Who is a Christian?

The way I see it,

Believes in Jesus as son of God and his teachings [John 3:16, etc.]
Surrender to God via Jesus as Son of God,

These two steps are essential to become a Christian. Part of the "Surrender" means to repent or turn away from your sin in order to follow God.

Baptized accordingly,
That happens after salvation, though some disagree. Every Christian should get baptized, even if it does not save.


Entered into a covenant with God to comply with God's words in the Gospels to the best of his/her ability.
That happens automatically and in fact, most new converts don't understand this aspect. Essentially, when first Repenting and Believing, you gain entry into the covenant, even if you did not know about the covenant.

Having become a Christian, one must comply with all of the New Testament (not just Gospels) to the best of their ability.

Matthew 13: NASB

1That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. 2And large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

3And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. 5“Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. 6“But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. 7“Others fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. 8“And others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. 9“He who has ears, let him hear.”



An Explanation

10And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” 11Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. 12“For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.13“Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

14“In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,
‘YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND;
YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE;

15FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL,
WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCARCELY HEAR,
AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES,
OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES,
HEAR WITH THEIR EARS,
AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN,
AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.’

16“But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. 17“For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.



The Sower Explained

18“Hear then the parable of the sower.19“When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. 20“The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21yet he has no firmroot in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. 22“And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.23“And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

I believe that all of these definitions could fail to result in a Christian except number 3 - Surrender to God via Jesus as Son of God.

Joyousperson said:

Noted and thanks.

I believe the covenant and the covenanted terms in the Gospels and supporting texts are the most critical in defining who is a Christian. The covenant is explicit or implied [as you had stated] and a genuine Christian cannot deny a covenant is established between him/her and God.

Another point is, the highlighting of the concept of entering into a covenant with God is critical as a defense for Christians to counter the accusation that Christianity condone "Christians" to be violent as in the crusades, inquisition, Salem and the likes.

The point is the covenanted terms [with emphasis on the Gospels] has an overriding term in the contract that ALL Christians must love everything, everyone [even their enemies], give the other cheek and the likes. As such a Christian is NEVER covenanted [contracted] with God to commit evil and violence against any one.

As such Christians who committed evils and violence did it on their own free will which has nothing to do with Christianity per se. These Christians must be personally accountable for their evil and violent acts within secular laws and for God to judge them on Judgment Day and be forgiven if justified.

Click to expand...

You seem to have a strong theoretical grasp of the Christian New Covenant with God.
Do you think that this covenant is real?
Do you think it's a good deal to agree to such a covenant?

Peter J Barban said:

Baptized accordingly,
That happens after salvation, though some disagree. Every Christian should get baptized, even if it does not save.

Click to expand...

Hmm... "This is like baptism to us. Baptism does not mean we wash our bodies clean. It means we are saved from the punishment of sin and go to God in prayer with a heart that says we are right. This can be done because Christ was raised from the dead." - 1 Peter 3:21 (NLV).

For me, baptism was subsequent to salvation. I was saved in my sophomore year at college but I was not baptized until 3 or 4 years later.
During that in-between time:
-My life was transformed and my dormmates commented on the new me.
-I read the entire Bible and began applying it to myself.
-I led others in Bible Studies
-I shared the Gospel with others and led some to Christ
-I received a missionary call from God and changed my studies to support that.
-I went on a three-month missionary trip to the Philippines and witnessed a revival that swept an entire mining town.
-I gave up pursuing women
-I experienced joy in Christ
-I fasted, prayed, fellowshipped and worshipped God in church and with 2 campus fellowship groups
-I endured persecution from my family

After I was baptized, my life continued on the same trajectory.
I only point this out to show that for me, entering the New Covenant apart from Baptism is not just a theory, it is backed up by the life I have experienced.

ps. I finally got baptized after I was sure that my new life was permanent and not just a phase I was going through.

Joyousperson said:

Hello All,

I am not a Christian.
I am interested to know 'Who is a Christian' precisely.

