Is There a Difference Between Trusting and Believing in Jesus?

A similar problem arises when the word “trust” is substituted for “believe” in presenting the gospel. Listen carefully, and it often becomes clear that what is meant is something like this: “Trust that Jesus will get you into heaven irrespective of anything you do or don’t do; otherwise you are trusting in your works.” This formula is frequently offered as advice to those who, because of ongoing sinful practices, are doubting their salvation. It is flawed advice on several levels, the most significant being that it severs faith from the works that necessarily accompany genuine faith.

It is also self-contradictory. If one must “trust Jesus to get into heaven,” then trusting is itself something one does. It is therefore impossible to “trust that Jesus will get you into heaven irrespective of anything you do or don’t do.” It is inconsistent to claim that one cannot do anything that contributes to his salvation, while simultaneously requiring him to do something (trust) to be saved.

There is no escaping this. If salvation is “through faith” (Eph. 2:8), then faith is the means by which we receive the benefits of Christ’s work. So, one must rely on both (1) what Jesus has done and (2) one’s own response of faith to what He has done. It is therefore impossible to maintain that “Jesus, and not anything you do, will get you to heaven” in the sense that no response on our part is involved.

This helps explain both the confusion spread by the “trust Jesus” formula and its spiritual danger. Saving faith is reduced to mental assent to a slogan about how salvation works rather than personal, ongoing belief in a divine Person who gives commandments. Anyone who reads the New Testament honestly recognizes that saving faith is not belief in a slogan about the mechanics of salvation, but faith in the Person of Jesus (see Matt. 18:6; John 3:16, 18; 6:29, 35, 40; 7:38; 8:30; 11:25, 48; 12:44, 46; 14:12; 16:9; 17:20; Acts 10:43; 16:31; 19:4; Rom. 4:5; 9:33; 10:11, 14; Gal. 2:16; Phil. 1:29; 1 Tim. 1:16; 1 Pet. 1:8; 2:6).

The apostle John, who refers to believing in Jesus nearly a hundred times in his Gospel, sums it up in some of his closing words:

Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name (John 20:30-31, emphasis added).

John wanted his readers to believe, not in an abstract idea about salvation, but in the identity of Jesus—that He “is the Christ, the Son of God.” Those who continue believing (the Greek verb tense indicates ongoing belief) that Jesus is the Christ and Son of God “have life in His name.” That is saving faith.

Anyone who truly believes that Jesus is the Christ and Son of God will turn from rebellion—what Scripture calls repentance—and begin to live to please Him by obeying His commandments. Such a person will also take seriously everything Jesus said regarding what is required to inherit eternal life and will strive to meet those requirements. How could anyone claim to believe that Jesus is the Son of God while disregarding what He said is necessary to inherit eternal life?

For example, in a sermon filled with commandments, Jesus declared, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter” (Matt. 7:21). Because I believe in Jesus, I believe that statement. Only those who do the will of God will enter the kingdom of heaven. Anyone who doesn’t believe that doesn’t believe in Jesus.

Within that same sermon, Jesus commanded His followers that when they give to the poor, they should do it secretly, for the praise of God rather than men (Matt. 6:2-4). He assumed they would give to the poor. Because I believe in Jesus, I give to the poor and do not announce it publicly. This is, in part, an expression of my faith in Jesus—the faith that saves me.

Jesus also warned in the same sermon that unrepentant adulterers will be cast into hell (Matt. 5:27-30). Because I believe in Jesus, I believe that warning, and for that reason (among others) I avoid adultery. Avoiding adultery is, in part, an expression of my faith in Jesus—the faith that saves me.

For this reason, the relationship between faith and salvation can be expressed this way: genuine faith in Jesus, which necessarily expresses itself in ongoing obedience, is the means by which the benefits of Jesus’ work are received.

The New Testament does not separate works from living faith; it binds them together inseparably. James wrote that faith without works is dead, useless, and cannot save (Jas. 2:14–26). It is impossible to be an unrepentant adulterer while possessing genuine faith in the Lord Jesus. The two are incompatible. That is why Paul warned the Corinthians, Galatians, and Ephesians that no adulterer will inherit God’s kingdom (1 Cor. 6:9–10; Gal. 5:19–21; Eph. 5:5). The reason is that no unbeliever will inherit God’s kingdom. Adulterers are, at their core, unbelievers.

The danger of the formula “trust that Jesus will get you into heaven irrespective of anything you do or don’t do, otherwise you are trusting in your works” should now be clearer. It implies that obedience has nothing to do with ultimate salvation. It does not motivate obedience to Jesus. At its worst, it can even discourage obedience “lest one begins trusting in works.”

By contrast, those who continually demonstrate faith in Jesus by obeying His commandments find their assurance of eternal life strengthened. John wrote an entire epistle on that theme, repeatedly linking assurance of salvation to three realities: belief in Jesus, obedience to His commandments, and love for the brethren:

By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him (1 John 2:3, emphasis added).

The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever (1 John 2:17, emphasis added).

No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother (1 John 3:9-10, emphasis added).

We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him (1 John 3:14-15, emphasis added).

This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him (1 John 3:23-24, emphasis added).

John clearly intended for his readers to examine themselves by their lifestyles. He did not want those who claimed to believe in Jesus yet disregarded His commandments or failed to love the brethren to remain self-deceived.

Those who urge us simply to “trust that Jesus will get you into heaven irrespective of anything you do or don’t do, otherwise you are trusting in your works” are proclaiming a message that stands in direct contradiction, not only to what John taught, but also to what Jesus, Paul, Peter, James, and Jude taught. Believing, obeying, and loving clearly require human decision and action.

While the “Christian” cliché, “Salvation is through Jesus plus nothing,” is endlessly parroted from the pulpits of people-pleasing pastors, the testimony of the New Testament stands: Salvation is “by grace through faith” and, “faith without works is dead” (Eph. 2:8; Jas. 2:17).

And is it true that “there is nothing you can add to the finished work of Christ on the cross”? (Another popular cliché.) No, you can, and you must, add genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved.

And by the way, Jesus’ redemptive work was not finished on the cross. As Paul wrote: “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins” [1 Cor. 15:17]. That is because Jesus’ death paid the penalty for our sins, but it did not cause us to be spiritually resurrected and born of the Spirit so that we could walk in righteousness. All of that required Jesus’ resurrection. Yet an entire theology of “Jesus’ finished work on the cross”—that is never once mentioned in the New Testament—has been built on three words Jesus uttered just before He died.

Salvation is not just about being forgiven. It’s about being forgiven and empowered to live obediently to the Lord Jesus Christ.

For this reason it is healthy to examine ourselves and make an appraisal of our spiritual state by looking at how we are living our lives. As Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test?” (2 Cor. 13:5).

Food for thought!