I’ve been contemplating one little question quite a bit lately. What does it mean to be a Christian?
It’s a simple question. But is there an easy answer?
Before writing this post, I decided to Google-test it. I queried “What does it mean to be a Christian?” Interestingly, there were thousands of search results, including one from Google’s Generative AI Overview. That was probably the best response of all! Here’s what the first sentence of the AI Overview said:
A Christian is someone who believes in Jesus Christ and follows his teachings.
That’s not bad, I guess. But it doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. After all, hardly any of the first-century Christians the Apostle Paul wrote to in his letters followed all of Jesus’ teachings. The truth is, they were a screwed-up lot! The Corinthians were carnal and the Galatians backslid into works-based Judaism. Paul came down hard on both.
After chuckling at the simplicity of the AI response, I decided to see what the experts had to say. Here’s a quick sampling:
- Crosswalk published a blog post with some interesting historical background and a personal anecdote, burying the lede that essentially says Christians ++believe the Bible is the word of God++ and follows a list of 6 necessities (yeah, really!).
- Christian theologian John Piper quoted fellow theologian Charles Hodge, who waxed poetic about being ++constrained by Christ’s love++.
- Got Questions was happy to inform us that a “true Christian” is an individual who “++puts faith and trust++ in the person and work of Jesus Christ.” (Hmmmm … What would happen if you merely put faith OR trust in the P&W of JC?)
- Christian.net says the only way to be a Christian is to “++live like Christ.++” (Yikes! If so, most of us are doomed, including many pastors, teachers, theologians, and celebrity Christians.)
- Billy Graham said a Christian is someone who ++trusts Jesus Christ++ for their eternal salvation and seeks to “follow Him in their daily life.” (I can’t help but wonder what other kind of life there is. Would an hourly life be too often, or a weekly life not enough?)
- Compassion.com says it means to ++be like Jesus++ and follow him.
- Tennessee Lookout says it’s someone ++who follows Jesus++. As does ++The Orchard++, with a cute little prayer before launching into their explanation.
- One more: H.B. Charles Jr. says it is a life of ++spiritual union with Christ++ (And that begs the question: Can one be spiritually united with a dead guy?).
Sidenote: The italicized commentary in parentheses is very much tongue-in-cheek. Please don’t crucify me! Pretty please?
Looking for commonalities in the above explanations, I found three things that each of these definitions of Christianity have in common:
- They use buzzwords that may not make sense to non-Christians or people of other faiths.
- Almost all of them emphasize some level of doing. That is, you must follow Jesus, obey Jesus, put faith in Jesus, or be like Jesus.
- They hint at some kind of personal interaction with Jesus in real-time.
All of these experts can’t be wrong, can they? Surely, they know what they’re talking about. Right?
Is Christianity Really This Simple?
Humans tend to complicate things. The more intelligent or educated a person is, or the more knowledgeable they are about a particular topic, the more they tend to complicate. I’ve been guilty of that many times myself. Today, however, I want to simplify.
++John 11++ shows that Jesus arrived four days after learning that his friend Lazarus had died. Martha, Lazarus’s sister, was distraught. She was sure that her brother would not have died if Jesus had been there. What faith she had!
After a short tit-for-tat, Jesus asked Martha a simple question. “Everyone who believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
Martha ++responded++,
Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.
Jesus didn’t correct her.
Over and over, throughout the gospels, we see Jesus interacting this way with others. He heals their sicknesses, declares them well, and commends them for nothing more than having faith. He often doesn’t require anything of them in return and, when he does, those requirements are a prelude to a demonstration of faith. Here’s a short sampling:
- ++Matthew 9:4++ - Jesus forgave a paralytic’s sins based on his friends’ faith. To spite the scribes, Jesus also healed the man.
- ++Matthew 9:29++ - After asking if they believed He could heal them, two blind men were healed.
- ++Mark 5:34++ - A woman was healed by touching Jesus’ garment simply because she believed it could happen.
- ++Luke 7:50++ - A sinful woman anointed Jesus’ feet with perfume and he forgave her sins for no reason other than her demonstration of faith.
- ++John 9:7++ - Jesus spread mud on a blind man’s eyes, telling him to wash it off in the pool of Siloam. When the man did as Jesus commanded, he could see.
In each of these scenes, people were healed and forgiven of their sins on no basis other than their faith or the faith of their friends and family. And let’s not forget the thief on the cross, who believed that Jesus was innocent, and on that basis, our Lord promised that thief that ++he would be in Paradise++ with our Lord that very day.
Throughout the New Testament, people are forgiven and healed based on faith. In the Old Testament, ++God considered Abraham righteous++ simply for believing a promise.
So, what is a Christian? A Christian is someone who believes in Jesus Christ, plain and simple. That doesn’t mean we can do whatever we want and expect no consequences (we will always reap what we sow), but it does mean that our status as God’s beloved is not contingent upon our doing something. Our failures do not define us. God’s success does. In a world fraught with performance-based initiatives coupled with a strong lean toward judgment, we need to be reminded of that. I know I do.
Allen Taylor is the author of ++I Am Not the King++.
This post was first published at Substack. Lead image from Unsplash. Comic image is AI-generated at Substack.
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