Christians make the Gospel of Jesus Christ both too easy and too difficult.  Too difficult because we often cling to a doctrine that says we can lose our salvation, our eternal life with God.  Too easy because we often teach that one must simply believe that Jesus died for our sins and ask him into our hearts in order to be saved.  The Bible teaches neither one.  Let’s consider some classic verses from John 3 to show what it means to come into a “saved” relationship to Jesus.

The King James Version says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”  (John 3:16-18 KJV)

In the Numeric Bible these verses read, “For :God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten :Son, that whosoever believeth unto him perish not, but have eternal life. 17 For :God sent not the Son into the world to judge the world; but that the world be saved through him. 18 Who believeth unto him is not judged: who believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed unto the name of the only begotten Son of :God.

The word translated “unto” in the Numeric Bible really struck me, so I looked it up in Strong’s Concordance and found that this is the Greek word eis and means, “a primary preposition; to or into (indicating the point reached or entered), of place, time, or (figuratively) purpose (result, etc.)…”

Most translations say, “whoever believes in or on him” which makes us think that we simply have to say “I believe in Jesus” to join the club.  But, the word unto used in the Numeric Bible seems to bear the weight of what the Holy Spirit means to say here.  This word carries the idea that he who believes unto or into Jesus Christ as the goal of perfection, as the point one must reach in his quest for eternal life shall indeed receive everlasting life and will not be condemned as a sinner.  We believe unto Jesus in the sense that He Himself is the place, time, purpose, and result of our quest for all truth.  When we see faith in Christ this way we begin to see it in a more all-encompassing way.  Now we begin to speak about faith unto Christ.  He is our all-in-all.  He is both the goal of our pursuit and result of our pursuit, i.e., that we shall become like him.  “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3 KJV)

Yes, he who believes unto him is not judged, for he shall be pure as Jesus himself is pure.