You may be surprised to know that the Christian population of the world is reported to number over 800 million persons. In the United States alone, most of its 175 million people are considered to be Christians. In view of these somewhat staggering figures, have you ever asked yourself the question, “What is a Christian ?” You know, sometimes those terms which are most common to our experience, are the things that are least understood. Things that are taken for granted and which are so much a part of our vocabulary and existence, are accepted without too much thought being given as to the why or what of it.
What is your definition of a “Christian” ? This is not an academic question because your opportunity for eternal life, your opportunity for immortality in the kingdom of God may well depend on how you answer that question.
What is a Christian?
The most common answer would probably be “A Christian is one who confesses a belief in Christ as the Son of God.” Now this is correct as far as it goes, but it is far from giving a comprehensive answer to the question. For to give assent to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God, no more makes a Christian out of a person, than would acknowledging that Einstein was a great scientist, makes one a scientist! However, just as respect for Einstein and his contributions to science might inspire someone to become a scientist, even so the conviction that Jesus is the Son of God can motivate one to become a Christian.
We want to submit for your consideration, a definition of the term Christian based on the Bible, your Bible, the inspired word of God; because we believe that it is the ONLY authoritative source of truth in things pertaining to God and to His Son and therefore, in things pertaining to your relationship to them.
This discussion then will be based on the Bible, but it was interesting to note the dictionary’s definition of a Christian, for it outlines in brief and concise but accurate terms, just what the name “Christian” involves.
It begins. A Christian is one who believes in Jesus Christ, but it doesn’t stop there, as so many of our religious friends would do. Many so-called decisions for Christ have been made merely by acknowledging a belief in Jesus ; but the dictionary and the Bible also as we shall see, adds a further requirement. It says, A Christian is “One who believes in Jesus and the truth as taught by him.” What a significant definition this is. Not only is a belief in the reality of Christ as the son of God, necessary in becoming a Christian but it must also include a belief in the truth as preached by the Lord.
How many untold multitudes have satisfied the first requirement and confessed a belief in Jesus but have been completely ignorant of the glorious gospel that flowed from his lips. The second part is imperitive to make the first part effective.
Without a knowledge of what Christ taught, one would have a blind faith, which is not faith or conviction at all, but merely emotion; because the apostle says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The Gospel which Jesus preached and which has been preserved for us in Holy Writ, is the power of God unto salvation, a gospel which must be believed before one can reasonably say, I believe in Christ. So then, one definition of a Christian is, one who believes in Jesus as the Son of God and who knows and believes the gospel (or good news) that he brought to men, having faith in Christ’s ability to accomplish what he has promised in the gospel.
There is a further step in the definition and surprisingly this is also defined in the dictionary as well as in the Bible. This step supplies a most significant addition. It states, “One who has accepted the Christian religion and moral principles of life and whose life is conformed to the doctrines of Christ!” What a rigid requirement is here advanced for those who would call themselves “Christians”. It is not enough just to know about Jesus and to believe that he is the Son of God. It is not even enough to confess a belief in the things that he taught. No. these must be accompanied by obedience and conformity to the Divine will.
How many professing Christians there are throughout the world who do not even attempt to meet these standards! And yet when one says that he believes in Christ, when one is pleased to call himself a Christian, he can’t avoid the implication that is attached thereto : that if that belief is to be effective for salvation it must be a belief that influences his life for good, that motivates his activities according to the will of God. Belief or faith must be demonstrated to be real. James, the Lord’s brother, in writing about the relationship between faith and the expression of it in the lives of believers nuts it this way: “Yea, a man may say, thou hast faith and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith, by my works. But thou know 0 vain man, that faith without works is dead ? For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
It is clear from this that expressing faith and belief in the Lord Jesus – to call oneself a Christian encompasses more than just an intellectual agreement with certain divine principles. It is, indeed, the application of these principles as the guiding force of life. If this is a true definition and we think it is, then what a challenge the Christian life presents. What an accusing indictment it bestows on all who claim to follow the Lord and yet whose lives are not expressive of the moral codes, that his service demands.
