Receiving and Accepting Jesus

Below are a few sources I gathered to show the church's language concerning the believer's union with Jesus Christ has been expressed by both scholars and preachers as "accepting" and "receiving" Jesus Christ into one's heart:

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The subjects of this privilege are described: “As many as received him.” This text describes them by that very grace, faith, which gives them their title and right to Christ and his benefits; and by that very act of faith, which primarily confers their right to his person, and secondarily to his benefits, namely, receiving him. There are many graces besides faith, but faith only is the grace that gives us right to Christ; and there are many acts of faith besides receiving, but this receiving or embracing Christ is the justifying and saving act: “As many as received him,” as many, be they of any nation, sex, age, or condition. For “there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.” Colossians 3:11. Nothing but unbelief bars men from Christ and his benefits. As many as received him: the word signifies “to accept, take,” or, as we fitly render it, to receive, assume, or take to us; a word most aptly expressing the nature and office of faith, yea, the very justifying and saving act; and we are also heedfully to note its special object, not his but Him, his person as he is clothed with his offices, and not only his benefits and privileges; these are secondary and consequential to our receiving him. So that it is a receiving, assuming, or accepting the Lord Jesus Christ which must have respect to the tenders and proposals of the gospel, “for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith,” Romans 1:17, therein is Jesus Christ revealed, proposed, and offered unto sinners as the only way of justification and salvation; which gospel offer, as before was shown, is therefore ordinarily necessary to believing. Romans 10:11, etc. 3.

This description is yet farther explained by the additional exegetical clause, even to them that believe on his name. Here the terms are varied, though the things expressed in both are the same; what he there called receiving, is here called believing on his name, to show us that the very essence of saving faith consists in our receiving Christ. By his name we are to understand Christ himself; it is usual to take these two, believing in him and believing in his name, as terms convertible and of the same import.

Hence we draw this proposition: The receiving of the Lord Jesus Christ is that saving and vital act of faith which gives the soul right both to his person and benefits.

We cannot act spiritually till we begin to live spiritually: the Spirit of life must first join himself to us in his quickening work, as shown in the last chapter. This being done, we begin to act spiritually, by taking hold upon or receiving Jesus Christ, which is the point now to be considered. The soul is the life of the body, faith is the life of the soul, and Christ is the life of faith. There are several acts besides saving faith, and in saving faith there are several acts besides the justifying or saving act; but this receiving act, which is our present subject, is that upon which both our righteousness and eternal happiness depend; by this it is that we are justified and saved: “To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God.” Yet it doth not justify and save us by reason of any proper dignity that is found in this act, but by reason of the object it receives or apprehends. The same thing is often expressed in Scripture by other terms, as “coming to Christ,” John 6:35; trusting or staying upon Christ, Isaiah 50:10; but whatever is found in those expressions is all comprehended in this.

I proceed, then, to explain the nature of this receiving of Christ, and show what it includes; to prove that this is the justifying and saving act of faith; to show the excellency of this act of faith; to remove some mistakes, and give a true account of the dignity and excellency of this act; and then to bring home all in a proper application.

THE METHOD OF GRACE HOW THE SPIRIT WORKS by John Flavel pp 103-104

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Sonship to God is not, therefore, a universal status upon which everyone enters by natural birth, but a supernatural gift that one receives through receiving Jesus.

