ACCEPTANCE. A term meaning that a person or act is received with approval or welcomed by another. The idea is rendered by a variety of words or expressions in the OT and NT.

In the Bible the most vital need of the person is to be acceptable to God. Sin separates. Acceptance is a condition of restoration to God. It is clear that God determines who is acceptable to Him, and He it is who provides the means of reconciliation of the estranged. God instituted reconciling sacrifices, but sacrifices in themselves are of no use if men are profane in their manner of life (Isa 1:11-16). It was the penitent tax collector and not the self-justifying Pharisee whom God accepted at prayer (Luke 18:14).

The NT gives the final word on the solution. God provided access to Himself through Jesus Christ by His cross (Eph 2:18; 3:12). Acceptance is, in more personal terms, the equivalent of the idea of justification, and this comes through accepting God’s gift by faith (Rom 5:1, 2). We are accepted by accepting God’s gift. Since this is so, the believer can offer himself acceptably to God (Rom 12:1). As a priest, his particular sacrifices are acceptable through Christ (1 Pet 2:5), such as his gifts, his praise, his well-doing, and his sharing (Phil 4:18; Heb 13:15, 16). All the godly of whatever race and station are through Christ acceptable to God, as Cornelius was (Acts 10:35). And because God has received believers, they are to forgive and accept each other in the fellowship of love (Eph 4:32; 5:2), even though they differ on details of Christian conscientious behavior (Rom 14:1, 3; 15:7 NEB). See Restoration; Redeemer, Redemption.

Bibliography A. Richardson, An Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament (1958), 296-301.