Question 63 – Who is a Christian?
"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:12-13)
Christianity is made up of people who confess Him. Therefore, it is appropriate to clarify who is and who is not a Christian, and how a person becomes one. Many people claim to be Christians and derive their faith from the fact that they attend church, they belong to a church, they were born in a Christian family, they were baptized as infants, they have accepted the facts of a specific confession of faith, or that they perform specific religious activities. Unfortunately, many of them are simply self-deceived. None of these things make someone a Christian. In the same way, a person does not become a car by going into the garage regularly, so you will not become a Christian by attending church regularly. According to the Bible, a Christian is someone who is a disciple and follower of Jesus Christ (Christian means a Christ-one). To become a Christian consists of two basic components that cannot exist separately.
- the understanding
- the will (heart) and practice (behaviour)
The understanding
The component of understanding comprises of the acceptance of basic realities about God, Jesus Christ, the Bible, and salvation from the curse of sin. There are many people who attend church regularly and accept specific dogma with their intellect. This is a good thing but in and of itself, it is not enough. If we take this situation to its extreme, we could, on this basis, state that even Satan himself and his demons are also Christians because even they believe that God exists, that Jesus is Lord, the Bible is God's inspired Word, and so on (actually, they do not have to believe, they know…). It is also necessary to have the component of the will and a changed life.
'Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me."' (Matthew 16:24)
We take Jesus Christ as the sovereign Lord over our life on the basis of a decision and a deep desire for a changed life. In other words, we give him the "reins" of our life.
A Christian is then, succinctly put, one who:
- believes in the one and only God who has revealed himself in the Bible and believes in Jesus Christ, that is who Jesus was/is, that he died on the cross, was resurrected and now rules at the right hand of the Father.
- has experienced a personal and unique repentance (that is a new birth) by accepting/taking Jesus as the Lord and Saviour of his/her life, has put his trust in Jesus, and desires to live just as Jesus himself lived.
- has confessed his sins to God and is truly sorry. He has asked God for forgiveness and has accepted by faith the reality that all his sins have been forgiven on the basis of the Lord Jesus' sacrifice.
- tries to love God and others and keeps God's principles and commandments.
- is not perfect! He often makes mistakes and gives in to his natural, sinful tendencies/propensities. He is well-aware of his state and strives for internal change and alteration in his character in co-operation with God.
These characteristics of the Christian originate from deep within the Bible's message itself. As you can probably sense, there are, in reality, many fewer true Christians than there seem to be. It is nothing less than what the Lord Jesus himself brought to our attention:
"Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few." (Matthew 7:13-14)
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'" (Matthew 7:21-23)
For example, something over one million (out of ten million) people in the Czech Republic professed to be Christians in the 2011 census. However, only God knows the number of true followers. I am afraid that the number of born-again believers is only several tens of thousands on the basis of various observations and biblical standards! Because of this, there is much room for the formation of prejudice and mistaken ideas about what Christianity really is among the general public. Many of these Christians "in name only" can present a false picture of spiritual reality to those around them.
Summation
A Christian is one who is deeply aware of the fact that he/she is under condemnation because of his/her sinfulness, believes in the One and only God, has taken Jesus Christ as his/her Lord and Saviour from sin, and keeps God's commandments and principles found in his Word.