"What Is a Christian? Part 2" by Romans
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUnDKD1NMH4
Tonight, we are continuing in Part Two of our new Series, “What Is A Christian?” Last week we looked at God's involvement in our being called out of the world and the ungodly lives we were living into an understanding of, and a relationship with, the Person His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ. What is a Christian? How does the Word of God describe us? Where did the word originate? Let's see, shall we?
We read in Acts 11:26, “And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” This seems like an open-and-shut declaration, but this term “Christian” is what the world still calls us, and it is what we routinely call ourselves. Adam Clarke
tells us this about the beginnings of this name being applied to us:
It is evident they had the name Christians from Christ their master; as the Platonists and Pythagoreans had their name from their masters, Plato and Pythagoras. Now, as these had their name from those great masters because they attended their teaching, and credited their doctrines, so the disciples were called Christians because they took Christ for their teacher, crediting his doctrines, and following the rule of life laid down by him.
It has been a question, by whom was this name given to the disciples? Some think they assumed it; others, that the inhabitants of Antioch gave it to them; and others, that it was given by Saul and Barnabas. This later opinion is favored by the Codex Bezae, which reads the 25th and 26th verses thus:
And hearing that Saul was at Tarsus, he departed, seeking for him; and having found him, he besought him to come to Antioch; who, when they were come, assembled with the Church a whole year, and instructed a great number; and there they first called the disciples at Antioch Christians...
Before this time. the Jewish converts were simply called, among themselves, disciples, i.e. scholars; believers, saints, the Church, or assembly; and, by their enemies, Nazarenes, Galileans, the men of this way or sect; and perhaps lay other names which are not come down to us. They considered themselves as one family; and hence the appellation of brethren was frequent among them.
It was the design of God to make all who believed of one heart and one soul, that they might consider him as their Father, and live and love like children of the same household. A Christian, therefore, is the highest character which any human being can bear upon earth; and to receive it from God, as those appear to have done - how glorious the title!
It is however worthy of remark that this name occurs in only three places in the New Testament: here, and in Acts 26:28 {which says, ““Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian,}” and in 1 Peter 4:16” which says, “Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.”
So the title, “Christian” was accepted and adopted by both Peter, who was the Apostle to the Circumcision, and by Paul who was the Apostle to the Gentiles. But we have to keep several things in mind about this title: First, Jesus asked in Luke 6:46, “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
Of this, Matthew Henry writes, “It is not enough to hear the sayings of Christ, but we must do them; not enough to profess relation to him, as his servants, but we must make conscience of obeying him. 1. It is putting an affront upon him to call him Lord, Lord, as if we were wholly at his command, and had devoted ourselves to his service, if we do not make conscience of conforming to his will and serving the interests of his kingdom.
We do but mock Christ, as they that in scorn said, Hail, King of the Jews, if we call him ever so often Lord, Lord, and yet walk in the way of our own hearts and in the sight of our own eyes. Why do we call him Lord, Lord, in prayer (compare Matthew 7:2-22), if we do not obey his commands? He that turns away his ear from hearing the law, his prayer shall be an abomination.
2. It is putting a cheat upon ourselves if we think that a bare profession of religion will save us, that hearing the sayings of Christ will bring us to heaven, without doing them. This he illustrates by a similitude (Luke 6:47-49) {where Jesus said, Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock:”}
which shows, (1.) That those only make sure work for their souls and eternity, and take the course that will stand them in stead in a trying time, who do not only come to Christ as his scholars, and hear his sayings but do them, who think, and speak, and act, in every thing according to the established rules of his holy religion.
They are like a house built on a rock. These are they that take pains in religion, as they do, - that dig deep, that found their hope upon Christ, who is the Rock of ages (and other foundation can no man lay); these are they who provide for hereafter, who get ready for the worst, who lay up in store a good foundation for the time to come, for the eternity to come, 1 Timothy 6:19.
They who do thus do well for themselves; for, [1.] They shall keep their integrity, in times of temptation and persecution; when others fall from their own stedfastness, as the seed on the stony ground, they shall stand fast in the Lord.
[2.] They shall keep their comfort, and peace, and hope, and joy, in the midst of the greatest distresses. The storms and streams of affliction shall not shock them, for their feet are set upon a rock, a rock higher than they.
[3.] Their everlasting welfare is secured. In death and judgment they are safe. Obedient believers are kept by the power of Christ, through faith, unto salvation, and shall never perish.
(2.) That those who rest in a bare hearing of the sayings of Christ, and do not live up to them, are but preparing for a fatal disappointment: He that heareth and doeth not (that knows his duty, but lives in the neglect of it), he is like a man that built a house without a foundation. He pleases himself with hopes that he has no ground for, and his hopes will fail him when he most needs the comfort of them, and when he expects the crowning of them;
when the stream beats vehemently upon his house, it is gone, the sand it is built upon is washed away, and immediately it falls, Such is the hope of the hypocrite, though he has gained, when God takes away his soul; it is as the spider's web, and the giving up of the ghost.”
