What is a Christian?

[B-A-C]

I'm not sure there is a word in the entire world with more definitions than the word "Christian". Even here on TalkJesus you will get a dozen different answers.

The MerriamWebster dictionary has recently changed their definition.

Christian noun
Chris·tian | \ ˈkris-chən
, ˈkrish-\
Definition of Christian

(Entry 1 of 2)
1a : one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus Christ
b(1) : disciple sense 2
(2) : a member of one of the Churches of Christ separating from the Disciples of Christ in 1906
(3) : a member of the Christian denomination having part in the union of the United Church of Christ concluded in 1961
2 : the hero in Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.

Apparently there were no Christians before 1906, or is it after 1961? Obviously the world doesn't have a clue what a Christian is.

But what did it mean in the original Greek?

Χριστιανός
Christianos
khris-tee-an-os'
From G5547; a Christian, that is, follower of Christ: - Christian.

This is the word used in Acts 11:26; Acts 26:28; and 1 Pet 4:16;

The word Christian comes from Christ. We believe Jesus is the Christ.

[allaboutgod.com definition]
They were called “Christians” because their behavior, activity, and speech were like Christ Jesus. The word Christian means, “follower of Christ” or “belonging to the party of Christ.” So, what made them part of this group called “Christians.”

[dictionary.com defnition]
adjective
of, relating to, or derived from Jesus Christ or His teachings: a Christian faith.
of, pertaining to, believing in, or belonging to the religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ: Spain is a Christian country.
of or relating to Christians: many Christian deaths in the Crusades.
exhibiting a spirit proper to a follower of Jesus Christ; Christlike: She displayed true Christian charity.
noun
a person who believes in Jesus Christ; adherent of Christianity.
a person who exemplifies in his or her life the teachings of Christ: He died like a true Christian.

There are people who believe that because they were baptized as a infant, they are a Christian.
There are people who believe that because they believe Jesus existed as a man, they are a Christian.
Many churches in the US teach that if you believe in Jesus, you can sin as much as you like. Unrepentant adulterers, and homosexuals will be in heaven.

But back the original defintion from Strongs and Thayers.
Christ-like. A follower of Christ. A "little" Christ.

What does it mean to be "like" Jesus? What does it mean to be a "follower" of Jesus?
(This get confused even further, because people don't even agree on who Jesus was) for example Jehovah's Witesses don't believe Jesus was resurrected in the flesh,
but rather resurrected as Michael the arch-angel.

The Bible says there are many "false Christs" in the world. So which Jesus you are following has something to do with it also.
If you aren't like Jesus, are you still a Christian? If you aren't following the ways and teachings of Jesus are you still a Christian?

Does simply believing in Jesus make you a Christian?

Jas 2:19; You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.

Are demons saved? Even they believe.

What makes someone a "Christian"?

Jesus spoke quite a bit about following Him. Is a Christian someone who "follows" Jesus? What does it mean to follow Him?

Matt 4:19; And He *said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men."
Matt 8:22; But Jesus *said to him, "Follow Me, and allow the dead to bury their own dead."
Matt 10:38; "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
Matt 16:24; Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.
Matt 19:21; Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
Luke 5:27; After that He went out and noticed a tax collector named Levi sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, "Follow Me."
Luke 5:28; And he left everything behind, and got up and began to follow Him
Luke 9:23 And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.
John 1:43; The next day He purposed to go into Galilee, and He *found Philip. And Jesus *said to him, "Follow Me."
John 10:4; "When he puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice.
John 10:27; "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me;
John 13:36; Simon Peter *said to Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus answered, "Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you will follow later."
John 21:19; Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He *said to him, "Follow Me!"

This isn't a complete list of all the verses that Jesus said "follow me" in. But I think it's enough. So Jesus isn't here on the earth walking in front of us on
a well marked trail. So then how do we follow Him? If Jesus said we need to follow Him so many times, is it important?

John 12:26; "If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

How do we follow Jesus? What are some ways we can follow Jesus?

