to be a Christian?
A brief study of what it means, and does not mean, to become a Christian and to be
a Christian.
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There is much confusion among the general public, as well as the religious
community, concerning what it means to be a "Christian."
Even those who call themselves "Christians" seem to have much difficulty
articulating and verbalizing what it means to be a Christian. Their ambiguous
explanations often convey an amalgamated "mish-mash" of affirming the above-
mentioned activities.
Becoming a Christian
Man's primary need is not more knowledge and education, nor is it self-
realization and self-improvement. The need of man is to be re-lifed with the very
life of God in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. The Spirit of God gives life
(II Cor. 3:6) to our spirit, causing our spirit to be alive (Rom. 8:10) with
"newness of life" (Rom. 6:4). One who thus becomes a Christian "passes out of
spiritual death into spiritual life" (I John 3:14).
The spiritual life that the Christian receives is the divine life of Jesus
Christ. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" (John 14:6). "He who
has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the
life" (I John 5:12). This "eternal life that is in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 6:23) is
the spiritual life that Jesus came to bring (John 10:10) to restore man to God's
intent for humanity. Eternal life is not a commodity or state of existence that we
receive after we die physically, but is the life of Jesus Christ in the Christian
presently with an eternal continuum of perpetuity.
Every person who receives Jesus Christ and becomes a Christian is assured of
Christ's spiritual presence and empowering. "Lo, I am with you always, even to the
end of the age" (Matt. 28:20), Jesus declared. "Christ, the power of God" (I Cor.
1:24) "works within us" (Eph. 3:20).
Being a Christian
Everything necessary for being and behaving as the Christian one has become is
inherent within and derived from the One with whom we have spiritually identified
and united, Jesus Christ. Being and living as a Christian is not a religious
exercise of conformity to the example of the historic life of Jesus Christ,
striving to be Christ-like. Attempts to pattern one's behavior after that of Jesus
amount to nothing more than self-serving attempts to "parrot" or "ape" the
behavior-pattern of another. The Christian life is not an imitation of Jesus, but
the manifestation of His life and character in our behavior, "that the life of
Jesus may be manifested in our mortal body" (II Cor. 4:10,11).
Living the Christian life is not comprised of going through the motions of
repetitive religious rituals. Nor is it the legalistic keeping of behavioral rules
and regulations in conformity to an ethical morality. Ecclesiastical involvement
is not the essence of Christian living either; not church attendance,
participating in religious programs, or tithing ten-percent of one's income.
Being and behaving as a Christian is enabled and empowered by the grace of God
in the dynamic of the life of Jesus Christ in the Christian. In His departing
promise Jesus explained, "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come
upon you" (Acts 1:8). "God's grace is given according to the working of His power"
(Eph. 3:7), providing "all sufficiency in everything" (II Cor. 9:8). Therefore,
consistent with our becoming a Christian, it is not what we do to behave and live
as a Christian, but the recognition of the sufficiency of the life of Jesus Christ
within us. "He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of
Christ Jesus" (Phil. 1:6).
Jesus said, "I came that you might have life, and have it more abundantly"
(John 10:10). "I am the life" (John 14:6), Jesus declared. The Christian can
affirm with Paul that "Christ is our life" (Col. 3:4); therefore, "for me to live
is Christ" (Phil. 1:21). The Christian life is the "saving life of Christ" (cf.
Rom. 5:10), whereby we are "made safe" from dysfunctional humanity in order to
function as God intended by the divine impetus of Christ within the Christian.
By His Holy Spirit, the living Lord Jesus wants to fill us (cf. Eph. 5:18) and
control our behavior in order to manifest His character. This is not ethical
conformity to a Christian value-system, but is the manifestation of the "fruit of
the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
gentleness and self-control" (Gal. 5:22,23). Thereby we allow for His holy
character to be expressed in the process of sanctification (cf. I Cor. 1:30; I
Thess. 5:23).
Being the Christian we have become is not effected by increased dedication and
commitment to God or the church. Nor is Christian growth and behavior enacted by
"studying to show oneself approved to God" by the gnostic acquisition of
additional biblical and doctrinal knowledge. Emotional experiences do not make one
a better Christian. Participation in activistic causes, or serving the Lord in
ministry or missions opportunities are not creditable means of enhancing the
Christian life. God is "not served with human hands, as though He needed anything"
(Acts 17:25). Paul credited Christ for everything in his life and ministry, when
he wrote, "I do not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has
accomplished through me" (Rom. 15:18).
"As you received Christ Jesus, so walk in Him" (Col. 2:6), wrote Paul. How did
we receive Christ Jesus in order to become a Christian? By faith! In like manner,
then, the Christian is responsible to continue to make the volitional choices
moment-by-moment to allow for the receptivity of Christ's activity in our
Christian lives. Such receptive faith allows for the vital outworking (cf. James
2:26) of the life and character of Jesus Christ in our behavior. "Christ lives in
me," Paul explained, "and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the
Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me" (Gal. 2:20).