What you must believe in order to be a Christian

Romans 10:9-10 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.

What are the fundamental contents of true saving faith?
Yesterday we looked at saving faith in slow motion, noting that the bare minimum for belief had so far involved two essential truths:
1. That I am a sinner, incapable of gaining favor with God (that is, making my own salvation)
2. That what God says in the Bible about me is true (that is, the Bible is God's word)

We looked also at how saving faith convinces me that these contents of the faith (notitia) are truly true.  Knowing that they are true leads to a growing comprehension of their significance following conversion.  Saving faith entails the contents (notitia), my mental agreement with those facts (ascensus) and the Spirit's work of grace whereby I embrace Christ by faith and thus believe (fiducia).  In today's blog we are going to look at three more essential contents (notita) that are made known to the sinner at the event of saving faith.

Confessing Christ's Deity is essential to salvation
To confess "Jesus as Lord" is equivalent to confessing "Jesus as God".  The title "Lord" refers back to the name revealed to Moses back in Exodus 3 (the name Jehovah or Yahweh, translated "LORD").  The Old Testament makes it clear that salvation is of the Lord. (Jonah 2:9).  Furthermore, the Lord God of Israel is God alone and that there is no other Savior. (Isaiah 43:10-11)  As we saw yesterday, "knowing" is different from "comprehension".  Saving faith will readily agree that salvation is in Jesus Christ alone, even if it does not "comprehend" the details that stem from that confession.  This is why any message that presents Jesus Christ as less than God is not the Gospel. 

Confessing the necessity of Christ's work in His death and resurrection
Romans 10:9 continues on by revealing another content of "The Faith", namely "God raising Him from the dead".  To believe that Jesus Christ raised from the dead automatically includes the cause of His death - the crucifixion.  Saving faith agrees (ascensus) that the events of Christ's death and ressurection (contents or notitia) are to be experiences in my life (saving faith or fiducia).  What He did is recorded in the Gospels and what He accomplished is being described here in Romans 10:9.  What He accomplished in His death readily points to the fact that He was truly a man.  What He accomplished in His resurrection readily demonstrates His Divine identity. 

Confessing that there is One God
This next content or truth of saving faith affirms the Biblical concept of there being only One God.  The question is: why is this so important, since we just saw the need to affirm the Deity of Christ?  Because Christianity affirms what God is: One God, as well as who that One God is.  Saving faith brings me to know and acknowledge that God is One God and that Christ is God.  As the Holy Spirit through Paul states in 1 Corinthians 8:6 "yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him."

Knowing the truth will lead me to embrace further details of that truth comprehended after saving faith
The three truths above are true and affirmed at saving faith.  By implication all three point to the biblical doctrine of the Trinity.  This is where our distinction of "what I know at saving faith" versus "what I comprehend following saving faith" aids in understanding what a person must believe in order to become a Christian. 

A little child for example, may not fully comprehend the biblical doctrine of the Trinity.  However, acknowledgment of Christ's Deity, the effectiveness of His death / resurrection  and that God is One God are doctrines that only make sense if the doctrine of Trinity is understood as the Biblical teaching of God's identity.  As that little child grows in his or her faith, when presented the doctrine of the Trinity, they will acknowledge that doctrine as true.  As Jesus states in John 7:16-17 "....My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself."