What does, “Believe in Jesus” mean?

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What does, “Believe in Jesus” mean?

I read this statement all the time here at CAF, written by non-Catholics; “Believe in Jesus”, what does it mean?

Thank you…Peace 🙂
 
Well, certainly it means to believe He exists; but it means even more than that. It means to have faith, or put your faith in Jesus: to follow His teachings, obey Him, submit your will to His.

All Christians, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, believe that we need to “believe in Jesus.”

John 3:16
*For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. *
 
Jimmy_B said:
What does, “Believe in Jesus” mean?

I read this statement all the time here at CAF, written by non-Catholics; “Believe in Jesus”, what does it mean?

Thank you…Peace 🙂
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Sorry, I forgot…Catholics and non-Catholics, if you could, please source your information, for instance; Bible verses, early Christian historical documents, information based on early Christian traditions and so on…

…or just your own opinion.

Thanks.

Peace. 🙂
 
jpjd said:
Well, certainly it means to believe He exists; but it means even more than that. It means to have faith, or put your faith in Jesus: to follow His teachings, obey Him, submit your will to His.

All Christians, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, believe that we need to “believe in Jesus.”

John 3:16
*For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. *
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Hi jpjd,

I agree, but I think that there are many definitions of the word, “believe” and I am curious to see those different definitions…

I am also eager to learn the basis’ for the different definitions of “believe”.

Peace 🙂
 
My source would be the Apostle’s/Nicene creeds. Both are a summery of NT scripture and everyone on the planet that I would consider “Christian” believes at least what is in those.
 
Jimmy_B said:
What does, “Believe in Jesus” mean?

I read this statement all the time here at CAF, written by non-Catholics; “Believe in Jesus”, what does it mean?

Thank you…Peace 🙂
Click to expand...
Believing not just meaning that you believe Jesus died for your sins but actually accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior repenting from sin and getting baptized. I like to quote Peter’s sermon in Acts:

Acts 2: 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

But I also think believing is devoting yourself to the Lord’s teachings as given to the Apostles written in scripture.

Acts 2: 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

For me that sums it up quite simply.

PEACE
 
NDfan said:
Believing not just meaning that you believe Jesus died for your sins but actually accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior repenting from sin and getting baptized. I like to quote Peter’s sermon in Acts:

Acts 2: 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.”

But I also think believing is devoting yourself to the Lord’s teachings as given to the Apostles written in scripture.

Acts 2: 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

For me that sums it up quite simply.

PEACE
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Hello NDfan,

That’s it? What about the Seven Sacraments, for example?

Christianity cannot and should not be summed-up using a handful of Bible verses, or using a couple of sentences…right?

Peace 🙂
 
The sacraments are generally not 7 in Protestant churches. Most of the time, if sacraments are used, it’s just 2 (baptism & eucharist) whether they call them sacraments or not. The reason for 2 and not 7 is that those two are the only 2 completely defined in Scripture.
 
The term associated with the ‘believe in Jesus’ is stated in the creed, a profession of faith in the Catholic Church:

We believe in Jesus Christ, His only son, our Lord…

and so on and so forth. It is said in the Nicene form every week at Mass. For devotions and prayer, such as the rosary, a form called the Apostle’s Creed is used. They both profess the belief in Jesus Christ.

“Believe in Jesus” means that we acknowledge that Jesus existed, and everything associated with him, (he is God, he died for our sins, he was risen from the dead etc.). That is it on the surface.

A deeper view is that not only do we accept his existence and nature, but the part that nature takes in our lives, for Scripture states he is, ‘The Way the truth and the life’. (John 14:6).

It also means:

To believe in God

Because Jesus is the Lord, and he is God. It also means we acknowledge who God is:

Love (1 Jn 4:16)
Truth (See above, John 14:6)
All that is good (I can’t remember the references)

To believe in Christ is also to believe in the fulfillment of the old covenant, and accepting the new (Magnificat).

For a more in depth view, I suggest reading the entirety of Scripture and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, that should give you a pretty good idea of what it means to believe in Jesus 😉
 
It is interesting to note how everyone adds things in their definition of ‘belief’ (Gk. pisteuo), such as obedience, following and submitting one’s will to. The problem is that it doesn’t work in the Greek, nor does it mesh with the NT Scriptural accounts of people believing (such as Martha’s and St. Peter’s confessions), which are all about an intellectual acknowledgment that something is true.

These articles discuss the issue quite well I think:
Head Faith, Heart Faith, and Mind Games
Saving Faith in Focus
Beware of Confusion About Faith
New Testament Reptence: Repentence in the Gospels and Acts (An article on repentence since someone brought that up as part of ‘belief’)
 
Our English language is so lacking in exactness.

One man I know objected to this phrase “I believe in Jesus” because he said that wasn’t enough. “Satan believes in Jesus”. He made a point.

But, then, I answered back"No, Satan knew Jesus, In real time, in a real place, Satan knew Jesus. He did not have to believe. He knew."

Then you have 12 apostles. They walked this earth for 3 years with the finest rabbi ever to exisit. The man they knew was a miracle worker Who walked on water. One sold Him for 30 pieces of silver. Another denied Him 3 times. And another doubted his brethren’s stories to the point he had to probe His Flesh before accepting.

And Paul, in him, we have a extreme anti- jesus fellow. Killed Believers. He was stopped cold on a road by a “vision”. Then he accepted our Lord.

And then we have all Christians who have lived since the day He was taken Home. Some are "Christians " who know a lot about Him. maybe, maybe not, they follow Him.

