Terminology Explained
3. Terminology Examined.
When we use terminology that is not found in God's Word, it can become very confusing, and should be avoided when dealing with the lost.
Here are a few of the problems that can arise when we ask people to let Jesus come into their hearts.
A. How Does A Person Let Christ Come In?
Does one make a surgical incision and let Christ in, then sew it back up? You may think I am ridiculous to say this, but it must be remembered that children do not always understand what you mean when this is said.
Children who have been in Sunday School have seen "pictures of Jesus" and have a right to wonder, "Does Jesus in His body come inside of my body and live?" "Is this how He comes into my heart?" Of course, the answer is, "No." When a person speaks of the heart, children associate this with the heart muscle, and so do many adults. Children, especially, have a tendency to take literally what we tell them because of their inability to think in abstract terms.
If a person you were witnessing to asked you, "How do I let Jesus come in?" How would you answer them? When this happened to me I had to explain to the young boy what I meant! I had assumed he would have understood that I meant for him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but I was so wrong. This confusion could have been avoided if I had avoided unscriptural terminology that I had coined from hear say, not the Bible.
B. Does Christ Actually Come Into Your Heart?
The answer is, "No." It is the Third Person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit. The confusion that may arise is a doctrinal issue. The Holy Spirit is never to be invited to indwell us for salvation. God has promised to indwell each person with the Holy Spirit, simultaneously with their belief in Christ. Receiving the Holy Spirit is the object of God's promise, not our invitation.
Before Christ ascended back to Heaven, He left this promise in John 14:16-18 a, that the Holy Spirit within would take the place of the Savior Who had been with them,
"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter (i.e., the Holy Spirit), that he may abide with you for ever; (16) Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. (17) I will not leave you comfortless..." (lit. an orphan). (18) Now, every believer in Christ is indwelt and sealed with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 1:13 makes this clear ...
"In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise."
There is no Christian who is not indwelt with the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:9 makes this perfectly clear, "...Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his."
Remember, nowhere are we ever commanded to pray for the Holy Spirit to indwell us. Pentecostals err in this point when praying for the Holy Spirit and seeking evidence by the speaking in so-called tongues.
Why should we ask someone to invite Jesus into their heart? It is not Jesus, but the Holy Spirit, that indwells us. Are we not paralleling the error that Pentecostalism makes in praying and pleading for the Holy Spirit? This thought leads me to my next point.
C.How Would You Know If Jesus Came Into Your Heart?
Suppose that you just invited a person to "Let Jesus come into His heart" and they asked you this question, "How do I know when He comes in?" Of course, there are Scriptures to support what you meant, but there are no Scriptures to support what you said. With this terminology, the only way this person would know if Jesus came into his heart is, if the person had a feeling or sensation. Then their salvation would be based on a feeling and not the Word of God. This would unequivocally parallel the same error as Pentecostalism in desiring the sensation of tongues as evidence they were receiving the Holy Spirit.
There is no terminology or phraseology as simple and clear as God's Word Itself when leading a person to Christ. How can one rephrase or improve upon Acts 16:30 b, 31a?
..."Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved..."
They did not say, "Let Jesus come into your heart" and then have to worry about confusion and explain what they meant by what they said.
4. Textual Exposition - "Believing With All Your Heart.
Let us now examine the verses that deal with believing with the heart.
Acts 8:37, "And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest (be baptized). And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."
"Believing with all thine heart" simply means, "I have no reservations or doubts within my conscience that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." Philip was satisfied by this testimony that he was saved and then proceeded to baptize him.
Romans 10:10, "For with the heart (conscience) man believeth unto righteousness..." The word "heart" here is not the pumping muscle of the body, but the conscience of man. Your conscience will always tell you to do right, but only the Word of God tells us what is right. The soul desires peace, the spirit understands Christ died for us, and our heart (the seat of our conscience) believes unto righteousness.
"Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 5:1). In Luke 24:25, we find believing is done with the heart (conscience), "Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken."
Ephesians 3:17, "That Christ may dwell in your hearts (conscience) by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love." To understand what it means by the statement "Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith," one only has to read the surrounding verses. First of all, it is addressing the believers at Ephesus, and instructing them how to grow and be strength-ened. Ephesians 3:16 states,
"...to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man."
In Ephesians 3:18-19 the results of Ephesians 3:16-17 are given.
"(Believers) May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; (18) And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God." (19) The way to comprehend the length, width, depth, and height of God's love is to allow Christ to dwell in our conscience (heart) continuously. In other words, we are thinking about Christ at all times, which will strengthen us so we will be rooted and grounded in love.
Ephesians 3:17 in no way implies Christ comes into our pumping heart with the asking. "Christ dwelling in our hearts (conscience) by faith" simply means, from the context; we, as Christians, need to be thinking about Christ at all times. If we do, we will be strengthened and able to better comprehend His love for us.
Revelation 3:20, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me." When one reads this verse, the word "heart" cannot be found. It is, nevertheless, almost universally used for the lost, implying the door is the door to their heart which they must open to let Christ in.
