Am I correct with my understanding of this? Faith in Jesus alone = salvation

Which would include that he is the Son of God? This is all that I can gather from a reading of John 3:14-18 (KJV) when reading it honestly and not trying to bend words into it. What I am struck by is 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 and to a smaller extent Romans 3:21-26 and Romans 10:9, which seem to put a different emphasis on salvation. In 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 the gospel seems to be the object of belief, that one is saved by believing the gospel, which I suppose might not be what Paul is trying to communicate. In Romans 3:25 it seems to be saying that salvation comes by faith in Jesus' blood when read a certain way, though, this verse and surrounding verses can be read another way to be completely in line with how I read John 3. In Romans 10:9 in the KJV it says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. This makes sense too considering John 3 since if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead you would believe in Jesus, along with confessing him with your mouth (I cannot read these words the way they are put forth in the NIV and ESV, "that if you confess with your mouth "Jesus is Lord" and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved", they don't read like that to me, though I am not saying that that is not what they mean, and I understand they are translating from the Greek), though I don't understand why the "goal post" is moved here from belief in Jesus to something else, though the preceding verses seem to necessitate the language.

The solace in this is that all these issues can be reconciled in that none of these verses can contradict the point of view that belief in Jesus alone is what constitutes salvation, i.e. there is no problem. It is just disconcerting reading these things when I am not entirely sure what constitutes salvation myself, though I lean towards the view that it is belief in Jesus alone, because I don't see how John 3 can be read any other way. I could use some major help in understanding the truth in this. What does constitute salvation? When answering this question please address the things I've written. And please no posts from gotquestions or copy and pastes from other websites unless you have read those materials and agree with what they're saying, but if you do why not put it into your own words? I don't like the regurgitation of materials on the internet and the standard it sets for people to not understand things themselves.

On the topic of gotquestions, they seem to be in line with the belief that it is faith in Jesus' blood that constitutes salvation, though, like I wrote, when I read John 3, I don't see how that is the case.

When responding to me please be patient, I am sincerely trying to understand.

This thread duplicates "Saved by faith alone?"
So please post these thoughts there.
Thanks.

For it is by Grace we have been saved - Its actually not faith that saves us its grace.

but it is recieved through faith

for it is by grace w2e have been saved THROUGH FAITH

2 Timothy 1:9 He has saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works, but by His own purpose and by the grace He granted us in Christ Jesus before time began.

Romans 3:21-25a ~ Apart from the law, righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented Him as the atoning sacrifice through faith in His blood.

These are good questions. As you asked, I will address your concerns individually. But I would like to give an overview first to provide context for my detailed comments that will follow.

Trusting in Jesus leads to salvation. But trusting in Jesus is not what saves us. God personally exempts us from the eternal damnation that we earn by sinning when we first put our trust in Christ. This is most clearly steated in 1 Corintians 1:21 ("For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe"). He created the paradigm that He would save from His wrath everyone who believes the seemingly foolish message that Jesus sacrificed Himself for our sins.

I see the verses you referenced as being consistent with this paradigm...
The serpent in the wilderness is an interesting story to read (Numbers 21). After complaining about their situation to Moses, God sent serpents to bite them, and as a result some died. When they confessed to Moses that they had sinned, God told Moses to fashion a bronze serpent and hoist it up on a pole, and He told him that when a person was bit by a serpent, he could look at the serpent on the pole, and if he did he would not die. Jesus likened Himself to the bronz serpent and said that anyone facing God judgement for their sins could look at Him dying on the cross for their sins and live (i.e., look and live). Trusting in Him results in two changes, both of which are actions that God alone can take. First, God no loger holds their sins against them. Second, God gives them eternal life. We see these two elements of God's salvation in many of the verses you referenced in John 3.
As you suspect, this passage is not replacing trust in Christ with trusting the gospel. It is simply describing what we have to believe about Jesus in order for the Father to save us. Specifically, we must believe that Jesus actually sacrificed Himself for our own sins, that He actually died, and that He conquored death and rose from the dead. We receive His offer to forgive us for our sins and His offer to give us eternal life when we receive them from Him directly (because He is alive right now and is drawing all people to Himself).
"His blood" is a referference to His sacrice of Himself for our sins. Hebrews puts it this way...


