The two words which form the heading of this paper, though rendered by the same word in our King James Version of the Bible, are not at all the same. The former has respect to the person of the believer; the latter to his practical ways. It is one thing to be accepted; it is quite another to be acceptable. The former is the fruit of God’s free grace to us as sinners; the latter is the fruit of our earnest labor as saints, though, most surely, it is only by grace we can do anything.
Accepted
It is important to understand the distinction between these two things, for it will preserve us from legality on the one hand and laxity on the other. It remains unalterably true of all believers that God has made them accepted in the Beloved. Nothing can ever touch this. The very feeblest lamb in the flock stands accepted in a risen Christ. There is no difference. The grace of God has placed them all on this high and blessed ground. We do not labor to be accepted. It is all the fruit of God’s free grace. He found us all alike dead in trespasses and sins. We were morally dead — far off from God, hopeless, Godless, Christless, children of wrath, whether Jews or Gentiles. But Christ died for us and has quickened, raised and seated us in Christ — made us accepted in Him.
This is the inalienable, eternal standing of all who believe in the name of the Son of God. Christ in His infinite grace placed Himself judicially where we were morally, and having put away our sins and perfectly satisfied, on our behalf, the claims of divine righteousness, God raised Him from the dead, and with Him all His members. In His own eternal purpose, in due time, they will be brought into the actual possession and enjoyment of the marvelous place of blessing and privilege, by the effectual operation of the Holy Spirit.
We may well take up the opening words of the epistle to the Ephesians and say, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the beloved.” All praise to His name throughout the everlasting ages!
Acceptable
But are all believers acceptable in their practical ways? Are all so carrying themselves as that their dealings and doings will bear the light of the judgment seat of Christ? Are all laboring to be agreeable to Him?
These are serious questions; let us solemnly weigh them. Let us not turn away from the sharp edge of plain, practical truth. The Apostle Paul knew he was accepted. Did that make him lax, careless or indolent? Far from it. “We labor,” he says, to be acceptable to Him. The sweet assurance that we are accepted in Him is the ground of our labor to be acceptable to Him. “The love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:14-1514For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: 15And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. (2 Corinthians 5:14‑15)).
All this is preeminently practical. We are called upon, by every argument which can govern the heart and conscience, to labor diligently to be acceptable to our blessed and adorable Lord. Is there anything of legality in this? Not the slightest tinge, but rather the very reverse. It is the holy superstructure of a devoted life, erected on the solid foundation of our eternal election and perfect acceptance in a risen and glorified Christ at God’s right hand. How could there be the very smallest atom of legality here? Utterly impossible. It is all the pure fruit of God’s free and sovereign grace from first to last.
Due Diligence
But ought we not to rouse ourselves to attend to the claims of Christ as to practical righteousness? Should we not zealously and lovingly aim at giving Him pleasure? Are we to content ourselves with talking about our acceptance in Christ, while at the same time there is no real earnest care as to the acceptability of our ways? God forbid! Rather, let us so dwell upon the rich grace that shines in the acceptance of our persons that we may be led out in diligent and fervent effort to be found acceptable in our ways.
It is greatly to be feared that there is an appalling amount of antinomianism among us — an unhallowed traffic in the doctrines of grace, without any godly care as to the application of those doctrines to our practical conduct. Most assuredly, there is a need for all who profess to be accepted in Christ to labor fervently to be acceptable to Him. (Antinomianism literally means “without law,” and represents a doctrine that carries the precious truth of justification by faith to an unbiblical conclusion, asserting that there is no need to keep the moral law or be careful of our conduct, because the work of Christ has dealt with all our sins. It is using God’s grace as an excuse to sin.)
C. H. Mackintosh (adapted)