Believe God or Believe in God?

By Michael Griego on February 20, 2026 • ( 0 )

There’s a very subtle distinction in how we think about spiritual matters. Regardless of how we appear in social circles (“I’m a spiritual person” or “I believe in God”), do you actually believe God? ♦

It’s one thing to be a Christian. It’s another thing to really believe it all. Think about it. It’s easy to go along with the crowd and casually come off as “I’m spiritual but not religious” or say any of the common variations of Christian positioning that satisfies cultural acceptance levels:

“I believe in a higher power.”
“I believe all things happen for a reason.”
“I have faith in God.”
“I believe in God.”
“I believe in the big guy in the sky.”

The real question is whether one’s belief goes beyond intellectual assent; that is, do you really believe God?

Not do you believe in God, but do you believe God?

Most Believe that God Exists

The belief in God is actually easy, and common. Certainly, Christians believe it. Ancient man throughout human civilizations all believed in the existence of God. Here’s an interesting point: archeologists and people who study ancient cultures have never found a naturally atheistic society.1

The Bible defines this God, the Creator of all things:

“For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God? He arms me with strength and makes my way perfect” (2 Samuel 22:32-34).
“Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (Psalm 90:2).
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 40:28).
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” (Revelation 1:8).

In the New Testament, Paul describes those who would deny or turn away from God as fools:

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 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 people are without excuse.

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools… (Romans 1:18-22)

So, if belief in God is established, what’s the problem?

The Problem is Believing God

Again, there is a distinction between believing in God and believing God. And herein lies the struggle. Believing God is what faith is.

Unrestricted faith in Jesus Christ, the human incarnation of God in flesh. This is not a small leap for many, but an amazingly simple one, nonetheless.

So, one merely believes or receives, through faith, the free gift that God bestows to all of mankind: Christ as the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of mankind. His death satisfies the perfect standards of Holy God. It applied in Christ’s time after the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus (circa AD 33) for all Jews and Gentiles across the world then.

And it applies to all mankind and every culture today around the world.

Through this belief/faith, we are reconciled or redeemed to God. Apart from this faith, we stay separated from our Holy Creator. But with this childlike faith, receiving God’s gracious gift, we are forever saved and now restored to God, with faith credited as righteousness. (Romans 4:3)

And that’s actually what makes it so hard. It seems ridiculously too easy.

But it’s very serious and real.

This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:22-26)

But it is interesting how people confuse belief in God (the Higher Power) with the receiving in faith the gift of Jesus.

But Don’t I Have to Be Good Too?

And this is the other confusing point for many people. They couple Christian belief in God with good Christian behavior. It’s actually a double miss. As if one has to earn their merit with God by their good deeds.

God is not impressed with our good works, no matter how hard we try.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved…

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. (Ephesians 2:4-5, 8-9)

And here’s a final note to absorb here that may rock your current thinking: it’s not even about the Ten Commandments.2 Common thinking is that this is God’s Do’s and Don’t list; that if we try to adhere to the Ten Commandments then we’ll be scoring some points with God to our credit.

Not true.

Note how God introduces the Ten Commandments in Exodus 1:1:

And God spoke all these words: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

He then lays them all out. He does not say, Do this or die. The context of the presentation of the Ten Commandments by Moses to the people of Israel is that God is declaring that He is their God and that He saved them from bondage in Egypt.

And now, here is the way God’s people, or any people, should live, in a civilized society that honors its Creator and each other.

Believe it.

Do you merely believe in God, or do you honestly believe God as revealed in the Bible?
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For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” – Romans 1:16-17

1 Is There Such a Thing as a Naturally Atheistic Society? by Tom Dallis, in Tom’s Theology Blog, April 7, 2025, Is There Such a Thing as a Naturally Atheistic Society?

2 Exodus 20:1-17