Cultural Christians and True Christians

This is true for those who call themselves Christians. That is, not all who call themselves Christians or who are thought of as Christians are true Christians.

Some years ago an English writer named Leslie Stephen said that the name “Christian has become one of the vaguest epithets in the language.” This is true, perhaps even more so today than when those words were spoken. To many Jews, the name Christian is nearly synonymous with “goy” or “Gentile,” so that for them the world is divided basically into two great parts: Jews and Christians. Other people speak of “Christian nations,” by which they usually mean the western nations, those of Europe, the United States, Canada, and some others. They do this even though the cultural life of these nations is inconsistent with Christian teaching and only a small proportion of people in some of those countries ever attend a place of worship on Sunday.

What is happening? Obviously, it is a case of there being many who bear the name “Christian” but who are not actually Christians.

What is a true Christian?

The name itself gives us a clue, since it literally means “a Christ one.” Let’s approach it by its origins. The first time this name was used was in ancient Antioch of Syria in the early days of the expansion of the gospel beyond Palestine. Antioch was an immoral place. It had several great temples at which cultic prostitution was practiced, and the moral tone of the city was so bad that Antioch had become a byword for depravity in the ancient world. The city was on the Orontes River. So, on one occasion, when an orator in Rome wanted to describe the worsening moral conditions of his city, he observed that the Orontes had been diverted so as to flow into the Tiber. It was the equivalent of calling the Orontes a sewer that was carrying the filth of the eastern city into Rome.

In this degenerate city, God planted a body of genuine believers whom the pagans of Antioch began to call Christians. The Christians did not call themselves Christians. They had other names for themselves. They called themselves “people of The Way,” “saints” (or separated ones), “disciples,” “brothers,” and other descriptive titles. Jews did not call them Christians, because Christ means “Messiah,” and the Jews would never have called the sect of the Nazarene by that name.

No, the believers were first called Christians by the heathen, and for obvious reasons. The believers were enamored of Christ and followed so closely after Christ that the pagans could hardly think of a believer without thinking of the Jesus he or she was following. They were “Christ’s people.”

Theologically, this has several parts. It means that:

1. Christians believe in Christ. The Christ of the early Christian community, and of all true Christians everywhere, is the Christ of the New Testament, which means that he is the Son of God who became a man for our salvation. This is the one on whom the Christians believed. Moreover, this belief was no mere intellectual conviction. I have often said that faith (or belief) has three elements. The first is its intellectual content: who Jesus is and what he has done for our salvation. The second is the warming of the heart: being moved by Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf. The third is personal commitment, the most important part of all. It means giving oneself to Jesus, becoming his, taking up his cross, being a disciple.

This is what the believers in Antioch had done. They had committed themselves to Jesus so thoroughly that the pagans who looked on said, “They are Christ ones, Christians.”

2. Christians follow Christ. There was a second characteristic of these first Christians, which is also characteristic of all true Christians at all times. It is wrapped up in the matter of commitment, as I have just indicated: Christians are followers of Jesus. That is, if they have believed on him in a saving way and not merely by some mere abstract intellectual assent to his deity, then they are following after him on the path he sets before them. That path is the path of obedience, and as they walk along it they become increasingly like the one they are following and obeying.

This is an important dimension of what it means to be a Christian. To be a Christian means to believe on Jesus, surely. But it also means to be following after Jesus and thus becoming increasingly like him. A true Christian is someone who is becoming like Jesus Christ.

3. Christians witness to Christ. I think there must have been another reason why the early Christians were called Christians, and it is that they were apparently always talking about their Savior. The name of Jesus was constantly on their tongues, his gospel consistently on their hearts, and his glory uppermost in their minds. They were always looking for others whom they could tell about him, and they were always praying and working at their witness so that these others might be saved.

It is significant in this respect that the first great missionary movement of the church began in Antioch. We are told about it in Acts 13: “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off” (vv. 2–3). Paul undertook three missionary journeys at the direction of this church and with accountability to it, for at the end of each assignment he reported back to the congregation what God had done to save other Gentiles and some Jews through him.

We cannot forget that Jesus himself said that his followers would be witnesses: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

4. Christians learn more and more about Christ. Here is a fourth thing that is characteristic of true Christians. They want to learn more about Jesus. We are told of the Christians at Antioch that after Barnabas had gone to their city to encourage the infant church in its faith, he then went to Tarsus in Turkey to look for Paul, whom he remembered from earlier days (Acts 11:22–25). When he found him, he brought him back to Antioch so that “for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people” (v. 26a). It is significant that it was immediately after this, after the Christians at Antioch had been carefully taught about Jesus, that they “were first called Christians” (v. 26b).

As they learn about Jesus Christ, Christians naturally become more like him, intensify their love for him, and witness about him to others.