What a Christian Is
Essentially, the Christian is one who trusts and relies on Christ. Without this personal relationship everything else is meaningless. Everything else comes later. Christ is the focal point, the beginning and the end of all.
The Christian is someone who enjoys a greater freedom than anyone else on earth, free from the life-destroying prison of materialism and free from any sort of constraint, except that of love. The Christian lives the life of love, a love which is unattainable for the atheist that places his trust in riches. The love that is the driving force of the Christian is no ordinary love. It is none other than the love of Christ "For the love of Christ overwhelms us" (2 Corinthians 5: 14). How many people today crave love, strive to find love in many misguided ways? How many are unable to enjoy life because they are unable to find love? How harsh, inhuman and how unrealistic even from a purely human point of view does that slogan sound: "there is probably no God now stop worrying and enjoy life". This is the way to despair! This is the negation of life. Tragically this is often realised only when it is too late, when one has seen the monstrous illusion for what it is.
A Christian is one who lives the life of Christ in the power of the indwelling Christ: "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me". As we are transformed into his likeness the fruit of the Spirit grows within:
the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control
Jesus Christ said "I am the Way; I am Truth and Life". (John 14: 6) and he also said "you will come to know the truth, and the truth will set you free" (John 8: 32) and then "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." (2 Corinthians 3:17). This is the life, love and freedom that so many so desperately seek but seek in the darkest of places.
The true Christian is the happiest man on earth because he has grasped what Christ offers him: life, love and freedom "I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full." (John 10:10). Essentially, the Christian is a person united to Jesus Christ, the source of his love, freedom and his life. We cannot understand what the Christian life is outside this human and divine relationship with Jesus Christ.
The Christian bears his name, Christ-ian. The Christian lives the life of Christ, the love of Christ, the freedom of Christ. He has a fullness of life that no one else will ever know. The true Christian then is essentially someone who has a living relationship with Christ.
The answer to the question: "What is a Christian?" lies in the person of Christ and the relationship you have with him. He is the foundation of our faith,
each one must be careful how he does the building. For nobody can lay down any other foundation than the one which is there already, namely Jesus Christ." (1 Corinthians 3: 10, 11).
Finally, the relationship that a Christian has with Christ leads him towards the integration of the three dimensions or levels of his being: spirit, soul and body. This integration creates a healthy relationship with self, with others and with the environment. The relationship with Christ is pivotal, it determines our relationship with God and all other relationships.
Many are not even aware that every person has a spirit, others think that the soul and the spirit are the same and therefore they do not cultivate this vital dimension. Our journey is primarily but not exclusively a journey of the spirit of man as it interacts with the Holy Spirit of God. We can easily see from this that the Christian faith is not primarily belief in a set of doctrines, nor is it essentially the performing of rites and rituals. It is a spirirtual journey. The Christian faith is, above all, a new network of relationships, reflecting the very relationship of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Everything else nurtures and supports this network of relationships that we enter into.
If you are not a Christian at the moment this might not have much meaning for you. Life, freedom and love can only be known by being experienced, by being lived. It will acquire meaning and importance as we proceed. So, do not give up, persevere to the end as this will change your life for the better and forever.
As the answer to the question "What is a Christian?" lies in the relationship between a Christian and Christ we must first ask ourselves who Christ is if we want to know what a Christian is. We must then understand the dynamic of that relationship, how it begins and how it develops and then we shall gradually draw closer to providing an adequate answer to our question. A relationship is something that is spoken about, something that can be examined and analysed. However, a relationship, is above all something that has to be lived in order to be understood and fully appreciated. We can talk about life, love and freedom endlessly but until we freely live and love these are just words and ideas that have meaning but which are not life-giving, love-giving, freedom-giving. We cannot do without information because if we do not know a person we cannot love him / her. However, we cannot accumulate knowledge and then live that knowledge for we shall never get down to freely living and loving. Knowledge and life go hand in hand. That is why we suggest a method of knowing and living, a method to follow as we proceed in our sessions.
Our Source of Knowledge: The Word of God
The most reliable information we have of Christ is in God's Word to man. Our sessions will be based on the Word of God because in it God speaks to us. Another term for the Word of God, with which perhaps you are more familiar, is the "Bible". Through the Word of God and the person of Jesus Christ, God communicates to us and reveals himself to us. The Word of God is like a mirror where you can look and see what your life is really like and what it can become. Are you willing to set out on this journey of discovery? At the end you are free to decide to accept it or to reject it or you may decide not to decide.
Let us now read the passage of the Gospel of Luke 1:1-4:
Seeing that many others have undertaken to draw up accounts of the events that have reached their fulfilment among us, as these were handed down to us by those who from the outset were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word, I in my turn, after carefully going over the whole story from the beginning, have decided to write an ordered account for you, Theophilus, so that your Excellency may learn how well founded the teaching is that you have received. (Luke 1:1-4)
Luke tells us why he wrote his Gospel:
• To give an account of events: "draw up accounts of the events."
• These events are historical: "that have reached their fulfilment among us".
• These events were made known from the beginning: "from the outset."
• They were made known by those who have lived them: "those ... who were eyewitnesses".
• What is written, the Gospel of Luke, is the result of careful research: "after carefully going over the whole story".
• This is an "ordered" account.
• Luke put everything in writing so that Theophilus and other readers such as ourselves can be sure that what we believe is the truth: so that you "may learn how well founded the teaching is that you have received."
• These historical events verified, experienced and made known happened "among us", that is in a group, a community of people, it is not the faith of a single individual.
Let us now read the passage of the Gospel of John 20:30, 31:
There were many other signs that Jesus worked in the sight of the disciples, but they are not recorded in this book. These are recorded so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing this you may have life through his name.
John explains why he wrote his Gospel:
• Because the reader might believe that "Jesus is the Christ." Christ is not a surname. Put simply it means one who was sent by the Father, the Messiah. We shall discover together how and why this is extremely important for the life of each one of us.
• Because the reader might believe that Jesus is the son of God. This is another way of saying that Jesus is God. Our children are flesh of our flesh and blood of our blood, with our own nature, so Jesus Christ is of the same substance or nature as his Father.
• Because those who read it might believe and therefore have "life". This is our main concern: life, love, freedom.
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Introduction to the Christian Faith Index
Introduction to the Christian Faith. God or Chance? Part 1
Back to Part 1 Introduction to the Christian Faith. What is a Christian? Part 1
© R W
bsgbiblestudyguide@gmail.com