If we examine Ephesians 3:14-21 of the same chapter, we find that these Scriptures are describing the condition of a local church located in Laodicea. The instructions to this church are not primarily to the lost; but rather, to the Christians who were in a backslidden condition. They were not cold; but lukewarm. Christ wanted them to be hot (i.e., lit. boiling).
It would be like the Christian today who goes to church once a week, but does nothing for the Lord the rest of the week. Christ wants us to serve Him every day, not just on Sunday. There are three words that support the fact he is speaking to Christians and not the lost. In Ephesians 3:15 we read, "I know thy WORKS." Since he is exhorting them to have good works, it has reference to service and not salvation, for salvation cannot be purchased with good works. Romans 4:5 states,
"But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him (Christ) that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." In Ephesians 3:19, the word "CHASTEN" is used. God punishes the lost, but chastens His children, "As many as I love, I rebuke and CHASTEN: be zealous therefore, and repent."
"Chastening" is the Greek word "ELEGCHO" which means to train up a child or educate by discipline. Also, the word "repent" is the Greek word "metanoeo" and means to think differently or reconsider.
The Lord is telling them they are acting like children and they need to reconsider what they are doing and start serving Him. The context here is referring to serving since we are saved, not accepting Him to be saved.
3. In Ephesians 3:20 b, the word "SUP" is used in reference to fellowship, not salvation and son-ship, "I will come in to him, and SUP with him, and he with me." In 1 John 1:7 we read, "But if we walk (obey) in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another..." When we sit down together to eat (sup) with one another, we have fellowship with one another. The Lao-diceans were not serving Christ; therefore, there was no fellowship with Him. He wanted them to open their lives to serve Him, and this they were not doing. When Christ stands at the door and knocks, He is simply trying to get their attention so they will "REPENT" (i.e., change their mind) and "OPEN THE DOOR" (yield to His will by obeying Him) and "SUP" with Him and He with me" (so we can have fellowship with Him)
We have been so prone to relating the word "heart" to the pumping muscle that it is sometimes not realized how confusing it may be. This does not mean that people are not saved when this terminology is used. I am only suggesting that using Scriptural terminology such as "believe," "trust," "faith," and etc. for salvation would be less confusing.
Statements like "You can believe in Christ, but miss Heaven by 18 inches," or "You can have a head knowledge, but not a heart belief," are unwise. When one begins to analyze these statements, they become very hard to explain. They are confusing, and many times what is meant by these kinds of statements is an outright contradiction to God's teaching concerning salvation.
I have inquired of many people concerning the statement "head knowledge, but not a heart belief," to ascertain what they meant by that statement. Not all, but the majority by far, thought it meant that if a person was not serving Christ, they probably were not saved. One can easily see by this how misleading and confusing this kind of terminology can be. Just because a person is not serving Christ does not mean they have not received Christ by faith and are not saved.
Some time ago I was listening to WCRF, a Christian radio station from Cleveland, Ohio. This station is sponsored by Moody Bible Institute and they were airing an interview with a Senior girl attending Moody Bible College in Chicago, Illinois. Within her testimony she related how at the age of about 7 years, she was told to ask "Jesus into her heart" and she would go to Heaven.
She went on to say that she had a problem with that and later realized it was not asking Jesus into your heart that makes you a Christian, but acknowledging that Jesus Christ died in her place. She stated that a person could ask Jesus into their heart and go on through life thinking they were a Christian when they were not. She explained that a person must understand that Jesus Christ became their substitute on the cross as payment for their sin. So, just asking Jesus into your heart without comprehending the purpose of Christ on the cross would not give one eternal life.
Since this happened to her, it is easy to see why she emphasized that "A person must be careful when a child asks Jesus into their heart, that they understand that it is the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross that provides salvation, and not just repeating these words."
She further commented that she does not even use that phrase any more, but emphasizes the substitutionary payment of Christ on the cross to eliminate confusion and misunderstanding. In conclusion, the interviewer and the young lady agreed that some children take literally the terminology "Let Jesus come into your heart" and that we need to be clear on our message of salvation. The terminology we use is probably far more important than we care to realize. This may sound harsh, but I believe we, as Christians, have become a little sloppy in our terms and phrases when presenting Christ. When we hear others using phrases over and over, it can become part of our vocabulary without really recognizing it.
I believe this has happened down through the years—as I found myself quoting cute little clichés that I had inherited and incorporated by hearing them time and time again.
I am very grateful to a little boy, years ago, who asked me, "How do I let Jesus come into my heart?" When I had to explain to him what I meant, this stimulated my thinking.
I pray that this section on terminologies will stimulate your desire to search the Scriptures, examine the terminology you use, then draw your own conclusions based on "thus saith the Lord. In conclusion, we need to get back to the basics of expounding the Word of God and when we are finished, invite people to trust Christ—period! We need to dispense with all the foolish questions that amount to nothing and actually bind the invitation. Let us just plainly invite people to trust Christ.
If you want to be a reaper,
Plant God's seed God's way.
And you will reap the harvest
In Heaven on that day.
Don't count the numbers on the wall;
They just don't tell the story.
For those who fear the altar call
Might not make it into Glory!
God's Work Done God's Way Yields A Bountiful Harvest.
A Clear Gospel Produces Believers; Not Counterfeit Christians.