What doctrines must an individual believe in order to be saved?

They must believe that Jesus is God's Son and God raised him from the dead. Anyone who calls upon the name of the LORD shall be saved. You are calling because you are a sinner in need of a Saviour. Basically, you must believe Jesus and what he said. Then onjce you are saved, you can read the Bible to learn more about exactly what it is you believe. This is assuming you believe what the Bible actually means (as opposed to Mormons, J.W., ect...)

 

Acts 2 is very specific. A person must repent and baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and that person will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Baptism here doesn't mean we need to be immersed in water in order to be saved, it means we must be spiritually cleansed to be saved. Spiritual cleansing comes from the realization that we are unable to pay the price of our transgressions; from realizing that only Jesus' sacrifice can pay that price; and that by accepting that Jesus' gift which, through the Holy Spirit, the Father gives us freely and without condition, we are guaranteed eternal life with the Lord after our physical deaths.

All other dictrines besides these are, for the most part, not issues pertaining to salvation per se.

 

This would be a good place to start:

1Cr 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;


1Cr 15:2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.


1Cr 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;


1Cr 15:4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:


1Cr 15:5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:


1Cr 15:6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.


1Cr 15:7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.


1Cr 15:8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

 

It's not a matter of doctrines a person must believe. It is a matter of a PERSON the person must believe in.

Belief in a doctrine does not save. Belief (putting one's life trust in) in Jesus saves.

 

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him fro the dead, thou shalt be saved" (Romans 10:9)

That's it! But, a caveat: When one is truly saved, there are changes that take place because that person is a child of God. Fruit bearing of course comes to mind. But also, by the way I read the Scriptures, a child of God will be led to truth, and this is where sound doctrine comes in. He/she will "hear" the voice of Jesus in the Scripture, and, perhaps, Godly teachers and writers as well. They will not "hear" the voices of others (comandments of men, the words of seducing spirits and things taught by demons) The Lord said HIS sheep WILL NOT follow a stranger.
If they do, they are not (and never were) His sheep.

 

Amen, Helen!

At age 4 I knew no doctrine, but the Holy Spirit showed me the fact of my sinfulness and my mother taught me the need of Jesus as my Savior, so I believed in Him and was saved.

We have a 27-year-old "Downs" girl named Ai ("Love") in our church. She doesn't even know the meaning of the word doctrine and gets things all mixed up sometimes, but she loves Jesus!

 

Does not a person need to know about depravity? After all, if he does not know about sin what is he being saved from?

Does a person not need to know about faith? After all, what is he trusting in?

I am not saying a person needs to know all the theological jargon and verses, but, i think these two at least are essential for a person to understand about sin and a Saviour.

 

Okay, good point, Mike. I had to know my own depravity and the need of a Savior to cleanse it. As for faith, though, I'm not sure you have to know faith doctrinally to be saved, do you?

 

The word 'depravity' translates into "I need help. I'm a mess." A drowning man does not need to know how to spell the word 'drown' to know he is in serious trouble!

And faith? Believing, biblically, IS faith. And all faith must have an object (one cannot have faith in faith!). So if one believes in Jesus, one has faith in Jesus.

If one knows one is a mess and needs help and throws the mess of himself at Jesus, Jesus will not drop the person. He's a good catcher!

He needs only the faith of a grain of mustard seed and the entire mountain of his impossible life without Christ will be moved aside and the person will be given a new life in Christ.

That is what Christ accomplished for us. While we here on BB argue this and that about doctrines, the drowning man knows only to reach out and grab the buoy that was thrown to him.

A dying sinner needs to know only two things: he is a mess and Jesus saves.

 

As for what doctrines would, shall we gently say, point to a person's lack of salvation, I give the following candidates.

(1) False doctrine of Christ: "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds" (2 John 9-11).

(2) False Gospel: "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Gal. 1:8)

(3) Adding or taking from Scripture: "For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book" (Rev. 22:18-19; See also Deut. 4:2, 12:2 & Prov. 30:6).

Some will dispute #3, saying it applies only to Revelation, but check out the other references before you decide.

 

Hiya Helen! Hey, we actually agree on this one!

 

Helen, you and I are in agreement, I think. I said the person does not need to know all the theology about sin to know his sin is the reason why he is drowning. The devil believes in God but he surely does not have saving faith. I really do think these are things that must impact a sinner's heart in order for him to have saving faith.

 

Well said, Helen. There are several people on this board who got saved before they even cracked a bible open. Does that mean they weren't saved just because they didn't have knowlege of doctrine? Of course not! Your comment above is absolutely correct!!

 

I once had a class in Bible college in which the teacher presented the 17 steps to salvation. Seriously. I refused to memorize such drivel for the sake of a grade, so I withdrew from the class. The rest of the class was equally appalling.

 

How about:

Believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead.

And:

Confess with your mouth that "Jesus is Lord."

And:

Call upon the name of the LORD.

Doctrines to believe:

There is a God.
Jesus us Lord.
Jesus died for our sins.
We must confess him as Lord and submit to him.
This is demonstrated in repentance as we call on him.

How many doctrines is that?

 

As regards this question perhaps we should consider the thief on the cross who said, "Lord remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom". And ask ourselves was this man saved? What doctrines did this man believe? Does not the answer to this question come clear?