Not as Simple as A-B-C

The Southern Baptist Convention, and many other evangelicals, are enamored with the ABC's of becoming a Christian. For those not familiar with these "ABC's" they stand for admit, believe, and confess. My Sunday School teacher's quarterly says, "The ABC's of Becoming a Christian is a simple and effective way to share God's plan of salvation." I think it is defective.

"A" stands for admit: admit to God that you are a sinner. Some instances will include the need to repent. "B" stands for believe: believe that Jesus is God's Son and accept God's gift of forgiveness from sin. "C" is for confess: confess your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

The first reason I believe they are defective is that they are not biblical. They are "adding to His words." I have read the Bible umpteen times and have never seen these ABC's. They are a man-made concoction that confuse the issue and give a false sense of security. Let's examine them one-by-one.

Admit you are a sinner. Where does the Bible tell you to do that? Obviously, if sin separates us from God the recognition of one's sinfulness must be an issue. In today's parlance, admit doesn't mean much. "Oh, sure, I'm a sinner. So what?" I can admit that without the slightest hesitation. To see myself a sinner as God sees me is another matter.

Believe that Jesus is God's Son and accept God's gift of forgiveness from sin. Well, were getting closer here. This, though, is a false statement. The first part is a teensy-weensy correct: the latter is erroneous. The Bible nowhere speaks of us "accepting Christ" as either Lord or Savior. Granted that we are to believe that Jesus is God's Son, that still leaves a lot to be desired. We are to believe much more than that. The Apostle Paul tells us, "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 10:9 NIV). Belief is in a person, not a fact. Belief is in Jesus Christ, not that he is God's Son. Believing in the person requires a bit more knowledge than this one letter can give.

Confess your faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Now, exactly what does that mean? This statement is not found in the Bible. It is not what Romans 10:9 says, and I fear that we neither understand the statement of Romans 10:9 nor do we mean the same thing. To confess is to say the same thing as. Are we to confess our faith? Sure. Does that save us? No. What are we to confess? "Jesus is Lord!" When we confess that Jesus is Lord we are saying two things: Jesus is Jehovah and Jesus is our Autocrat. Jesus is the Creator who owns us (our not "accepting" him as Lord makes no difference) lock, stock, and barrel. Our confession of Jesus as Lord means we worship and serve him as God himself.

The second reason I believe the ABC's of Salvation are defective is because the Scriptures do tell us how to be saved. When the jailer at Philippi asked Paul and Silas, "What must I do to be saved?" they answered, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household," (Acts 16:31 NKJV). Or this: "Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?' Then Peter said to them, 'Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit,' " (Acts 2:37-38 NKJV). We'll take up the relationship between believe and repent in a future blog entry.

The third reason I believe they are defective is that they are too simplistic. They strive for the least amount of intelligence and cognition. I do not believe we need to make things difficult. Simple and simplistic are two things apart. Simple is fine; simplistic is over-simplification. We use these ABC's and gloss over a great many things that need to be addressed. Believe that Jesus is God's Son? Other belief systems claim to believe that but that does not save them. Salvation is acquired through faith. Faith is founded on fact. "A blind leap of faith" is an absurdity. You must believe something and that something must be substantive. You cannot worship God ignorantly (John 4:24).

The fourth reason I believe the ABC's are defective is they give a false sense of security. " Congratulations! If you have sincerely completed these ABC [sic]. Jesus said: 'there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.' Luke 15:10," says one web site. Besides being poorly worded, the statement is false. The writer assumes that completing these ABC's makes one a Christian. No so. Being saved is a sovereign work of grace and is a gift from God. It is appropriated by faith resulting in a changed life. Perhaps I am over-simplifying but it seems to me that the ABC's are mechanical. It's like marking off a checklist.

I find it amusing that most of my fellow Southern Baptists are against the using of creeds but have no problem with the ABC's. They wouldn't think of reciting the Apostles Creed (even though many would learn something) which is a time-tested concise statement of faith but yet reduce salvation to a formula. There's something wrong there.

I believe we should get back to the Bible. Let's say what the Apostles said. Let's press upon men, women, and children the necessity both to believe and to repent, to turn from idols to the Living God, to turn their backs on darkness and to walk in the light. Maybe then our baptized membership would be truly converted.