J.I. Packer, Knowing God, p.181

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By faith, we put our finger into the print of the nails, and our hand into his pierced side, and never questioning the fact that he is truly man, we rejoice to say to him, as Thomas did, “My Lord and my God.” Jesus Christ is indeed to us “very God of very God.” This being so, we have received him as our Lord to rule and govern us. In spiritual matters he is our only King, we own no master save him who is The Master, of whom Martha, said to her sister Mary, “The Master is come, and calleth for thee.” No teacher has any right to impart to us any instruction except that which he has received from the only infallible Teacher. “He is the head of the body, the church,” and we recognize no other headship; but we joyfully acknowledge, that he is our sovereign Lord in the spiritual realm. He is the absolute Monarch of our soul. He is that perfect Husband who is the true Head of his mystical body, the Church, oh, that we more fully carried out, practically, in every thought, and wish, and action of our entire life, all that is implied in receiving Jesus Christ as Lord! Beloved friends, as I look round upon you all, and gaze into your faces, this question rushes from my heart to my lips,-Have all of you received Christ Jesus the Lord? Alas! I am sorrowfully persuaded that there are some of you who have not received him. He has knocked again and again, with that pierced hand of his, at the door of your heart, but you have not let him in. This fountain of the water of life has flowed close to your feet, yet you have not drunk of it. Christ has been set before you as the Bread of life sent down from heaven, but you have not eaten of him; you have refused him even until now. “Nay,” say you, “you are too severe in charging us with having refused Christ, for we have not done that.” Well, it seems to me that this is just what you have done; but I will put it more softly, and say that, at any rate, you have not received him. You have put him off to a more convenient season, which will probably never come to you. O poor souls, poor souls, how sad is your state in not having received Christ Jesus the Lord! Leaving out heaven and eternity for the moment, and speaking only of to-day, how wretched you must be in not having received Christ!… May God look down upon you now, not only with pity, as he always does, but also in the power of his almighty grace, and turn the heart of stone to flesh and lead you to receive Christ Jesus as Lord! That is all you have to do,-to receive Jesus, as the parched earth receives the refreshing showers, and as the wilted lilies receive the reviving rain drops, and lift up their drooping heads again. That is all you have to do,-to receive Jesus. A child can receive; the feeblest can receive; ay, one lying at the point of death, the sick man dying of fever may receive the cooling draught that is put to his lips. This is all that is asked of you,-that you will receive Christ Jesus the Lord. Oh, that you would all receive him now God grant that it may be so, and he shall have the praise.

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2ND, 1909 DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD’S-DAY EVENING, AUGUST 3RD, 1873.

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The suffering body of the incarnate God is the spiritual food for our souls, but we must partake of if it is to nourish us; and this emblematic bread must not only be broken, but eaten,-a significant type of our receiving Jesus by faith, and depending upon him, taking him to be the nutriment of our new spiritual life.

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, JULY 2ND, 1908, DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON

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III. I must close by noticing, thirdly, THE INSTRUCTION INTENDED FOR US in all these things. The first instruction intended for us must he only hinted at, like all the rest. See what Christ is to us. He is the Paschal Lamb, not a bone of which was broken. You believe it. Come, then, and act upon your belief by feeding upon Christ; keep the feast in your own souls this day. That sprinkled
blood of his has brought you safety: the Destroying Angel cannot touch you or your house. The Lamb himself has become your food; feed on him; remove your spiritual hunger by receiving Jesus into your heart. This is the food whereof if a man eat he shall live for ever.

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAY MORNING, APRIL 3RD, 1887, BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

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Let’s consider John 1:12: “As many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name.” The major premise: Anyone who receives Jesus becomes God’s child.

John F. MacArthur, Jr., Saved Without a Doubt (Victor Books, c1992.). 9.

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Saving faith involves much more than simply acknowledging God. Even the demons fearfully believe that God is one and is all-powerful (James 2:19). True faith involves the surrendering of one’s sinful self to God for forgiveness and receiving Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

John MacArthur, Romans (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996). 482.

It is not that Paul’s salvation was imperfect or in any way deficient. From the moment he receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, the believer is completely acceptable by God and ready to meet Him.

John MacArthur, Romans (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996). 391.

Saving faith also involves the intellect. No one can think his way into heaven, but neither can he receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior without some comprehension of the truth of the gospel (see Rom. 10:17ff.).

John MacArthur, Romans (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996). 206.

If the Jewish leaders had been spiritual heirs of Abraham and true children of God, they would joyously have received Jesus as their Messiah and King. Instead of receiving Him in faith, however, they sought to kill Him, reflecting the murderous character of Satan, their spiritual lord and father.

John MacArthur, Romans (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996). 149.

The only way any person, no matter how outwardly moral and religious, can escape God’s judgment is to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, receiving in faith the provision He made on the cross by His paying the penalty all deserve.

John MacArthur, Romans (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996). 117.

The man was Aurelius Augustine, who, upon reading that short passage from Romans, received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and went on to become one of the church’s outstanding theologians and leaders.

John MacArthur, Romans (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996).

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Both the feeding miracle and the Lord’s table, rightly understood, parabolically set out what it means to receive Jesus Christ by faith.

D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Leicester, England; Grand Rapids, Mich.: Inter-Varsity Press; W.B. Eerdmans, 1991). 297.

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To receive Jesus by believing in him (3:36; 6:29) is to receive the bread of life, and to eat the flesh and drink the blood of Jesus (an expression in which many scholars see an allusion to the Lord’s Supper) is to partake of eternal life (6:54).

D. R. W. Wood and I. Howard Marshall, New Bible Dictionary, 3rd ed. (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1996). 599.

