What Does It Mean To Be A Christian?
To be a Christian is not only to attend services or agree with a moral code, but to be brought into living union with the living Christ, and to bow your whole self to what God has spoken about Himself, about us, and about His way of salvation in Scripture.
The Bible does not begin with man searching for God, but with God creating man. We are not the result of blind chance, we were crafted by a glorious God. He reigns over all things (Psalm 103:19), and our very breath is His gift; therefore, we owe Him our obedience and our worship.
God the Sovereign Creator
The Bible does not begin with man searching for God, but with God creating man. We are not the result of blind chance, we were crafted by a glorious God. He reigns over all things (Psalm 103:19), and our very breath is His gift; therefore, we owe Him our obedience and our worship.
God is high and lifted up, blazing in purity, set apart from all that is common or corrupt (Isaiah 6:3). This holy God calls us to share in His holiness: “You shall be holy, for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16). His standard is not comparison with other people, but conformity to His own character.
Scripture exposes the true condition of every human heart. We have not only made mistakes; we have sinned against our Maker. The Bible says, “There is no man who does not sin” (1 Kings 8:46). We may perform acts of kindness, yet in our natural state we do not truly understand God, love God, or please God (Romans 3:10–12). Our problem is not only what we do but what we are: sinners by nature and by choice.
Because God is perfectly holy and perfectly just, He does not treat sin lightly. Sin is cosmic treason against the King of the universe, and His righteous judgment rests on it. The soul that sins shall die (Ezekiel 18:4); the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). No amount of moral reform, religious activity, or self-improvement can erase the guilt of even one sin. We cannot climb out of the pit we have dug; we need a Savior who can bear our penalty and bring us to God.
Jesus the Lord and Saviour
Into this hopelessness steps Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, who took on flesh, lived a sinless life, died on the cross, and rose bodily from the grave. The Bible declares: “If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved” (Romans 10:9). On the cross, Jesus bore the judgment that sinners deserve, satisfying the justice of God (1 Peter 3:18).
In His perfect obedience, He fulfilled the holiness God requires (2 Corinthians 5:21), so that God can be just and yet declare righteous all who trust in Christ (Romans 3:26). He is not offered to us as a helper, but as Lord—worthy of our faith and our obedience.
The Nature of Saving Faith
The faith that saves is a heart-turning to Christ Himself. True faith is always joined with repentance. Repentance means you agree with God about your sin, confess it to Him, and deliberately turn away from it (Luke 13:3; 1 Thessalonians 1:9). By faith you come to Jesus to find rest for your soul (Matthew 11:28–30), to know God through Him (John 17:3), and to walk in obedience to His commands (1 John 2:3). Saving faith shows itself in a life increasingly shaped by good works that God Himself has prepared for His people (Ephesians 2:10).
