A recent national survey by Barna investigated the main political and spiritual attributes of the five dominant faith segments in America today, and how they differ from one another in foundational beliefs and perspectives. The survey intended to demonstrate that “core religious beliefs and practices are among the primary elements that influence people’s political activities and beliefs” (“How We Got Here: Spiritual and Political Profiles of America”). What caught my attention, however, was not the correlation between faith and politics, but rather the divergence between beliefs among what many consider to be one faith group: Christians.
According to Barna’s poll, 71% of Americans profess the name of “Christian” when describing their faith. But among this swath of people who claim to follow Christ, the foundational beliefs and core viewpoints vary dramatically. The largest group, making up 42% of the population, fall into the category of notional Christians. That word notional means “existing only in theory or as a suggestion or idea.” For these Christians, their faith is purely speculative; it is unsubstantiated by action or active belief.
About half of notional Christians believe in absolute moral truth and have an orthodox (conforming to what is generally or traditionally accepted as right or true) view of God. Only 24% of notional Christians believe the Bible is accurate in all of the principles it teaches. Conversely, 68% believe Jesus was not sinless, but sinned during his time on earth. Appropriately, less than one out of every ten believes staunchly in salvation by grace alone. For the notional, salvation is based on earning God’s favor through good works and personal virtue.
The next largest segment (23%) is non-evangelical born again Christians. This group is more conservative in its belief of absolute moral truth (70%) and their views of God (89%). However, still only 55% believe the Bible to be accurate in its teachings, and 46% believe Jesus was not sinless. Fewer than one-third of born again Christians feel they have a responsibility to share their religious beliefs with non-believers.
The last cross-section in America’s percentage of “Christians” are labeled evangelicals, factoring in at 6%. (The name evangelical means “of or according to the teaching of the gospel or the Christian religion.”) The majority of evangelical Christians believe in absolute moral truth (86%), and all evangelicals polled share an orthodox view of God (100%), a responsibility to share their faith (100%), and a belief in the inerrancy of Scripture (100%). Evangelicals also universally reject the idea that Christ sinned during his time on earth (0%).
"Dead hearts do not give life, and dead faith does not save."
Claiming faith in God without that faith affecting visible change in your life and your beliefs is like having a heart, but no pulse — what good is it? Dead hearts do not give life, and dead faith does not save. James puts it like this: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? …faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:14, 17).
We are in a life or death situation. We must ask ourselves some tough questions: Is my faith dead, or alive? Will my faith save me? What does saving faith look like? How does true belief in God translate into my everyday life? If we put a finger to the pulse of our faith, will we find it beating strong?
Even Demons Believe
If Barna were to conduct a poll of the population of fallen angels, 100% of them would be found to believe in God. Scripture shows us that demons objectively know that Christ is the Son of God. Listen to the Gadarene demoniac’s response to Jesus: “When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons… When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, ‘What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me’” (Luke 8:27, 28).
No demon ever failed to recognize Christ for who He was: “And demons also came out of many, crying, ‘You are the Son of God!’” (Luke 4:41). They know God’s Word is truth; they know absolute moral truth exists. They believe God is the all-knowing, all-powerful ruler of the world that He created. So what makes their belief different from saving faith? Or maybe a more important question is, What makes our belief any different from demons’?
"It is not enough to simply believe in God, we must believe Him."
The same issue holds for us: Have we truly submitted our lives to God’s authority? Or do we merely pay Him lip service and continue functioning as our own authority? Who is on the throne of our hearts — self, or the Lord Jesus Christ?
If God is real and His Word is truth, then that reality and that truth ought to inform every single facet of our existence. The litmus test of saving faith is this: We accept God’s authoritative presence in the person of Jesus Christ, and we accept God’s authoritative instruction in the pages of the Bible. It is not enough to simply believe in God. We must believe Him.
A Friend of God
What is the end goal of belief in God? Is it to have better moral values? To find meaning in one’s existence? To go to Heaven? There’s nothing wrong with any of these things, but they are merely byproducts of the ultimate result of saving faith. What true faith accomplishes first and foremost is a right relationship with God.
The Bible tells us God called Abraham, the father of the faith, out of his homeland and away from his father’s house to a country he did not know (Genesis 12:1). God told Abraham his offspring would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens, even though he continued childless (Genesis 15:5). And He made a covenant promise to Abraham that his descendants would possess the land in which he was sojourning (Genesis 15:7–16).
When God said, “Go,” Abraham went. When God spoke, Abraham listened. And when God promised, Abraham believed. Abraham’s faith informed his actions. His belief in God, not just His existence but the words He spoke, led to a life aligned with those beliefs. For Abraham, God was the ultimate authority.
Scripture says, “‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’ — and he was called a friend of God.” (James 2:23). This is the aim of our faith: not merely an intellectual assent to the existence of God, but a divine friendship with the Creator of our souls! A deep trust that enables us to take God at His Word, and act upon His promises.
The Word of God
Abraham didn’t have a Bible, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t believe God’s Word had authority. We, on the other hand, do have Bibles, and yet how often do we take them for granted? We forget the blood shed and bodies burned so we could read God’s Word in our own language. We view with indifference the book that ought to fill us with jaw-dropping awe and humble gratitude.
"There can be no saving faith without the Word of God."
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven…Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it” (Matthew 7:21, 24–27).
There can be no saving faith without the Word of God, for “faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17). This Word was revealed to Abraham through visions, dreams, angels and theophanies (personal encounters with the pre-incarnate Jesus). It is revealed to us through the Scriptures.
Jesus affirmed both the Old and New Testaments as God’s inspired Word in His teachings. With the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Christ showed how the writings of the Old Testament prophesied of Him: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).
And just before His crucifixion, Jesus told the disciples they would continue His teaching by the power and authority of the Holy Spirit: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:12–15).
Every word God inspired is meant to point us to Christ. Every teaching the apostles received from Jesus through the conduit of the Holy Spirit is meant to train us in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16). Righteousness comes by faith, and faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ. The more we hear and believe, the more our faith is strengthened. And the stronger our faith, the deeper our relationship with God.
Saving Faith
Abraham’s life is a wonderful lesson in what true, saving faith looks like. Saving faith comes to terms with God’s self-revelation. God revealed Himself to Abraham and He has revealed Himself to us in the pages of the Bible and in the person of Jesus Christ. Abraham forsook his idol-worshipping and trusted in the one true God. We too must accept the truth of God as He really is, not how we imagine or wish Him to be.
"True, saving faith changes us to our core."
And finally, we see that saving faith determines our destiny. When Abraham chose to believe God and follow Him, God declared Abraham righteous. He brought him out of Ur and led him to the Promised Land. God promised Abraham a multitude of descendants and told him they would possess the land forever.
When we choose to believe God and give our lives to Him, the debt of our sins is cancelled and we are made righteous by the blood of Jesus Christ. God delivers us from the domain of darkness and the power of sin and Satan and gives us eternal life. He bestows upon us the inheritance of the faithful: all of Himself and all of Heaven for all eternity!
True, saving faith takes God at His Word and trusts that He is who He says He is. True, saving faith produces obedience in our lives and changes us to our core. True, saving faith makes us holy, righteous, justified — friends of God.
71% of Americans would say, “I believe in God. I’m a Christian.” But God’s Word prompts deeper investigation when it says, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5). When defining saving faith, let’s push past cultural labels and vacant professions and look at the evidence. Let’s get honest and ask ourselves: Who is on the throne?