Hymns 311
Scripture Reading:
John 1:12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the authority to become children of God, to those who believe into His name.
Rom. 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
Matt. 28: 19 Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Following the Spirit’s sanctification and man’s repentance is man’s believing, or man’s faith. Genuine faith is always preceded by repentance. In the same manner, genuine repentance is always followed by faith. If a person believes, that proves he has repented; if a person repents, he surely will believe. These two—faith and repentance—are intimately related, and neither can exist without the other.
THE MEANING OF BELIEVING
Receiving
To believe, as taught in the Bible, first means to receive. John 1:12 says, “As many as received Him [the Lord Jesus],…those who believe in His name.” This shows that to believe is to receive. Therefore, only when a person receives can he be counted as having believed. With our heart we must receive Christ into us to be our Savior. This is the genuine believing. Christ is the Word who was in the beginning and who was God Himself (John 1:1). He is also the true light who came into the world to enlighten every man (John 1:9). Now in resurrection He has become the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Therefore, by believing in Him, by receiving Him, we can receive this One, who is the Word, the very God, and the light, into us to be joined to us as one.
Believing into
To believe is not only to receive but also to “believe into” (John 1:12; 3:15-16, 36, lit.). To receive is to receive Christ into us and to allow Him to be mingled with us. On the other hand, to “believe into” is to enter into Christ and be joined to Him. One who genuinely believes in the Lord Jesus is one who has entered into Him and has been joined to Him through faith. Therefore, the Bible says that a saved person is one who is in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17).
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BAPTISM
To believe is to believe into Christ (John 3:16), and to be baptized is to be baptized into Christ. By both faith and baptism we have entered into Christ, having thus put on Christ and become identified with Christ. Baptism practiced in a proper, genuine, and living way puts the believers into the name of the Triune God, the divine name (Matt. 28:19); into Christ, a living person (Gal. 3:27); into the death of Christ, an effective death (Rom. 6:3); and into the Body of Christ, a living organism (1 Cor. 12:13), that the believers may enter into an organic union not only with Christ but also with His Body. Furthermore, baptism brings the believers out of their old state into a new one, terminating their old life and germinating them with the new life of Christ that they may live in the Body of Christ, an organism, by the elements of the Triune God. (The New Testament Recovery Version, Gal. 3:27, footnote 1)
Baptism is not a form or a ritual; it signifies our identification with Christ. Through baptism we are immersed into Christ, taking Him as our realm, that we may be united with Him as one in His death and resurrection. (The New Testament Recovery Version, Rom. 6:3, footnote 1)
When we are baptized into Christ, we are baptized into His death. His death has separated us from the world and the satanic power of darkness and has terminated our natural life, our old nature, our self, our flesh, and even our entire history. (The New Testament Recovery Version, Rom. 6:3, footnote 3)
Further Reading: Messages for Building Up New Believers, ch. 1; The Two Great Mysteries in God’s Economy, ch. 4; Crucial Truths in the Holy Scriptures, vol. 1, ch. 5