The Apostle Paul adds to Jesus' question of why do we call Him Lord, and not obey Him, with these words in “Romans 8:9: “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
Of this the Cambridge Bible tells us, ““If any man have not, &c.” the Spirit of Christ] Evidently not in the essentially modern sense of His (Christ’s) principles and temper, but in that of the Personal Holy Spirit as profoundly connected with Christ. The phrase is indeed remarkable, just after the words “the Spirit of God:” it at least indicates St Paul’s view of the Divine majesty of Messiah.
On the other hand, it is scarcely a text in point on the great mystery of the “Procession” of the Holy Ghost; the emphasis of the words here being rather on the work of the Holy Ghost as the Revealer of Christ to the soul. See again Ephesians 3:16 {which states, “That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man;”}.
none of his ~ See again 2 Corinthians 13:5, as the best comment on this brief warning, {which states: “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” ESV}.
Evidently St Paul reminds the reader that a vital requisite to union with Christ is the present veritable indwelling of His Spirit; such an indwelling as he is treating of here, which determines the man to be “not in the flesh.”—The question thus solemnly suggested was to be answered (we may be sure) by no visionary tests, but by a self-searching enquiry for “the fruit of the Spirit.” See the whole passage, Galatians 5:16-26; and cp. 1 John 3:24.”
So we see that actually being a Christian ~ Spirit-filled Christian ~ goes far beyon merely claiming to a Christian. Scripture presents for us clearly defined steps in becoming a Christian. In his first sermon on the Day of Pentecost, Peter preached these words to the Jews who had come to Jerusalem for that Festival:
“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 2:36-38).
The Pulpit Commentary shares these insights ab out the above: “INSTINCTIVE DESIRE FOR ACTION. "What shall we do?" Let us not take the words in the grossest sense of personal fear, and mere desire to escape from some imminent outward danger. Why should we? Brave as lions in the ordinary sense, there are men who cannot endure the face of their God. The Object before which all must quail is the Spirit revealed in the inmost moral convictions.
All religion is a striving after inner unity, reconciliation between self and God. And the will is deeply concerned in this. It is a good sign when men ask, amidst the pains of a wounded conscience—What must I do? It implies the feeling of freedom; the fact that they have power and will left.
III. THE WAY OF SALVATION. AS indicated in the words of Peter. 1. A change of mind. Repentance. To see its full meaning we should look to the Greek. It is... a change of thought from the bad to good, the erroneous to the true, or the less true to the more true.
Repentance is not mere feeling; it has not the uncertainty of moods and sentiments. It is not a simple change in the weather of the soul. It is a distinct alteration of the focus of the intelligence; it carries with it a movement of the will; in short, it is a revolution in the very ground of the man’s being.
2. The expression of the change of mind. By baptism—a pure and simple rite, significant to every eye and imagination of washing, of cleansing, of recovered purity, for intelligence, feeling, and conduct. The acts of the spirit are not complete until they have been clothed in outward form.
We hardly know ourselves to be changed, and certainly others cannot know that we are changed, without the language of the act. Sacraments are thus needed both for the believer himself and for the society; they have a subjective and an objective value.
3. The promises of the new life. The man who conics out of paganism or ritualism is baptized into Christ, i.e. into a spiritual religion which offers promises as well as enjoins duties.
(1) Remission of sins. Deliverance in its highest and most absolute form. The deliverance which was Israel’s age-long dream passes out of its lower, sensuous, typical form of national freedom and independence into the spiritual form of personal freedom and independence of the (lark necessity, the fate or bondage of sin.
It is the discovery that freedom is in this deepest sense a reality which makes Christ’s doctrine a great moving force in the world. Men grasp at the shadows of freedom, or the mere skirts of freedom, until this its true shape is revealed.
(2) The gift of the Holy Ghost. Closely connected with the foregoing; for moral power goes hand in hand with moral freedom. Only in freedom from the oppression of sin can the soul become the organ of the Holy Spirit. The wide extent of this promise.
To the chosen people—to their posterity, and to an undefined multitude of the heathen whom God shall call unto him. The universality of the gospel blessings here appears in germ, although from the lips of one who afterwards sided with the Judaizers. The progress of Christianity has been marked by the growing appreciation of the part and place of the nations in the kingdom of God.
4. Exhortation. "Be saved from the generation of this crookedness," says the apostle, using an idiom of his native Hebrew. Salvation is ever from a present evil, affecting not only the individual but the society. It is the tyranny of custom which weighs upon all.
And all that is said in the New Testament about this "present evil world," and the "course" of this world, refers to some such predominance of immoral habits in the general life of society. As evil, Proteus-like, changes its forms from age to age, so is the hope and message of salvation eternally fresh and new.—J.”
As we just saw, when speaking of receiving the Gift of the Holy Spirit, Whom Jesus promised to send to indwell us (John 14:16-17), Peter included the prerequisite that we repent. Repentance, in modern-day parlance, is to do an about face, or even more colloquially, to do a “180º.” It is to turn our back on our former sinful life, on our former habits, our former priorities, our former uncleanness, ungodliness and selfishness, and our former willing yielding to temptation.
In John's first epistle we are told, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9).
When we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. So, as we all may have seen printed on bumper stickers, “Christians are not perfect. They are forgiven.”
We read in Romans 4:6-8: “Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.” That, my friends, is who we are as Christians: We are blessed because we are forgiven, and because the Lord will not impute sin.”
Of this, Matthew Henry writes, “... David speaks of the remission of sins, the prime branch of justification, as constituting the happiness and blessedness of a man, pronouncing blessed, not the man who has no sin, or none which deserved death (for then, while man is so sinful, and God so righteous, where would be the blessed man?) but the man to whom the Lord imputeth not sin, who though he cannot plead, Not guilty, pleads the act of indemnity, and his plea is allowed.
It is quoted from Psalm 32:1-2, where observe, 1. The nature of forgiveness. It is the remission of a debt or a crime; it is the covering of sin, as a filthy thing, as the nakedness and shame of the soul. God is said to cast sin behind his back, to hide his face from it, which, and the like expressions, imply that the ground of our blessedness is not our innocency, or our not having sinned (a thing is, and is filthy, though covered;
justification does not make the sin not to have been, or not to have been sin), but God's not laying it to our charge, as it follows here: it is God's not imputing sin (Romans 4:8), which makes it wholly a gracious act of God, not dealing with us in strict justice as we have deserved, not entering into judgment, not marking iniquities, all which being purely acts of grace, the acceptance and the reward cannot be expected as debts; and therefore Paul infers (Romans 4:6) that it is the imputing of righteousness without works.
2. The blessedness of it: Blessed are they. When it is said, Blessed are the undefiled in the way, blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, etc., the design is to show the characters of those that are blessed; but when it is said, Blessed are those whose iniquities are forgiven, the design is to show what that blessedness is, and what the ground and foundation of it.
Pardoned people are the only blessed people. The sentiments of the world are, Those are happy that have a clear estate, and are out of debt to man; but the sentence of the word is, Those are happy that have their debts to God discharged. O how much therefore is it our interest to make it sure to ourselves that our sins are pardoned! For this is the foundation of all other benefits. So and so I will do for them; for I will be merciful, Hebrews 8:12.”
I hasten to remind all of you that every time we pray The Lord's Prayer, we our qualifying our being forgiven. What I mean by that is this: Jesus phrased the petition in The Lord's Prayer such that our being forgiven is contingent on our being forgiving.
In Matthew's Account of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount where Jesus teaches His disciples to pray we read the following, as He concludes the Prayer: “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen” (Matthew 6:12-13).
I also want you to notice what Jesus does after He completes how He would have us pray The Lord's Prayer (… “for Thine is the Kingdom, etc.”): He goes back and both clarifies and intensifies the contingency for forgiveness that I referred to earlier. He says, “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).
The Preacher's Homiletical says of this, “Give and forgive.—The Father has not His interest wholly absorbed in the higher spiritual interests of His children; or in abstract contemplations of His own glory and kingdom. As a Father, He is interested in our daily bread, and daily danger.
I. What is the theological attitude of the man who prays these clauses sincerely?—He must believe in:—1. The absolute and entire dependence of man upon God.—Prayer involves belief in the dependence of man on God. (1) For food, or in the matter of bodily necessities,
(2) For forgiveness, or in the matter of the necessities caused by sin. These cover all man’s wants as a dependent creature. 2. The law that God’s dealings with us depend on our moral condition.—Involved in the clause, “as we forgive our debtors” (see Matthew 6:14-15).
This law does not say, our forgiving others is either the cause or the measure of God’s forgiving us. It says that God is concerned in our moral states, because He wants all His dealings to be a moral blessing to us. If we are in an unforgiving state of mind, then His forgiveness cannot reach us. And if we keep in an unforgiving state of mind, we prove ourselves unworthy of His forgiveness. Parable of unmerciful servant.
3. The fact of sin as disturbing our relations with God.—If sin be a disease only, the man will not say, “forgive.” If sin be a weakness, a moral deterioration only, the man will not say, “forgive.” If sin be not a personal and individual thing, no force goes into the prayer, “forgive.” Sin must be realised as a fact, a wrong, a rebellion, a disobedience, involving penalty—then only can we pray “forgive.”
