To believe is to believe on, to take the ground and stand on, the Lord Jesus to be saved. Acts 16:31 says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you shall be saved.” This indicates that we believe not only into Christ but also on Christ. This is to take the ground and the standing on the person of Christ and all that He has accomplished, both of which constitute the belief, the faith, of God’s New Testament economy. We believe on Christ as the ground and standing so that we may be saved.
Mark 16:16 says, “He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned.” This verse does not say “who does not believe and is not baptized.” This indicates that condemnation is related to not believing; it is not related to not being baptized. Believing is sufficient for one to receive salvation from condemnation. To believe is to receive the Lord Jesus not only for forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43) but also for regeneration (1 Pet. 1:21, 23) that we may become the children of God (John 1:12-13) and the members of Christ (Eph. 5:30) in an organic union with the Triune God (Matt. 28:19).
Romans 1:16 tells us that the gospel is “the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes.” In the book of Romans salvation includes not only salvation from God’s condemnation and from hell; it also includes salvation from naturalness, self-likeness, individualism, and divisiveness. This salvation saves us to the uttermost, enabling us to be sanctified, conformed, glorified, transformed, built up with the others as the one Body, and not divisive in the church life. For all who believe, the gospel is the power of God unto such a full, complete, and ultimate salvation.
Our believing in Christ is through the hearing of the word, which is “the word of the truth of the gospel” (Col. 1:5). The truth of the gospel is the reality, the real facts, of the gospel. In Romans 10:14 Paul asks, “How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?” Believing in Christ requires the hearing of Him, and hearing of Him requires the preaching of the gospel. Acts 4:4a says, “Many of those who heard the word believed.” This word is “the word of the truth, the gospel of your salvation” (Eph. 1:13). Through hearing the word of the gospel we believed in Christ.
In Mark 1:15 the Lord Jesus said, “Repent and believe in the gospel!” To repent is mainly in the mind; to believe is mainly in the heart (Rom. 10:9). To believe in something is to believe into the thing which we believe. It is also to receive the things which we believe into us. To believe in the gospel is mainly to believe in Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31), and to believe in Him is to believe into Him (John 3:15-16) and receive Him into us (John 1:12), so that we may be organically united with Him. Such a faith in Christ (Gal. 3:22) is given to us by God (Eph. 2:8) through our hearing the word of the truth of the gospel (Rom. 10:17; Eph. 1:13). This faith brings us into all the blessings of the gospel (Gal. 3:14). Hence, this faith is precious to us (2 Pet. 1:1). Such precious faith requires repentance to precede it.
In Mark 1:15 the Lord Jesus preached that we should believe specifically in the gospel. This is the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (v. 1), the gospel of God, and the gospel of the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ, the Son of God with all the processes through which He has passed, including incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, and all the redemptive work He accomplished, is the contents of the gospel (Rom. 1:1-4; Luke 2:10-11; 1 Cor. 15:1-4; 2 Tim. 2:8). Hence, the gospel is of Him. The gospel was planned, promised, and accomplished by God (Eph. 1:8-9; Acts 2:23; Rom. 1:2; 2 Cor. 5:21; Acts 3:15), and it is the power of God unto salvation to all believers (Rom. 1:16), that they may be reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:19) and regenerated by Him (1 Pet. 1:3) to be His children (John 1:12-13; Rom. 8:16) and enjoy all His riches and blessings as their inheritance (Eph. 1:14). Hence, it is the gospel of God. It brings the believers into the realm of the divine ruling that they may participate in the blessings of the divine life in the divine kingdom (1 Thes. 2:12). Hence, it is also the gospel of the kingdom of God. Therefore, the full contents of the gospel are the same as that of the New Testament with all its bequests. When we believe in this gospel, we inherit the Triune God with His redemption, His salvation, and His life with its riches for our eternal portion.
John 20:31 says, “These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” “Christ” is the title of the Lord Jesus according to His office, His mission. This title denotes His work to accomplish God’s purpose. “The Son of God” is the Lord’s title according to His person. His person is a matter of God’s life, and His mission is a matter of God’s work. He is the Son of God to be the Christ of God. He works for God by the life of God so that by believing in Him we may have the life of God to become children of God.
Because Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, we need to believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God. We must believe that He is the One who is the divine Person coming to carry out God’s commission for His eternal purpose. By believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, we have life in His name.