What Is a Christian?

by Ken Dart

If a person in today’s world wanted an answer to this question, they would probably turn to the internet. Depending on the website they picked, they would find something along these lines:

"According to the World Council of Churches, a Christian is one who confesses Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the Scriptures. This fellowship of churches, comprising 352 member churches from more than 120 countries, representing over 580 million Christians worldwide, defines a Christian as someone who seeks to fulfill their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In essence, a Christian is a follower of Jesus Christ, who acknowledges Him as the Son of God and Saviour of humanity. This understanding is rooted in the biblical witness and is shared by diverse Christian traditions and denominations within the World Council of Churches."

Or maybe they would seek the answer from Billy Graham’s website. Here is an edited clip of what a person would find at https://billygraham.org/story/what-is-a-christian/ :

“I was in a cab when I asked the driver about his faith. He replied that he was a Christian, and I asked him how he became one ... ‘Oh, I was born a Christian’. But those who belong to Christ know that it’s impossible to be born a Christian because we start out with a sin-infected nature, lost and separated from God ... A Christian is a man, woman, or child who has experienced a spiritual new birth through the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit...The Bible also says that “if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). The moment we do so, the Holy Spirit makes us alive in Christ, imparting the gift of eternal life, and making us entirely new creatures in Christ..” [Franklin Graham].

Warning! Both of these quotations contain errors. The terms “Christian traditions” and “denominations” are absolutely unscriptural. Denominationalism arose because men believed Satan, the master deceiver, and father of lies (John 8:44), instead of the inspired words of an apostle (Paul). He is the apostle who said there is only one body or church (Ephesians 4:4; Colossians 1:24).

Furthermore, if we look on the internet for an answer to the question “How many Christian denominations are there in the modern world?” here is what you’ll see:

“There are approximately 33,089 to 45,000 Christian denominations globally, reflecting the complex and multifaceted nature of Christianity in the modern world.”

Advocates of denominationalism assert that the one body of Ephesians 4:4 is made up of thousands of denominations. Jesus did not tell the apostles to “go make denominations.” He said, “go make disciples” (Matthew 28:19). So, let’s close our browsers, open our Bibles, and look for God’s answer to the question: What is a Christian?

Making Disciples

Interestingly, the first people called Christians were also identified as disciples (Acts 11:26). The word “disciple” should immediately take us back to Jesus’ command to eleven of His chosen men who were charged by the Son of God to “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). The imperative in this passage is “make disciples” (grammatically, an imperative is the tense of a command). Jesus commanded them to make disciples. The rest of Jesus’ charge to His apostles reveals the “how to” component of His instructions. After commanding His men to “make disciples,” He added, “baptizing them” and “teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you” (Matthew 28:19-20). At first glance, one might conclude that based on this text, all the teachings Jesus spoke about came after baptism. Let’s dig deeper and see if that was true in the first century.

First, look at what happened in Antioch (Acts 11:19-26). Stephen went to Antioch “speaking the word” only to the Jews (Acts 11:19). Other men came from Cyprus and Cyrene and were “preaching the Lord Jesus” to the Greeks (Acts 11:20), and a great number that believed turned to the Lord and were “added unto the Lord” (Acts 11:21, 24). Even though baptism is not mentioned in this text, other scriptures clearly reveal that people who were “obedient from the heart” (Romans 6:17) to the words of inspired teachers in the first century were baptized into a soul-saving relationship with Christ Jesus (Romans 6:3; Galatians 3:26). These precious souls were “added to the Lord” (Acts 11:24) after they were taught and then obeyed the truth that is in Jesus Christ (Hebrews 5:8-9; I Peter 1:22).

Now look at Acts 2. First, Peter told the crowd that what they had just witnessed (Acts 2:1-13) fulfilled Joel’s prophecy (Acts 2:14-21). He reminded them they had killed Jesus, God’s chosen (Acts 2:22) but God had raised Him from the dead (Acts 2:23), fulfilling Old Testament prophecies (Acts 2:25-36). Peter’s sermon pierced their hearts and prompted them to ask Peter what they should do. He commanded them to be baptized (Acts 2:38). But before they were baptized, “he exhorted them with many other words” (Acts 2:40). Isn’t it possible that Peter remembered Jesus’ instructions on how to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20) and made sure these penitent murderers of Jesus (Acts 2:23) understood what it really means to “repent and be baptized ... for the forgiveness” of their sins (Acts 2:38)? The inspired account of their daily activities (Acts 2:41-47) proves that their lives were completely changed.

In addition to what we read in the New Testament about people who obeyed the gospel, there is another factor to consider that is not so obvious. It falls under the umbrella of Divine Providence. The people living in the first century did not have Bibles like ours. The vast majority of both Jews and Greeks only had what we call the Old Testament written in Greek, not Hebrew. Likely, the Jews schooled by the “Doctors” of the Law in and around Jerusalem were the only ones with access to Hebrew language scrolls. Remember, God used Greece (see Daniel 8:21) to prepare the way for the establishment of His spiritual kingdom (Daniel 7:13-14). For about 400 years, Greek became the universal language. Somewhere around 300 B.C., the Hebrew scriptures began being translated into Greek. The Greek language versions of the Hebrew Old Testament were known as the Septuagint [https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/septuagint]. To accurately answer the question “What is a Christian?” we must consider what the word "disciple" meant to the people in the first century.

Disciple came from the Greek word mathetes. This family of words meant “to learn; to know; to understand; to learn under instruction...” These terms always implied an intellectual process that consistently had external effects. So, the Christians in Antioch were not unlearned, casual followers of some religious sects. They had access to copies of the Old Testament in their own language (Greek) and could see word pictures of what the word "disciple" meant. A form of the word appeared 55 times in the Greek translations of the Old Testament. For example, in Deuteronomy 4:10 and Deuteronomy 31:12-13, Moses reminded the Jews that the purpose of hearing His word was so the people would learn (methanol in the Septuagint) to have a healthy fear (reverence for God - Deuteronomy 4:10; 31:12-12). In the first century, soul-saving faith was the product of hearing and obeying God’s word (Romans 10:17). The same gospel (good news) is still “the power of God unto salvation” (Romans 1:16). Only the gospel will “make disciples of all nations.”

Let us not lose sight of the divine purpose and God-ordained pattern for making disciples. Take note of Paul’s admonition to the Christians in Corinth: “Now I make known unto you brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, wherein also ye stand, by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except ye believed in vain” (I Corinthians 15:1-2).

A keen awareness of the close relationship between the words "disciple" and "Christian" will serve as an effective antidote to the common cultural misuse of the word Christian. Satan discovered long ago that twisting God’s words is an effective way to gain followers (Genesis 3:4-5). Watch out! (II Peter 3:17-18).