What Is A Christian?
How the Bible, the historical church confessions, and our greatest Christian authors answer this all-important question
Part One: Introduction and What Does the Bible Say?
Part Two: What Do Preachers & Authors of Earlier Times Say?
Part Three: What Do the Great Creeds of the Church Say?
Part Four: What Do Modern Writers & Commentators Say?
What Do Preachers & Authors of Earlier Times Say?
There was a time when the shallow definition of "Christian" that so dominates mainstream "Christianity" today would have been put to the test by the church (i.e., by the general body of Christ, its pastors, teachers, and writers) and found to be deficient, even heretical. Some comments by these great writers of the past are presented over the next few pages. We urge you to consider whether their exhortations and warnings, given not so very long ago, are being sounded clearly today.
Richard Baxter (1615-91), beloved pastor and once acknow-ledged as one of the church's greatest writers on practical Christian living: "O people, conversion is a different kind of work than most are aware of! It is not a small matter to bring an earthly mind to heaven, and to show man the amiable excellencies of God, till he is overwhelmed by such love to Him that it can never be quenched; to break the heart for sin, and make him fly for refuge to Christ, and thankfully embrace Him as the life of his soul; to have the very drift and direction of the heart and life changed; so that he renounces that which he took for good fortune, and places his treasure where he never did before, and no longer lives for the same purpose, and is not driven by the same love for the world as he formerly was: in a word, he that is in Christ is a 'new creation': 'old things are passed away, behold, all things have become new.' (2 Corinthians 5:17). He has a new understanding, a new will and resolution, new sorrows, and desires, and love, and delight: new thoughts, new speeches, new company, (if possible) and new conversation. Sin, which was previously amusing to him, is now so distasteful and terrible to him, that he flees from it as from death. The world, which was so lovely in his eyes, now troubles him and appears as nothing but vanity." Read Excerpt / Read entire book translated into modern English.
John Owen (1616-83), Puritan scholar and author, considered one of the greatest Christian theologians of all time: Where there is not an inward experience of the power, virtue, and effectual power of gospel truths in their hearts, those living under a profession of religion, regardless of what they profess, are very near to atheism, or at least exposed to great temptations in that direction. If 'they profess they know God, but in works deny him,' they are 'abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate,' Titus 1:16. Let such professors …give up themselves to a free and a rational consideration of things, and they will quickly find that all their profession is but a miserable self-deceiving, and that, indeed, they believe not one word of the religion which they profess: for of what their religion affirms to be in themselves they find not any thing true or real; and what reason have they, then, to believe that the things which it speaks of outside of themselves are one jot better? ... For instance, he who professes the gospel avows that the death of Christ crucifies sin; that faith purifies the heart; that the Holy Spirit makes alive and enables the soul unto duty; that God is good and gracious to all who come unto Him; that there is precious communion to be enjoyed with Christ; that there is great joy in believing. These things are plainly, openly, frequently insisted on in the gospel. … Now, if people have lived long in the profession of these things, saying they are so, but indeed find nothing of truth, reality, or power in them, and have no experience of the effects of them in their own hearts or souls, what stable ground have they of believing any thing else in the gospel in which they cannot have experience?" Read More
John Bunyan (1628-88), pastor & evangelist, known to his contemporaries as "Mr. Bible"; author of Pilgrim's Progress, one of history's most loved and widely-read books: "There is a [false] profession that will stand alongside an unsanctified heart and life. The sin of such will overpower the salvation of their souls; neither will a mere profession be able to excuse them (Ephesians 5:3-6). The gate will be too narrow for such as these to enter in. One may partake of salvation in part, but not of salvation in whole. God saved the children of Israel out of Egypt, but overthrew them in the wilderness: — “I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this, how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed them that believed not.” So we see that (notwithstanding their beginning) “they could not enter in, because of unbelief” (Jude 1:5; Hebrews 3:19).... [Therefore, one is commanded to]“strive to enter in at the narrow gate.” These words are fitly added, for since the gate is narrow, it follows that they who will enter in must strive. This word “strive” supposeth that great idleness is natural to professors; they think to get to heaven by lying, as it were, on their elbows. It also concludeth, that only the laboring Christian, man or woman, will get in thither. When he saith, Strive, it is as much as to say, bend yourselves to the work with all your might. And, more particularly, this word strive is expressed by several other terms; It is expressed by that word, 'So run that you may obtain' (1 Corinthians 9:24, 25). It is expressed by that word, 'Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold of eternal life” (1 Timothy 6:12). It is expressed by that word, 'Labor not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat that endureth to everlasting life' (John 6:27). It is expressed by that word, 'We wrestle with principalities and powers, and the rulers of the darkness of this world,” (Ephesians 6:12). Therefore, when he saith, 'Strive,' it is as much as to say, Run for heaven, Fight for heaven, Labor for heaven, Wrestle for heaven, or you are like to go without it.' (from The Strait Gate) Read Extended Excerpt / Read entire book slightly simplified and abridged.
