Where In The Bible Will I Find:

The Steps To Be Taken In Order To Be A Christian?

On the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ, the birthday of the Lord's church, the apostles were asked this question, “…what shall we do?" (Acts 2:37). These believing Jews had just heard the gospel of Christ preached and it cut them to the heart and the answer they were given then is the same answer given by the gospel today: "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins…”  (Acts 2:38).

When the Philippian jailer asked the same question, “…Sirs, what must I do to be saved” (Acts 16:30) he was told, “…Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved, you and your household. And they spake the word of God to him together with all that were in his house ... And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their stripes, and immediately he was baptized, he and all his household" (Acts 16:30-34).

Finally, when Saul of Tarsus asked the same question: "What shall I do Lord?" (Acts 22:10), the same answer was given him when he was told by Ananias to: "...arise, and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord" (Acts 22:16). In each instance the steps each one took were identical, and with identical results. Faith was instilled through the teaching of the Word of God (Rom. 10:17). Repentance was taught, which required a change of heart and a new allegiance to God through Jesus Christ (Acts 17:30).

Baptism (immersion in water) was commanded and practiced as the step to "forgive sins” or "wash away sins" and be buried "into Jesus Christ" (Rom. 6:3-5), or in order to "put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27). These steps make us New Testament Christians in that we have followed the same steps the believers of the first century followed.

True, there is much freedom in Christ. This freedom revolves around issues in which people may have diverse and contradictory opinions. Paul deals with this in great detail in Romans 14. But, there is no freedom to choose the path to bring us into relationship with God. "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

God commanded the above steps with clarity and precision. The New Testament believers, without exception, responded by following those steps. Once followed, they were forgiven by God's power as demonstrated in the death and sacrifice of His Son, and they were added by the Lord to His church (Acts 2:47).

So, too, people today will be forgiven, not by their own power, but by God's promises fulfilled in obedience to His commands. This made Christians then, and it still makes Christians today, and the Lord still adds those obeying these steps to His church. This is the ONLY way in which the Lord saves the lost.