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The New Testament urges us throughout to believe in Jesus Christ. The well-known scripture John 3:16 explains that God loved the world and gave His Son so "that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." Other passages promise that those who believe in Jesus receive forgiveness of their sins (Acts 10:43) and salvation (Romans 1:16). Believing in Jesus is obviously very important.
In recognition of this instruction, many have been told that all they need to do is believe on Jesus to receive the benefit of all His promised blessings. But what many do not understand is what Jesus and the New Testament writers actually meant by the directive to "believe." The vast majority of those claiming to be Christians today assume that this word simply means to recognize Jesus as Savior.
Many well-intentioned yet mistaken teachers have said that nothing else is required along with belief in Jesus. Their reasoning is that if any works are involved, a person is trying to earn his salvation-something that is impossible to do (Galatians 2:16). Indeed, it is by grace -God's favor toward us, including His gift of undeserved, unearned pardon-that we are saved (2 Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 2:5,8).
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