 

[B-A-C]

I recently had to take a test for my job. I've had to take this test several times before. You would think by now I would have the answers memorized.

There were 100 questions on this test. I notice about 20 or so of them had an answer. "All of the above".
I like "all of the above" answers. Sometimes they help me because I can see one answer in the list that I know is wrong, so I know it isn't "all of the above".
Other times I can see two "right" answers in the list and I'm not sure about the third choice, so I pick "all of the above" and it's usually right.

Most of the questions didn't have an "all of the above" option. But apparently I passed. :smile: I still have a job.

In the Bible. Specifically the new testament people asked Jesus questions like... "what must I do to be saved", and "what must I do to inherit eternal life"?
I notice these two questions had two different answers.

There are verses that say...
We must believe in Jesus.
We must be born again.
We must bear fruit of repentance.
We must be baptized.
We must repent.
We must love one another.
We must obey the commandments.
We must bear the fruit of obedience.
We must "take up our cross" and follow Jesus.
We must die to the old self.
We must be filled with the Spirit.
We must be led by the Spirit
We must bear fruit of the Spirit.
We must overcome.
We must have "proof of our faith".
We must go unto all the world and teach them about Jesus and all the things He commanded us to do.

There are dozens more... I can't type them all here... it would take hours. This post would be as long as,.. well... as long as the Bible.
But often times... Christians want to pick out one or two verses and say ... This is it... This is all I have to do to be a Christian.
It's almost like they believe all those other verses don't apply anymore. Why are they even taking up space in my Bible?
But what if.... the correct answer isn't A or B.
What if the correct answer is ... "all of the above".

 

[Brother-Paul]

Well put brother, the world doesn't know where it is going so how can they know who to follow.

You have included above...
There are people who believe that because they were baptized as a infant, they are a Christian.
There are people who believe that because they believe Jesus existed as a man, they are a Christian.
Many churches in the US teach that if you believe in Jesus, you can sin as much as you like. Unrepentant adulterers, and homosexuals will be in heaven.

So true, and in this country some think they are saved because the Queen is the head of the CofE.
Or some think they are saved because the pope is head of the RCC.
Some even think they will go to heaven because Britain is classed as a Christian Country.

But, even in the professing Christian Churches there is false teaching, liberal teaching, and verse picking.

Verse picking is dangerous, so much is out of context, it is very similar, I feel, with understanding how we get to heaven.

We are only SAVED if we are Born Again and take up out cross daily and FOLLOW Jesus.

But people hear and people quote, CALL on the Lord and you will be saved, BELIEVE on the Lord and you will be saved, John 3:16 also, ... that who ever BELIEVE in him will have ever lasting life. Anyone can say they called, believed, followed, etc, and many do. John 3:1-21 gives a much fuller picture but again it is not all, we have to, has you have clearly put brother, take up our cross daily and FOLLOW Jesus.

What must we do to be Saved, Follow the Word, Learn from the Word, Jesus is the Living Word.

It is 'everything above' (in heaven above) and in The Word (The Bible)

 

[Sue D.]

1 Corinthians 15;1-3 gives a good set of directions 'to be saved' -- "I declare to you the gospel...... by which also you are saved, ...that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.....and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures... and that He was seen by Cephas, and then by the 12,."

And then we Also have Romans 10:9-10 "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

People Will be able to 'see' the fruits of the Spirit in a person's life.

And a person Does need to be able to understand right from wrong -- that they Have done something that doesn't please God. And That doesn't really happen with young children. There Have been children as young as 5 or 6 who Have understood salvation and accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.

 

[rag4acrown1]

The more we try to understand stand, the farther away we become. We should be as a little child before Him, leaning not to our own understanding. Have we known the heart of God? Humble ourselves, knowing nothing and allow the Holy Spirit to use us. He will give us what we ought to say.

