Believe

Disclaimer: if you are looking for an intellectually satisfying answer to the question of salvation, you will most likely be disappointed.

I recently chose to write a paper on one of the most debated issues in theology: soteriology (the study of salvation). As I began writing the paper I quickly realized how little I actually know. I knew the biblical references and understood Paul’s “saved by grace” theology, but there was still the question of what that looks like practically. Is it completely intellectual? Is it through the way we live? I was left with many questions that had unsatisfying answers. I was in my second year of a bachelor’s degree that majors in biblical studies and I could not answer this question with complete confidence.

I began asking myself if I really wanted to know the eternal fate of every living thing. It seemed a bit judgemental for me to claim that I know exactly what needs to be done for you to inherit eternal life and if you have not done what I believe you need to do, you are doomed to hell. But isn’t that a central message of Christianity? Isn’t the answer to the question of salvation the one answer that every Christian carries inherently and lives to provide an answer to? Here I was: stuck, only able to borrow the phrase “that if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

For many of us, that settles it. As long as I have this intellectual agreement with God, I am saved. If I think the right things, agree with the right ideas, work to perfect my theology, and avoid evil, I will receive divine forgiveness. This, however, begs an answer to the question of people with disabilities who are incapable of this process, or children that die before they are capable of understanding this agreement. The ultimate question that ran through my mind was: “can you be saved without knowing, understanding, or even intellectually affirming Jesus’ death and resurrection?”

Biblically, it is fair to say that God is much less concerned with the belief of the mind than He is with the belief of the heart. As Romans 10:10 goes on to say “it is with your heart that you believe and are justified.” So, what is this belief of the heart?

James Allen has an amazing excerpt from his book Above Life’s Turmoil about the belief of the heart that has helped me tremendously:

“It has been said that a man’s whole life and character is the outcome of his belief, and also that his belief has nothing whatever to do with his life. Both statements are true. The confusion and contradiction of these two statements are only apparent, and are quickly dispelled when it is remembered that there are two entirely distinct kinds of beliefs, namely, Head-belief and Heart-belief.”

Head, or intellectual belief, is not fundamental and causative, but it is superficial and consequent, and that it has no power in the moulding of a man’s character, the most superficial observer may easily see. Take, for instance, half a dozen men from any creed. They not only hold the same theological belief, but confess the same articles of faith in every particular, and yet their characters are vastly different. One will be just as noble as another is ignoble; one will be mild and gentle, another coarse and irascible; one will be honest, another dishonest; one will indulge certain habits which another will rigidly abjure, and so on, plainly indicating that theological belief is not an influential factor in a man’s life.

A man’s theological belief is merely his intellectual opinion or view of the universe. God, The Bible, etc., and behind and underneath this head-belief there lies, deeply rooted in his innermost being, the hidden, silent, secret belief of his heart, and it is this belief which moulds and makes his whole life. It is this which makes those six men who, whilst holding the same theology, are yet so vastly at variance in their deeds – they differ in the vital belief of the heart.”

WHAT, THEN, IS THIS HEART-BELIEF?

It is that which a man loves and clings to and fosters in his soul; for he thus loves and clings to and fosters in his heart, because he believes in them, and believing in them and loving them, he practises them; thus is his life the effect of his belief, but it has no relation to the particular creed which comprises his intellectual belief. One man clings to impure and immoral things because he believes in them; another does not cling to them because he has ceased to believe in them. A man cannot cling to anything unless he believes in it; belief always precedes action, therefore a man’s deeds and life are the fruits of his belief.

The Priest and the Levite who passed by the injured and helpless man, held, no doubt, very strongly to the theological doctrines of their fathers- that was their intellectual belief,- but in their hearts they did not believe in mercy, and so lived and acted accordingly. The good Samaritan may or may not have had any theological beliefs nor was it necessary that he should have; but in his heart he believed in mercy, and acted accordingly.

Strictly speaking, there are only two beliefs which vitally affect the life, and they are, belief in good and belief in evil.

He who believes in all those things that are good, will love them, and live in them; he who believes in those things that are impure and selfish, will love them, and cling to them. The tree is known by its fruits.

A man’s beliefs about God, Jesus, and the Bible are one thing; his life, as bound up in his actions, is another; therefore a man’s theological belief is of no consequence; but the thoughts which he harbours, his attitude of mind towards others, and his actions, these, and these only, determine and demonstrate whether the belief of a man’s heart is fixed in the false or true.

This excerpt is one of the most beautiful explanations of a most deeply rooted biblical concept. We can never know the fate of all living things, perhaps not even our own. It is not our place. Do not let us confuse our intellectual agreements with the belief of the heart. I am tired of looking for satisfying answers that resolve my curiosity and leave me in a state of blissful ignorance to what is truly important.