My understanding of Who is a Christian is as follows;
A Christian is a person who;

1. Believes in Jesus as son of God and his teachings [John 3:16, etc.],
   
   
2. is Baptized accordingly,
   
   
3. Surrender to God via Jesus as Son of God,
   
   
4. Entered into a covenant with God to comply with God's words in the Gospels to the best of his/her ability.

In term of weightages, I understand 4 - entering into a covenant with God, is most critical which I would place at 75%. The covenant if not explicit is implied. Without a covenant [divine contract], then no true relationship is effected between God [& Jesus] and the believers.

The balance of 25% is divided among the others. Baptism is common but it is a ritual and form which can be abused.

Any one can declare a believe but it has to be reinforced with an actual covenant. It would be very fatal [no eternal life] for a Christian to insist there is no covenant [contract or agreement] between him and God or insist he will not enter into a covenant with his God.

• 
  If there is no agreement and relationship, there is no way - in principle - God can exercise any promise to him of salvation and eternal life. Any serious Christian will accept this principle if the point is explained clearly to him.
  
  Therefore the covenant is the primary and ultimate factor in deciding 'who is a Christian' regardless of whether they are conscious of it or not.

The above elements are based on genuine intentions from the believer and not on pretense which cannot escape God omniscience.

Do you agree a consummated covenant [divine contract, explicit or implied] is the most critical element in deciding 'who is a genuine Christian.'

Click to expand...

You have really thought this out which is great.

As a non-Christian you do not have to “do” all this stuff to “become” a Christian, but it is more allowing God to do this to you, through you, with you.

Christians as former non-Christians did not make some noble, honorable, worthy, righteous and holy choice to join God out of some deep Love for God. The non-Christian is burdened by his previous choices that hurt others, he/she does not like the direction they are headed, and has come to the point of a truly important decision (all this can be for selfish reasons). They can certainly hang in there, be self-dependent, and be willing to take the punishment they fully deserve or they can wimp out, give up, surrender (no one respects those who surrendered in a battle) and be just willing to accept God’s charity as charity.

God showers those willing to just accept His charity with unbelievable gifts and as a result of having all these gifts (out of gratitude) the nonbeliever becomes a believing child of God and part of his team.

Christian water baptism as seen in scripture seems to fit the “born again” scenario Christ was talking about (John 3 :1-21) since it: Is always adult (there are examples that “might include infants” but nothing definite, all the others are adult believers) water immersion to be a physical outward representation of what had or is happening spiritually in the person being baptized. It is mainly to help the individual being baptized to better grasp what is going on, but it can “witness” to others observing the baptism. It has the elements of going down under the water (burying the old man), placing your dependence in another; the person baptizing you (surrendering your life to God), being washed (having your sins washed away), rising out of the water (rising from the old dead body), and stepping forth out onto the earth (a new person). The person is walking out into the hugs of his new family. It is also a sign of your humility, since it is a humbling act anyone can simple allow someone to do it to them (so not a work) and since humility has been shown in the accept of charity (God’s free gift of undeserving forgiveness) it should just support and add to the memory of that acceptance. To refuse Christian water baptism when it is readily available might mean you are not ready to handle other responsibility like having the indwelling Holy Spirit and you are hurting yourself.

Baptism was part of some covenant vows made in the Old Testament, so it also fits with becoming a Christian.

Your committing to Christ and Him crucified to become like Christ Himself and God is committing to keeping all His promises and God provides the indwelling Holy Spirit to the individual as a guarantee He will keep all His other promises.

Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.

Ephesians 1:13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,



Christians can quench the Spirit at any time, since they still have free will and go it alone, but sin works it’s way back in, spiraling down to the pigsty of life. 1 Thess. 5: 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt 21 but test them all; hold on to what is good, 22 reject every kind of evil

Bottom line: There is little the nonbeliever really does just believing and allowing, but after being showered with Love, peace, hope, relationship, family, helpers and the Spirit the Christian can than respond out of gratitude.

Joyousperson said:

Note the covenant [divine contract/agreement] is implied if not explicit because the essential elements of the principles of a contract exists.
In addition the New Covenant is expressed by Jesus thus imply the existence of a covenant.

Essentials of a Contract
CONTRACTS: BASIC PRINCIPLES
In this case God/Jesus is the offeror [salvation, saveed, eternal life] and the believer is the offeree who accept the offer to obey God's words via Jesus.

Surrender to God via Jesus as Son of God is merely an initiation. To sustain this there must be an agreement [covenenat] to ensure the Christian sustain the surrender till eternity.
What if a Christian surrender, then commit genocide the next moment, repent and ask for forgiveness, but then commit genocide again, repent, ask for forgiveness and kept repeating this again and again.

Jesus and God would forgive the worst sin as with Paul, Moses, etc, which are one-off cases but surely Jesus will use his discretion to exercise his Mercy given the circumstances.

The critical element of who is a Christian is thus the covenant that establish a genuine relationship between God and the Christian to ensure the Christian comply with the covenanted terms at all times.

Click to expand...

Israel had a covenant system with a law, but it did not make anyone love God. If you don't love Christ you aren't a Christian, and no covenant will produce that. Surrendering to God produces all of these things.

Joyousperson said:

Hello All,

I am not a Christian.
I am interested to know 'Who is a Christian' precisely.

My understanding of Who is a Christian is as follows;
A Christian is a person who;

1. Believes in Jesus as son of God and his teachings [John 3:16, etc.],
   
   
2. is Baptized accordingly,
   
   
3. Surrender to God via Jesus as Son of God,
   
   
4. Entered into a covenant with God to comply with God's words in the Gospels to the best of his/her ability.

In term of weightages, I understand 4 - entering into a covenant with God, is most critical which I would place at 75%. The covenant if not explicit is implied. Without a covenant [divine contract], then no true relationship is effected between God [& Jesus] and the believers.

The balance of 25% is divided among the others. Baptism is common but it is a ritual and form which can be abused.

Any one can declare a believe but it has to be reinforced with an actual covenant. It would be very fatal [no eternal life] for a Christian to insist there is no covenant [contract or agreement] between him and God or insist he will not enter into a covenant with his God.

• 
  If there is no agreement and relationship, there is no way - in principle - God can exercise any promise to him of salvation and eternal life. Any serious Christian will accept this principle if the point is explained clearly to him.
  
  Therefore the covenant is the primary and ultimate factor in deciding 'who is a Christian' regardless of whether they are conscious of it or not.

The above elements are based on genuine intentions from the believer and not on pretense which cannot escape God omniscience.

Do you agree a consummated covenant [divine contract, explicit or implied] is the most critical element in deciding 'who is a genuine Christian.'

Click to expand...

Here is the thing friend

1st ONLY God can draw a person to Christ

2nd ONLY those called can accept and follow Christ

3rd the just (true believers) live by FAITH

4th Christ said you MUST be born again to see the Kingdom
To be a true believer you MUST have faith in Christ like Abraham had in the Father

Without true faith everything is vain

A true believer is saved by the Grace of God NOTHING people can do will EVER get them into the Kingdom

Also make note Christ said not only God is Spirit and IS to be worshipped in spirit He also said you live by the Word of God NOT bread alone

Sadly many who profess faith Don't read thus they follow after the doctrine of men and not Christs doctrine

Joyousperson said:

Hello All,

I am not a Christian.
I am interested to know 'Who is a Christian' precisely.

My understanding of Who is a Christian is as follows;
A Christian is a person who;

1. Believes in Jesus as son of God and his teachings [John 3:16, etc.],
   
   
2. is Baptized accordingly,
   
   
3. Surrender to God via Jesus as Son of God,
   
   
4. Entered into a covenant with God to comply with God's words in the Gospels to the best of his/her ability.

In term of weightages, I understand 4 - entering into a covenant with God, is most critical which I would place at 75%. The covenant if not explicit is implied. Without a covenant [divine contract], then no true relationship is effected between God [& Jesus] and the believers.

