I grew up being told that in order to become a Christian you had to "accept Christ." Is that true? It turns out you can't find that in Scripture. You can find, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name" (John 1:12), but is that "accept"? Is there a difference?
According to the dictionary, the primary difference between "receive" and "accept" is that "accept" requires a conscious choice while "receive" is more passive. Is that the case here? It's interesting that the word "accept" is used in Scripture elsewhere. The word there in John for "receive" is lambanō while the word, say, in Romans 14 (Rom 14:1) translated "accept" is proslambanō. You can instantly see a difference ... the prefix, "pros," attached to "accept." And what's the intent of that prefix? It's a direction ... "toward." It implies "to take to oneself" where the base word means "to take." That is, one requires initiative and the other does not.
Scripture talks about our salvation as a gift (Eph 2:8-9). Grace is unmerited favor. It would seem to me that anything we add to God's salvation is ... worthy of merit, even if it's just, "I made the right choice." So I would argue that "receive" -- a passive receiving -- is the correct concept and "accept" -- our efforts to bring something to ourselves -- is not. I'm not quibbling over words, but I think the concept is vital since we so readily want to take some credit ... from God.
I completely agree that receive is a more accurate term than accept. I suspect the disconnect is because most people would consider them synonyms and simple laziness. I do think that many people who would say accept, would also affirm that salvation is 100% due to the work of Christ with no input from us.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, there is definitely a theology which would choose accept because if their belief that we as humans do contribute to our salvation. For them, the final critical piece of salvation is when we accept the gift YHWH offers us.
Mostly it seems like it's simply laziness and going along with what everyone else says.
I think the verbage of accept comes from the desire to increase our responsibility for our salvation. While it is true that we accept the gift freely given, it is more like the child receiving a gift with open arms. From our point of view, we are giving assent, but the Bible tells us that even that giving of assent is a gift from God.
ReplyDeleteI think that many believers--new ones especially--repeat this phrase mostly out of an undeveloped understanding of theology (particularly Soteriology and the conversion process). Afterall, how many new converts are Bible experts? Still, while not found in Scripture, as you say, I believe that the phrase, “accept Christ,” can fit in a proper view of Christian doctrine, if one understands it as “accept [that] Christ is Lord and Savior” or “accept [the truths about] Christ [proclaimed in the Word of God]--with “accept” meaning “exercise our will to acquiesce mentally” or “believe.” This takes no credit from God for our salvation and the gift of faith to receive it but is the first step towards “work[ing] out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2:12)--with that fear of the Lord having led to our trusting His Word at the start.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure Craig is right ... that a lot of people use the phrase without thinking ... habit. I suppose that's why i wrote this. We should think about what we're saying.
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