In 1 Corinthians 15:3 (NIV) it says,
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
Is believing that Jesus paid for my sins by dying for them, that He rose from the dead, and that He is Lord enough to be saved? I'm trying to work through my salvation and have assurance I'm saved, please tell me anything else I should believe.
Also, is believing that Jesus paid for my sins by dying for them a sufficient understanding of how Jesus paid for my sins? Is there more to it? Do I need to know exactly how Jesus paid for my sins?
Hi LeeLoving, the evidence for our salvation isn't found in the exact way that we became Christians, in whether we did, said and/or even believed all the "right" things at that time (and/or did, said, and/or believed enough or well-enough, or enough of the right things, etc.), because people have come to know Jesus and been saved in any number of different ways. Salvation, therefore, is less about a certain formula that must be followed, or exact words that must be spoken, or a collection of precise things that must be believed, etc., and it's more about the understanding of our absolute need for Him as our Savior, our trust in Him to save us in the very way that He promised us that He would (by His mercy and by His grace through faith .. both in what Jesus did for us, as well in the Father's promise to save us on that basis alone), and the surrender of our lives to Him as our Lord, knowing that He loves us and therefore trusting Him to grow us up in Christlikeness, as well to see/guide us safely through this life to be with Him in the next.
For assurance, you'll need to look at your life, what it's like now, and particularly how it's changed, in general, since the day that you became a Christian. That is the principle way that we "test" or "examine" ourselves to see whether we are truly in the faith or not .. e.g.
2 Corinthians 13:5. Our lives, and the way we choose to live them, what we do, say, and even how we think, the things that we find important and make a priority, etc., are what tell us, demonstrate, validate, justify our claim of being a Christian .. or not (both to ourselves and to others).
Simply put, Christians tend to act like Christians, speak like Christians, and think like Christians, because we 'are' Christians. IOW, we act like Christians because it's natural for us to do so, because of the changes that God wrought in us when He gave us
new hearts and new spirits, when He caused us to be
born again, when He created us as wholly
new creatures in Christ and made us
His workmanship. And of course, because we are indwelt, taught and guided by the Holy Spirit, and have been given the
mind of Christ.
So, if someone who claims to be a Christian continues in, or quickly returns to living the same kind of unrepentant, sinful lifestyle that they were leading before they made that claim, then their "claim" should be regarded as nothing more than that.
Do you love God and want a to have a relationship with Him because you do, or do you just want the blessings that He has to offer? Do you love His word? Do you love His people? Are you continuously thankful/grateful for all that He has done/continues to do for you, and for all that He has blessed you with? Do you still desire to do what pleases 'you' most of the time, or have your desires changed such that you now look for ways to please/honor/glorify Him 24/7 instead?
Do you sin in the same ways and with the same frequency that you did before you became a Christian? How do you feel when you sin? Are you saddened/grieved/horrified by it? Do you seek to turn from it and to be forgiven of it?
Is the principle reason that you came to Christ to be saved from God's wrath and an eternity in Hell, or is it because of your great desire to be forgiven and have the weight of your guilt removed, and because you wanted to stop sinning/stop leading a sinful lifestyle on 'this' side of eternity to please and glorify the One who did so much to save you, the One who loves you so, the One who you have come to love?
So (since we cannot see the heart like God can), it's our 'life' and how we live it (and how it has changed), what we do and say and think, that is the best indicator of who we are and what we are. Likewise, I believe that it's the things that "accompany" salvation, the "fruit" or the things that "result" from His changing and saving us that tell us if we are truly Christians .. or simply CINO.
~Deut
p.s. - please be aware that what I just said was said in a "general" way, not as some sort of list that needs to be fulfilled. More than anything else, our salvation is really about our knowing and trusting God, and about Him knowing us. It's about us having a personal "relationship" with Him and amazingly, Him choosing to have a personal relationship with us
(it's not so much about our needing to do this or that specific thing).
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