“Salvation, Acceptance and Change: What Does the Bible Say?”

"But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

“To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6 KJV)

"What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?" (Romans 6:1-2)

Here is something amazing! In spite of being stinking filthy sinners, Jesus died for you and me and accepts you and me into the beloved when we trust Him as Lord and Savior. If we are truly a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are ALWAYS accepted in the beloved! That won’t change! Why? It is because we are accepted into the beloved on the basis of Christ’s righteousness --- not any righteousness of our own (Philippians 3:9). It is His righteousness in which we stand as believers (II Corinthians 5:21). Hallelujah!

No doubt - God loves and accepts His beloved children as they are! Praise God! But here’s a question: “Does God’s love and acceptance of His children mean that He leaves them ‘as they are’ when they come to Christ for salvation?”

There may be more but here are 8 facts from scripture that demonstrate that God does not leave us “as we are” when we become believers in the Lord Jesus Christ:

1. True Christians are born again – it’s a requirement!

“I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again… You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.” (John 3:3 & 7)

“… He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5b)
If we were going to be “left the same” because He loves us and accepts us, then why would we need to be born again? If He was happy with us “as we are”, then why would He make us born again to be the same person? Reasonable questions! To make us the same way thru rebirth just does not make sense.

2. True Christians have been brought from death to life

Before coming to Christ for salvation, we are spiritually dead. After coming to Christ, our spirits come to life – that part of us that can communicate with God!

“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.” (John 5:24)

“But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.” (Ephesians 2:4-5)

“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.” Colossians 2:13

3. The true Christian’s former way of life (the old you) died

“For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.” Colossians 3:3

“We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Romans 6:4

“For we know that our old self was crucified with him…” Romans 6:6

The truth is that when we come to Christ for salvation, we are identified and united with Him in His death. Therefore, since He died, so we also died.

“Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?” (Romans 6:3)

“Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” (Romans 6:8)

4. The true Christian’s new life is Jesus

“When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”
Colossians 3:4

“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.” Galatians 2:20

5. The true Christian’s identity has changed – from a slave to sin to a slave to righteousness

“But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.” Romans 6:17-18

6. The true Christian has been given a new heart as a promise of the New Covenant

“I will give you a new heart… I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26

This represents what the Bible would describe as a spiritual circumcision. It is done by God and not by man. In the process, the law of God is placed upon one’s heart.

“No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.”
Romans 2:29

“For it is we (true believers) who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh—“ Philippians 3:3

“In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ,” Colossians 2:11

“You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.”
II Corinthians 3:3 (See also Ezekiel 36:26-27)

7. The true Christian has been given the Spirit as another promise of the New Covenant.

Though the Spirit may be grieved or quenched by our sin, He represents a permanent gift to the believer. Through His convictions and promptings, and though He certainly may get ignored, He empowers and implores the believer to live a life of obedience. Consider the following:

“I will… put a new spirit in you… And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow My decrees and be careful to keep My laws.” Ezekiel 36:26-27

“I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them (thru the Spirit) to fear Me, so that they will never turn away from Me.”
Jeremiah 32:40

“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.” John 14:16-17a

“Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. When he comes, he will convict the world of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment.” John 16:7b-8

“You (as believers), however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.” Romans 8:9

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14

8. The true Christian has a teacher whose name is GRACE!

Grace, as the believer’s teacher, has a message. What’s the message? The message is HOLINESS. Consider that God’s word commands us believers, as His obedient children, to be holy, because He is holy (I Peter 1:14-15). As already seen, God has provided the Spirit to empower and implore the believer toward obedience. And it is in the sphere of grace in which the believer stands that the message of holiness is taught. (See Romans 5:1)

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age…” Titus 2:11-12

As you can see, grace gives no license to sin – contrary to what some may believe! (See Romans 6:1) In fact, the false teaching of grace granting license to sin is to be stood against strongly!
(See Jude 3-4)

Obviously, from what we have seen in the scriptures, God does not leave us “as we are” when we come to Christ for salvation. A true encounter with Jesus means acceptance. Yes! Absolutely! But we cannot encounter Jesus and remain unchanged!

So what happens when we sin as Christians? Are we then considered to be “unaccepted” by the Lord? This is a problem many have struggled with, because when they sin it just does not “feel” that God is still with them. They no longer “feel” accepted. This is particularly true for those who had bad experience with their earthly fathers growing up.

But what do the scriptures say? The truth is that acceptance does not and will not ever change for the believer. However, fellowship with the Lord is a different story! Consider what sin does:

1. It can grieve the Holy Spirit of God who grants us access to Him

“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” Ephesians 4:30 (see Ephesians 4:17 – 5:7 for the context)

2. It can disrupt fellowship with God and even other believers

“And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ… This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (I John 1:3b & 5-7)

“I have written you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the people of this world who are immoral, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters. In that case you would have to leave this world. But now I am writing you that you must not associate with anyone who calls himself a brother but is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or a slanderer, a drunkard or a swindler. With such a man do not even eat.” (I Corinthians 5:9-11)

3. It can bring about God’s discipline

In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” …
but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. (Hebrews 12:4-6 & 10b)

As Paul stated so should our attitude toward sin be: “Shall we go in sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?” (Romans 6:1-2)
So what if we are living in sin, proclaim to be a believer and do not experience the Lord’s discipline? That is an important question, as the scripture states:

“God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. (Hebrews 12:7b-8)

A true son will experience the Lord’s discipline. That is a given. But again I ask: “If we are living in sin, proclaim to be a believer and do not experience the Lord’s discipline, what then?” Here is what the Bible exhorts us to do. Examine yourself to see if you are of the faith (II Corinthians 13:5). Here are some questions for you to ask yourself:

1. After having made a “profession of faith in Christ”, did your life change? Did your life begin to look different than before – at all?

2. Since becoming a “believer”, do you feel differently about sin? Does sin bother you at all or is it of little or no effect? (I John 3:9)

3. Do you have a deep rooted desire to be obedient to the Lord’s commands? (I John 2:3-4)

4. Do you hunger for His word?

5. Do you enjoy fellowship with those of the household of faith? (I John 3:14)

If your predominate answer to the above questions was “no”, then it may not be wise to presume that you are “accepted in the beloved.” As we have seen from the scriptures, acceptance into the beloved by faith in Christ breeds change. God clearly does not leave us “as we are.”

As the scriptures say:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (II Corinthians 5:17)

“what counts is a new creation.” (Galatians 6:15b)

Are you a new creation? That is what counts.