Just what DOES believing entail?

Neostarwcc said:

When asked "What should we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus replied "to believe in the one that he has sent".

Just what is this believing? And doesn't Jesus require more than a mental assertion of facts? After all the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love others. How can we love God with the type of love that God expects of us?

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First sin by Eve was disobiedence

John 14:15 KJV If ye love me, keep my commandments.

He told us in his law read the first four commandments

Exodus 20 And God spake all these words, saying,

#1 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

#2 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

#3 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

#4 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.

No such thing as the Jewish Sabbath, as it is the Sabbath of the LORD

Exodus 20:10 KJV
But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God:

Matthew 4:4 KJV
But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.

Neostarwcc said:

When asked "What should we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus replied "to believe in the one that he has sent".

Just what is this believing? And doesn't Jesus require more than a mental assertion of facts? After all the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love others. How can we love God with the type of love that God expects of us?

Click to expand...

Demons can believe.
If you show no signs of believing do you really believe?
What all is included in believing?

Neostarwcc said:

When asked "What should we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus replied "to believe in the one that he has sent".

Just what is this believing? And doesn't Jesus require more than a mental assertion of facts? After all the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love others. How can we love God with the type of love that God expects of us?

Click to expand...

Sometimes engaging with people who do not believe, trust or love their Creator can give you a better perspective and appreciation for Jesus Christ of Nazareth who we as Christians trust , love and believe in. Belief is like breathing for a born again Christian, completely natural. Blessings.

Neostarwcc said:

When asked "What should we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus replied "to believe in the one that he has sent".

Just what is this believing? And doesn't Jesus require more than a mental assertion of facts? After all the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love others. How can we love God with the type of love that God expects of us?

Click to expand...

You have never seeing me in person and in-turn do not know what i look like.

If i told you i had brown hair and you believed me, then that is exactly what believing means.

The only difference between you believing me and you believing God's promise to all who trust in The Messiah for God's free gift of Eternal Life.

Is that i am a sinful man and could lie about my hair color, but God can not lie so we know His promise is 100%+ true. That all who trust in The Messiah has received God's free gift of Eternal Life.
And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life.

This is heart knowledge not head knowledge. When we believe from the heart we are changed and receive the Spirit. You will know them by the fruit, look up the fruit of the Spirit ( Galatians 5:22-23), do a search on it. Don't mistake this fruit as good works, the fruit of the Spirit is a series of attributes we gain. Good works comes along as a result. The thing is we don't make that happen but rather it happens to us.

Millions of people sit in churches identifying as Christian, never believed from the heart thus never born again. Because it's not about going to church, it's your relationship with Christ. Jesus will say to many " depart from me I never knew you". And finally, if we know Him ( Jesus)we will trust Him by good faith for the details of our life..

It depends, this is a multi-faceted situation.

For unbelievers, believing means hearing the gospel and responding to it like in Acts 2. After Peter gave his Pentecost sermon the crowd said: What should we do? That to me is their statement of belief, they believed what Peter said to them concerning Jesus now they want to know how they should respond. So Peter said:
1) Repent
2) Be baptized in the name of Jesus
For the remission of sins
Then they could receive the Holy Spirit.

James talks about empty faith not being of the saving variety. That our faith must be demonstrated by action if it's genuine, so to me, genuine faith is shown in repentance inwardly and outwardly in baptism.

Now for believers, those who have demonstrated saving faith in Christ, what does believing mean? John deals with this in 1 John, although a lot of the New Testament does actually, but more specifically in 1 John 3:18 Little children, let us love not in word and speech, but in action and truth. Believing is demonstrated in love. 1 John 3:23 And this is His commandment: that we should believe in the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, and we should love one another just as He commanded us. We walk out our belief by tangible acts of love for those around us. For we cannot love God whom we have not seen, if we do not love those around us whom we can see. 1 John 4:20-21

Neostarwcc said:

How can we love God with the type of love that God expects of us?

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I would probably start with the recognition that I can't and then ask Him to help me.

Neostarwcc said:

When asked "What should we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus replied "to believe in the one that he has sent".

Just what is this believing? And doesn't Jesus require more than a mental assertion of facts? After all the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love others. How can we love God with the type of love that God expects of us?

Click to expand...

1st: Understand & acknowledge that there is a Creator God.

2nd: Understand & acknowledge you have sinned against His Sovereign rule. That you derserve Heavens invoked penalty (DEATH Rom 6:23) & are in need of rescue.

3rd Understand God sent His Son (Jesus the Christ) to rescue humanity.