Jesus entered the single "Most Holy Place" in the unverse with His own blood and "by the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God" for our sins. And unlike the sacrifice of bulls and goats which could never take away sins, trusting in Jesus' sacrifice of Himself for our sins sanctifies us and gives us a clear conscience so that we may serve the living God.
I agree with you that this is a bit confusing. But I look at the explanation that follows to provide context. Romans 10:13-15 describe the steps to salvation in reverse chronological order. Stated chronologically, they say the following: God sends out preachers to preach the gospel, preachers preach, unsaved people hear about Jesus, those who hear about Jesus believe in Him, those who believe in Him call on Him to save them, and He saves everyone who calls on Him.
If God has exempted a person from His wrath and has given that person eternal life by coming to live in his heart, then that person does not need to look at their faith in order to determine if they are saved. He only needs to look inside his heart and determine whether Jesus is in fact living in there. The idea is that "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life." (1 Jn 5:11–12) To know if we have eternal life, ew must examine ourselves... "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified." (2 Co 13:5)
Hopefully this addresses your questions.

The confusion is because of the difference between having faith in Jesus Christ alone, is not the same as having faith alone in Christ.

When our faith is in Jesus Christ alone, and not in any other god or christ or spiritual leader, then our faith is in the right Lord and God.

But if we only have faith alone in Christ, without doing His will, then our faith doesn't save us from the judgment against sin and trespass. Because we're still doing wrong against the righteous Lord and God.

So long as we remember that repentance from dead works is necessary to have faith in Jesus Christ and be reconciled to God, then things are kept crystal clear.

Lots of confusion over ideas, beliefs, and words get cleared up real fast, when works enter in. I.e. talk is cheap, because what we are doing tells the tale...

Mar 7:6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

1Jo 3:18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth.

Jas 2:17Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

1Jo 2:15Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

No. God has spoken in James 2:24-“NOT BY FAITH ONLY.”
Jesus says,” He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.” Mark 16:16. God’s word matters.

" he who believes in Him is not condemed. but whoever does not believe has already been condemned"

simple. straightforward.

I know this verse in John 3 does not mean what you are implying because that makes it contradict other New Testament scriptures like Matt 7, where people at judgment clearly believe in Jesus, are very religious, and have done works in His name. According to your understanding of this verse, they should not have been condemned by Jesus. Please do not judge their hearts by saying they were never saved. You cannot possibly know their hearts nor whether God has saved them or not. The Holy Spirit does not question their salvation nor their sincerity, so neither should you. To do so is presumptuous and just your opinion. Not fact, nor truth.

The key to this passage and the one in John 3 which you quoted goes beyond belief to how they are living. In Matt. 7, those people believed but were practicing lawlessness! verse 23. Whereas the people in John 3 were practicing TRUTH! Verse 21. This harmonizes perfectly with James 2:24 that says we are not saved by “faith only.”

Scripture cannot contradict scripture or else we cannot believe God or anything in the Bible. One verse does not cancel out other verses. All of the Bible must harmonize with itself to be truly divinely inspired.

Amen

No water baptism, No circumcision, no works of the law. no works of righteousness which we may have done.

It is by Grace alone that Salvation is made available to us and it by our Faith in Jesus that we are Saved ---So God's Grace comes through Christ's Faith ---Faith always comes First ---you can't please God with out His Faith ----you need to believe God really exists ----first ---then you have access to His Grace ==

Grace makes all spiritual blessings available to us by and through our Faith in Jesus and what He accomplished on the Cross for us ----

AI
Without Faith You Can't Please God: Hebrews 11:6

The key Bible verse emphasizing that faith is necessary to please God is Hebrews 11:6. It states, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

Here's a more detailed explanation:

Faith is the foundation:
This verse highlights that faith is the fundamental requirement for pleasing God. It's not just a personal feeling, but a belief that God exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.

A lot of people believe in Jesus but which Jesus? That's the difference. Only One Jesus brings salvation.

In Psalms 119:29-30, he wanted to put false ways far from him, for God to be gracious to him by teaching him to obey His law, and he chose the way of faith by setting it before him, so this has always been the one and only way of salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone.