But the rest of us, those who never saw Him in the Flesh, but yearn for Him, are grateful for His Sacrifice, Worship Him as King of kings and Lord of lords, accept the full Truth of Messiah and await His return…that is what it means to say “I believe in Jesus”

The Father sent the Spirit to break our hearts to know the Son. Without the Holy Spirit, it is just all stories.
 
Doxiemom said:
Our English language is so lacking in exactness.

One man I know objected to this phrase “I believe in Jesus” because he said that wasn’t enough. “Satan believes in Jesus”. He made a point.

But, then, I answered back"No, Satan knew Jesus, In real time, in a real place, Satan knew Jesus. He did not have to believe. He knew."

Then you have 12 apostles. They walked this earth for 3 years with the finest rabbi ever to exisit. The man they knew was a miracle worker Who walked on water. One sold Him for 30 pieces of silver. Another denied Him 3 times. And another doubted his brethren’s stories to the point he had to probe His Flesh before accepting.

And Paul, in him, we have a extreme anti- jesus fellow. Killed Believers. He was stopped cold on a road by a “vision”. Then he accepted our Lord.

And then we have all Christians who have lived since the day He was taken Home. Some are "Christians " who know a lot about Him. maybe, maybe not, they follow Him.

But the rest of us, those who never saw Him in the Flesh, but yearn for Him, are grateful for His Sacrifice, Worship Him as King of kings and Lord of lords, accept the full Truth of Messiah and await His return…that is what it means to say “I believe in Jesus”

The Father sent the Spirit to break our hearts to know the Son. Without the Holy Spirit, it is just all stories.
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I will not address the subjective descriptions of what ‘belief’ means, but Doxiemom brings up an interesting idea and one that I have seen argue about on these boards: that of the belief of demons (incl. Satan), such as noted in James 2:19: “You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe–and tremble!” (NKJV)
  1. In the James passage, notice what it says the demons believe: ‘that there is one God’. Obviously, I don’t know of any Christian (Roman Catholic or not) who would say that simply believing in one God will save you.
  2. As regards the general comparison of human Salvific faith with demonic ‘belief’, what is important is what is the person believing? Demons have no hope of a resurrection and Jesus did not die to pay for the sins of demons, thus, demons cannot have Salvific faith and truly believe in Christ for their resurrection and forgiveness of sins. Even most secular humanists believe Jesus existed and some people (i.e. Jews and Muslims) believe Jesus was a great teacher, maybe even a prophet, but they do not believe that Jesus died to pay the penalty for their sins (and Jesus did not die to pay for demons’ sins).
Thus, in looking at what (Salvific) belief in Christ entails, we must look at what we are believing about Christ. Thus, it really is a misnomer to talk about ‘belief in Christ’. What do you believe in Him for? What do you believe about Him?
 
Jimmy_B said:
Hello NDfan,

That’s it? What about the Seven Sacraments, for example?

Christianity cannot and should not be summed-up using a handful of Bible verses, or using a couple of sentences…right?

Peace 🙂
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Jimmy I was speaking at a very high level of what it means to believe in Jesus. You asked for scripture so I used verses that I like from Acts that are indicative of what the early church was doing. I believe that devoting yourself to the Apostles teachings which came from Christ absolutely do include the sacraments. I wasn’t trying to sum up Christianity in a handful of sentences. Just giving examples of what it means to me to believe IN Jesus. Not just believe that Jesus was who he said he was. Even satan and demons will grant you that.

PEACE
 
jesusluv said:
The sacraments are generally not 7 in Protestant churches. Most of the time, if sacraments are used, it’s just 2 (baptism & eucharist) whether they call them sacraments or not. The reason for 2 and not 7 is that those two are the only 2 completely defined in Scripture.
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Marriage isn’t a Sacrament in your Church?
 
Jesus said to the Apostles: whoever hears you, hears me and my Father in Heaven.

Jesus built a Church. Jesus commanded us to eat His flesh and drink His blood. the Eucharist.

Jesus says obey the commandments.

believing is not just a word. believing is also living the Word of God.

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word became flesh.”

**“I should not believe the Gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church.”
Saint Augustine (354-430), Against the Letter of Mani, 5,6, 397 A.D…

**
 
wisdomseeker said:
Jesus said to the Apostles: whoever hears you, hears me and my Father in Heaven.

Jesus built a Church. Jesus commanded us to eat His flesh and drink His blood. the Eucharist.

Jesus says obey the commandments.

believing is not just a word. believing is also living the Word of God.

“In the beginning was the Word and the Word became flesh.”

**“I should not believe the Gospel except as moved by the authority of the Catholic Church.”
Saint Augustine (354-430), Against the Letter of Mani, 5,6, 397 A.D…

**
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Jimmy_B said:
All of them, not just the parts that we like or agree with…right?

Peace 🙂
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I’d argue that believe and obey are two different things. Also, ‘believe’ is just a word and the Greek word is ‘pisteuo’ (used in John 3:16, etc.) and it does not connote obedience.
 
Jesus commanded us to eat His flesh and drink His blood
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I think the reenactment of the last supper is beautiful, i am sure it brings blessing, shares our God given gifts, but i don’t think it is the big picture point.

Jesus (pbwh) commanded me to do as he did, he gave what he had and the blessings he will get and asked me to do the same for you.

Seek understanding of what Jews of the day believed it meant to eat from another’s food and drink from their cup.
 
What does, “Believe in Jesus” mean?

Jesus (pbwh) was given the pure spirit, this is Bible and Quran.

Jesus (pbwh) is the way to God, Bible and Quran.

Jesus (pbwh) is less than God, Bible and Quran.

Jesus (pbwh) came to bring me from the wandering at the Fathers command, personal experience lasting 3 days and continues when i don’t transgress.
 
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