In popular, Western Christianity, being a Christian is about believing in Jesus. This emphasis upon believing is based upon the gospel of John and Paul’s letter to the Romans. You know the key verses—you may even have memorized them.
John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
Romans 10:9, “If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
In this understanding, believing in Jesus is expressed in church involvement and moral living—what I commonly refer to as proper belief, proper worship, and proper behavior. This understanding of what it means to be a Christian is so deeply engrained in our thinking that we fail to examine or question it. Why would we? Our sense of being okay spiritually—our sense of assurance that we are a Christian and will go to heaven when we die—is tied to the fact that we believe.
This emphasis upon belief became prominent in the fourth century with the writing of the various creeds—the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, etc. These creeds, written by different councils, were an attempt to clarify orthodoxy—right belief—after Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official religion of Rome. Before Constantine’s decree, Christianity was not a legal religion in the eyes of Rome. Christians were often persecuted for their faith. After Constantine’s decree, all citizens were considered to be Christians. The creeds were an attempt to clarify what one had to believe in order to be a Christian.
Sadly, this common understanding of what it means to be a Christian is actually a misunderstanding. It is not supported by the New Testament scriptures.
In our Western, scientifically-oriented culture, believing is a mental exercise. To believe is to accept a fact as true. This understanding of what it means to believe is the product of scientific thinking. Thus, we believe that Jesus was the Son of God, that he died on the cross for our sins, that he was raised the third day, that he ascended into heaven and—as the Apostles’ Creed puts it—“sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty.” In other words, we give intellectual assent to theological beliefs.
In the New Testament scriptures—written before scientific thought developed—to believe meant to exercise faith. Faith involved believing, but it was more than believing. Believing something to be true, faith was exercised in acting upon that truth. Belief—i.e., faith—led to action.
This understanding of faith—acting on what one believes—is seen in a story told by each of the synoptic gospels. The story is of a woman who had suffered from constant hemorrhaging for twelve years (Mark 5:25-34). Her condition had not only robbed her of health, it also had made her an outcast in her community. It made her ritually unclean, isolating her. Having heard of Jesus’s healing miracles, she believed “If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well” (Mark 5:28). She then acted on that belief, slipping up behind Jesus in a crowd to touch the hem of his cloak. As she touched his cloak, her hemorrhaging was healed. Her health was restored. She was made whole. Sensing that power had gone out from him, Jesus turned to see who had touched him. In the interchange that followed, Jesus said to her, “Your faith has made you well” (Mark 5:34). Her faith was expressed in acting on what she believed. (Notice how the synoptic gospels talk about faith, not belief. The gospel of John—the last gospel to be written—introduces the language of believing.)
In the New Testament and in the early church, being a Christian involved more than believing facts about who Jesus was and what he did. It was certainly about more than going to heaven when we die. Being a Christian was about discipleship—being a follower of Jesus. It was about learning a different way of thinking and living. It was about learning and living the ways of God Jesus taught—what Jesus referred to as the kingdom of God. To be a Christian was to believe what Jesus taught about God and the ways of God and then to build one’s life on those teachings, putting them into practice. To believe in Jesus resulted in a radically different way of life—here, now. In the New Testament, to believe in Jesus was to be a follower of Jesus—a disciple.
In my opinion, the emphasis on belief in today’s popular Christian culture falls short. It does not produce discipleship—building one’s life around the ways of God Jesus taught. It does not lead to a radically different way of living that is out of step with the ways of the world. At best, it leads to moral living and church involvement. Following this misunderstanding about believing, people can profess to believe in Jesus but fail to follow his teachings or put into practice the ways of God he taught.
Something is amiss when the lives of those who call themselves Christians mirror the values and lifestyles of their culture rather than the ways of God that Jesus taught. For me, this failure to live the ways of God Jesus taught is evidence that the popular emphasis on believing falls short of what the New Testament teaches about what it means to believe in Jesus.
To believe in Jesus is to be a follower of Jesus, learning and living the ways of God Jesus taught—a disciple. To believe in Jesus produces a radically different way of life from the capitalistic culture in which we live. To believe in Jesus—to be a follower of Jesus—produces a radical transformation of our lives, from the inside out.
Discipleship is more than believing in Jesus.
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