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10:40–42 In closing this sermon, Jesus describes the proper response to him in yet a third way. Receiving Jesus is equivalent to receiving God, but not all will meet Jesus in the flesh. Others must respond to him as they see him in his disciples.

Craig Blomberg, Matthew, electronic ed., Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001). 182.

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The way of the disciple is like that of Jesus—a way that leads through the acceptance of death (the flesh and blood of Jesus). Passover is marked by the death of the lamb, and the disciple is one who receives Jesus and is marked by his death. But that death was the way to the resurrection and the ascent of Jesus (6:62).

Gerald L. Borchert, John 1-11, electronic ed., Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001). 274.

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“At the end of the days”169 refers to the end of this present age. The prophet was not to be concerned, for he would be resurrected and receive an “allotted inheritance”—a great reward and a part in the kingdom of God (predicted in Daniel’s own prophecies) that will someday come upon the earth and then continue into the eternal state. Keil has aptly commented: “Well shall it be for us if in the end of our days we too are able to depart hence with such consolation of hope!”170 This “consolation of hope” belongs to all who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. May every person who reads these words be part of that great host of the redeemed who “will shine like the brightness of the heavens” and “like the stars for ever and ever!”

Stephen R. Miller, Daniel, electronic ed., Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001). 326-27.

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Another case, where I testified of Jesus and directed it all to the husband, I found afterwards, that the wife was brought to receive Jesus as well as her husband. Another case, where I meant the Gospel for the husband, because he was poorly, I found the wife seemed to have received it while the husband remained in darkness.

George Müller, A Narrative of Some of the Lord's Dealings With George Müller, Volume 3 (London: J. Nisbet & Co., 1874). 380.

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But receiving also means grasping or getting possession of. The thing which I receive becomes my own: I appropriate to myself that which is given. When I receive Jesus, he becomes my Saviour, so mine that neither life nor death shall be able to rob me of him. All this is to receive Christ—to take him as God’s free gift; to realize him in my heart, and to appropriate him as mine.

Salvation may be described as the blind receiving sight, the deaf receiving hearing, the dead receiving life; but we have not only received these blessings, we have received CHRIST JESUS himself. It is true that he gave us life from the dead. He gave us pardon of sin; he gave us imputed righteousness. These are all precious things, but we are not content with them; we have received Christ himself. The Son of God has been poured into us, and we have received him, and appropriated him. What a heartful Jesus must be, for heaven itself cannot contain him!

Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening : Daily Readings, Complete and unabridged; New modern edition. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2006).

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Furthermore, when we receive Jesus by faith, his righteousness counts for us, as if we ourselves had lived the righteous life that God requires. To quote again from The Gospel Coalition, in its Confession of Faith, “By his perfect obedience [Jesus] satisfied the just demands of God on our behalf, since by faith alone that perfect obedience is credited to all who trust in Christ alone for their acceptance with God.”

Philip Graham Ryken, D. A. Carson and Timothy Keller, Justification (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2011).

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It is through faith in the Gospel, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, through receiving Jesus, through resting on Him alone, that the enjoyment comes of our being “of God,” that the blessedness thereof comes to our souls. We are, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, “begotten again,” according to the 3rd verse in the 1st chapter of the gospel of John: “As many as received Him, to them gave He power,”—the the right, the title, the privilege, the blessing,—“to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.” Thus we become the children of God, as to enjoyment, as to the power, as to the blessedness, as to the practical enjoyment, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

George Müller, Jehovah Magnified: Addresses (Bristol, England: The Bible and Tract Depot of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution, 1876). 142.

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Like Jews whose faith was truly in God, Gentiles who were genuine God-fearers inevitably recognized the truth of the gospel when they heard it and received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

John MacArthur, James (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1998). 167.

When a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, he becomes a new creation. His whole being is transformed and indwelt by the Holy Spirit.

John MacArthur, James (Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1998). 145.

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Many Christians make a false dichotomy out of receiving Jesus as Savior and Lord. They will say, “Three years ago I accepted Christ as Savior, but tonight I want to make Him Lord.” Their motive for making such a statement is excellent, but they are a bit mistaken. We don’t make Christ Lord; He already is. When you receive Him as Savior, He becomes Lord as well. The question is not, “Is Christ Lord of my life?” The question is, “Do I obey Christ’s Lordship?”

. 96.

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Dear Father, thank you for sending John the Baptizer as the forerunner for your Son. Make me a forerunner in the lives of others to help prepare their hearts for receiving Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Amen.

