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The Bible teaches about Jesus of Nazareth many things. It teaches that Jesus was born to a virgin. It teaches that he was without sin yet suffered, died, and rose again for us. It also teaches that he is the Messiah, the Lord, the Son of God, the Saviour etc.
My question to the Evangelical Christians is what is the minimum requirement for a sinner as per the Biblical teaching in order to be forgiven and receive eternal life, which form the salvation offered in the name of Jesus of Nazareth?
This question really focuses the mind on what the essential point of saving faith amounts to! It is true that the New Testament has many 'condensed' gospel presentations, but some seem to highlight different points to the others. Consider the famous answer of Paul to the Philippian jailer's urgent question, "What must I do to be saved?" He is told, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ" but no doubt he was told more about that, prior to being baptised that very night (Acts 16:25-34). Note how it was belief that was needed, before any action? But a particular belief about Jesus Christ, as Lord. What are the particulars?
In Acts chapter 10 we learn of what another Gentile, Cornelius, was told by Peter to believe in, for salvation. He started by saying Jesus is Lord of all, "after the baptism which John preached". Peter goes on to speak of Jesus' resurrection on the third day, linked to Jesus being the judge of the living and the dead. He concluded with saying all the prophets witnessed that through Christ's name, whosoever believes in him shall receive remission of sins, at which point the Holy Spirit fell on the household, confirming that all these Gentiles should be baptised.
Previously, Peter had preached to the Jews that the fulfilment of the prophesy (God's Spirit coming on people in the last days) was for those who called on the name of the Lord, that name being the name of Jesus, whom God had raised from the dead, making him Lord and Christ (Acts ch.2 & 4:10-12).
This helps us grasp what Jesus said (before his death and resurrection), about the essential point of belief. It's in Matthew 16, where Jesus asks his disciples who they believed him to be (vss 15-21). It was only Peter who bluntly came straight out with it:
"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" causing Jesus to respond:
"Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonah, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven."
However, almost straightaway, Peter blundered into statements of ignorance about Christ, protesting that his Lord should not be killed (even though Jesus had added that he would be raised again the third day). Jesus sternly rebuked the one he had very recently commended for a divinely revealed insight as to who Jesus was. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said to Peter, who was no longer speaking the things of God.
Fortunately, thereafter Peter learned exactly what Jesus being the Son of God meant, due to Christ's death and resurrection. It was that which enabled him to then speak so powerfully about saving faith that, in one day, some three thousand men were converted.
My answer is that knowing what Jesus said and did won't save anybody. Knowledge about the person of Christ is just a head-trip. Huge numbers of people know a great deal about Jesus (with some erudite scholars teaching the Bible included) but they do not have saving faith as as consequence. Why not? Because they do not believe this Jesus to be the only-begotten Son of God who came to earth to die for repentant sinners, his resurrection proving him to be who he claimed to be, both Son of Man and Son of God (Romans 1:3-6). They will not bend their knees in Jesus' name. They will not acclaim him as both Lord and Saviour, for nobody can do that without the Holy Spirit's enabling. Romans 8:9 and 1 Corinthians 12:3 show how (as with Peter having that revelation of Christ, from the Father) revelation as to who Jesus is has to be gifted to an individual, by the Holy Spirit. He ensures that they then know what they need to know about Christ, so as to believe and have saving faith.
This is supremely shown in Romans chapter 9. First Paul exposes the trap of seeking to establish one's own righteousness (by deeds), for that will prevent a person submitting to God's righteousness:
"Christ is the end of the law, so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes [the righteousness of faith] ...the word of faith we are proclaiming - That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with the heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that to confess and are saved. ...'For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved'."
That is the core, the essence, the bottom line of what a person needs to believe to be saved, and so brought into the family of God. Romans chapter 8 is essential to this, so anyone wanting the full details should read at least all of it and chapter 9.
Paul seems to have answered this question directly in Romans 10:9-10:
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. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.
The word 'Lord' here can also be translated as 'Master'. It is not the divine name. So Paul is saying you must confess to other people that Jesus (Yeshua) is your Lord, your Master. You submit to His authority over you. You must also sincerely believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.
