What is a Christian? There may be various ways to describe or define what a Christian is. Different authors throughout the centuries have written meaningful but different descriptions of being a Christian.
The late Dr. J. I. Packer, for example, in his book "Knowing God," said that true "Christians are people who acknowledge and live under the Word of God." Dr. Packer understood that Christians are primarily people of the Book, that is, the Bible.
I would describe a Christian simply as a follower of Christ. To be identified as a Christian back in the time of the apostles was a dangerous thing. You will be persecuted and an object of shame. Why? Because you will be, in the eyes of the world, identified with Someone who was deemed to be a distabilizer, if not a criminal, and a blasphemer.
And who in his right mind would like to be identified with a convicted criminal by the human court? But our Lord Jesus Christ suffered such fate not because he was guilty of any crime but because he was falsely accused and unjustly convicted by the civil court under a Roman governor in Judea.
To be a Christian back then must be a badge of shame, not a badge of honor. But that was Christ's call to those who would follow him and be identified with him through faith. The followers of Jesus was first called Christians in Antioch (Acts 11:26) and they were identified as such because they were followers of Christ and they were willing to pay the cost of being tagged as Christ's disciples.
To be a Christian was to be the object of the world's and the unbelievers' derision. That's why the apostle Peter calls his readers to be willing to suffer, even to "rejoice to the extent that [they] partake of Christ's suffering" (1 Peter 3:13). Peter adds saying, "Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter" (1 Peter 3:16).
Yes, to be identified with Christ or to be a Christian then is to be hated by the world. At the same time, however, one will also enjoy the privilege of belonging to Christ through faith, sharing in what Christ has achieved and accomplished for His own people, those who are willing and ready to share in His suffeing and shame.
The real Christian is someone who is identified and united with Christ formally in baptism in the name of the triune God, and organically indwelt and empowered by the Spirit of Christ bearing the fruit of the Spirit such as love, joy, peace, kindness, and gentleness to name a few.
The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Q & A 32, “describes an ordinary Christian [as] one who by faith received Christ, shares in Christ’s Spirit, and has been called and anointed to do a job, a threefold job: prophet, priest, and king” (Andrew Kuyvenhoven, “Comfort and Joy: A Study of the Heidelberg Catechism,” 80).
Although conceived and born in sin (Ps. 51:5), we Christians are no longer in Adam but in Christ (Rom. 5:12-21). We are no longer separated from God but set apart for and unto Him, called to be saints. We are no longer under the dominion of sin but under the power of the Spirit of God and we seek to live according to the Word of God.
As Christians, Christ Jesus is our Lord and we seek His rule over us everyday and in every area of our lives. We have the Word of God to guide our feet and to light our path.
We have been enabled to walk by faith and not by sight. We seek to live in the newness of life in Christ putting off the works of the flesh and putting on the deeds of the Spirit.
Yes, we do fight against remaining sin and at times fail. Yet we don't continue living in sin. We can't. We have been born of God. We have been given the ability to overcome sin and to obey God by the the Spirit who lives in us.
Loving obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ is something we are enabled to do and we ought to be thankful to God for it. It is also one reason to be humble continually for such undeserve gift God in Christ has granted us.
The apostle Peter further describes Christians in terms reminiscent of God's chosen people in Exodus 19:5-6. For Peter, Christians are a people belonging to God, set apart and ordained to serve Him and to proclaim the greatness of Him who called them out of darkness into His marvelous light (cf. 1 Pet. 2:9). Isn't it a great privilege to be identified with Christ?
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