In Titus 2:11-13, our salvation is described as being trained by grace to do what is godly, righteous, and good, and to renounce doing what is ungodly, so doing those works has nothing to do with trying to earn our salvation, but rather God graciously teaching us to be a doer of those works is part of His gift of salvation. In Titus 2:14, Jesus gave himself to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people of his own possession who are zealous for doing good works, so the way to believe in what Jesus spent his ministry teaching and in what he accomplished in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4 is by repenting and becoming zealous for doing good works in obedience to God's law (Acts 21:20).

In Romans 10:5-10, Paul referred to Deuteronomy 30 as the word of faith that we proclaim in regard to proclaiming that God's law is not too difficult for us to obey, that obedience to it brings life and a blessing, in regard to what we are agreeing to obey by confessing that Jesus is Lord, and in regard to the way to believe that God raised him from the dead for salvation. Jesus saves us from our sin (Matthew 1:21) and sin is the transgression of God's law (1 John 3:4), so Jesus graciously teaching us to be a doer of it is intrinsically the way that he is giving us his gift of saving us from not being a doer of it.

While the only way for someone to attain a character trait is through faith, what someone is becoming when they attain a character trait is a doer of that trait. For example, the only way for someone to become courageous is by faith alone apart from being required to have first done enough courageous works in order to earn it as the result, but it would be contradictory for someone to become courageous apart from becoming a doer of courageous works, and the same is true for righteousness and every other character. This is why the same faith by which we are declared righteous apart from works does not abolish our need to be a doer of righteous works in obedience to God's law, but rather our faith upholds it (Romans 3:28-31). In other words, everyone who has faith will be declared righteous and everyone who has faith is a doer of the law, which is how Paul can deny in Romans 4:1-5 that we can earn our righteousness as the result of our works while also affirming in Romans 2:13 that only the doers of the law will be declared righteous.

I applaud your sincerity and your honest heart. I, too, am very sincere in what I believe but we are probably not in agreement on “faith alone.” Please let me show you, by the scriptures, why. None of the verses most people quote about faith have the word “alone” in them. That is supplied by man—not God God and the Bible actually teach the opposite—we are not saved by anything ALONE. The Holy Spirit actually says that we are saved by several things. We are saved by faith, yes! But not faith alone; which is exactly what James 2.:24 says. Now men have made up all kinds of explanations to try to get around this verse because if it is true, then salvation by faith “alone” can’t be true.

The Bible also says we are saved by “repentance” Luke 13:3,&5. Also Acts 17:30. Most important, in Acts 2:37, the Jews onnPentecost asked Peter what they should do ( to be saved) and Peter says, “REPENT” and be baptized…for the remission of sins..” verse 38. So, Peter’s answer to “what must we do to be saved” is to REPENT and be baptized.

You made a good point when you pointed out that Ronan’s 10:8-10 says that we are saved by “confessing”. The Bible says we are. Even Jesus Himself said, “If you don’t confess me before men, I will not confess you before my Father.” Matthew 10:32. Do not reverse the order of faith and confession specified by the Holy Spirit. It was not an accident. It was put that way on purpose. . Think about it! What person in his right mind would confess “Christ” if they don’t believe in Him first?? Faith MUST come first in order for someone to confess Christ. And what are they going to confess about Christ if they don’t believe in Him first? That makes no sense. We also have the Bible approved example of the Ethiopian Eunuch CONFESSING his faith in Christ just before his baptism in Acts 8:37. This was how he was converted, saved, became a Christian. Look what he did. He believed, he repented, he confessed, and he was baptized.

The Bible also says BAPTISM saves us in 1 Peter 3:21. There are so many scriptures in the New Testament that plainly teach that Baptism saves and is necessary to salvation. Mark 16:16 Jesus Himself says that it takes both faith AND baptism to be saved. Does that sound like salvation by “faith alone”? Acts 2:38 says baptism is for the remission of sins; Acts 22:16 says that in baptism we “wash away our sins.” And of course 1 Peter 3:21 leaves no doubt—baptism saves us.

