Accepting Christ

All that is necessary to be a Christian is to accept Christ as ones savior. Nothing else is called for. That's the message that evangelical Christians all over the world preach. Is that really what the Bible teaches? And just what does it mean to accept Christ as ones savior? The fact is most Christians don’t understand what it means to accept Christ. To come to a correct understanding of it, one must understand it in the context of the entire Bible.

Even those who believe that the only thing necessary to being a Christian is accepting Christ as ones savior will admit that the message of the scriptures points to Christ. It is therefore no great leap to assert that accepting Christ means to accept the message of the Bible as a whole. Though some would have us discard the “Old Testament” and read only the “New” it is a fact that the Hebrew scriptures (OT) are the foundation for the Greek scriptures (NT).

 First, in explaining what the Bible is to someone who has never heard of it one could say: It is God’s revelation to mankind. He lets us know who He is, why we are here and what He expects of us. It is His instruction manual for the care and maintenance of mankind. It’s also a historical record of God’s dealing with mankind and, more specifically, Israel. It recorded what happened when mankind obeyed His instructions and what happened when mankind disobeyed His instructions. It records Gods grace in that it shows us a path for His forgiveness for our failures in obeying Him. And, it contains prophetic writings warning of the choices we will make. In short, it is a statement of God’s love for His children. God reveals Himself to us in the scriptures.

Now, back to what it means to accept Christ, first lets us ask these questions: Why would God insist on obedience from the Children of Israel for almost four thousand years, blessing them when they obeyed and punishing them when they disobeyed only to completely change His mind after Christ’s death? Why would He now only require one’s belief in Christ as ones savior with no further obedience? Why wouldn’t He simply do that from the beginning? It would have saved a great number of people from His punishment for disobedience.

And, if all that is required of mankind is to accept Christ as ones personal savior, why isn’t the Bible only a few pages in length stating that? If that were the case, then the Bible need only be the size of a pamphlet like those popular among some evangelicals. If the Bible were only a few pages in length the gospel would be much easier to promote.

The obvious fact is that the Bible is much longer than one page and contains a great deal more than the few scriptures one finds in evangelical tracts promoting things like 'the Roman road'. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. (II Tim 3:16) [NIV] Not just those mentioned in the 'Roman Road'. For those that believe the OT is no longer necessary, bear in mind when the above scripture was penned the only scriptures the early church had were the Hebrew Scriptures.

Coupled with the belief that one need only accept Christ is the belief called "once saved, always saved". Many Christians will tell you that they believe in the Ten Commandments should be obeyed…except for the forth because Christ fulfilled that one! Taken to its logical conclusion, however, the "once saved, always saved" doctrine implicitly means that one need do nothing further. It means that one need not obey any commandment, law or precept in the Bible. That is to say that once someone 'accepts Christ' one need do nothing more as a Christian.

In considering this issue, think for a minute about a football team looking for a new coach. Say the owner hires a new coach for the team. Would anyone for a minute think that all that is necessary for the team start winning is to accept the new coach...then, not do what he directs? That is exactly what many Christians do. “Why call you me Lord, Lord and do not what I say do?”(Luke 6:46)

Every organization has rules. When joining any organization, one agrees to obey the rules of the organization. Simply being born human means there are rules one must obey. The Body of Christ also has rules for its members. A part of what the Bible is, is a compilation of those rules.

The counter argument many Protestants have is that one need not obey any laws or commandments for salvation. Setting aside for a moment what Christ told the rich man who asked him what one must do for eternal life wherein Christ answered “Keep the commandments”. The above argument is correct! Commandment keeping is NOT a salvation issue. This is for our benefit…because it’s impossible for flesh and blood human beings to fully keep the commandments. Salvation is by grace alone. Grace is defined as 'an unearned merit'. Grace, Gods graciousness, lies in giving us a gift that we have not earned.

Keeping Gods law is an issue of loving God. Christ reiterated that in creating two new commandments. The first was to love God; the second was to love one's neighbor. What does it mean to love God? The scriptures tell us plainly: Christ said: "If you love me, keep my commandments". (John 14:15) God’s commandments set the bar for our behavior high so we always have something to strive for. We are to continually strive and grow.

One must not ignore other principles in the scriptures however... Christ killed a fig tree that didn’t bear fruit. Do you think He did that just because He didn't like figs? It was a lesson for us! The parable of the three men who were given talents were ALL expected to increase what they had. All Christians are expected to bear fruit...to grow in grace and knowledge. Faith without works is dead. (James 2:17, 20, 26) To ignore that is to do so at one’s own peril.

The fruits of the spirit are patience, mercy, kindness, gentleness, love etc. If we do not show this kind of growth we may suffer the same fate as the fig tree that Christ touched The way we develop those fruits / attributes is by obeying God!

Let's go back to ancient Israel for a moment. For someone to offer an animal sacrifice meant that they first, accepted the concept of sin as defined by God and then accepted Gods directives to atone with Him. The scriptures clearly define sin as the transgression of Gods law. (I John 3:4) It meant that they accepted the system God had established as the way to approach Him. It meant they accepted Gods authority. To do so was to enter a covenant with God. In accepting Christ as the atonement for ones sins, the way a Christian is called to do, means exactly the same thing!

Many modern Christians will rail against sin but can’t give you an exact definition of it. Many will attempt to define sin by their traditions. Dancing, playing cards, drinking and missing mass have all become sins according to some. In the same way that human traditions have taken the place of God’s commandments to many, what constitutes sin has become a matter of human traditions. Without consciously realizing it, those who have adopted these beliefs deny the authority of the one true God. Only God can determine what is good and what is evil. Only God can determine what sin is. This is a lesson that goes back to Genesis. To accept Christ as ones savior is to accept Gods authority alone.

To accept Christ as our savior is to enter a covenant with God. That’s how God deals with people, through covenants.* A covenant, Brth in Hebrew, is a kind of contract. God says: “I will do this and you must do that”. Action is implied in a Brith. It is not simply to accept a belief.**

All the animal sacrifices represented a type of Christ. They pointed to Christ as the ultimate sacrifice. Each of the five major types of sacrifices pointed to different aspects of Christ's sacrifice.*** All did the same thing in the sense that they impressed upon the offender that the penalty of sin was death. To commit sin was to earn the death penalty. Sin demanded blood. Something had to die to atone for the sin committed. That's how serious sin is in God's eyes. That’s how God teaches us about obedience. Obedience is DOING something…not just believing something.

What the sacrifice accepted did was to erase the penalty of the sin. It did not erase the law that defined the sin. That is to say that if one say committed adultery, one was forgiven of the offense. One was spared the penalty that the sin incurred. One was NOT given the license to commit adultery again. That heresy crept into Christianity over time because the carnal mind is at war with God’s way. The carnal mind hates Gods law.

For God to absolve us from the penalty of sin through Christ's sacrifice...does NOT absolve us from obeying Him. We are still covenant-bound to obey our Creator.

As Christians, the first-fruits of Gods’ harvest of man-kind, we are under the New Covenant now. God’s laws are to be written in our hearts. One can't have the law written in their heart and NOT obey it! Keeping God's law in the letter and in the spirit is what Christ taught us to do. That is ultimately what it means to accept Christ as ones savior...we accept His authority...and DO what He commanded!!

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*The scriptures tell us of a time in the future when He will establish a new covenant with us. God will write His laws in our hearts. For the Christian, the first-fruits of Gods people, that time is now.

 

**See: The Law of the Offerings: The Five Tabernacle Offerings and Their Spiritual Significance by: Andrew Jukes

***As a side note here, to get married before God is to enter a covenant with God. Even most Christians don’t understand this. The marriage covenant is with God…both husbands and wives enter it as a promise to God to treat the other person in the way scriptures outline. To divorce is to break one’s covenant with God. This is why homosexual unions, by whatever name they are called, will never be Holy Matrimony. They are an attempt to enter a covenant with God while completely flouting His commandments…that is NO covenant.

It is worth noting that in both modern and ancient Judaism one could be a good Jew if one did what was required. Some call this ‘orthopraxy’. One could be an atheist and still be a good Jew if one did what was necessary. It wasn’t until the first church that the concept of ‘orthodoxy’, believing the necessary things, became a necessary part of one’s faith.

We should never forget that God revealed His law to us out of His love for us. His laws are for our own good. If one accepts the truth of that assertion then one can’t now claim the law is a burden.