Beyond Core Beliefs of Christianity
Beyond these core beliefs, there are many other items that are, or at least should be, indicative of what Christianity is and what Christianity believes.
Christians believe that
The Bible is the inspired,- “God-breathed” Word of God and that its teaching is the final authority in all matters of faith and practice (2Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter 1:20-21).
Christians believe in - one God that exists in three persons—the Father, the Son (Jesus Christ), and the Holy Spirit.
Christians believe that mankind was created - specifically to have a relationship with God, but sin separates all men from God (Romans 3:23; 5:12). Christianity teaches that Jesus Christ walked this earth, fully God, and yet fully man (Philippians 2:6-11), and died on the cross.
The Christians belief is in His death and resurrection - Christ was buried, He rose again, and now lives at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for the believers forever (Hebrews 7:25). Christianity proclaims that Jesus’ death on the cross was sufficient to completely pay the sin debt owed by all men and this is what restores the broken relationship between God and man (Hebrews 9:11-14; 10:10; Romans 5:8; 6:23).
Christians believe The Old-Testament prophecies - predicting that the Savior would come. “He died for our sins, according to the scriptures; he was buried, and rose from the dead, according to the scriptures, according to the scripture-prophecies, and scripture-types.
Such prophecies as - Psalms 16:10; Isaiah. 53:4-6; Daniel. 9:26, 27; Hosea. 6:2. Such scripture-types as Jonah (Matt. 12:4), as Isaac, who is expressly said by the apostle to have been received from the dead in a figure, Heb. 11:9.
Note - it is a great confirmation of our faith of the gospel to see how it corresponds with ancient types and prophecies.
Christianity teaches - that in order to be saved and be granted entrance into heaven after death, one must place one’s faith entirely in the finished work of Christ on the cross. If we believe that Christ died in our place and paid the price of our own sins, and rose again, then we are saved.
There is nothing that anyone can do to earn salvation.- We cannot be “good enough” to please God on our own, because we are all sinners (Isaiah 53:6; 64:6-7). There is nothing more to be done, because Christ has done all the work! When He was on the cross, Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), meaning that the work of redemption was completed.
It is not a religious system - which requires that a person does or does certain things, Christianity is about believing that Christ died on the cross as payment for our own sins and rose again. Our sin debt is paid and we can have fellowship with God. We can have victory over our sin nature and walk in fellowship and obedience with God. That is true biblical Christianity.
Other religions or deities in the world teach that we must do some sort of good to appease their gods in order to achieve the right to be in God's presence, Christianity is the only religion in which we are not made right before God by our own efforts, sincerity, or works. Instead, we are made right before God by faith in what Christ did on the cross.
In the Gospel of John, Nicodemus asks the question how I can be right with God. Jesus reply to him was “he must be born again” (Read John 3:1-21)
“There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you,
‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Nicodemus answered and said to Him”,
“How can these things be?”
The Holy Scriptures teaches that once a person is "born again" (becomes saved), the Holy Spirit lives in that person and the person is changed:
"Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come," (2 Cor. 5:17).
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