Understand right from wrong... The Word says Jesus was without sin, the righteousness of God, even when the money changers tables were flipped over and they were chased out. Well, lol, according to our ways...this is wrong; but according to God's way this was done without sin. Why? Because Jesus put God first and didn't cater to "our little feelers might get hurt" if He spoke or acted out against us.

His ways is not our ways.

Yes, we will go pray for them in private...and wait on God, God is waiting on one who believes.

All praise, glory, and honor be unto God. Amen

 

[rag4acrown1]

What is a Christian? is the heading and immediately went into how to be saved...?

A Christian is a follower of Christ.
Yep, it's that simple.
Now... Who of we... have forsaken all and picked up our cross and followed Him?
All praise, glory and honor be unto God. Amen

 

[Sue D.]

And HOW does a person Become a follower of Christ.

 

[rag4acrown1]

I believe somewhere in trying to follow Him, He saves us and encamp Himself in our hearts with wisdom and understanding by revelation knowledge of Jesus Christ. It is then we come to know the Truth, the only true Teacher.

He puts the desire in our heart to even seek Him. What knowledge has the clay over the Potter that perfected the vessel?
Ever watch a Potter at his wheel work with clay? The clay isn't perfect, it has flaws. A pebble unseen to the eye, but when Spun, being refined, the Potter feels the flaw within the clay. This makes a weak spot in the vessel, and is removed, before continuing, least the vessel collapse when it was meant to stand.
I believe when we begin to seek Him, is because He has pricked our heart with what is "right" and/or "wrong". Our ways is not His ways. We read it in His word, we witness it in the congregations, and judgement is upon us.
As Paul said this flesh will always be nasty... It seeks after the lust of this world and the pride of the life. So, be ye separated from it. For we can not serve God and mammon, too. We will love one and hate the other.
How have we followed Him from the bench? Where was He able to get comfortable on the bench for 60 yrs? And die, doing God a service, but never worked for Him?

All praise to the King. Amen

 

[rag4acrown1]

I recently had to take a test for my job. I've had to take this test several times before. You would think by now I would have the answers memorized.

There were 100 questions on this test. I notice about 20 or so of them had an answer. "All of the above".
I like "all of the above" answers. Sometimes they help me because I can see one answer in the list that I know is wrong, so I know it isn't "all of the above".
Other times I can see two "right" answers in the list and I'm not sure about the third choice, so I pick "all of the above" and it's usually right.

Most of the questions didn't have an "all of the above" option. But apparently I passed. :smile: I still have a job.

In the Bible. Specifically the new testament people asked Jesus questions like... "what must I do to be saved", and "what must I do to inherit eternal life"?
I notice these two questions had two different answers.

There are verses that say...
We must believe in Jesus.
We must be born again.
We must bear fruit of repentance.
We must be baptized.
We must repent.
We must love one another.
We must obey the commandments.
We must bear the fruit of obedience.
We must "take up our cross" and follow Jesus.
We must die to the old self.
We must be filled with the Spirit.
We must be led by the Spirit
We must bear fruit of the Spirit.
We must overcome.
We must have "proof of our faith".
We must go unto all the world and teach them about Jesus and all the things He commanded us to do.

There are dozens more... I can't type them all here... it would take hours. This post would be as long as,.. well... as long as the Bible.
But often times... Christians want to pick out one or two verses and say ... This is it... This is all I have to do to be a Christian.
It's almost like they believe all those other verses don't apply anymore. Why are they even taking up space in my Bible?
But what if.... the correct answer isn't A or B.
What if the correct answer is ... "all of the above".

We will only be held accountable for what we know. T or F. I made a funny.
Anyway, we each are given a part. My part is what He has taught me, I'm held accountable for that. Your part is what He taught you, you are held accountable for that. I receive your part because the spirit bares witness, or it doesn't. If it doesn't is it wrong or is it because He hasn't taught me that path yet? And this is where good fellowship began?
Some speak in tongues, but not All. Are they held accountable because they don't? Is it my job to persecute them because they don't? No, it is our job to love them and speak what ye ought to say, not what I want to say.
Jesus has saved us and there is a spirit within each of us that is dying to live. Those that our bitter and hateful and hurtful are that way because they are always fighting against the heart pricks instead of humbly admitting "yes Lord, that is me and I need slot more of you. Help me Lord, show me the way, the truth and the life. "
Amen.

