¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

A man was getting ready to walk across Niagra Falls on a wire. He asked the crowd if they believed he coud do it. The crowd said yes they believed. He then asked if they believed he could do it with a person riding on his shoulders. The crowd again said yes they believed. Finally, he asked who would volunteer to be the one he would carry on his shoulders across Niagra Falls. No one volunteered.

You may say that they really didn’t believe. Maybe it depends on what one means by the word believe.

John 3:16 says whoever believes in Jesus will not perish. Yet James 2:19 says the demons in Hell believe, implying that their belief by itself does not save them.

To get the difference in kinds of belief we need to look at the word “believe” in the Greek language. The root word is the same root word (PISTEO) that is translated faith and trust.

In John’s gospel, the writer adds an article after the word belief which changes the meaning. In James, there is no such article.

In John, a translation could be whoever “trusts into, or believes into.” In James it is referring to just a belief as in a recognition of the facts, and not a trusting of those facts.

Just like the folks in the little story at the beginning of this. They believed the basic fact, that it was possible for a man to walk on a wire across a great body of water. Their belief only went so far though, they were not willing to “trust into” or believe to the point that they would rely on it for themselves.

When James refers to demons believing, he is saying that they recognize the facts, but they are not “trusting into” those facts. The type belief John refers to is one that trusts that he is who he said he was, that he did what he said he did, and that he can do what he promised.

So believing then, is more than just agreeing. It is more than going down front at church and saying a few words and even letting them dunk you out in the creek or in the baptismal pool. You can do those things, but if you do not “trust into” Him, you are not saved.

“Trusting into” is trusting that Jesus can walk across Niagra Falls on a wire to the point that you don’t hesitate to let him carry you across as well.

Belief by itself, a recognition of the truth, is not sufficient for salvation. Believing in the sense of absolute trust in Jesus and what He said he would do, is sufficient.