“Believe & Love”

1 John 3:23
And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as He has commanded us.

The New Testament makes it clear that when we believe in Jesus Christ for eternal life we experience justification. Justification is freedom from the penalty of sin and is a movement from death to life. Paul makes it clear in Ephesians 2:8-9 that justification is experienced by the grace of God through faith in Christ. Faith is the noun form of the Greek verb “to believe”. Scripturally, to believe in something is the same as having faith in something.

Dr. Charlie Bing writes: “To be saved by grace means that we believe God’s promise of eternal life rather than try to earn it or merit it in some way. Salvation through faith means that we bring nothing to God except our sin because we accept God’s promise as true. God allows no other options except faith. If we cannot be saved by what we do or do not do, then we cannot lose our salvation by what we do or do not do.”

Some have called this “easy believism” but 1 John makes it clear that we are commanded to both believe and to LOVE ONE ANOTHER. Being a believer means loving one another. There is nothing easy about being a believer. Believing in Jesus Christ for eternal life may be simple but it is not easy. The gospel is so simple a child can grasp it but learning to consistently love one another can take a lifetime.

QUESTION: Who can you do a better job of loving today?