord who said:

7 “Will any one of you who has a servant[a] plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, ‘Come at once and recline at table’? 8 Will he not rather say to him, ‘Prepare supper for me, and dress properly,[b] and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink’? 9 Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? 10 So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants;[c] we have only done what was our duty.’”

and:

“Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. 3 Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.

 

[Soyeong]

If a person believes Jesus is God are they now saved ?

The way to believe that Jesus is Lord is by submitting to him as Lord through following his example of obedience to God’s word, which is being saved from not living in obedience to it.

 

[BobRyan]

If a person believes Jesus is God are they now saved ?

If they then accept Him as their Lord and savior, confess their sins, accept the Holy Spirit, claim God's promises and choose obedience instead of determined rebellion. They are at that moment born again, saved, under the New Covenant, a child of God and adopted into His family as Jer 31:31-34 points out.

 

[SavedByGrace3]

If a person believes Jesus is God are they now saved ?

Romans 10:9 LITV
9 Because if you confess the Lord Jesus with your mouth, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

 

[Maria Billingsley]

If a person believes Jesus is God are they now saved ?

When you love Jesus Christ of Nazareth with all your heart, soul and mind, you will then receive His Holy Spirit who regenerates you. You are then added into The Body of Christ.
Blessings.

 

[ViaCrucis]

If a person believes Jesus is God are they now saved ?

I'm not entirely comfortable conflating being saved with being a Christian. These aren't necessarily synonymous, but more of an overlapping Venn diagram.

I'd look to Ephesians 2:8-10 as helpful here. Verses 8-9 tell us what saves us (and what does not save us); that is, God saves us entirely out of His grace for us, through faith which is His gift and work; it is not our works which do this. Verse 10 tells us what we are saved for, we were saved for good works. Being a Christian isn't in merely that we have been, and are being, saved; being a Christian is in following Jesus.

The Christian life is found in two ways: Faith and works. Through faith alone we receive what God freely gives out of His grace; so that the Christian lives in Christ by faith (Justification); by our works we live out our life in God toward the world, toward our neighbors, in love, we walk in a new obedience borne of God's grace by the power of the Holy Spirit in lives of charity--love--toward others, thus the Christian lives in his/her neighbor by love.

It is impossible to separate these from one another. We cannot say, "I have faith, and therefore can live however I please" As though God's grace is an excuse for sin (Romans 6:1-2). Nor can we say, "I have works, therefore allow me to glory in what I have done". For it is by grace alone that we are saved, having been justified by God's grace on Christ's account, through faith alone.

Luther in his introductory notes to the Epistle to the Romans says that one can no more separate faith and works than one can separate heat and light from fire.

What is important is making the strong and hard distinction between Law and Gospel, between grace and commandments, between our justification and our sanctification.

Nothing we do can improve our status before God by even so much as by a Planck length. All that we have before God is what God Himself has freely given us. That does not mean we sit on our duff and womble about twiddling thumbs--it means we have a life to live here, one that is defined by Christ and His holy cross. A way to live, the Christian way, the way which Christ has instructed and taught us. That is to take up our cross and be Jesus' disciple.

To be Jesus' disciple is not just some status we can cozily inhabit; there is a daily call, "Take up your cross and follow Me", a multitude of moments happen every single day: Do we follow Jesus or do we ignore Jesus? A person just cut you off in traffic, someone was rude to you at work, you see a homeless person on the street corner that is hungry. Each day contains a day's amount of opportunities to follow Jesus or not follow Jesus. To be a follower of Jesus isn't just something we get to claim for ourselves without doing anything. Jesus' way is hard and difficult, but it's His way, and He is Lord.

Recall in Matthew 7, the Lord speaks of those who, on the Day of Judgment, will say to Him, "Lord, Lord" they will boast of their faith (as though they did that) and works, but the Lord will rebuke them saying, "I never knew you". There is a danger in being comfortable in ourselves; Christ invites us to rest in Him, to comfort us--so that our comfort might come from Christ, our confidence is found in Christ, our lives might be found in Christ--whether in living or dying, in joy or sorrow, in hardship or prosperity.

Such is why Christ says, "I am the Vine and you are the branches" for we can do nothing apart from Him, apart from Him we have no life and we wither and die.

Does that mean we must earn our keep? Heavens no.
Does that mean if we fail and stumble the Lord shall cast us away? No!

But it does mean that we must ever be on the receiving end of grace. The reason the Lord instituted the sacred ministry for His Church, by telling His apostles to preach forgiveness of sins, to preach the Gospel to every living creature, to make disciples baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; the reason why He instituted His Supper, the reason He gave all these gifts and ministry to the Church is in order that He ever be preached in the Church. To preach Law and Gospel, not confusing these; but recognizing that the Law is the Law, even though it is harsh and painful to hear it because of our sin; and that the Gospel is the Gospel, ever sweet and good news in the ear of the sinner whose sins are freely forgiven.

The word is preached, the word is declared, God brings us in by water, word, and Spirit, keeping us here by His grace, by word, and bread, and wine, and the Spirit. For wherever the Word is preached and the Sacraments administered, here is God. God who loves us, God who saves us, God who keeps us, God who strengthens us, God who comforts us, God who will not let us go.

To be a Christian is to live in Christ by faith, to live in our neighbor by love; to be defined and examined in every way by the Cross. For the cross tests and proves everything.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Clare73]

If a person believes Jesus is God are they now saved ?

Salvation (saved) is from God's wrath (Ro 5:9) and judgment on our guilt of sin at the final judgment.

Faith in and trust on the atoning work (blood, Ro 3:25) and person of Jesus Christ for the remission of our sin and right standing with God; i.e., "not guilty," is salvation, and one is not actually saved in the realm of time prior to that event,
which is then followed by God declaring us not guilty, debt free and in right(eous) standing with his justice in justification,
whereupon we submit to God in love and in obedience to his NT word to grow in the likeness of his Son, Jesus Christ, in sanctification.

 

[honey badger]

If a person believes Jesus is God are they now saved ?

you were saved from birth ... now all that is left is to come out from what you were saved from ...