4th: Place your faith/trust in Jesus sin atoning payment: Found in the sinless Christ's death (sins required wage, Paid) burial, (proof Jesus died) & resurrection (Father's receipt, sins required wage received & accepted)

Confess with you mouth that Jesus is Lord & Savior & believe with all your being that God raised Him from the grave/death.

Rom 10:
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Amen (Also see 1Cor 15:1-4)

Neostarwcc said:

When asked "What should we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus replied "to believe in the one that he has sent".

Just what is this believing? And doesn't Jesus require more than a mental assertion of facts? After all the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love others. How can we love God with the type of love that God expects of us?

Click to expand...

To believe He was who He said He was. That God sent Him and that He can forgive mans sin. Yes it has to get past the mind to the heart with the heart man believes "For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

Love God.. how can we love someone we don't know? This is where reading His word praying and taking the time to be alone with Him and listen and to always worship Him. Did He not say drawn near to God...AMP "Come close to God [with a contrite heart] and He will come close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; and purify your [unfaithful] hearts, you double-minded [people]."

Search in this word for these things.. He will show you/us PRAISE GOD GLORY GLORY GLORY TO JESUS!

Believing is manyfold in its manifestation.
But a generalization would be that despite all the things the world tells you, and tries to scare you in all the ways the devil can in all his dark scheming, still do not fear and do not retreat from the Word, which is Christ the eternal Lord of creation. This will intensify in the Great Tribulation that will come and I pray that you will stay in the free Faith and Grace. Truly, ask yourself is Christ manifesting in your life? Are you bearing fruit?

Neostarwcc said:

When asked "What should we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus replied "to believe in the one that he has sent".

Just what is this believing? And doesn't Jesus require more than a mental assertion of facts? After all the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love others. How can we love God with the type of love that God expects of us?

Click to expand...

You can't love what you don't know so it certainly begins with the correct information. Of course, like any information, if it is going to be of any use it must be applied and that requires an act of trust on our behalf. When we are new Christians, our relationship with the Lord is rather vague and tenuous (from our perspective) on most matters. We grab a promise like "God cares for you" or "He will supply all our needs" and without any real understanding of the "hows and whys", we hold to that promise. We trust God to keep His word. As we do that, the word becomes a part of us and in this way we are transformed in our thinking and build character (fruit of the Spirit). As we continue to learn (data input) and continue to make application of the truth (trust in the word), we continue to see Christ's life become our life experientially.

It takes time to grow that is why we are told to study and persevere.

Faith as trust, is what matters as far as our justification is concerned. We aren't justified for believing the right things, but rather the faith that we receive from God as a pure gift (Ephesians 2:8) is faith in the Person and Work of Jesus. This is why even the baptized infant can have faith, for the word of God creates faith (Romans 10:17) and this is the word that washes us in Holy Baptism (Ephesians 5:26).

If it depended on us being able to pass a theology exam, then it would just be another version of salvation by works. Good theology matters, not because we have to be high brow theologians in order to enter into the everlasting life that is to come; but because what we say about Jesus, what we say about God, what we say about God's works and gifts matters: because the Church is called to be faithfully proclaim the Gospel as Gospel. And theologies that diminish, discredit, or otherwise pervert the Gospel must be discarded: our confession matters because we are proclaiming both to and with one another the truth of Jesus, but also confessing this same thing before the whole world.

It's easy to see what happens when we have bad theology, you shall know them by their fruits.

-CryptoLutheran

Neostarwcc said:

When asked "What should we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus replied "to believe in the one that he has sent".

Just what is this believing?

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ImCo,
this believing is not the belief of proof nor an exactitude of details but the unproven hope of faith, Heb 11:1.

Believing, in the verse quoted, 2 Cor 12:16, is S4100 pisteúō from pístis, "faith," which is the word for faith in Heb 11:1.

Belief in English is too complex with to many meanings to be used for faith, an unproven hope. So there is no need to ask believe what about Jesus - you just need to put your unproven hope in Him as your saviour from sin. Trust is all, tiny details of meaning is legalistic and immaterial.

Believing means trusting, relying and total submission to Christ's will in our daily lives

Neostarwcc said:

When asked "What should we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus replied "to believe in the one that he has sent".

Just what is this believing? And doesn't Jesus require more than a mental assertion of facts? After all the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love others. How can we love God with the type of love that God expects of us?

Click to expand...