Psalms 119:160 tells us that the SUM of God’s word is TRUTH. Put it all together! God says that faith, repentance, confession, and baptism ALL save us. The doctrine of “faith alone” can’t be true. Let God be true and every man a liar. The doctrine of “faith alone” contradicts every scripture in this posts. And the reason you are having such a hard time understanding scriptures like Romans 10:9-10 and the reason you are needing to reverse the order of “faith” and “confession” is because the doctrine of Faith alone is not true; it is a false doctrine originating with Martin Luther and John Calvin in the 15th century. That’s 1500 years after the Holy Spirit wrote the Bible. It is a man made doctrine—not the doctrine of Christ.2 John 9

We are both sincere in what we believe, but being sincere is not enough. Saul of Tarsus was sincere in persecuting Christ—but he was sincerely wrong! The Bible is the word of God and it contains the Truth. It is right. This is not about winning an argument, it is about saving souls; mine and yours. God pleads with us to REASON with Him in Isaiah.

Prove this to yourself by looking at how people were saved in the Bible, after Jesus died on the cross. They all did the same thing—BELIEVED FIRST, then repented, confessed and in every example were baptized. Acts 2:37, Acts 8:12, Acts 22:16, Acts 10:48, Mark 16:16.

So, I quoted Mark 16:16- the words of Jesus. You quoted John 3:18. Is your verse suppose to “cancel out” my verse? Does your verse prove my verse to be “untrue?” Are you saying the Bible teaches conflicting doctrines? Or that the Bible has contradictions in it? What exactly are you saying by quoting John 3:18?

Since Jesus is the one who said it takes BOTH faith AND baptism to be saved, I’m guessing that you don’t believe what Jesus said and so by quoting John 3 you think you have proven Jesus wrong. As Jesus told Saul of Tarsus “It is hard to kick against the pricks.”

In order to prove that baptism does not save us along with faith, you must prove Jesus is wrong. Not a job that I would want. In case you don’t know, ALL OF God’s word is TRUTH. Ps. 118:160. John 3:18 does not prove that Mark 16:16 is not true. Someone has fed you a pack of lies.

Some bibles don't have any Mark 16:9-20 in them because the earliest manuscripts don't include them. Why do you believe they should be included?

John 3 verses 17-18 God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Accurate - with the following observation:

Jesus did SPECIFIC things in order to secure our cleansing from SIN. Isa 53:10 indicates the gist of it - Jesus was the BLOOD OFFERING FOR SIN - i.e. HIS BLOOD cleanses us.

Our "GOOD WORKS" do NOT cleanse us from sin.

But the NATURAL EFFECT of having been Cleansed - Saved - Born again, will be good works, which the Holy Spirit that will indwell Born Again Christians, after they've repented and cried out to HIM, will be produced in us, as we mature in the FAITH.

Jewish religious activities on the yearly day of Atonement are illustrations of the principle. There were TWO GOATS - one was killed in sacrifice, and it's blood was applied as directed , and the other had the hands of the priesthood laid on it's head, imparting the SINS of Israel upon it, and then it was led away and abandoned in the wilderness. (Lev 16:7-28)

In JESUS' case, The SIN of people was imparted to Him by God, then his BLOOD was spilled on the cross as the sacrifice, and then His SOUL after death descended into hell carrying our SIN with it. our FAITH is in the SIN OFFERING which cleanses us from SIN (Isa 53:10)

So for us it's a "Cause", and "Effect" thing. Being Born Again BY FAITH and being infilled by the Holy Spirit is the CAUSE, and good works are the EFFECT of being born again.

There are three scriptures that relate to FAITH (not just "belief" - Mental assent).

What FAITH IS: Heb 11:1 gived two requirements for FAITH - i.e. it MUST HAVE THE SUBSTANCE of what you hope for, and it must stand as irrefutable EVIDENCE of what you don't see - yet.

Where faith comes from: Romans 10:17 i.e. Faith is the result of HEARING God's WORD to you!! Typically the beginning is from God's WORD Convicting you of your SIN.

How FAITH is applied: Mark 11:22-24 Faith WHEN IT IS PRESENT can be spoken to a situation, or acted upon if it's an "Action command". "Believe IN YOUR HEART" (not your mind) and the "kicker": NOTHING DOUBTING. intellectual "belief" always carries "DOUBT" since it's not based on anything of real substance. FAITH (Heart belief) is based on GOD'S WORD TO YOU. (Eph 2:8,9).