Answering the Question, "What Is a Christian?"

Thanks to those of you who posted answers to the question I posed in a post 2 weeks ago.  I thought that it brought about some lively discussion.  The question posed was this: "What is a Christian?"  I believe that the way we answer this question has implications larger than one might expect.

Let me draw your attention to 2 of the answers I received to this question.  The first comes from Bob.  Bob does a fantastic job of not only answering the question for himself, but also for numerous other people & religious groups.  For instance, he says, "If you ask a politician [what a Christian is], a Christian is somebody who comes from a generally conservative moralistic constituency that is against abortion, and gay marriage." And "if you ask some in certain denominations notably Catholic, Lutheran, & Church of Christ... Christians are people who have been baptized."  He lists off an additional 14 other ways that people might answer this question, all of them well worth your time to read and ponder over.

So if there are so many different ways that people answer this question, how do we know what a Christian truly is?  Is a Christian simply someone who follows Jesus and professes to be his disciple?  Is it someone who agrees with Christian teaching? Is it someone who goes to church? To answer this question, I think it might be helpful to first answer the question, "What is an apple?"  Now, some of you may say an apple is red or green.  Or you may say that an apple tastes good or that it contains seeds and a stem.  You might even say that an apple grows on a tree.  But do you see what's happened here?  You've given me a description of an apple without ever telling me what an apple really is.  The same is true for most answers to the question of what a Christian really is.  Yes, a Christian is a follower & disciple of Jesus.  A Christian does go to church, and a Christian does (or should) believe that homosexuality & abortion are sins.  But that does not accurately answer the question.  Why?  Because, sadly, not all who profess to be & act like Christians are truly Christians.  Listen to the words of Jesus himself in Matthew 7:21-23.

“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 will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Being a disciple of Jesus, going to church, and getting baptized are all descriptions of true Christians.  In fact, those characteristics are the fruit of becoming a Christian.  But those things in themselves do not make one a Christian.  Ok, so what is a Christian then?  I will first default to the Iain Murray who will give the longer answer, and then to Andrew Barber (a good friend & the 2nd commenter that I wanted to point your attention to) who sums it up nicely.

"To become a Christian is to experience the power of Christ in the forgiveness of sin and in the receiving of a new life. It is a change accomplished by God and altogether apart from human effort or deserving, for the very faith which is the instrument in uniting the sinner to Christ is itself a gift: 'By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is a gift of God' (Ephesians 2:8).  Further, while obedience and love result from the gift of faith, these graces follow rather than contribute anything to our acceptance with God.  It is Christ's finished work alone which secures for ever the believer's status of righteousness and of 'no condemnation.'"  - Iain Murray in Evangelicalism Divided, pg 152

To sum that up in the words of Mr. Barber, "A Christian is someone who's experienced regeneration. Everything else is implication." 

Now, why is this such an important distinction to make?  And what are the implications of answering that question wrongly?  In my feeble attempt to keep you on the edge of your computer chair (and due to the fact that being a husband & a daddy consumes much of my time), I'll leave you there to ponder those questions until next week.  Leave a comment if you have any questions or want to further the discussion.