Stuart K. Weber, Matthew, Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000). 48.

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So Stephen prayed for the man to be relieved of the power that refused to let him speak the name of Jesus. Suddenly, the man praised God, asked to say the sinner’s prayer, and received Jesus as his Savior. Joy and awe filled Christina and Stephen’s hearts. That same joy and awe soon filled twenty-nine more hearts as Christina shared with us at the dinner table that night. Our theological mind-set raised all sorts of questions. We had never seen God work that way before. He did it differently in our church in America.

Trent C. Butler, Luke, Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000). 113.

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5:41–42. The final two paragraphs close the sermon by condemning Jesus’ accusers. The people with whom he spoke had studied the Scriptures for several thousand years. From the writings of Moses to the appearance of the Messiah, they revered God’s writings, but they never understood them. Indeed, if they had grasped only the Pentateuch they would have been ready to receive Jesus as God’s Son and Messiah. They searched to find life and life was in Christ, but they never made the connection.

Kenneth O. Gangel, John, Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000). 105.

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We can reasonably conclude, then, that all who have truly received Jesus are saved (John 1:12). Certainly, we love and obey imperfectly, but even that imperfect faithfulness, compared to the stark unbelief and disregard for others manifested by the Gnostics, can bring comforting reassurance of our salvation, assuming it is built on faith that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God (2:22–23).

David Walls and Max Anders, I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude, Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999). 183.

The forgiveness John talks about in 1:9 can be understood as parental or familial forgiveness, not judicial forgiveness. That is, we all receive judicial forgiveness one time when we receive Jesus as our personal Savior (Eph. 1:7; Rom. 5:6–11).

David Walls and Max Anders, I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude, Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999). 159.

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Those who have received Jesus Christ by faith have been baptized into Christ and are joined with him in a spiritual union in which they participate in his death, burial, and resurrection (Rom. 6:3–4; Gal. 2:16). Water baptism is a physical picture of what has happened to us spiritually when we were spiritually united with Christ.

Max Anders, Galatians-Colossians, Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999). 44-45.

This marvelous choice makes us holy and blameless in his sight. Because we have believed in and received Jesus as our Savior, all our sins are forgiven in him. This does not mean that true Christians never sin. It means our sin is paid for by the death of Christ. Jesus was holy and blameless. We are in Jesus; therefore, we are holy and blameless in God’s sight.

Max Anders, Galatians-Colossians, Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999). 92.

The reason good people don’t go to heaven, therefore, is because they do not meet God’s standard. God’s standard is not goodness. It is perfection. Good people don’t go to heaven. Perfect people do. That presents a problem because no one is perfect (Rom. 3:10, 23).
How do you get perfect? You must have your sins forgiven and your imperfections eliminated. That happens when you believe in, and receive, Jesus as your personal Savior.

Max Anders, Galatians-Colossians, Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999). 42.

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It is the offer and demand of the object that determines in each case what a faith-commitment involves. Thus, I show faith in my car by relying on it to get me places, and in my doctor by submitting to his treatment. And I show faith in God by bowing to his claim to rule and manage me; by receiving Jesus Christ, his Son, as my own Lord and Savior; and by relying on his promise to bless me here and hereafter. This is the meaning of response to the offer and demand of the God of the Creed.

J. I. Packer, Growing in Christ (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1996). 20.

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Only after receiving Jesus Christ as personal Savior can one have inner assurance of divine election.

Carl Ferdinand Howard Henry, God, Revelation, and Authority (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1999). 87.

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Let me add before I move on that one wonderful thing did happen to Charlotte while she was in the children’s home. She received Jesus Christ as her personal Lord and Savior, and God became her perfect heavenly Father. Since then He has been molding and shaping her into the beautiful godly woman, wife, and mother she is today.

Daniel Akin, God on Sex : The Creator's Ideas About Love, Intimacy, and Marriage (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003). 33.

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Although they are not removed from the earth until they die or are raptured, believers are rescued out of this present evil age the moment they receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

John MacArthur, Galatians (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996). 6.

The book of Galatians has been conferred with such titles as the Magna Carta of spiritual liberty, the battle cry of the Reformation, and the Christian’s declaration of independence. It is clearly the Holy Spirit’s charter of spiritual freedom for those who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

John MacArthur, Galatians (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996).

Though probably not in so dramatic a way, every true believer in Galatia had received the Holy Spirit the moment he received Jesus Christ as Savior.

