How can I become a Christian?
Millions have asked this question, and the Bible records one man asking it out loud in a prison at Philippi — and getting an answer so short it can be read in one breath. What follows unpacks what that answer assumes, what it asks of you, and how you can know where you stand.
Seeing Your Need
Nobody had preached to the jailer about his sins. Something happened inside him first, and commentators trace the question itself back to God's work in him.
W. T. P. WolstonWho had said a word to him about salvation? Who had said a word to him about his sins? Who told the man that he was lost? God can do a wonderful work in a very short time... He had received light from God, and the first discovery in his soul was this: I am a lost man; and so he cried, "What must I do to be saved?"
Repentance: Agreeing With God About Yourself
Paul summed up his preaching as two things held together — repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus. Neither is a feeling you work up.
Hamilton SmithRepentance is the confession toward God of our lost and ruined condition. Faith is the acceptance of the good news concerning Christ... Repentance is more than sorrow for having done wrong, or the shame that mere natural conscience may feel. Repentance is the change of mind in regard to self, produced by the knowledge of the grace of God... Repentance toward God is the acceptance of what God says about myself. Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ is the acceptance of what God says about Christ.
Nothing To Add, Nothing To Pay
The religious activities people usually reach for at this point are named and set aside.
A. J. PollockDo! Prayers and tears, and giving to the poor, and taking the sacrament, and Bible reading and good works, will never do it. There is no atonement in these things. The divine answer is, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved."
Notice that this does not leave good works out of the Christian life — it puts them in a different place. Writing about the same jailer, one commentator points to what happened within the hour.
F. B. HoleIt is recorded, however, that within one short hour of conversion the jailer performed his first good work, the fruit and proof of his faith. He did it not in order to be saved, but as the result of the change that grace had worked within.
Why Reform Is Not Enough
Jesus told Nicodemus — a respected teacher of Israel — that he must be born again. That word "must" is why self-improvement cannot be the road in.
William KellyWhen he heard of the necessity of being "born again," or on an altogether new principle, he imagined that the Saviour might speak of some repeated natural birth, which, if possible, would have been but the old thing over again... "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Flesh can never become spirit. There is no such thing as spiritualising the old nature, and making it new and holy. What the unregenerate soul needs is a new nature.
How You Can Know
Many people believe in Christ and still lack peace, because they are watching their own moods for proof. One writer answers with a picture of a debt.
Edward DennettIf I owe a debt of one hundred pounds, and have nothing to pay it with, I shall be under constant concern and anxiety. If however a friend comes and says, "Be under no concern for the debt. I have paid it," my anxiety will instantly stop — if I believe his word, and not otherwise... First, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ; second, knowledge of salvation, or assurance, from believing the word of God; and last, peace as the consequence of knowing that I am saved... the ground of our peace is entirely outside of ourselves, in the work of Christ for us.
Turning To Him, And Saying So
So what do you actually do? The steps are put simply, and they end out loud rather than in private.
W. T. P. WolstonYou turn to the Saviour who died for you, acknowledging your sin and guilt, you bow your heart to Him, and you receive blessing from Him. He says, "whoever believes has eternal life." ... "If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved."
Summary
- Need — Becoming a Christian starts where the jailer started: with the discovery, given by God, that you are lost.
- Repentance — Accept what God says about you; that is repentance. Accept what God says about Christ; that is faith. They come together.
- Nothing — Prayers, tears, giving and religious duties contain no atonement. There is nothing left to do but believe.
- New — The old nature is not improved into a Christian one. You need a new nature — you must be born again.
- Certainty — Assurance rests on God's word, not on how you feel; peace follows believing, and works follow as fruit.