These conditions imply some level of awareness of a few other things:
Simon Peter in his famous sermon of Pentecost, preached in Jerusalem near the Temple Mount, in Acts 2:38-39 exhorted the people to:
“Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
These two passages agree more closely than it may seem at first. To confess Jesus as your Lord/Master is to repent from your former, wicked ways. The justification in your heart that Paul wrote about is a purification (baptism) of your soul; this was a defining characteristic of "John's baptism" that Simon Peter was preaching (see Matthew ch. 3), as distinct from the common baptism that purified the Jew's body only.
Luke writes in Acts that those who responded to Simon Peter's message and were baptized with repentance were "added to their number"; so this was recognized as what we would today call a salvation experience.
Exactly what minimum level of knowledge is required to make a confession of faith sincere is not discussed in scripture. But I can tell you from practical experience, it's not a high bar. This is an exercise in love, not knowledge. There are plenty of people out there who knew only that Jesus is the begotten son of God, that He was brutally killed in our place, and that God raised Him from the dead and He rules an eternal kingdom, and believed in Him. Not even really knowing exactly what that all means at first, the laws, history, prophecies, doctrines, etc. They knew enough to know that they needed Him.
Song of Songs 3:
All night long on my bed
I looked for the one my heart loves;
I looked for him but did not find him.
I will get up now and go about the city,
through its streets and squares;
I will search for the one my heart loves.
So I looked for him but did not find him.
The watchmen found me
as they made their rounds in the city.
“Have you seen the one my heart loves?”
Scarcely had I passed them
when I found the one my heart loves.
I held him and would not let him go
till I had brought him to my mother’s house,
to the room of the one who conceived me.
I'm going to try and make this simple. This is what the Apostle Paul stated at 1 Corinthians 15:1-4. "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also YOU STAND,
Vs2, BY WHICH ALSO YOU ARE SAVED, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. Vs3, For I delivered to you as of first importance WHAT I ALSO RECEIVED, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, Vs4, and that He was buried and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures."
What I just gave you is considered a "Creed." A Creed is a formal statement of Christian beliefs or a set of beliefs or aims which guide someone's actions. The thief on the cross exhibited his faith in Jesus Christ while on the cross. Jesus Himself acknowledge the thief's faith. Jesus also knew the thief had repented when the thief stated to the other thief "we deserve what were getting" and then he says to Jesus, "Remember me when you come in Your kingdom."
Jesus replies, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." (Luke 23:42-43. Notice that the thief did not get water baptized or do anything else. People even get saved on their death bed as well.
The bottom line, You take Jesus at His word because He already knows your heart if your serious or not. 1 John 5:11-13, "And this is the witness/record, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in the Son, he who does not have the Son does not have life. Vs13, "Thes things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, IN ORDER THAT YOU MAY KNOW THAT YOU HAVE ETERNAL LIFE." Again, faith is taking God at His word.
I hesitate to refer to any of this as a minimum requirement.
One must believe that God is true:
He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. - John 3:33
One must agree with God's diagnosis of humanity in general:
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God - Romans 3:23
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. - Romans 3:10-12
One must accept this diagnosis personally:
Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. - Luke 18:10-14
And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. - Luke 5:31-32
One must acknowledge that they cannot work to improve their state before God:
Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. - Romans 3:20
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. - Ephesians 2:1-3
One must recognize God as the only possible means of escaping judgement:
That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: - Ephesians 2:12
And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. - Acts 2:21
One must put all the weight of one's hope for salvation in Jesus:
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. - Acts 4:12
Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. - Romans 3:24-26
In short one must accept that they are justly and inescapably condemned by a Holy God, abandon all thought of making oneself acceptable to God, believe that God has provided a way of reconciliation in his Son Jesus, and accept that fact humbly asking Christ to send the Holy Spirit and thereby reign in one's heart as Lord. One must believe this:
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. And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. - John 3:16-19
It is not a belief that one can undertake without radical, sweeping change in one's life and worldview. It is a second birth. It requires an act of God.
