We have already seen that there is a difference between worldly repentance and the repentance spoken of in the Bible. Similarly, man’s definition of believing and the Bible’s sense of believing differ from each other. Believing, as understood by man, is simply agreement or concession. Believing, according to the Bible, far exceeds this.
1. “As many as received Him...those who believe into His name” (John 1:12).
To receive Christ is to believe into Him. To believe is to receive; it is not just to agree or confess but also to receive. One who merely agrees with the teaching that the Lord Jesus died for man to redeem man from his sins cannot be considered as having believed. Even if he admits the fact of the redemption of the Lord Jesus, he still cannot be counted as one who believes. Believing does not include just agreement and acknowledgment; rather, believing is receiving. What is agreed with and acknowledged may not necessarily be received, but what is received is definitely agreed with and acknowledged. Hence, only receiving can be counted as believing. A person must exercise his heart and spirit to receive the Lord Jesus, not only agreeing and acknowledging that He is the Savior but also receiving Him into him; this is to really believe in Him.
2. “He who believes has eternal life”; “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life”; “Come to Me and drink. He who believes...” (John 6:47, 54; 7:37-38).
To eat the Lord’s flesh and drink His blood is to believe into Him. Through eating and drinking one receives all that he has eaten and drunk into his being. The Lord gave His flesh for us to eat so that we may have His life; He gave His blood for us to drink so that we may enjoy His redemption. In order to give His flesh and blood for us to eat and drink, the Lord Jesus had to die. Through death His body was broken and His blood was shed so that we may eat and drink of Him. We should exercise our spirit and heart to receive the Savior who died and bled for us, and we should also receive His redemption, which issued from His death. We should receive His Body that was broken for us so that we may have His life, and we should receive His blood that was shed for us so that we can experience the effectiveness of His redemption. By receiving Him and His redemption, we eat His flesh and drink His blood, that is, we believe into Him.
The Lord intends to give Himself to man in order to come into man to be his salvation. He is the bread of life to enter man so that man can have life and be filled (6:35). His life is the river of living water that enters into man to quench his thirst so that he may be satisfied forever (4:14). To believe in Him and to obtain His salvation, man must, by his spirit and heart, receive Him into himself. Simply understanding and apprehending Him with the mind or agreeing with Him and acknowledging Him with the will are inadequate. We must receive Him with our spirit in order to obtain Him. Food and water can never fill or quench our thirst if we only agree with and confess their ability to fill and quench our thirst. In order to benefit from food and water we must eat and drink. By the same token, we cannot obtain the Lord’s salvation merely by agreeing with and acknowledging the Lord Jesus. We need to receive the Lord into us to enjoy Him as salvation. If food and water do not enter into us to mingle with us, we cannot receive the supply from them. Similarly, if the Lord Jesus does not enter into us to blend with us, we cannot obtain His salvation. The Lord’s salvation is like the supply that food and water bring to people; it is subjective and must be mingled with us. Just as we receive food and water through eating and drinking, we must receive the Lord Jesus through believing. Thus, in the Bible eating and drinking are used to illustrate our believing in the Lord.
3. “Believes into Him” (John 3:16).
In this verse the preposition into follows the word believes. This preposition is the same word as in Romans 6:3, which refers to being “baptized into Christ Jesus.” Hence, according to the original language, to believe the Lord Jesus is to believe into Him. When one is baptized, he is baptized into Christ; likewise, when one believes, he believes into Christ.
To believe is not just to receive but also to enter into. To receive the Lord is to receive Him into our being, allowing Him to mingle Himself with us, whereas to enter into the Lord refers to our entrance into Him to be joined to Him. One who truly believes in the Lord Jesus enters by faith into Him and becomes one with Him. To believe is not simply to have faith in the Lord Jesus’ ability to save; it is also to enter into Him by faith and to be joined to Him. For this reason the Bible speaks of a saved person as being “in Christ” (2 Cor. 5:17). Only those who are in Christ and are joined to Christ can share in His redemption, for His death is counted as our death and the Lord’s resurrection is reckoned as our resurrection. There is no substitution without union. Substitution is based on union. The Lord’s death replaces our death and is counted as our death because of our oneness with Him. By faith we enter into the Lord and are joined to Him and become one with Him. Hence, His death is our death, and His resurrection is also our resurrection.
We must not only believe in the Lord Jesus’ ability to save us, but we must also believe into Him to be united with Him. Otherwise, we cannot share in Him and His redemption. If Noah believed that the ark could save him but failed to enter into the ark, he would not have been saved. He not only believed that the ark could save him but also entered into the ark and was joined to the ark. The experience of the ark became his experience. The ark’s passing through the flood (typifying Christ’s passing through death) was Noah’s passing through the flood. When the ark emerged from the waters (typifying Christ’s rising out of death), Noah also came out of those waters. This is how the ark saved Noah. Genuine believing causes man to obtain the Lord’s salvation, which is to believe into the Lord and to be joined to Him. Any believing that is not a believing into is not true believing and cannot save man. One must believe into the Lord in order to participate in His redemption and to obtain the salvation that is in the Lord.
Therefore, on the one hand, believing is a matter of receiving, and on the other hand, it is a matter of entering into. To receive means that Christ enters into us, and to enter into means that we enter into Christ. The Bible speaks of our being in Christ as well as Christ’s being in us (1 Cor. 1:30; Gal. 2:20). Our being in Christ is our union with Christ; Christ being in us is His oneness with us. Thus, believing causes us to be joined to Christ and causes Christ to be joined with us. Genuine believing always unites the believer to Christ and Christ to the believer.
4. “How then shall they call upon Him into whom they have not believed?” (Rom. 10:14).
Genuine believing is always preceded by repentance and followed by calling. Believing without repentance beforehand is unreliable, and believing without calling afterward is ineffectual. Whether one’s believing involves receiving and entering into depends on whether there is repentance before and calling after believing. Repentance leads man to receive the Lord, whereas calling confirms his entrance into the Lord. If a person’s mind turns to God, his heart will surely receive the Lord, and his mouth will definitely call upon Him. This happens spontaneously. If one confesses that he believes in the Lord and yet has never called upon Him, his believing is not real believing but merely agreement or acknowledgment. These cannot save. Only those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (v. 13).
To call upon the Lord is to pray to the Lord from the spirit and the heart, asking for His forgiveness and deliverance; it is to receive the Lord and His salvation through prayer, praise, and thanks. Praying or calling upon the Lord in this way is proof that one has indeed believed into the Lord and possesses real faith.
5. “A great number who believed turned to the Lord” (Acts 11:21).
True believing causes man to call upon the Lord. It also makes him turn to the Lord. To believe is not only to turn from sin and the world but to turn to the Lord in order to belong to the Lord. There is no real believing which does not lead man to turn to the Lord and become His. If a person truly believes in the Lord, he will spontaneously turn to the Lord and become the Lord’s. Whether or not one’s believing is real and proper depends on whether he has turned to the Lord and belongs to the Lord.