You know who the apostles are, right? Andrew, Peter, James, John. These are the guys who stuck close to this Jesus of Nazareth for 3 years, or about 20,000 hours all together. Fishermen, for the most part, from towns along the shore of Galilee.

Let me ask you something. Will these men be saved? Will they be with us in heaven? I hope you said yes, because Jesus himself affirmed that they would.

What religion?

Now let me ask you something else. Before these men were called to follow Yeshua, what religion did they practice? Were they raised to follow the Greek gods or perhaps to bow down to Caesar or did they attend the local Jewish synagogue each sabbath and practice what we now call Judaism? In case you are brand new to the Bible and bible history, the correct answer is Judaism.

Judaism taught that one day, God would send another prophet “like unto Moses”, a great prophet. It also taught that a messiah, a redeemer was coming. This messiah would save his people.

Then what?

Final question. After Andrew, Peter, James and John recognized that Jesus was the promised messiah and placed their full trust in him, what religion did they practice? Did they still go to the synagogue each sabbath? (Yep) Did they still go to the temple in Jerusalem for the festivals? (You betcha) Have you seen anywhere in Scripture that they “converted” to a different religion? (Nope) Were they later baptized into a new faith of some kind? (No way)

Conclusion – and one more question

Let’s summarize what we just observed: None of these men “became Christians” (by our modern definition of the term), yet they are all saved! The term “Christian” it turns out, was originally just a label – a derogatory one at that. Today, it means wildly different things to different people.

So, if the apostles, as we have seen, did not convert to Christianity, what does this mean? One point is clear: Jesus did not come to create a new religion. In fulfillment of Scripture, He came to die for, and to redeem, his people. He was the long-awaited Messiah. What matters is all about our relationship to the one who declared “I am the way, the truth and the life”. Remember, he who said, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6) also said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14:15 )