Accepting Christ

By Terrell Perkins

“All that is necessary to be a Christian is to accept Christ as one’s 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 one’s 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 one’s 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” (OT) and read only the “New,” it is a fact that the Hebrew scriptures are the foundation for the Greek scriptures (New Testament — 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 God’s 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….”

(this article is an excerpt from the March–April 2014 edition of the Sabbath Sentinel)

To read the rest of this article, which starts on page 7, click this link: https://biblesabbath.org/media/Tss_03-04-14_LoRes_566.pdf