What is a believer?
Answered from the commentary of Morrish Bible Dictionary, H. H. Snell, The Christian's Friend and 22 others
A believer is one who, through the mercy of God, has faith in Christ as the Son of God and in His atoning work on the cross. He has accepted Christ as his Saviour and "entered in by the door," and this is the difference between knowledge and faith: a man may know that Christ is the door and never enter. The name also describes his whole life, for a believer walks by faith and lives by faith, so that faith marks his entire existence.
At its root, faith is believing God and accepting His word because He says it, receiving the testimony He has given about His Son. It is therefore not believing *about* Christ but believing *on* Him. That means committing oneself to a living Person who is mighty to save, rather than simply accepting a doctrine. A merely mental assent to the facts, as to history, is not faith, for "the devils also believe and tremble" (James 2:19). Such head belief is dead faith with no works, like a tree with nothing but leaves. Most of these writers place the essence of saving faith in trust: resting oneself for eternal salvation on Christ and His finished work. One view, however, holds that faith is strictly receiving God's testimony, and that trust is not the faith itself, although it is sure to follow from it.
Faith is not natural to man. It is the gift of God and the work of the Holy Spirit through the word. Saving faith also does not depend on how much of it there is but on whom it rests: the feeblest faith in Christ saves eternally, while the strongest faith in anything else deceives.
Because he believes on the Son, the believer has eternal life now (John 3:36). He is born of God and has the right to be called a child of God (John 1:12). He is justified, and so he has peace with God. He is in Christ, a new creation, and is seen by God in Christ alone. The Holy Spirit dwells in him as the Spirit of adoption.
All this shows itself in his life. He confesses Jesus as Lord with his mouth, as well as believing in his heart (Romans 10:9). His faith, being alive, proves itself by works. Righteousness and love mark him as one who has the life. Nor is believing something done once in the past to cover a later life of indifference. It is the continuing attitude of the soul.
The warning follows from this. Some "for a while believe" without root and fall away, and these were never true believers. Those who believe to the saving of the soul belong to a different class altogether.
For comfort, a true believer may lack assurance through weak faith or poor teaching. Even so, the weakest in faith is no less justified than the strongest. Assurance is properly his, resting on what God says rather than on his own feelings.
Verses: John 3:16, John 1:12, Romans 10:9, Romans 10:10, John 3:36, Acts 16:31, Ephesians 2:8, Ephesians 2:9, Galatians 2:20, 2 Corinthians 5:17, John 5:24, John 20:31, Hebrews 11:1, Hebrews 11:6, 1 John 5:1, 1 John 5:13, Romans 5:1, Galatians 3:26, John 11:25, John 11:26, Mark 16:16, Acts 11:26, Acts 4:32, 1 Timothy 4:12, John 8:31, John 13:35, Romans 1:16, Romans 3:22, James 2:19, James 2:26, 1 Peter 1:8, 1 Peter 1:9, John 6:40, Romans 4:3
The above is AI generated summary based on the writers below.
What the commentators say
The passages the answer is drawn from, the most direct first, with the words that bear on the question marked.
A believer is generally supposed to be one who has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation; one, in fact, who is in the enjoyment of the forgiveness of sins, and is on the ground of redemption. And so far this is true; but if we go no further we lose sight of what is his characteristic, as expressed indeed in the word believer; viz., faith. A believer therefore is one who walks by faith, who lives by faith, so that faith marks the whole of his existence.
πιστεύω, 'to believe,' from πίστις, 'faith,' Acts 5:14: "Believers were the more added to the Lord." The same Greek word is constantly used for those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to the saving of their souls, as in John 3:15-18.
πιστός, 'trusting, trusty,' also from πίστις, 'faith,' 1 Tim. 4:12; "be thou an example of the believers" The same word is used for "What part hath he that believeth with an infidel, or unbeliever?" 2 Cor. 6:15. 'Believers' are a class of persons, who, through the mercy of God, have faith in Christ as the Son of God, and in His atoning work on the cross. See FAITH.
Have you known, dear reader, what it is to receive this great salvation? Have you entered in by the door? Do you know what it is to find yourself in God's presence, through the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ? A believer is one who has accepted Christ for his Saviour, who has entered in through the door. A person may know that Christ is the door, and yet have never entered in. This is the difference between knowledge and faith. Faith takes Christ simply at His word, and enters in. "By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved." This is the testimony of Jesus. Is there any room for doubt or fear, when you know that you have entered in by Christ? Surely He delights to save. He casts out none that come to Him. Resting on His word, we have perfect peace; we find ourselves at rest in God's presence.
