A Christian is a follower or disciple of Jesus that abides in His word (John 8:31) and has been obedient to all the conditions of salvation (Hebrew 5:9), thus receiving forgiveness of sins, which places one into the “body of Christ” which is the church. “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” (Ephesians 1:22-23) The Lord adds us to the church as we are saved. (Acts 2:41, 47) Therefore, Christians are the collective individuals that make up the church – the saved! (Acts 11:26) So, to become a Christian one must ask “What must I do? (To be saved) (Acts 2:37; Acts 22:10)

One cannot trust their own feelings like Saul of Tarsus who had a zeal for God, but “persecuted the Way unto death” until he heard the word, believed it, put his faith in it, repented of his sins, confessed Christ as Lord, and was baptized to wash away his sins. (Acts 22:3-16) From this point on, Saul became known as Paul, a great apostle filled with the guidance of the Holy Spirit that wrote many of the letters found in the New Testament which direct us to the following conditions of salvation:

• Hear – We must hear the word to receive faith. (Romans 10:17, Acts 15:7) The word is the scriptures inspired by God. (2 Timothy 3:16-17)

• Faith – Faith is “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1) “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and the He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Hebrews 11:6) Chapter 11 of Hebrews is the Hall of Faith filled with examples Such as Abel, Noah, Abraham, and Moses just to name a few.

• Believe – The part faith plays in our salvation is expressed in the verb form (believeth) of the following passages: “But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:31) “For God so loved the word, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16) “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” (John 3:36) NASV

  Believing is more than the recognition, acknowledgement, or acceptance of God and His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. “You believe that there is one God. You do well; the demons also believe and shudder.” (James 2:19) Does their belief save them? Of course not!! One must believe with an obedient faith. “…and having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation;” (Hebrews 5:9) Notice in John 3:16 the believer is told he “should not perish” and in John 20:31 “in believing you may or might have life”. These little words are often read over without much recognition but they are not absolute like the words shall not, cannot, will not. The absolute, “shall not see life” is used in John 3:36 in reference to the nonbeliever. In the NASV the word believe is translated obey. “But he who does not obey the Son shall not see life.” Translation of the word believe and obey are often interchanged throughout the bible because of their closeness in bible meaning. AN OBEDIENT BELIEF! i.e. Billy calls and asks Sam to come play. Sam asks his mother and she says “If you clean up your room.” She has not told Sam he can nor can’t go play. She has made provisions by placing some conditions upon his shoulders. He must clean up his room. Will Sam get to go play? He should be able to. It’s now up to Sam! In like manner, a believer in John 3:16 should not perish because his belief should result in obedience and submissiveness.

• Repent – “…God is now declaring that all men everywhere should repent.” (Acts 17:30) “I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:5) An obedient belief is a belief that moves us to repentance. It is the recognition of our sins and the desire to turn away from the world and its sinful ways to seek after Christ and His spiritual blessings. “Set your affections on the things above not on the things that are on earth.” (Colossians 3:2) Repentance is a change of heart and mind that is ashamed of our past with a Godly sorrow that has no regret of leaving the worldly things behind. “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation; but the sorrow of the world (regretting to leave the worldly things, missing them) produces death.” (2 Corinthians 7:10) NASV This kind of change in ones life will be noticed by those around you. “…that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.” (Acts 26:20) NASV

• Confess – The penitent believer will make the confession that Simon Peter made, “thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16) It was this confession that Christ referred to as the rock or foundation that He would build Hid church. (Matthew 16:18) Confessing Him before men gains His confession of us to His Father. (Matthew 10:32)

• Baptism – The very word “Baptism” from the original text means to be overwhelmed with, plunged, submersion, and emersion. This rules out sprinkling and pouring. In all New Testament examples of baptism, there was much water (John 3:23) and it says they went down into and up out of (Acts 8:38-39) and buried in it (Romans 6:4). Of all the conditions stated in the Bible that we must do to be saved, this one raises the biggest controversy. It is puzzling why. No one denies the necessity of the other conditions, yet there are more scriptures on baptism than ay of the other conditions that must be met. There are five explanations that baptism is a crucifixion, a death, a burial and a resurrection comparing it to the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ as we crucify our old self and raise up in newness of life (Romans 6:3-9; Galatians 2:20; Philippians 3:10; Colossians 2:12; 2 Timothy 2:11) and a new birth (John 3:3-5). At least 4 times it is commanded (Matthew 28:19; Acts 2:38; 10:48; Acts 22:16). There are at least 8 reasons or purposes:
  1. To receive remission of sins (Acts 2:38)
  2. To wash away our sins (Acts 22:16)
  3. To receive salvation (Mark 16:16; 1 Peter 3:20-21)
  4. To put on or clothe ourselves with Christ (Galatians 3:27)
  5. To be added to the kingdom (John 3:3-5), the church (Acts 2:41-47)
  6. To receive and walk a new life (Romans 6:4)
  7. Joined into one body (1 Corinthians 12:13) which is the church (Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 1:18)
  8. Thus to become Christians (the church) (Acts 11:26)

There are two comparisons made to Old Testament incidents: (1) When God destroyed the wickedness of the world with the flood but spared Noah and his family in the ark, the water separated the righteous from the unrighteous “…and corresponding to that, baptism now saves you….” (1 Peter 3:20-21) (2) When Moses and the Israelites passed through the Red Sea and under the cloud, the same water that parted to save them closed in and destroyed the enemy. Again water separated the righteous from the unrighteous. (1 Corinthians 10:1-2)

There are 10 examples of conversion found in Acts. They all understood the necessity of baptism, were baptized, and then went on their way rejoicing afterwards. They are:

1. 3000 people (Acts 2:36-47; verse 41)
2. Samaritans (Acts 8:5-12)
3. Simon (Acts 8:13)
4. Ethiopian (Acts 8:35-39)
5. Cornelius (Acts 10:44-48)
6. Lydia (Acts 16:14-15)
7. Jailer (Acts 16:25-34)
8. Corinthians (Acts 18:8)
9. Ephesians (Acts 19:1-7)
10. Saul (Acts 22:1-16)

In all these examples it is not always stated, but is obvious they believed what they were taught and put their faith in that belief by their actions which showed repentance. A confession is only recorded once in Acts 8:37 and implied in Saul’s address to the voice from heaven in Acts 22:8, 10. However, in every example they were baptized as the final step before going on their way rejoicing. It just doesn’t get any plainer than that!

Without the sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ there would have been no redemption for our sins through His blood (Ephesians 1:7). There would have been no hope of eternal life without His overcoming death by His resurrection. Romans 6:3-7 clearly explains that through baptism we come in contact with His blood and it’s redemption by the symbolic death, burial, and resurrection of baptism. Thus, Salvation!