How should certain phrases found throughout the Bible which differently express the idea of "believing" be understood (i.e. those which seem to imply the same meaning as "believing in Christ" yet do not use the preposition or list objects of belief other than "Christ the person" as that is being understood by most in this thread)? For example:

"And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness." Here Abraham is not said to believe "in" something in the way the term is being used here. He is believing the LORD, in other words, he believed in what the Lord said. He believed that God's promise was true.

Mark 1:15 says: "'The time has come,' he said. 'The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!'"

The good news is not a "person in whom" one believes. It is a set of propositions describing reality.

Luke 1:45 says: "Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

John 2:22 says: "After he was raised from the dead, his disciples recalled what he had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken."

Several verses talk about believing "in his name."

John 5:47 says: "But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?"

A verse similar to the one which Rev. Winzer has quoted, concerning dying in one's sins, says: "I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins." Here Christ says that one will die in his sins for not believing propositions about Christ.

John 12:38, quoting from Isaiah equates believing the message with believing in a person: "This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah the prophet: 'Lord, who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?'"

In John 14:10, Jesus questions the faith of His disciples by asking them whether they believe certain propositions: "Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work."

In the high priestly prayer (here John 17:8), Jesus talks about his people being characterized as having accepted His words and having believed certain things about Christ: "For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me."

In these verses there doesn't seem to be a difference between believing "in Christ" and believing the message, words, propositions, etc.

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DAVIDIVS DOCTVS VTRIVSQVE LINGVAE
Husband of Emilia
Member: First Reformed Presbyterian Church of Durham (RPCNA) - Durham, NC
Currently in the process of transferring membership to an as-yet-undecided church in Chapel Hill
Student: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, German Literature and Classics