Can we be saved without knowing Christ was raised from the dead?

[Steven]

Before you answer, here is a interesting story about when my wife came to Christ.

My wife grew up in Turkey and had a rough family life. Her father was abusive and she longed to know God all of her life. After a very difficult year of abuse when she was 22, she began reading a book with some scripture about Jesus and His love. (When my wife comes home tonight I will ask for the author and name of the book and post it.) She longed for real love and the more she read about His love the more she loved Him. One night she prayed and told Jesus that she would give everything up and live for Him. At this moment she did not know that He died on the cross for our sins, or that He was raised from the dead. Later in life she learned these things and is a devout born again Christian.
I wanted to tell this story because before meeting her, I never thought it was possible to be born again without knowing that Christ died for our sins. Im curious to know what all of you think about this. Thank you.

[Gary]

Well, belief in the ressurection is kind of central to the Christian faith.

[Jael]

While the Holy Spirit can certainly begin drawing an unbeliever and preparing his/her heart and bringing conviction, I do not believe it is possible to be born again without understanding the basics of salvation. The Bible outlines in various places exactly what it is that we believe in order to be saved, and Jesus' death and resurrection are always shown to be the core of our faith:

Rom 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

1Cr 2:2 For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

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:

Many people believe in Jesus, after a fashion, without being born again...they believe He lived...that He was a great man...some even believe that we should pattern our lives after Him. Yet they do not understand or accept that He did in our place, as the penalty for our sins. I believe your wife was actually saved when she understood what Jesus did for us, believed in His death and resurrection and then placed her trust in him for salvation from sin. Praise God He made sure that she learned what she needed to know to come to a saving faith in Him! I believe that God is very merciful, and where there is a heart that is truly seeking Him, He will send one of His servants to bring the truth of the gospel to that person.

[Franklin]

Great question. Let's look at Romans 10. It says to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord. Okay...that's easy.

The next part says to believe in your "heart" that Christ has risen.

Question: How can you believe in your heart? The heart is a blood pump. This must be symbolic. ie. the heart = our soul or inner being.

Therefore, is it possible that confessing with your "mouth" might also be metaphorical? Perhaps confessing with our mouths means a little more than simply saying something and as we all know, saying something doesn't mean it's true.

Perhaps confessing with our mouth is the outward expression of our "heart," i mean our inner being. Perhaps what is in our "heart" will be expressed through our "mouth," I mean through our deeds. Or better yet, what we beleive in our "heart" will overflow out of our "mouth" - not just in what we say, but in what we do.

Therefore, perhaps believing the historical aspect of Christ (that he was born and died and then rose) isn't essential to our own salvation.

I think salvation has been reshaped to fit our own understanding, that it's become a black and white issue.

The point is, our belief in Christ is represented by our fruit. If we have no fruit, our faith is dead. SO the question becomes, if we have the fruit (or the deeds...or if we're sowing from the Spirit), is it possible we are in fact saved? Might it be possible for someone to be a Christian without really knowing the terms and defintions that we use so often?

Romans 1:20 says that "For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities - his eternal power and divine nature - have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, SO THAT MEN ARE WITHOUT EXCUSE."

So if man is without excuse to know about God's eternal power and divine nature just by looking at the creation, it doesn't really matter if someone is born in the deepest, darkest parts of Africa. Simply by looking at creation, man SHOULD know that there is a God (I'm assuming with the Holy Spirit's influence). Thus, if he can know about God just from the creation, it would seem logical to me that a window for the Holy Spirit to operate will be opened. (ie. the knowledge of good and bad - perhaps this is our conscience).

From that point, if we know what's good and what's bad (or evil), we obviously have the capacity to act unselfishly and do good things FOR THE RIGHT REASON. Perhaps this is what is meant by the fruit of the Spirit. (Gal 5:22 love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control).

So the question then becomes, can someone demostrate the "fruit" if they're not a Christian? Better yet, let's say the person from Africa demonstrates these qualities based on knowing there is a God (due to creation) and understands right from wrong and actually lives this belief.

Now, we have a person who acknowledges there is a God (though he doesn't know his formal name, Jesus) and he is living a life conducive to God's word (though he has never read the Good Book). Is this person a Christian? Of course he would deny such a thing as he had no idea what the term means.

Anyway, I think it's an interesting topic.

[Leuretha]

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have eternal life.

I think if she knew even this much she was saved, Jesus says this so that says it all.

[I Believe!!!]

And here's from Christ's own mouth:

John 6:40



For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day.

[carmen]

Those that seek, find. She may not have known it all at the beginning, but she does now and she's saved. God is faithful to keep His word, giving us all the information to find Him, as long as we seek. IMHO, the method isn't important; what's important is that she sought Him, and God provided for her to find the way.

[BHiles]

You are exactly right Carmen. If we act on the measure of faith given God is responsible to get the message to us. My dad was saved in this manner. God is faithful!

[70thWeek]

You are exactly right Carmen. If we act on the measure of faith given God is responsible to get the message to us. My dad was saved in this manner. God is faithful!

You and I agree??? What is going on here? :):

The resurrection is the key to the Christian faith. There is no key without it, but the woman in this thread did was act on what she did know. She knew the name of the Lord and that he was the savior. In time, she learned the rest. I'm sure others have similar stories as well.