According to the Bible, what do we need to understand and believe to receive salvation?

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Answers to Bible Questions

Scriptures are from the KJV of the Bible

(Q) According to the Bible, what do we need to understand and believe, to receive Salvation?

 

(A) A lot of people think they will go to heaven because they have lived a good life. God in His Word, or the Bible, says that no one can live up to God’s standard of righteousness by doing good works, or living a good life. The Bible says in Romans 3: 10-12, there is none righteousness, no not one:

10: As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

11: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

12: They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

In Romans 3: 23, it says that all have sinned:

23: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

Everyone needs to understand and believe the above verses as they are important to your Salvation. God knows that no man or woman could ever do anything to live up to His standard of righteousness. So because of our sin nature, look what God says in Romans 6: 23:

23: For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

All of mankind deserve physical, and spiritual death because of our sins; there is no question about that. But look at the last part of verse 23 above, it says the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Salvation cannot be earned. Salvation is a free gift from God. So how can we receive God’s gift of eternal life? Let’s look at Romans 1: 16 to find part of our answer:

16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

 To be saved, we must believe the gospel. Gospel means good news. But before we can believe the good news ( or gospel ) we need to know what it is. To find out more about the gospel look at 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 which says:

 1: Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

2: By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

3: For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4: And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

This is the gospel which we must believe in order to be saved. Now, how does believing this gospel save us? Well the book of Romans 5: 8-10 tell us:

8: But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

9: Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

10: For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Also Romans 3: 22-26 adds more to how believing the gospel saves us:

22: Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

23: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

24: Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

25: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

26: To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

We can be saved from the wrath of God, because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died on His cross as a sacrifice for our sins and rose from the dead. He paid the price for us, and we are justified in God’s eyes through our faith in the blood of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 9: 22 says:

22: And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission.

It took the shed blood of Jesus Christ to pay for our sins, and only Christ was worthy to do so, because He was God in the flesh. Christ was our creator, the one who brought the whole universe into being. See Colossians 1: 16-20:

 16: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:

17: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.

18: And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence

19: For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell;

20: And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.

As we finish now I will show you a couple more verses of scripture from Ephesians 2: 7-9 which states:

7: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

8: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

9: Not of works, lest any man should boast.

There will be no boasting in heaven. We cannot be saved by our own righteousness, but only by God’s grace, through faith. Remember this about salvation: ( Christ does all the saving, we do all the believing; let go and let God.)

John