John MacArthur, Galatians (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996). 67.

Joy is the inevitable overflow of receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and of the believer’s knowing His continuing presence.

John MacArthur, Galatians (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996). 166.

When a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, sin becomes a dead issue, the law becomes a dead issue, and the world becomes a dead issue.

John MacArthur, Galatians (Chicago: Moody Press, 1996). 208.

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Easy believism is a modern form of the ancient heresy of antinomianism. It asserts that once a person makes a decision for Christ or prays to receive Jesus as Savior, it is not necessary to embrace Him as Lord. There are no requirements of law that bind the Christian.

R. C. Sproul, Essential Truths of the Christian Faith (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1992).

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Whoever “receives” Jesus the Son becomes a child of God (Jn 1:12–13; cf. the use of orphanos [“orphan”] in 14:18); and this is a matter not of physical birth into the family of the Jewish people, but of spiritual birth “from above” (anōthen, Jn 3:3, 7).

Joel B. Green, Scot McKnight and I. Howard Marshall, Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1992). 228.

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Being now regenerate and able by the use of their freed will to choose God and the good, they turn away from their former pattern of living to receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and to start a new life with him.

J. I. Packer, Concise Theology : A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House, 1995).

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E. Paul’s Use of the OT in 2 Cor. 4:6. Although there is no direct quotation from the OT at 2 Cor. 4:6, Paul makes use of some OT motifs in this verse. Paul probably refers primarily to the creation story (Gen. 1:3). He does not quote it verbatim; nevertheless, his analogical point is clear: just as God acted in creation, “whereby the darkness of the primeval world was banished by the light” (Kruse 1987: 105), so now God shines “the light of the gospel” into the hearts of those who receive Jesus Christ as Savior.

G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, UK: Baker Academic; Apollos, 2007). 763.

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The contemporary trend labeled “easy believism” holds that a one-time decision to accept Christ as Savior—but not necessarily as Lord—is all that it takes to be a Christian. However, the testimony of Scripture is that bare assent to the Gospel facts, divorced from a transforming commitment to Christ for life, is something less than saving faith. (I explored that issue further in my book The Gospel According to Jesus [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1988].)

John F. MacArthur, Jr., Saved Without a Doubt (Victor Books, c1992.). 151.

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The goal of a church’s evangelistic efforts must be to “make disciples,” not merely to record “decisions.” Unless a decision to accept Christ as Savior and Lord results in a person becoming a responsible member of a church, there is sufficient reason to doubt the validity of a new birth.

Reformation and Revival Volume 02, 3 (Carol Stream, Illinois: Reformation and Revival Ministries, 1993). 96.

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But perhaps it is better to think of this obedience as directed not to Paul personally but to what we might call the “gospel imperative.” Paul does not use the word “obedience” often, but when he does he often speaks about the general demand that accompanies the gospel: what Paul calls “the obedience of faith” (Rom. 1:5; 16:26; cf. also 15:18). By this phrase Paul indicates that faith (in Christ) is always accompanied by the call to obedience: that, to put it another way, accepting Christ as Savior is to accept him as Lord. This same general flavor of the word emerges in other texts.

Douglas J. Moo, The Letters to the Colossians and to Philemon, The Pillar New Testament commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2008). 434-35.

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To accept Christ as Savior is to give up all rights to oneself. Christians belong to Christ. Paul the apostle was the servant of the Lord. We who believe have placed ourselves at Christ’s disposal to be used as he sees fit. There is little room here for the mistaken idea that people can accept Christ as Savior without also allowing him to be Lord of their lives. As we learned in v. 5, we have been called to “the obedience that comes from faith.”

Robert H. Mounce, Romans, electronic ed., Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001). 63.

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Many of them believed, accepting Christ as Savior. They were those who were “appointed for eternal life.

John B. Polhill, Acts, electronic ed., Logos Library System; The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2001). 308.

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You are “dead in your transgressions and sins” until you accept Christ as Savior and are converted (Eph. 2:11).

Thomas D. Lea, Hebrews, James, Holman New Testament Commentary; Holman Reference (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1999). 356.

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The Church is made up of Jews and Gentiles who accept Christ as Savior.

Mal Couch, Conservative Theological Journal Volume 2, 7 (Fort Worth, TX: Tyndale Theological Seminary, 1998). 425.

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After we have put our faith in Christ, we enter a second new relationship — we are identified and united with Christ.
Romans 8:1 After we have accepted Christ as Savior, we are in Christ.