 

[Dave M]

And HOW does a person Become a follower of Christ.

here is what Jesus says to some that claim to follow him but do they really??

Luke 6:46
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

 

[B-A-C]

We will only be held accountable for what we know. T or F. I made a funny.

If only it was "all of the above" :shades:

Rom 2:12; When the Gentiles sin, they will be destroyed, even though they never had God’s written law. And the Jews, who do have God’s law, will be judged by that law when they fail to obey it.
Rom 2:13; For merely listening to the law doesn’t make us right with God. It is obeying the law that makes us right in his sight.
Rom 2:14; Even Gentiles, who do not have God’s written law, show that they know his law when they instinctively obey it, even without having heard it.
Rom 2:15; They demonstrate that God’s law is written in their hearts, for their own conscience and thoughts either accuse them or tell them they are doing right.

2 Tim 2:15; Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.

Gen 3:22; Then the LORD God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever"—

It seems mankind knows good and evil simply by instinct. ... also once again here is the "Us" as in Gen 1:26;

 

[Sue D.]

here is what Jesus says to some that claim to follow him but do they really??

Luke 6:46
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

A person Does need to Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior -- the Holy Spirit's indwelling them Will cause them to want to follow Jesus Christ. And 'we' need to be in God's Word to know 'what to follow'.

 

[bibleguy]

here is what Jesus says to some that claim to follow him but do they really??

Luke 6:46
“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?

Also in Mt. 7:21-23, where Jesus sends AWAY the religious people (who even did miracles in Jesus' name!), but they were LAWLESS (i.e., Torah-less), so they were sent away.

CONCLUSION: Jesus was serious (Mt.5:19). ALL Torah applies to us.
blessings...

 

[Dave M]

Also in Mt. 7:21-23, where Jesus sends AWAY the religious people (who even did miracles in Jesus' name!), but they were LAWLESS (i.e., Torah-less), so they were sent away.

CONCLUSION: Jesus was serious (Mt.5:19). ALL Torah applies to us.
blessings...

actually Jesus says
John 13:34
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

as far as the law

Romans 13:8
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

 

[bibleguy]

actually Jesus says
John 13:34
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

as far as the law

Romans 13:8
Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

Romans 10:4
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

Right...but are you saying you use Jn. 13:34 and Rom.13:8 and Rom.10:4 to ignore Mt. 5:19?

 

[Dave M]

I am not saying anything

, I am following Jesus how about you ? do you follow Jesus as Lord and savior?

 

[bibleguy]

I am not saying anything

, I am following Jesus how about you ? do you follow Jesus as Lord and savior?

Sorry! Didn't mean to misunderstand you...but it seemed like maybe you were implying that you don't need to obey all Torah (as is required in Mt.5:19)...
So I wasn't sure what you were implying....

And of course I follow Jesus and Lord and Savior...and Jesus commands us to obey ALL Torah (Mt.5:19), not merely the command to "love" (to the exclusion of all other Torah).
blessings...

 

[Dave M]

And of course I follow Jesus and Lord and Savior.

and that my brother unites us God bless you

 

[bibleguy]

and that my brother unites us God bless you

Blessings to you too!

 

[Sue D.]

Also in Mt. 7:21-23, where Jesus sends AWAY the religious people (who even did miracles in Jesus' name!), but they were LAWLESS (i.e., Torah-less), so they were sent away.

CONCLUSION: Jesus was serious (Mt.5:19). ALL Torah applies to us.
blessings...

Yes, He sent Away 'religious' people -- He wants Relationship - not religiosity. The Torah does Not include our New Testament, You appear to be emphasizing the Old Testament.
Take a look at Matthew 22:37 - 40 - vs 40 "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets".