12/25/2025
Who is a Christian?
In Acts 11:26 we have this definition: “…. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch”. So a Christian is a “disciple” of the Risen Lord Jesus Christ. The word “disciple” means a learner, a student, and a follower. The Lord Jesus Christ says in one place –“And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”(Luke 6:46). So we can say that these ones who said “Lord, Lord” were not really disciples at all. May be in name only, but does that count? What about you and I, are we really disciples, and are we Christians then? The proof is simple – do we obey the Word of God as we are led into a Christ like life by God Holy Spirit? The Apostle John says it this way – “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth” (1Jn 3:18).
Is there enough real Christian evidence displayed in your life to convict you in a court of law of being a Christian? In the Western society that we live in many names the name of Christ and go about to blatantly deny major essential doctrines of the Word of God. Can one deny the deity of Christ, the literal resurrection of Christ, and the saving work of His atonement and still be called a Christian? Most Christians have no concept of what it means to be saved by grace alone, through faith alone. Works religion abounds and human achievement is what most so called Christians believe and trust in as their hope that secures a place for them in Heaven. But don’t you think, at some point in time, that the indwelling Christ would teach these professors of faith something about real experiential religion, as the old Puritans would call it? Consider this long portion of Scripture from The Word of God and see how it declares such is the case -
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another (Eph. 4:17-25).
I emphasize verses twenty and twenty one –“ But ye have not so learned Christ; If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus”. “Learned” is the base of our word disciple. So if I am not living as a disciple, I have not really “heard” the call to salvation, which declares I am still lost in my sins! I am not talking about perfectionism. The Apostle Paul puts it this way – “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2Co 5:17). I hope this is true of you dear reader. Amen!
