These are some of the Bible passages that ground what I’ve been saying about trusting Jesus, salvation, the resurrection, the work of the Holy Spirit and what it means to begin following Jesus.
Bible quotations on this page are from the New International Version (NIV).
Salvation begins with trusting Jesus
“If you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”
In Jesus, God entered our world
“The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”
Everything depends on the resurrection
“If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”
Salvation is received, not earned
“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith… not by works…”
The Holy Spirit helps us recognise our need for God
“When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment…”
Our obedience is a response to God’s love
“We love because he first loved us.”
“If you love me, keep my commands.”
Put together
God came to us in Jesus → Jesus died and was raised → salvation comes through trusting him, not earning it → the Holy Spirit helps us recognise our need for God and continues working in us → following Jesus becomes our response to the love God has already shown us.
If you want to keep digging
Romans 3:21–26 — explains how God can remain just while making forgiveness possible through Jesus.
Romans 5:6–8 — says God demonstrated his love for us while we were still sinners, before we had changed ourselves.
2 Corinthians 5:17 — describes the new life that begins when someone belongs to Christ.
Romans 8:9–14 — describes the Holy Spirit living within and leading those who belong to Jesus.
Luke 9:23–25 — Jesus describes following him as denying ourselves and taking up our cross.
1 John 1:8–9 — shows that Christians still need to recognise and confess sin after their relationship with God has begun.
1 Corinthians 15:20–26 — connects Jesus’ resurrection with our future resurrection and the final defeat of death.