The facts to know are actually very few YET significant, since they are life changing. But to accept the facts with your mind AND to take action based on those facts with your will require grace that only God can give. Once this grace comes, here's what you can observe within you as you do the following in faith with your mind and will:
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS: Realize that you (along with the rest of humanity) are enslaved by the power of sin (John 8:34)
UNDERSTAND THE OFFER: Believe that God, the creator of the universe, loves you and wants to redeem you and to make you whole through His Son Jesus (John 3:16)
DECIDE AND TAKE ACTION: Receive the gift as supreme treasure (Matt 13:44, greater than anything the world offers) and commit your whole being and your whole life to Jesus as your Lord and Savior:
Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name. Amen.
START THE JOURNEY: Get to know more about your new Savior and your new Lord so you can be a grateful disciple (John 12:26, John 8:31-32) in joy as well as in suffering, always knowing and be satisfied that you are precious and beloved in the eyes of God so that you can always pray Psalm 103 from your heart every day.
STAY IN THE JOURNEY UNTIL YOU DIE:
This used to be my original answer, framed more to contrast "believing about" and "believing in", as well as to distinguish justification as a state from the larger salvation process.
"What to believe about Jesus" is very different than "believing in Jesus".
Thus, we need to address what does "believing in Jesus" means, what does "saved" means, and how both are connected to "what to believe" (the intellectual content of what the believer needs to keep in his/her mind):
Discussion:
One way to formulate the answer to your question is to work from the end result: finding ourselves in the saving process. So I can rephrase your question this way:
What is the minimum requirement that our mind needs to know so that our mind can lead and guide our whole being to BE and to REMAIN in the Christian saving process and also for us to increasingly TRUST Jesus who is absolutely instrumental to perform "surgery" in your body and soul?
Various Christian traditions and practices will have their own answers. But they agree that intellectual content is only an aid to salvation, a means to an end. Christianity has more than 2000 year experience leading people to Christ. Church leaders have experience dealing with various heresies whose concepts of God, Jesus, and Salvation are distorted, leading people into the wrong paths of the saving process. That's why although there is no single correct list there is a common thread. An example of the "minimal requirement" is given in the next section.
SUMMARY of the PROCESS: Faith → Assent (mind's agreeing to Intellectual Content above) → Justified before God → Trust (by our whole being) → Sanctification (we increasingly love God) → Finally Saved (when we die).
I realize that I am taking a somewhat unconventional approach in answering the question. I do this for 2 reasons:
"justification by faith alone" does NOT mean "salvation by faith alone" (see Ask John Piper episode 1166 Will We Be Finally 'Saved' by Faith Alone?).
Catholics put heavy emphasis on sacraments as a means of grace, but they will also tell you that faith is a necessary component to make sacraments efficacious.
Of course a lot of important details are left out. The understanding is that the new believer will ADD MORE to this intellectual content by studying the Bible under the guidance of trusted pastor / Christian friend. The following are examples of the immediate things a believer commonly add right away:
Please remember that it's not the precision of the list above that matters. It's how your mind use them to guide you in the saving process. Different churches will give you different list, but the above is what has helped me the most.
You need to repent of your sins and believe that Jesus Christ is Lord and your only Savior from the coming judgment through His perfect work on the cross.
But as others pointed out, reciting a mere statement or a creed won't save anybody. Head knowledge about Jesus Christ doesn't save you either, but intensifies your judgment unless you repent of your sins.
Salvation is far from theoretical head knowledge, it is blessed personal knowledge of the Lord and Savior. There is a huge difference between knowing God personally and knowing about God as theology (mere religion).
Either Christ or Religion
Religion is men's crafted wayS to heaven and they will never make it, but Jesus Christ is the only Way.
Jesus saith unto him, I Am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me. (John 14:6)
But this requires FAITH which is given by God, you cannot simply generate faith by yourself from within yourself, it is God's gift.
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Eph 2:8,9)
Then you may ask, why cannot I give myself this faith to save myself? The answer is that salvation is God's work 100%, there is zero contribution from a sinful, spiritually dead human being. Jesus Christ did the salvation work perfectly and completely.
Salvation [is] of the LORD. (Jonah 2:9b)
Jesus Christ on the cross in the center and the two thieves, one on the right and one on the left is happened to be not only depicting what HISTORICALLY happened but also metaphorically the whole world: Jesus Christ is and has always been and will ever be the center of everything and there are only two groups of people though both of them are thieves yet; one who repent and one who don't repent of their sins (theft of God's glory) but continue to mock Jesus Christ.