We feel that this point constitutes one of the greatest factors in answering the question, What is a Christian, because many are eager to confess a belief in Christ but few are willing to subject themselves to the discipline of the Christian life.
This is evident in the teaching of the Master. He said that many are called but few are chosen. And once when he spoke of the day of judgement he said that some would try to justify their self-righteousness saying, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy name? and in Thy name have cast out devils ? and in Thy name done many wonderful works. And then (Jesus said) will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” Now why this harsh judgment on this class, that would have undoubtedly classified themselves as Christians? They believed on the Lord, even to the extent of doing works in his name, but Christ called them workers of iniquity.
Why ? We are not told directly in these verses in Matthew, but the surrounding verses would infer that their service was not motivated according to his will – the moral codes, the discipline of Christian behavior was not being followed, for in the 21st verse of the 7th chapter of Matthew he says, “Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord (that is not everyone who calls himself a Christian, or a believer in Christ as Lord) shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven . . . Therefore whosoever heareth these savings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.” Conversely he said, “Everyone that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand.”
Notice the distinction between the wise and foolish. They both heard his teaching and possibly both believed his words ; but the wise man put them into practice, he allowed his life to be influenced and motivated by the will of his Lord, while the foolish man did not. We catch a note of despair and sadness in the words of Christ when he cried, “Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say.”
A Christian then must not only be a believer lie must be a doer of the commands of Christ. If this should need further verification we have it elsewhere in his teaching. On one occasion when speaking to his disciples, Christ said, “ye are my friends, IF ye do whatsoever I command you.” Notice the qualification here, notice what is demanded of anyone seeking the friendship of Christ – “ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.”
This introduces another thought How many people (even professing Christians) are aware of all that Christs intends for them to do or refrain from doing? How many people are conscious of the commands of Christ ? How many
a.e interested enough to investigate these things ; to determine what is expected of them ? Now it is quite evident that if one doesn’t know what the commandments of Christ are, then one can not follow them and if one doesn’t follow them, then he places himself outside the circle of friendship with Christ. Neither can one plead ignorance of the laws and thus be excused; they are faithfully recorded for all to read in God’s Holy Word and the responsibility is on each of us to seek them out.
If one is to be a Christian, one of the first of these commands to follow, is baptism into the name Christ. One who is not baptised, has no right to the term “Christian”! These may sound like harsh words, and we don’t mean to be harsh, but the facts must be faced. The Apostle Paul spoke similarly in writing to the church at Ephesus, when he described their state, prior to their baptism into Christ. He wrote “That at that time(that is, before baptism) ye were without Christ (that is, ye were not Christians) being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having No Hope and Without God in the world.” A sorry condition indeed ! However a change took place, he says in the next verse, “but now, in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Surely a wonderful transformation had occurred! What effected this change of relationship?
By what means had this transition from a state of being without Christ to one of being in Christ taken place ?
The same apostle in writing to the Galatians answers this for us. He writes in the third chapter verse 27, Tor as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. Thus baptism is the agency that makes us all one in Christ. Without baptism, one is without Christ, but when one is baptized into the saving name of Jesus his status is changed from one of having no hope and being without God in the world, to one in which he becomes an heir to all the promises of God. Baptism then is a prime requisite to becoming a Christian. It was of course one of the things that Christ required of his followers. It was a command that we dare not neglect if we want to be associated with him. He told His disciples. “Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned.” Belief in the Lord and in the gospel that he taught, followed by baptism into his name, beginning a life conformed to the commands of Christ, these are the two inseparable requirements for salvation —these must be the distinguishing characteristics of a Christian.
To be a Christian, to live as a Christian, is the greatest challenge that life presents. It’s a call to you to transcend the mundane things of this life, to set your affections on things above. This is what Christ did and we are to be like him, he is the pattern to which we should conform. In fact, the most conclusive answer that could be given to the question, “What is a Christian” would be —one who is like Christ.
Though this presents an ideal that is not actually attainable in this life, yet it is one to which all should aspire. It is one that should govern your attitudes, one that ,should direct your activities as you progress toward an eternal inheritance in the kingdom of God.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One