How to Become a Christian

Most would agree that the question of how to become a Christian is a pretty important one with significant eternal ramifications. And it is a question that has some pretty clear answers in scripture. But most would also agree that the answer to that question has become pretty complicated in today’s religious landscape. With so many religious groups under the umbrella of “Christendom”, there are as many answers to how one becomes a Christian as there are signs denoting different “flavors” of church. This is very unfortunate on several levels. First of all, if the Bible is anything, it is consistent in its teaching so it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that every method and every doctrine we hear about becoming a Christian can’t be correct. In other words if different groups teach different things about the same subject, somebody must be mistaken. There are many freedoms in Christ and different churches are free to exercise choice in many ways. Individuals have the same privilege but things indicated in a direct fashion in scripture must not be tampered with. Secondly, one of the reasons the word “Christian” brings with it such a negative connotation on the world stage is because of its apparent disunity. In John 17:23 Jesus prayed, “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” Our disunity in doctrine among other things becomes a hindrance to evangelism. One group comes along and teaches one thing followed by another group teaching something else leaving the audience saying, “Hey you guys get it together and then we might listen. Why would we want to become Christian when you can’t even agree on how it happens?” All of us agree that the only way to unity in doctrine is the Word. But the fact is that most of the Christian groups use the same Bible and are still not on the same page about certain tenants of salvation among other things. How could this be? There is more to it than using the same Bible. At least a part of the answer is learning to use the same Bible in the same way. A unified approach has a much better chance of producing a unified conclusion. One highly significant scripture in this vein is 2 Timothy 2:15 when its last phrase says, “handling correctly the word of truth”. Some translations render this phrase rightly dividing the word of truth. That indicates to me that there must be an incorrect manner of handling the truth…or if I don’t make an attempt to understand the various sections of scripture I could apply a text to a subject inappropriately and therefore draw in incorrect conclusion. In doing so I didn’t “rightly divide” the word. Well-meaning, honest, sincere seekers can draw erroneous conclusions and make mistaken eternal decisions by not paying close attention to the “how” of scripture use. Here is an axiom of scripture use: “A scripture can never mean what it never meant”. In other words, we must gain some understanding of those who originally received the passage we are studying in order to know what message they took away from it. This is critical before making any application of that passage to our world. Unless I have an idea of who is speaking/writing in the text under consideration and something about the original audience i.e. their spiritual history and background, the circumstances that prompted the message to them in the first place etc., I can easily mosapply the passage to a situation it never was intended to address. That brings us to the second axiom: “To receive the correct answer you must ask the correct question”. If I go to the book of Colossians with the question on my mind, “How did the world and its inhabitants come to be?” I’m likely to come away with an erroneous or at least a woefully incomplete answer. Colossians wasn’t written to answer that question. Does that mean that there is nothing in Colossians about the creation? No; we learn from Colossians that everything was created by Jesus and for Jesus, but there is certainly more to the creation story than that fact. There is, however one book that was written specifically to inform us about the creation. That book is Genesis. So if you go to Genesis with the question, “How did the world and its inhabitants come to be?” you’ll find the correct answer to that question. That is why it was written. You are asking the correct passage to answer the correct question. There is no subject where this principle is more important than that of discussing how one becomes a Christian. Let me give you one example: Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. This is a well-known scripture that I see used most often in the following manner. “Jesus is standing at the door of your heart knocking, waiting for you to open your heart and let him in. Won’t you open your heart and let Jesus in today?” Always associated with an evangelistic plea, this passage is used to teach people how to become a Christian. It sounds right. It provides a great mental image of Jesus entering your heart and bringing salvation. But a little further examination into this text might challenge that conclusion. You’ll notice that this section of scripture begins in verse 14. In its larger context, the first three chapters of the Revelation are addressing the seven churches in Asia Minor, each of which is receiving an evaluation. Verse 14 singled out the church at Laodicea. A reading of the ensuing verses reminds us that this is the “lukewarm” church that made God sick at his stomach. They were satisfied in their relationship with God, but he was very dissatisfied with them. He warned them to repent in verse 19. Verse 20 describes their most significant point of failure; Jesus is not the center of their church or the driving/guiding force of their existence. That had to change and he encourages them to heed his warning before it is too late. Verse 20 isn’t about becoming a Christian…they were already Christians, poor examples of discipleship I’ll grant you. But verse 14 makes it clear he is addressing the church; those who are already Christians. He is not instructing them about how to become Christians but how to correct their pathetic Christian walk. If you go to this passage and ask the question, “How do you become a Christian” you are asking a question this passage was not written to answer. You will draw an incorrect conclusion. In the same way that Genesis is “home base” for the creation question, there is a book in the Bible that is “home base” for the salvation question. Every conversion to Christianity recorded in the whole Bible is found in one book of the New Testament. Every occasion where it is recorded of someone going from outside the Kingdom to inside the Kingdom is found in this book. No one is seen becoming a Christian in the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. Why not? Because Christianity did not begin until Jesus ascended back into heaven following his resurrection. That is where the gospels end. There is no Kingdom to enter until he rose to sit at the right hand of God. You also don’t find anyone being told how to become a Christian in the letters of the New Testament. Don’t get me wrong; we learn tremendous things about salvation in these letters like the nature of faith and its connection to grace. But nowhere is the author of any of these letters attempting to convert someone to Christianity. Why not? Every recipient of these letters, Romans through Revelation were already Christians. Is there any information about being born again in these letters? Absolutely yes, lots of it. Much of it you won’t find elsewhere, but these letters were all written to address situations that existed in their lives as Christians and as the church. They are largely corrective in nature or are intended to strengthen and deepen their walk with Christ. Some letters provide encouragement to keep holding up their standards and not to give up. But none of them were written for the purpose of telling someone how to become a Christian. The remaining book of the New Testament, Acts, is different. In the book of Acts we read about the events that occurred right after Jesus’ ascension into heaven and of the first messages of how to enter into the New Covenant under Christ. We can see the people respond to those messages and watch their belief in Jesus grow. We can read sermons about Jesus or watch people turn to Christ in the narrative. We can read what they were taught about how to act on their new-found faith. We can see them do what they were instructed to do and about the results of their actions. When you are reading a text about people becoming Christians, then the question of “how do I become a Christian” is natural and appropriate. You can be confident in receiving the correct answers to the correct question because you are asking the correct scriptures...scriptures that were intended to answer that question. If, while reading about the first Christian converts you see them asking Jesus into their hearts as their personal Savior, then you can have confidence in that being the proper method of coming to Christ. If you find them praying the sinner’s prayer to find forgiveness…then do that just like they did and you’ll get the same results. If you see them being told to climb to a high place and burn incense, then climb and burn and you’ll receive same outcome. With these thoughts in mind, go get your Bible and turn to the book of Acts. The first chapter begins with an overview of the last conversation Jesus had with his followers in Luke 24:36-55. It concludes with the replacing of Judas by Mathias as the 12th apostle. Chapter two describes the Day of Pentecost when faithful Jews from around the world were gathered in Jerusalem as required for a week of feasting. God chose this time, when so many faithful Jews were gathered together to swing the doors of the Kingdom of Christ open for them. In verses 1-10, we find the disciples being miraculously provided with the tremendous evangelistic tool of being able to speak in foreign languages so they could effectively communicate with all those in attendance. Beginning in Acts 2:17 Peter began preaching about Jesus. Most everyone there knew who he was; they just didn’t believe he was the Messiah. (The Greek word for Messiah is Christ.) He quoted several Old Testament prophesies about the coming Messiah. The audience knew the scriptures he quoted, but had never connected them with Jesus. Peter finally succeeded in having them come to understand that Jesus was the Messiah after all and that he had ascended the throne as Lord of the Kingdom. This realization caused a bit of fear and panic among the Jews in realizing they had been a part of having Jesus killed only about seven weeks earlier. Verse 37 finds them shouting out to Peter for him to answer the question about becoming a follower of Jesus, a Christian. Peter could tell by their response they had developed a sincere conviction or faith that Jesus was the Messiah. In verse 38 he tells them two things to do in response and he also tells them that there would be two results of these actions. In the next verse, he explains that the same things he is telling them to do is what should be told everyone else after them who wants to make Jesus their Lord. Verses 40 and 41 indicate how many of them acted on their faith that day and the remaining verses of the chapter talk about how these new Christians related to each other and to God in the following days. Now, you go ahead and get your Bible down and study through this text for yourself. With the context laid out above, you probably won’t need any help understanding what you’re reading. You certainly don’t need someone to tell you a bunch of stuff to do in order to become a Christian that you can’t find here. If Peter thought this was the correct thing to teach to help people come the Christ, then it should be good enough for us. If we hear what they heard and do what they did then we should get what they got...a fulfilling and enduring life in the Eternal Kingdom by God's grace through their faith. If I can assistance with any of this or you have other questions, don’t hesitate to write me at minister@hcofc.org. Randal Myers