Now, here is the challenge: if you say you believe in Jesus Christ and you are saved by His blood it is as good as nothing unless you prove this by test. This test is the way you live your life for Christ. I will support the above with Biblical verses:
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him. (John 14:23)
This means not only talking the talk but walking the walk also (walking with God as Jesus Christ did is the test, was He baptized? How about you?).
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven. (Matt 7:20,21) I advise you to read the whole chapter.
But many get stumbled by the works here, and say works then important to obtain the salvation, the answer is definitely NO. Sinful humans cannot present good works to God unless they are saved and obtain forgiveness of their sins by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. (Heb 9:22)
See how God sees the deeds of sinful humans, filthy as they are:
But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. (Isa 64:6)
Yes, works after salvation are fruits, not roots of salvation. You prove the test positive of salvation by good works after salvation but these works cannot be the cause of salvation or forgiveness. Think of someone dead, can the dead do anything?
Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; (Titus 3:5)
With all this in mind, it forms the basis to understand this verse which has presented some difficulty in understanding:
What [doth it] profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? (Jas 2:14)
Here the kind of works meant are the ones after salvation as a proof of the saving faith. There is a huge difference between someone who makes "good" deeds in order to obtain salvation and someone who makes them as a thankful reply to a great yet freely given grace.
Summary
According to the Bible, there are only two groups of people with regard to salvation (remember the two thieves), one group are really saved by the blood of Jesus Christ and repented (or will) because God's work is perfect, it is a blasphemy to think otherwise, all whom He shed His blood for, had (or will) come to repentance and to know Him personally as the only Savior. They live by faith after salvation and they conform to the image of Jesus Christ and will be with Him for eternity. Conforming to the image of Christ is sanctification by the Holy Spirit and through his Word (Holy Scriptures wondrously preserved and delivered to us unto salvation and sanctification), this can be different from one saint to another. Salvation is God's work and is independent of man, but sanctification is man's responsibility.
The second group had (or will) not repent and they continue to conform to everything except Jesus Christ, they continue to mock Him Who is God blessed forever, these belong to the Antichrist's spirit and body and will receive eternal damnation.
The tests mentioned above prove which group you belong to. I wish you the first one of course.
Update: A poem from a saint of the old who was saved could help to back up all of the above:
This poem "God Who is Rich in Mercy" appeared once in the magazine “Thoughts from The Word of God” in 1912, page 49.
Meet the author of this old poem Percy H. Heward and his treasure of writings here.
It would contradict everything I understand about Jesus if there were a list of minimal requirements for salvation. Love doesn't check boxes.
One of Jesus' key messages was to do away with orthodoxy and receive even the most unlikely people with open arms. Why should that be any different today if He was here? And — isn't He?
Jesus is — positive — surprises, not predictable rules.
OP: what's the minimum requirement for a sinner as per the Biblical teaching in order to be forgiven and receive eternal life, which form the salvation offered in the name of Jesus of Nazareth?
The jailor asked and was answered some 2,000 years ago.
Acts 16:30 And brought them [Paul and Silas] out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
Verse 31 And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.
Simple, yet they didn't stop there for surely the next question from the gentile guard was who is that?
Verse 32 And they spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house.
The word of the Lord refers to God speaking as recorded in the Old Testament. For example, God spoke, that is, foretold, that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem.
And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda, art not the least among the princes of Juda: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel. Michah 5:2 and Mt 2:6
God spoke the Messiah would be born of a virgin.
Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Isa 7:14 and Mt 1:18
God spoke that Messiah would suffer, die, and be resurrected. See Isa 53 and this example.
For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. Psalm 16:10 and Acts 2:27
So, per the Bible, what is the minimum to be forgiven and receive eternal life? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet, grow in grace and the knowledge of Him (2 Peter 3:18, Eph 1:17, Col 1:10).
And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Acts 13:48
The answer to your question depends upon which Gospel you consider to be true and reliably authoritative:
Gospel #1:
Gospel #2:
The apparent Biblical conflicts between these two "gospels result from misleading translations of the Greek text, particularly Rom 10:9 and Act 2:21.
