A very important question that those who read the Bible must ask of the text is as follows:
“Did Peter, James, John, or Jude preach or teach that a person had to believe in Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection in order for that person to get saved, justified in the sight of God?”
This is a question that too many who profess the name of Christ assume an answer to or gloss over completely.
Within what is commonly referred to as the New Testament (see Hebrews 9:15-17), Peter, James, John, and Jude did not preach or teach that a person had to believe specifically in Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection in order to be saved, justified before God. Their recorded teachings and writings emphasize different (though related) elements of faith in Jesus the Christ, such as believing that He is the Messiah/Christ and Son of God, repenting, and performing certain works, such as being water baptized, in order to demonstrate one’s faith. These four writers within the New Testament proclaim aspects of Jesus’ death and resurrection as facts or proofs, but they do not present “belief in the death, burial, and resurrection” as the explicit content or requirement for salvation/justification.
The apostle Paul stands as the only apostle within the Bible that states a specific message, the content to that message, as being belief in Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection for salvation:
Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
1 Cor 15:1-4
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
1 Thes 4:14
But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.
Rom 4:24-25
It is imperative for the student of the Bible to take these three passages above and to compare them against the writings of Peter, James, John, and Jude, while attempting to identify where it is within the writings of these four Hebrew authors that we find corresponding instruction for their audience to place their faith/trust in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for salvation.
Since that cannot be accomplished, the natural question becomes, “what did these four Hebrew authors within the New Testament teach as being their audience’s saving message?” The following is a brief breakdown of what each Hebrew writer, found after the apostle Paul’s 13 epistles, has to say about how it is that a person gets saved.
Peter
Within his Acts sermons (e.g., Acts 2:14-40 at Pentecost; Acts 3:12-26; Acts 10:34-43), Peter proclaims Jesus’ crucifixion (“whom ye have crucified”) and resurrection (“God hath raised him up”) as evidence that Jesus is “both Lord and Christ.” He calls people to repent and to be baptized in Jesus’ name for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38; 3:19) and to “believe on him” for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 10:43). Peter’s emphasis is that Jesus is the Christ, the prophesied Messiah to the nation Israel.
Peter links hope and new birth to the resurrection (1 Peter 1:3: “begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”), but never states that one must believe in the death, burial, and resurrection as the saving message.
Peter’s emphasis is on repentance, faith in Jesus as Messiah, and baptism (Acts 2:38), not a specific belief in the three components of the gospel of the grace of God (Acts 20:24), as the apostle Paul defines it.
James
The book of James, written to the twelve tribes of Israel scattered abroad (James 1:1), focuses upon practical faith, trials, and works. It assumes readers know Jesus as “the Lord Jesus Christ” (James 1:1; 2:1) and discusses justification by works alongside faith (James 2:14-26: “a man is justified by works, and not by faith only”). This is completely counter to the grace teachings of the apostle Paul (Eph 2:8-9; Titus 3:5; Gal 2:16), where works have nothing to add in one’s salvation.
There is no mention whatsoever of Jesus’ death, burial, or resurrection in connection with salvation or justification within James’ epistle. James does not teach or require belief in these three events for being saved or declared righteous.
John
In the Gospel of John (which he authored), salvation comes through believing in Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God (John 3:16; 20:31: “that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name”). John records Jesus’ death and resurrection in detail (John 19-20) and ties resurrection to belief (e.g., John 11:25: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me…”), but the required belief is in Jesus Himself, not explicitly in the facts of death, burial, and resurrection as a formula for justification.
In his epistles (1-3 John), John stresses believing Jesus is the Son of God who came in the flesh (1 John 4:2-3; 5:1, 5, 10-13) and that His blood cleanses from sin (1 John 1:7; 2:2). Again, there are no teachings within the apostle John’s writings that state one must believe the death, burial, and resurrection for their salvation.
Jude
Jude’s short letter urges believers to “contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 1:3) and warns against false teachers who “deny the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 1:4). It mentions “the common salvation” and Jesus as Lord but contains no reference at all to His death, burial, resurrection, or any requirement to believe in those truths for justification/salvation. The focus within Jude’s epistle is on contending against apostasy and for the Little Flock (Lk 12:32) to live faithfully during Daniel’s 70th Week, the seven-year Tribulation period.
Conclusion
These four Hebrew writers operated in the context of the “gospel of the kingdom” proclaimed during and right after Jesus’ earthly ministry. They are centered on Jesus as the promised Messiah/King, repentance, and preparation for the prophesied Kingdom (e.g., Matthew 4:17; Acts 2-3). The apostle Paul later received and emphasized the “gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24), with its explicit focus on faith in Christ’s finished work (death for sins, burial, resurrection for our justification) as the means of salvation apart from works or the Law (Rom 3-5; Gal 1-2; Eph 2:8-9). Peter, James, John, and Jude never articulate the precise Pauline “formula” as the message for being saved/justified.
“Did Peter, James, John, or Jude preach or teach that a person had to believe in Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection in order for that person to get saved, justified in the sight of God?”
The answer from Scripture is “no.”