The word "Christian" has become a flabby word today
without a really clear definition. The term has been so twisted and
turned and means so many things to so many people it is almost
meaningless. For example, in some places, to say that a person is
not a Christian is to cast aspersions on his character. Thus for
some, Christian means "moral" and even an atheist can be a
"Christian."
To others, a "Christian" is simply a person with
some sort of religious leanings. who leads a good life. Thus it has
been said that Muslims and Jews are sometimes better "Christians"
than Catholics or Protestants. To still others, being a Christian
has more to do with one’s family, cultural or national identity.
Thus if one is born into a "Christian" country, then one is by
birth, a Christian, regardless of one’s religious or ethical
convictions.
Finally, the word "Christian" is often used in
regards to someone who has had some sort of religious experience.
But there are all sorts of experiences out there, not all of them
Christian. And some "Christian" churches believe nothing in common
with the historic faith "once received and delivered unto the
saints."
Clearly, all of these definitions of a Christian
are inadequate because they cancel each other out. The same word
cannot mean different things to different people. There needs to be
some sort of objective standard to determine just what we mean when
we use the word "Christian." Otherwise we cannot talk meaningfully
about the subject.
The Presbyterian Church (or at least those
Presbyterian Churches who still retain the distinctive doctrines of
the Reformed Faith) bases its beliefs and practices on the Word of
God. It is the Bible that controls both our understanding and our
practice of the Christian life. Thus it is to the Bible that
orthodox Presbyterians must go when confronted with understanding
even as common a term as "Christian." The Westminster Confession of
Faith (the doctrinal standards of the historic Presbyterian Church)
contains an excellent and reliable summary of the Scriptures
teachings.
Thus when Presbyterians talk about what it means to
be a Christian, they are not ambiguous about their definition
because they derive their understanding from the Bible itself. While
all those who call themselves "Christian" may not agree with their
definition, it is the Scriptures which provide the only authority
for what we say and do. This is the Reformation principle of Sola
Scriptura, or "Scripture alone."
The term "Christian" was first used in first
century AD in the city of Antioch to describe those who believed in
Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior. Jesus taught, and historic
Presbyterianism has affirmed, that a Christian is someone who meets
three basic criteria; (1) he is a person who has been forgiven for
his sins, (2) he has experienced a transformation of his basic
nature (called regeneration) and (3) he is someone who now has a
personal relationship with God on His terms, not ours. Personal
salvation is at the heart of the Christian message. Without these
three key ingredients, the word "Christian" has no meaning.
A Christian is Someone Who Has Been
Forgiven for His Sins.
The first issue to settle is the idea of
forgiveness of sins. We have to know something of why we need
forgiveness. And for that, we have to understand something of what
the Bible teaches about sin. Our common conception of sin is
something like "bad things people do." But what is bad? Another
problem with this definition is that it usually means "the bad
things that other people do!" thus conveniently letting us off the
hook. The Bible gives a more precise definition. It uses several
words in both Greek and Hebrew that help us to get a picture of what
is meant by the term "sin."
In the Old Testament the most common term is hattah
a; which means "a missing, a failing." In the New Testament, the
most common word is an archery term; hamartia; which means "missing
the mark." Romans 3:23 sums up both meanings, "For all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God..."
Sin is falling short of God’s glory. God is
perfect, holy, totally righteous and good. When any person fails to
live up to God’s perfect standard of holiness, (i.e., when he falls
short of the mark) then he sins. But sin is more than just a failure
to achieve perfection. The Bible also teaches that Man, by nature,
is in active rebellion to God, seeking his own desires, his own will
and striving to live his own life independent of God. Romans 3:10ff,
a collection of Old Testament citations quoted by the Apostle Paul
says,
"There is none righteous, no not even one, there is
none who understands, there is none who seeks for God, all have
turned aside, together they have become useless, there is none who
does good, there is not even one..."
While this is a pretty grim evaluation of the human
race, it is a Biblical one. The Bible maintains that every single
individual is in rebellion to God. "If we say we have no sin we
deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us..." (I Jn 1:8). The
world was created by God and for God (Col 1:16). All that exists was
created to reflect His perfect glory and majesty (Psa 19:1ff).
Whenever we act in a manner contrary to God or His Law, we sin (i.e.
miss the mark). God’s Law is summarized in the commands to love Him
and our neighbor (Matt 22.36-40). Whenever we fail to do so, we are
in violation of God’s standard and thus sin.