But here lies the whole secret. There is all the difference between believing about a Person and believing on a Person. Christians believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. They believe on Him “to the saving of the soul.” They know Him as a personal Saviour. They are cleansed by His blood. They confess Him as Lord. They are sealed by His Spirit. They are happy in His love.
James. With your permission, John, before I state my difficulties, may it not be well to see first if we are agreed as to who are meant in scripture by believers? The words of the Lord Jesus you often quote to me, “Verily, verily, I say to you, he that hears my word, and believes on him that sent me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation” — do not these words teach that a believer is born again — Hath everlasting life? That he has not merely assented with his mind: but receives the words of Christ into his heart, believing God who sent Him.
These few brief hints as to faith in general may be useful to some. We will now look at the particular question before us, namely, "What is believing in Christ?" Were we to give a direct answer to this question, we should say, To believe in Christ, is to look to Him, the Saviour-God, as the one object of the heart's confidence and affection. He may be comparatively little known to the believer, and the expression of faith in Him may be very feeble, and sometimes assailed with doubts and fears; nevertheless he who has been taught of God to know Christ, once dead and risen for him, as the one object of his faith, will cling confidingly and affectionately to Him, notwithstanding these things.
Christ believed. "They believed on His name." Here was their beginning as God's children; this was their spiritual birthday. Thenceforth the life eternal was theirs. Once the children of wrath, even as others, believers on His name they became children of God. The children of God have the life of God. Let us reiterate that this is heart-belief. "If thou shalt believe in thine heart on the Lord Jesus Christ," says the scripture. Intellectualism, or education into a respectful adhesion to a creed, is not heart-belief. To believe on His name is to accept Himself. His name carries with it all that He is; accepting Him, He and all that He is, is ours. Believing on Him, we are saved from our sins, otherwise we are dead in sins.
This may be called saving faith. It is confidence in God founded on His word; it is believing in a person, as Abraham believed God. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." John 3:36. There is no virtue or merit in the faith itself; but it links the soul with the infinite God. Faith is indeed the gift of God. Eph. 2:8. Salvation is on the principle of faith in contrast to works under the law. Rom. 10:9. But true faith is manifested by good works. If a man says he has faith, it is reasonable to say to him, "Show me thy faith" by thy works. James 2:14-26. Otherwise, if the faith does not manifest itself, it is described as 'dead,' and is altogether different from real, active belief. A mental assent to what is stated, as a mere matter of history, is not faith. A natural man can believe such things: "the devils also believe and tremble," but true faith gives joy and peace.
(Vv. 19, 20). The Jew believed that God is one. This is right; the devils also believe this and their belief makes them tremble, but it does not put them in relationship with God. So a man may believe what is true as to God, and yet have no faith in God. Faith is the outcome of a new nature that trusts in God and proves its existence by its works. The man then that says he has faith and yet is “without works” is a vain man and his faith merely a dead profession. Such is the condition of the vast profession of Christendom in which truths are assented to and “works” are done, but without the faith that brings the soul into personal touch with Christ.
It is not question of the amount of your faith, but of the trustworthiness of the person you repose your confidence in. One man takes hold of Christ, as it were, with a drowning man's grip. Another but touches the hem of His garment; but the sinner who does the former is not a bit safer than the one who does the latter. They have both made the same discovery, viz., that while all of self is totally untrustworthy, they may safely confide in Christ, calmly rely on His Word, and confidently rest in the eternal efficacy of His finished work. That is what is meant by believing on Him. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me HATH everlasting life" (John 6:47).
Verses
- John 3:16For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him may not perish, but have life eternal.
- John 1:12but as many as received him, to them gave he [the] right to be children of God, to those that believe on his name;
- Romans 10:9–109that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shalt believe in thine heart that God has raised him from among [the] dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with [the] heart is believed to righteousness; and with [the] mouth confession made to salvation.
- John 3:36He that believes on the Son has life eternal, and he that is not subject to the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides upon him.
- Acts 16:31And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved, thou and thy house.
- Ephesians 2:8–98For ye are saved by grace, through faith; and this not of yourselves; it is God's gift 9not on the principle of works, that no one might boast.