“[The Jailer asked Paul and Silas], ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’ They replied, ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved -- you and your household.” Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house.” (Acts 16:30-32 NIV)
Notice that there are three parts to this key phrase in this passage: “Believe in the Lord Jesus.” First we must “believe.” We have an intuitive sense of what the word “believe” means: to assert that something is true. Certainly “believe” has this meaning in this passage. However, what the Bible means by belief goes beyond cognitive affirmation. Believe also means “to put one’s trust in something or someone.” Because you hold certain facts to be true, you act on them. For example, you say you can believe that an airplane can carry you from Detroit to Los Angeles. But this is not belief in the full biblical sense until you get on the plane and trust your life to it.
Second, the passage calls upon us to believe in something quite specific. Belief as an end in itself is not being commended. We must believe in “the Lord Jesus.” We are called to believe one main thing: that the Lord Jesus, by His death, made it possible for us to be saved from our sin.
-- Richard Peace in “Learning to Love God”
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