Articles
What It Takes to Be Saved 12 – Man’s Part - Knowledge of the Gospel
What It Takes to Be Saved 12 – Man’s Part
Knowledge of the Gospel
Mike Willis
One of the hallmarks that distinguish Christianity from Judaism is how one enters into covenant relationship with the Lord. A Jewish male is born to his parents and, on the eighth day is circumcised to enter into covenant relationship with the Lord (Gen. 17:1-14). However, the Jewish prophet Jeremiah foretold a time when this would change:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more” (Jer. 31:31-34).
Jewish children were born into a relationship with the Lord based on their ancestry, but Jeremiah foretold a time when the Jewish Messiah would come. After the Messiah came, one’s relationship with the Lord required knowing the Lord before he entered that relationship with Him. No one can enter a covenant with the Lord without knowing the Lord.
Jesus came and died on Calvary for the atonement of mankind’s sins. So that men might enter a relationship with God, Jesus sent His apostles to teach men the gospel of the kingdom of God: “And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned’” (Mark 16:15-16).
Paul showed how salvation comes in the book of Romans: “. . . because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. . . . SO FAITH COMES FROM HEARING, AND HEARING THROUGH THE WORD OF CHRIST” (Rom. 10:9-11, 17).
One is not a Christian because his mother and dad were Christians. In order to enter a relationship with Jesus, one must learn what God has done for mankind in the sending of His Son for our salvation, believe that good news, and yield the lordship of his life to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The fact that one must “know the Lord” in order to enter a covenant relationship with Him shows what is wrong with infant baptism. An infant is incapable of understanding who Jesus is and what he has done to save mankind from his sins. He cannot repent of sins he has committed because he has not committed any and he has not inherited the guilt of the sins or any other person (including Adam).