Observe the relation of these clauses to the former parts of the prayer. “The Father.” He is surely willing to forgive. “The Name.” Can it be more hallowed than in forgiveness? “The kingdom.” Must have its beginning in forgiveness. “The will.” Is set most of all upon forgiveness.
II. What should be the moral attitude of the man who prays these clauses?—There should be:—1. A deep sense of the evil and hatefulness of sin.—Conceived as ingratitude, insult, and rebellion; estimated in the light of its consequences. Such impressions of sin are the work of the Holy Spirit.
2. Profound humility of spirit.—He who comes saying, “Forgive,” cannot fail to be humble when he prays, “Give.” 3. Ready willingness to forgive others.—Such forgiveness is not a number of isolated acts; it is properly the expression of a spirit of forgiveness, cherished in our hearts.”
The Pulpit Commenary adds, “"Forgive us our debts." We owe a debt to God, each one of us—a great debt; it has been accumulating day after day, year after year; it is like the vast sum, the ten thousand talents, which the servant owed in the parable. Like him, we have nothing to pay.
But if we have learned to say, "Our Father," if we have arisen from the life of sin and carelessness and gone to our Father, we know that he will forgive. "When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." They are precious words. Our Father sees the first symptoms of repentance; he goes forth to meet the penitent; he embraces him with the arms of his mercy.
"As we forgive our debtors," This is of universal application. The saint must confess sin as well as the sinner. This is of daily necessity. We sin daily. But this recognizes God’s forgiving grace—to cover all sin. Yet it is conditioned by our forgiving spirit.
"Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much." The much love proves that she is forgiven; but the soul that hath not love hath no forgiveness. The Lord shows the importance of this law of love by returning again to it. It is the one clause of the prayer which he enforces by an additional warning.
God will not forgive the unforgiving; such men turn the prayer which the Lord himself has taught us into a curse upon themselves. We must learn of him who said, "Father, forgive them," the blessed lesson of forgiveness; we must learn it for our soul’s salvation, for "he that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
It is to be pointed out that the Gospel version of the Lord’s Prayer uses here in this petition the words "debts" and "debtors;" while, in what may be regarded as a parallel passage (Luke 11:4), the prayer reads, "Forgive us our sins, as we forgive our debtors" It might, possibly, and not altogether unplausibly, be held that this last form of the words designs to avoid bringing into near comparison the dread reality we call sin against God, with our sins (though still justly so called) against one another.
At any rate, the version may suggest profitably the thought. Vast also and indeed immeasurable the difference between what we owe to God and what any one can owe to us; still these facts more naturally both fall under the description of "debts." Again, though the words "debts" and "debtors" are virtually commented upon by the "trespasses" of Matthew 6:14, it is not impossible that they suggest the sequence of this petition upon the one preceding it.
We have just prayed, "Give us this day," etc. What debts, indeed, God’s daily innumerable givings, as Creator to all creation, as Father to all his family, entail upon them! These are not less to be thought of because they partake so much of a moral character, and are so analogous to those which children owe to their earthly parents.
Though parents must give for the sake of the life of those to whom they give, their claim upon the gratitude, obedience, devotion, of their offspring is indefeasible, and the high, solemn sanctions of that claim in Scripture are second to none.
Dwell on the consideration of:
I. THE EXISTENCE OF THIS GREAT THING, THIS GREAT FACT, IN THE WORLD—"FORGIVENESS:" WHAT DOES IT MARK? 1. It is a convincing proof of a moral element present in the world’s social structure. 2. It is a convincing proof that that moral element is not of the nature of a level, stern, logical justice by itself...
3. The outward practice of forgiveness (leaving out of question any cultivating of the spirit of forgiving) is found an absolute necessity for carrying on the community of social life. 4. The three foregoing particulars may be viewed as a strong supporting argument of... the apostolic Creed, that says, "I believe in the forgiveness of sins." And they may be viewed so yet the more in the light of the second clause of the petition now before us, "as we forgive our debtors."
We cannot really believe in the forgiving love of God unless we find a shadow of it in our own hearts; if we forgive not, if we are hard, stern, unforgiving, we can have no sense of forgiveness. If we forgive others, it is an evidence of our own forgiveness.”
Repentance, being forgiven, receiving the Gift of the Indwelling Holy Spirit Who then empowers us to love our enemies, and forgive all who offend us, are all major components of being a Christian. There are many more components. God Willing, I plan to review more of them in future Installments of this Series. I invite all of you to join me at this same time and place in the weeks to come.
This concludes our Discussion: "What Is A Christian? Part 2."
This Discussion was presented “live” on December 6th, 2023.
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