Even an attitude of disinterest of God is sin
because "in Him we live and move and have our being." Foolish men
often curse God with the very breath He gives us moment by moment by
His own gracious, loving care. The Westminster Confession defines
sin as "any want of or lack of conformity to the will of God..."
God is a holy God. Holiness refers to His
separation from and transcendence over all His creation. It has two
major referents. The first is His supremacy, majesty and awesome
glory (Ex 3:4-5). The universe does not bind God because He created
it. Thus God is distinct from creation.
But secondly, God is also morally separate from all
sin and rebellion because of the ethical purity of His character
(Lev 11:44/1 Ptr 1.16/Psa 89:35). In Him there is no spot or stain
or moral blemish. "God is light and in Him there is no darkness at
all (1 Jn 1:5).
Therefore God, because of the very characteristics
that make Him God, must separate Himself from sin (Isa 59:2). This
seperation results in several things: firstly, a man whose sins are
not forgiven is abandoned by God to live life without God; "If I
regard iniquity in my heart, then the Lord will not hear me..." (Psa
66:18). The person who lives his own life according to his own laws
will reap the fruit of it both in this life and in the life to come.
God will not hear his prayers and his life will eventually
experience the anguish of an unfulfilled spirit. Augustine said,
"There is a God shaped vacuum in each man’s heart."
Thus men try to find meaning and purpose in life
through religion, philosophy, materialism, consumption etc. But
there is no way to fill the gap that only God can fill. There can be
no real meaning and purpose in life, just a vast emptiness.
Secondly, the person whose sins have not been
forgiven, will suffer eternal spiritual separation from God and all
His good gifts; i.e., death and hell (Rms 6:23). Now this is not a
popular topic in many Churches today. But the Bible is clear, the
wages of sin is death...
Thirdly, the person whose sins are not taken care
of will suffer in this life foolishness, fear, violence, perversion
etc. (Rms 1:18ff). Space is too short to develop this idea here, but
all good gifts come from God (Jas 1:17). Can men expect to receive
the gifts if they reject the giver?
Sin is not just bad because of its bad effects; sin
ought not to be! It is a stain on the universe that God created.
It’s like having a perfect beautiful mirror that is stained and
cracked and warped. All of creation groans under the weight of sin,
waiting a time when all things will become new (Rms 8:20-22). A
child once described God’s response to sin as biting an apple and
finding half a worm!
Thus the paramount question for every individual is
"What can be done about my sin?" There are several inadequate
measures. The first is denial, i.e., pretend that our sin does not
exist or that our sins aren’t really so bad after all. Thus we see
in modern culture the attempt to rewrite morality and make what is
evil good. The problem is that God is the absolute lawgiver and
judge. We can pretend it never happened, but God is keeping track
and eventually, each person will have to stand before Him and give
an account of why he thought what he thought, said what he said and
did what he did (Rev 20:11-13).
Some people try projection; i.e., they blame their
sin on something or someone else. "I am the way I am because of my
parents, my peers the harsh conditions of my background etc." But
regardless of how badly we may have been sinned against, we are
still responsible for the sins we ourselves commit!
Other people try self-atonement; i.e., they try to
make amends by doing good deeds and being moral people. They think
that if their good works outweigh their bad works that God will find
them acceptable. But the Bible says that the only payment is death
(Rms 6:23)! If a good and righteous man lived a blameless life and
then, in a fit of rage, murdered his wife, would all his previous
good deeds make up for his one bad one? NO! Justice demands that he
pay for his crime, regardless of how good he was in the past. In the
same way, God may take into account our good deeds when judging us,
but the only standard acceptable for Heaven is 100% perfection!
How can any man get to heaven then? The Biblical
solution is that since man cannot solve his own sin problem, God in
Christ pays the penalty for our sin (Rms 5:8, 1 Ptr 3;18). Christ
took upon Himself the righteous wrath of God, thus canceling out the
debt of sin against us (Col 2:13-14). Using our above example, the
man justly convicted of murder has to pay the price for his crime.
So the judge, because of his great compassion and mercy, pronounces
judgment against the crime, then steps down off the bench and accept
the penalty himself! This is the wonder of Christianity. All other
religions give men rules and regulations which if they keep
adequately enough, they are taught that they can earn their own
salvation. But the Bible’s message is that none of us are good
enough to save ourselves, so God saves us by taking our sins upon
Himself. Thus a Christian is someone whose sins have been forgiven
because Jesus Christ has paid the full and complete price by His own
death on the cross.
A Christian Is Someone Who Has a
New Nature
But as important as having had our sins forgiven
because of Christ, the Bible also teaches a second essential
ingredient of being a Christian. The non-christian has a nature that
is hostile and opposed to God (Eph 4:17-24 Col 1:21). By nature the
Bible means one’s basic orientation to God. The Bible often uses the
term "heart" here. In the Bible the heart is not the seat of the
emotions, but rather the very essence of a person; his inner man so
to speak. Peer pressure and conformity behavior may make a man act
socially acceptably, but his heart, his essence, is what he is
really like deep down inside. A man’s heart is what he does in the
dark, when he thinks no one can see what he is doing. The person who
does not know Jesus Christ as Lord has a basic orientation that is
alienated from God and seeks to do his own will rather than
God’s.
The Christian on the other hand is someone who has
been given a new nature as a result of salvation (Gal 2:20 2 Cor
5:17). This new nature is a radical transformation of one’s entire
being resulting in such things as; a new mind (Eph 4:23), a new
character (Col 1:23), a new walk or way of living (Eph 4:25-6:10)
etc. The new nature does not mean instant holiness. This new nature
frequently wars with the old lifestyle (Rms 7:18-25, Eph 4:17ff.).
It takes time and discipline to work out the implications of this
fundamental change in our orientation. The Christian is not perfect,
just forgiven (1 Jn 1:8-9). But the difference is that once one’s
nature is changed, Christians have a desire to obey God and serve
Him (Eph 4:20-24). They are not happy in sin and willfulness. They
are people who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Yes, they
continue to fall short, but they are people who want to be obedient
to God. This usually manifests itself in a hunger for studying and
learning more about God’s word (1 Ptr 2:2), a repugnance for sin (1
Jn 2:15-16) and desire for personal holiness (Matt 5:6), a genuine
love for others (1 Jn 2:10) and an earnest desire to follow Jesus
Christ in everything (1 Jn 2:3-6).
A Christian Is Someone Who Has A
Personal Relationship with God.
Salvation is not "fire insurance" i.e., protection
from some future calamity. Nor is salvation given to enable us to
live happy, snappy lives without fear or anxiety. The whole meaning
and purpose of our existence is that we were created to know and
love God (Jer 31:33).. "And this is eternal life that men might know
Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou has sent" (Jn
17:3 ). A person is saved so that he can fulfill the purpose for
which he was created, to fellowship with the living God. The
Westminster
Shorter Catechism poses it this way in the very
first question "What is the chief end of man? Man’s chief end is to
glorify God and enjoy Him forever..." This is the high and holy
calling of the human race. We are not eating, sleeping, consuming
animals with no future and no hope. We were created to love, glorify
and enjoy Almighty God. And the Christian, whose sins have been
forgiven because of Christ and whose nature has been changed now is
enabled to fulfill the purpose for which he was destined.
The Bible calls the Christian, the "friend" of God
(Jn 15:15), someone with whom God desires to fellowship and enjoy.
What a wonder! Would we deign to fellowship with a worm? Yet God
does desire a warm, personal and eternal relationship with us, not
because He needs it, but because we do! Now this relationship, like
all relationships needs to be nurtured if it is to grow properly. We
need to have accurate knowledge of who God is and what He is like
(Jer 29:12-13, Jer 33:3). You cannot have a relationship with
someone if you know nothing about the other person! Granted, knowing
God means more than just knowing things about Him, but it certainly
does not mean anything less! While God knows all there is to know
about us, we will spend an eternity learning about Him. Every aspect
of creation is designed to tell us something about Him. But studying
the Scriptures is the primary way that we learn about His nature,
His attributes, His character and His love and His requirements. In
prayer, we talk to God. In the Scriptures, through the illumination
of the Holy Spirit, He talks to us.
If the relationship is to grow, our lives must also
be transformed so that we can enjoy God (Rms 12:2). As children we
often like sweet things that are not all that good for us. But as we
grow to maturity we learn to develop a taste for savory things that
are better nutrition. Though a Christian is someone whose basic
orientation has been changed, there is always the problem that our
habits and desires still reflect something of the old way of
thinking and acting. Thus as the Christian grows in his faith, he
learns to develop a taste for godliness, something that does not
come naturally! Thus growing in our relationship with God requires
an investment of our time, our resources, our wealth, even our lives
(Mk 8:35, Matt 16:25). God is the pearl of great price that we
mortgage everything to possess.
Becoming A Christian
My home state of Maine was settled early in
American history and most people have lived there a long time and
are slow about accepting outsiders. There is a supposedly true story
about a young couple who moved to Maine and then started a family.
While the parents knew that they would always be "foreigners" at
least they expected that their children would be accepted as native
Mainers. However, the town folks insisted they were still "Outta
Staters." When the father objected that his children were all born
right there in the town, one old salt replied, "Maybe so, but if my
cat had kittens in an oven, it wouldn’t make ‘em buns!" Their story
has a grain of truth in regards to how one becomes a Christian. Some
people think they are Christians because their parents, or
grandparents were. Others think that becoming a Christian is like
osmosis, they sort of pick it up from the environment.
The Bible says that a person becomes a Christian
through a sovereign act of God (Titus 3:5, Eph 2:8a). It is God Who
saves men and makes them Christians. Salvation (i.e., becoming a
Christian) is a gift freely given to sinful men who receive it by
faith (Rms 6:23, Eph 2:8-9). It cannot be earned, only received. God
in His wonderful sovereign grace works a miracle in the human heart,
granting repentance for sins and giving saving faith.
In order to become a Christian several things must
happen. The first is that a person must acknowledge that God exists
and has rightful demands that He places upon us (Heb 11.6). You
cannot become a Christian until you first recognize God’s sovereign
rule over creation. This is not just any old god, but the Lord God
Almighty, the One True God. Lots of people believe in some sort of
Supreme Being. But the Bible says our God is the only God. Secondly,
a person must admit that he is a sinner, guilty before God and
deserving only His wrath (1 Jn 1:8,10). A person cannot be saved
until he first realizes that he is lost. Thirdly, one must repent of
one’s sins, literally; to turn around and go in a new direction
(Acts 3:19). Repentance is not an emotion of sorrow, but a genuine
change of life based upon a change in our heart. Fourthly, a person
must confess with his mouth that Jesus is Lord (Rms 10:9a) i.e. that
Jesus is both God and King. This is more than just a verbal
statement, but a heartfelt recognition that Jesus is Who the Bible
says He is and that He did what the Bible says He did. There can be
no idea that Jesus was just a great moral teacher or gave us a
wonderful moral example. He was the lamb of God slain for our sin
(Rev 5:9). Finally A person who would become a Christian must
believe in his innermost being that God raised Jesus from the dead
(Rms 10:9b-10). The resurrection of Jesus Christ is not a
theological debating point but an utter fact of history on which our
own resurrection and eternal life depend (cf. 1 Cor 15:12ff). These
five principles are not things that we do to get saved, but rather
are the result of God working in sinful human hearts to bring them
to salvation. The Bible clearly says, "...whoever will call upon the
name of the Lord will be saved" (Rms 10:13).
Salvation, becoming a Christian, being born again,
whatever term one uses, is the absolute foundational principle of
Christianity. From our perspective, there is no other issue in life
that can begin to compare with this is regards to importance.
Without individual salvation, the church is just a social club or
theological debating society of dubious value. Everything else we do
stems from our personal encounter with Jesus Christ, forgiving our
sins, creating a new nature within us and giving us a personal
relationship with God.
As a result of this personal transformation,
Christians are then led to changing not just their own lives, but
the lives of their families, their communities, their nations and
their world. Personal salvation equips and motivates godly men to
live in obedience to God, loving Him and loving one another. Until
the heart is changed, the world remains in sin and darkness. The
Christian life does not end with personal salvation, but it
certainly begins with it. Any supposed "Christian" church that
neglects the good news that Jesus Christ has died for sinful men and
granted them new life by faith has forgotten the most fundamental
aspect of Christ’s teaching. The historic Reformed faith, as
understood by John Calvin, one of its most brilliant systematizers
said, "God has nothing else in view, in addressing men, but to call
them to salvation... "
The above article was written at the request of the
Moderator of the Natal Presbytery, Republic of South Africa. The
Presbyterian Church in South Africa no longer believes in the
importance of individual, personal salvation and the Moderator was
desperate for any information he could bring to his church that it
might be reclaimed for Christ. Sadly, in America, we also have
millions of Presbyterians who no longer understand or accept the
gospel, substituting the warmed over platitudes of Humanism for
Jesus’ words of life.