The balance of 25% is divided among the others. Baptism is common but it is a ritual and form which can be abused.

Any one can declare a believe but it has to be reinforced with an actual covenant. It would be very fatal [no eternal life] for a Christian to insist there is no covenant [contract or agreement] between him and God or insist he will not enter into a covenant with his God.

• 
  If there is no agreement and relationship, there is no way - in principle - God can exercise any promise to him of salvation and eternal life. Any serious Christian will accept this principle if the point is explained clearly to him.
  
  Therefore the covenant is the primary and ultimate factor in deciding 'who is a Christian' regardless of whether they are conscious of it or not.

The above elements are based on genuine intentions from the believer and not on pretense which cannot escape God omniscience.

Do you agree a consummated covenant [divine contract, explicit or implied] is the most critical element in deciding 'who is a genuine Christian.'

Click to expand...

I like your articulation here, but I'd personally be a little looser with it so as to lean slightly more toward a mildly inclusivist version of it rather than a strictly exclusivist version. More specifically, I'd say that we're always and only saved 'in Christ,' but our being saved will be in the context of a person's positive response (=faith) to any sacred light that God sends into a person's life and/or mind.

Joyousperson said:

Note the covenant [divine contract/agreement] is implied if not explicit because the essential elements of the principles of a contract exists.
In addition the New Covenant is expressed by Jesus thus imply the existence of a covenant.

Essentials of a Contract
CONTRACTS: BASIC PRINCIPLES
In this case God/Jesus is the offeror [salvation, saveed, eternal life] and the believer is the offeree who accept the offer to obey God's words via Jesus.

Surrender to God via Jesus as Son of God is merely an initiation. To sustain this there must be an agreement [covenenat] to ensure the Christian sustain the surrender till eternity.
What if a Christian surrender, then commit genocide the next moment, repent and ask for forgiveness, but then commit genocide again, repent, ask for forgiveness and kept repeating this again and again.

Jesus and God would forgive the worst sin as with Paul, Moses, etc, which are one-off cases but surely Jesus will use his discretion to exercise his Mercy given the circumstances.

The critical element of who is a Christian is thus the covenant that establish a genuine relationship between God and the Christian to ensure the Christian comply with the covenanted terms at all times.

Click to expand...

I think your making this relationship out to be more contractual, than a parent/child relationship?

To remain a child of your parents in this world, what do you have to uphold as your part of the agreement?

God fulfills His part of the agreement (relationship) perfectly, so what is man’s part?

We still have free will and God will not hold us prisoners, so we have to knowingly walk away and accept satan as our parent. People do this because sin does have perceived pleasure for a season.

Joyousperson said:

The critical element of who is a Christian is thus the covenant that establish a genuine relationship between God and the Christian to ensure the Christian comply with the covenanted terms at all times.

Click to expand...

Yes, the "letter of the law", without a relationship,leads to rebellion. The "Spirit of the law" is what flows from an established relationship and it results in obedience.

Joyousperson said:

Regardless of the believers' degree of love, I understand God give unconditional love to the Christians.
What is critical is the covenant to establish the relationship, thus enabling to comply with the covenanted terms and to love God. If the relationship is not established how it is possible for any one to love God.

Click to expand...

Wow, you have more understanding than many "Christians"!

Joyousperson said:

Point is Christians imperatively entered into a covenant [divine contract] with Jesus and God with covenanted terms that do not include any evil nor violent elements but rather with an overriding maxim to love all even one's enemies.

From the above, it is impossible for Christianity per se to be responsible for any evil and violent acts committed by SOME people who are Christians.

Click to expand...

Can the same be said for Islam...or Buddhism?

Joyousperson said:

Regardless of the believers' degree of love, I understand God give unconditional love to the Christians.
What is critical is the covenant to establish the relationship, thus enabling to comply with the covenanted terms and to love God. If the relationship is not established how it is possible for any one to love God.

Click to expand...

I mentioned this earlier but you may have missed it:
Do you believe the New Covenant between God and man is real?
If it is real, is it a good deal for man?