What does it mean to be a Christian? Since the time of the apostles there has been debate on this topic. And today we are faced with the importance of this question in a way that we haven't since the time of the apostles. We are surrounded by those who call themselves Christian but to our religious minds they don't look much like Christians. And then there are those who say they are Christian, and might even look like it, but they have some crazy theology. Surely those people aren't "real" Christians? But isn't it all about Jesus? One would think that if someone professes Jesus they should have the privilege to call themselves Christian. It doesn't seem that that's enough though... Let's see what the Church decided when they were first presented with this issue and how that should shape our viewpoint today.
If we look at the early days of the Church we often see the phrase "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." But what did this mean? After all the demons believe that Jesus existed and the Hindus see Him as a wise guru or even an avatar of the divine. Christ means the anointed one. We have to believe that Christ carried the anointing of God as Messiah. We also have to believe in His ability to save us from our sins (the meaning of Jesus). And Lord means believing in His lordship for our lives. It signifies a level of surrender. To lay aside our own personal ownership of ourselves and accept Christ as our only Lord and Savior. That is what the phrase means.
However, debates quickly rose up. The first Church council was called to answer the issue of Gentiles coming to Christ. It was a radical idea that a Gentile could be saved. After all this was a Jewish Messiah- the One who was promised to bring salvation to the Jews. But the fruit of the Gentile believers, and the fact that they were filled with the Holy Spirit, was indisputable. The apostles accepted them as fellow members of the new covenant. However the question quickly arose; did these new Gentile converts need to convert to Judaism? In other words, could you be a Christian without being a Jew? The idea is laughable to us as 21st Century Gentile believers. But when we put ourselves in the context of the 1st century it makes sense as a valid question. Thankfully the Jerusalem council decided that one did not need to be a Jew to follow Jesus and one did not need to follow the old covenant with its regulations in order to be submitted to the Lordship of Christ.
However the Judiazers never stopped. We see many of St. Paul's writings had to address this issue of legalism. But then there were other issues that arose- the heretics. Scripture was still being written and the canon hadn't been decided. And there were plenty of teachers running around with all sorts of weird ideas. The early Church had to convene council after council to address these heresies. But they hadn't been defined as heresies just yet. The councils had to grapple with them and argue about them. For example the Council of Nicaea took almost a hundred years to decide on the Gnostic heresy, among other things. Before that you could be a Gnostic and a Christian. But after that the Church definitively declared that Gnosticism had no place within Christianity and that anyone holding onto that belief was excommunicated.
One of the greatest gifts of that council was the Nicene Creed. It codified a basic set of beliefs on what it meant to be a Christian. If one held to this creed then they were a Christian- if they did not then they were excommunicated from the Church. In fact, the Church would recite it as a congregation before taking communion. As a declaration of faith before approaching the Lord's Table. And many churches throughout the world still do this to remind ourselves on what a Christian is and to declare our common faith.
But is it enough to believe? Shouldn't our lives reflect this reality? Yes and no. It isn't our role to judge as we can't see the heart. And Scripture is full of men and women of God who were deeply flawed. Religiosity singles out certain lifestyles as incompatible with Christianity while excusing others- this is a problem as we have created a hierarchy of sins and stated that certain ones are incompatible with the Christian life while others can be forgiven. However, if we are professing Christ yet refusing to give Him Lordship then we have a problem. Now I'm speaking of open rebellion/unrepentant sin. I'm not speaking about those who are struggling to overcome something. However, just because someone is blind and deceived about something doesn't mean that their name isn't written in the book of life. All of us are called to bring more and more of our lives under the Lordship of Christ. As we commune with Him He will be faithful in showing us those dark areas of our lives that need to be brought into the light. It is a journey- it isn't instant.
This is why judgment scares me. There are so many people who look righteous yet their inner life is repulsive. And there are so many who look like horrible sinners yet have a revelation of God's love for them and are desperately pursuing Him. We don't know what lies beneath. God looks at the heart and we can only see the outward. But, we should see a progression of holiness in those lives. There's a place for judgement. That is why God has ordained pastors and elders. But we should be careful of judging those who we are not in relationship with. For example it grieves me when I see Christians making judgements against celebrities based on paparazzi reports that are later found to be false. I also see others questioning the salvation of other Christians simply because they have some bad theology- or are on the opposite side of the political spectrum. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. We need to be careful not to do the same.
In short, the Christian is one who has placed themselves under the Lordship of Christ by abandoning all else to follow Him. They believe in the historic creeds of the Church as the doctrine that all Christians have believed throughout the centuries. And they recognize their personal need for a Savior. Then there is the personal relationship and a life spent pursuing more of Him. Justification is a one time thing when we are ransomed by Christ. But it takes a lifetime to become like Him. It's a journey as we bring more and more of ourselves under His Lordship. We can't judge someone simply because they are on a different part of that journey.
Being a Christian is not easy but it is simple. We need to stop making it complicated and purge the spirit of judgment from our midst. How many people have abandoned the church because we judged rather than loved? It is our job to point people to a greater level of communion and the Holy Spirit to guide them into the truth of conviction. Jesus met the woman at the well with compassion. He didn't excuse her sin but He didn't condemn her either. We must do the same. We are the representatives of Christ on this earth and must live accordingly.
1 comment:
Thank you, Matthew.
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