What does it mean to "accept Jesus into your heart"?

Question

Are there any verses in the Bible that say this?

Answer 1

This concept is new and is a misquote of Scripture. This is what we call "easy believism" today and is a relatively new teaching, maybe 30 years or so. It is not really how to get saved and to follow it misses some esentials to really becoming saved.
First the concept is a misquote of Revelation 3:20 which says. "Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me." It is a convincing verse, but the problem is it is not written to unsaved people, but to the church. No where in the Bible does it teach that we become saved by opening the door of our hearts. When I became a Christian, 60 years ago, we came to Jesus, confessed our sins, declared Him to be our Lord and prayed that He would accept us, not the other way around. Romans 15:7 Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Salvation is obtained by following Romans 10:9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. "
The real problem with the concept of us accepting Christ is that it leaves out the Lordship of Christ, which is an essential part of salvation according to Romans 10.

Answer 2

I was a Christian for a while, but am not connected with any particular religion now. I do not take the Bible literally, and I have come up with an explanation of that phrase.

To me, "Jesus," though he was a real man, was used in this book, the Bible, to represent others in our lives.

Jesus bore the burden of our 'sins' : People in our lives will forgive us for the mistakes(no matter what they are) we make, and though inside it may hurt them, they will say to us, "it's ok," because they may be our friends, our parents, or even someone we don't know.

So, we do not have to worry about things we do on accident.
Accepting Jesus means letting things go. Let's say you accidentally drop someone's vase or expensive sculpture... You can let the guilt and pain go, because the other person is already bearing it(the owner of the vase or sculpture). This seems careless, but in reality, there will come a time when you will be the one who must bear the pain... I hope that I am explaining this correctly.

And yes, there are verses in the Bible that go about explaining what Jesus means, but sometimes they are more confusing than the original verse!

Answer 3

Another term is 'born again' or 'saved'.

To accept Jesus into your heart, means to accept Him into your life, to be your Saviour and Lord.

In John chapter 3 verse 16, it says
For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only Son,
that whosoever believes in Him
should not perish,
but have eternal life.

To put your faith and trust in Jesus -
To believe that He died for you
and took the punishment which
you and I deserved.
Asking Him to forgive your wrong doing.

For all have sinned and fallen short of God's standard.
This does not mean to believe that He just existed,
but to repent (turn away from your old pattern of living)
and live your life for God.

If you would genuinely like to know more
go to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/seeking_reality

Answer 4

I don't have acess to a Bible ,but in Paul's letters he says ,"Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved"That's in Acts,he's talking to the Philippian Jailer. He also says elsewhere,when you believe in Jesus the Holy Spirit of God indwells you and seals you for eternity(the heart is just a figure of speech).

Answer 5

When you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that He died on the cross for your sins. It means that you invite Jesus into your heart and will follow the plan He has for you.

Answer 6

It means that when you accept Jesus in your heart all your sins are forgiven. Jesus died on the cross for our sins, he paid the price for our sins all we have to do is accept. Salvation is plain and simple to those who want to be saved. You have a clean slate with Jesus once you repent your sins and ask Him in your heart. If you are not saved please get saved you will have everlasting life.

Answer 7

No, not that exact phrase. What does it mean? It means to make Jesus your center of existence. Without Him we are nothing but sinners. He made it possible for us to live and talk to God through prayer and as sin free as possible for a physical being. God forgives our sins because of what Jesus did. That's why God sent Him here.

Answer 8

It does not state this in the Bible. It does tell us that to get eternal life we must repent of sin, believe Christ died for our sins and raised from the dead, and to confess Him to others.

Answer 9

Is Jesus waiting for us to accept Him? Is Jesus a trinket on a window waiting for us to buy Him..geez.

Emmanuel..!!!

Answer 10

John 3:16 is kinda the same as that.