He's not after believing alone, but He's after what that faith means, and what that should lead to. Faith means union, solidarity, and alignment with God. We're now reconciled and in right stead with Him. It means that we're now, finally, by virtue of that relationship, in a correct state of being, a state of justice, the way we were created to be, beginning to fulfill the purpose for which man was created.

That faith is both a gift and a choice, as we embrace and express the gift. All righteousness, beginning with the first awakening and expressions of faith, are choices for good. The ultimate goodness is love which has its source in God who is love. In order for justice to reign in His universe we’re to love as He does and that can only be accomplished in union with Him. “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5.

Faith means being with Him but means nothing-it’s served no purpose- if we don’t become like Him, if we don’t love IOW. It’s a daily choice of picking up our cross and following Him. And we're to grow in faith, hope, and love. And sometimes that's a real struggle where our desires for other things besides God, driven by our pride, often leaves us open to challenges, to falling into sin. And, especially with serious and persistent sin, we trample on and weaken those virtues, particularly the virtue of love. We may yet fail at the goal, the journey, which faith sets us upon. But to the extent that we've come to love God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves our journey, our telos, our justice, is complete.

Neostarwcc said:

Just what is this believing?

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Maybe to your surprise. Believing is the fundamental element for humans to get to a truth of any kind. Take covid-19 as an example, death tolls have been listed on a daily basis for more than 2 years now. Do you have the evidence that any of these figures are factual? Most of us don't actually have the evidence. The figures are actually conveyed in a form of testimony from those responsible for counting and collecting the data as appointed by an authority (the US government or WHO in this case). We believe those figures by trusting the credibility of the authority and those professionals working on the data. This is actually typical for humans to get to a truth, which is, by means of testimonies from direct witnesses.

This also remains the only way for humans to get to the truth of God. However, it requires more faith due to two factors. First, it's not a current event with a current authority. It more resembles history crafted by a long-dead historian credited by a long-gone authority. In OT, God is witnessed by the chosen prophets (as direct witnesses) whose credibility is examined by the authority known as God's chosen people Israel.

Second, the truth itself is about God's deeds instead of human activities. It all the time involves something we humans may not fully understand and comprehend. It thus requires more faith for humans to believe to get to the truth when compared with the covid-19 situation. It is however chosen as a measurement in the New Covenant for humans to be saved. You believe in Jesus who is sent by God in order to be saved.

Now more critical thinking. Who knows that humans need to believe in order to get to truths? Do humans know? They don't. Does God know? Apparently, He does. That's why you are asked to reach the truth of Jesus/God by means of faith, at the same time this remains the only way for you to get to such a truth.

God cannot show up to everyone to tell His truth as the covenant between God and men specifies that we need to be saved by faith. He can however show up to the chosen witnesses then for the truth to convey in the same way as to how all kinds of truths are conveyed. This actually proves that a God who knows better than humans does exist!

At the heart of the question is the word itself, as the Greek word pistis is stronger than the English believe. There is a component of action within the word itself, believing so strongly that you do what is entailed by that belief. So to believe in the one who is sent is to heed His words and do as He commands, not simply to recognize Him for who He is. Looking to the early church it is clear there was far more concern with conduct than orthodoxy, as faith was and is a concrete object not merely an abstraction. The concerns for doctrine arose more as faith became ubiquitous and instead of being ostracized for being a Christian being "Christian" came with status did dividing the "real" and "false" Christians come to be an issue and the abstract theological disputes came to the forefront. To believe is to trust and obey, as where there is no obedience there is only a false profession and not true belief.

Neostarwcc said:

When asked "What should we do to do the works God requires?" Jesus replied "to believe in the one that he has sent".

Just what is this believing? And doesn't Jesus require more than a mental assertion of facts? After all the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love others. How can we love God with the type of love that God expects of us?

Click to expand...

In Psalms 119:142, God's law is truth, in Psalms 119:160, the sum of God's word is truth, in John 1:14, the word of God became flesh and dwelt among us, and in John 14:6, Jesus said that he is the way, the truth, and the life, so he was claiming to be the living embodiment of God's law, which was evidenced by living in sinless obedience to it. In Hebrews 1:3, the Son is the exact expression of God's nature, so he is the personification of the nature of God, or in other words, he is the physical manifestation of God's law, so when we correctly understand the nature of who he is, then we will recognize that obedience to the law of which he is the living embodiment is the way to believe in the nature of who he is, or in other words, the way to believe in him. This is why there are many verses that connect believing in Jesus with our obedience to God's commandments, such as Revelation 14:12, where those who kept faith in Jesus are the same as those who kept God's commandments.