Joseph Alleine (1634-1668), Pastor, evangelist, and writer, whose single great book, An Alarm to the Unconverted, written from prison, had a profound influence on George Whitefield, C.H. Spurgeon, and many others. "Every man's vote is for salvation from suffering—but they do not desire to be saved from sinning. They would have their lives saved—but still would have their lusts. Indeed, many divide here again; they would be content to have some of their sins destroyed—but they cannot leave the lap of Delilah, or divorce the beloved Herodias. They cannot be cruel to the right eye or right hand. O be infinitely careful here; your soul depends upon it. The sound convert takes a whole Christ, and takes Him for all intents and purposes, without exceptions, without limitations, without reserve. He is willing to have Christ upon any terms; he is willing to have the dominion of Christ as well as deliverance by Christ. He says with Paul, 'Lord, what will you have me to do?' [Acts 9:6] Anything, Lord! He gives Christ the blank page—to write down His own conditions. Here the hypocrite's rottenness may be discovered. He desires holiness, as one well said, only as a bridge to heaven, and inquires earnestly what is the least that will serve his turn; and if he can get but so much as may bring him to heaven, this is all he cares for. But the sound convert desires holiness for holiness' sake, and not merely for heaven's sake. He would not be satisfied with so much holiness as might save him from hell—but desires the highest degree. Yet desires are not enough. What is your way and your course? Are the drift and scope of your life altered? Is holiness your pursuit, and piety your business? If not, you fall short of sound conversion." (From An Alarm to the Unconverted, also titled A Sure Guide to Heaven.) Read extended excerpt.
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758), Pastor, theologian, writer, revival preacher, and missionary to native Americans. "[People] are most likely way to obtain the kingdom of heaven when the intent of their minds, and the engagedness of their spirits, is about their proper work and business, and all the bent of their souls is to attend on God's means, and to do what he commands and directs them to. The apostle tells us, I Corinthians 9:26, 'I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air.' Our time is short enough; there are real difficulties and enemies enough for us to encounter.... If there were no opposition, but the way was all clear and open, there would be no need of pressing to get along. Therefore, those who are pressing into the kingdom of God will go on with such engagedness that they break through the difficulties in the way. They are so set for salvation that those things by which others are discouraged, and stopped, and turned back, do not stop them, but they press through them. Persons ought to be so resolved for heaven, that if by any means they can obtain, they will obtain.... But is it a required means of my obtaining an interest in Jesus Christ, and eternal salvation? Thus the apostle in Philippians 3:11 said, 'If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.' He tells us there what difficulties he broke through, that he suffered the loss of all things, and was willingly made conformable even to Christ's death, though that was attended with such extreme torment and humiliation. (From a sermon entitled "Pressing into the Kingdom of God.") Read sermon slightly modernized and abridged.
John Wesley (1703-91): "[In the true Christian], there is faith unto repentance. Here let no man deceive his own soul. 'It is diligently to be noted, the faith which bringeth not forth repentance, and love, and all good works, is not that right living faith, but a dead and devilish one. For, even the devils believe that Christ was born of a virgin: that he wrought all kinds of miracles, declaring himself very God: that, for our sakes, he suffered a most painful death, to redeem us from death everlasting; that he rose again the third day: that he ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father and at the end of the world shall come again to judge both the quick and dead. These articles of our faith the devils believe, and so they believe all that is written in the Old and New Testament. And yet for all this faith, they be but devils. They remain still in their damnable estate lacking the very true Christian faith.'" (from a sermon entitled "The Almost Christian.") Read More
George Whitefield (1714-70): "To be washed in his blood; to be clothed in his glorious imputed righteousness ... will be a conversion from sin to holiness. They that are truly converted to Jesus, and are justified by faith in the Son of God, will take care to evidence their conversion, not only by the having grace implanted in their hearts, but by that grace diffusing itself through every faculty of the soul, and making an universal change in the whole man." (from a sermon entitled "True Conversion.") Read More
J.C. Ryle (1816-1900): "There are three things which a professing Christian must renounce and give up, and three enemies which he must fight with and resist. These three are the flesh, the devil, and the world. All three are terrible foes, and all three must be overcome if we would be saved.... This is the great rock on which thousands of young people are continually being crushed against and destroyed. They don't object to any of the truths of the Christian faith. They do not deliberately choose evil, and openly rebel against God. They hope somehow to get to heaven in the end.... The last day alone will prove how many souls 'the world' has slain. Hundreds will be found to have been trained in Christian homes, and to have known the Gospel from their very childhood, and yet missed heaven." Read More
"It does seem clear that heaven would be a miserable place to an unholy man. It cannot be otherwise.... We must be heavenly-minded, and have heavenly tastes, in the life that now is, or else we shall never find ourselves in heaven, in the life to come.... Christ's true servants were always unlike the world around them: they are a separate nation, a peculiar people, and you must be so too, if you would be saved!... I look at the world and see the greater part of it lying in wickedness. I look at professing Christians and see the vast majority having nothing of Christianity but the name. I turn to the Bible and I hear the Spirit saying, 'Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.' You may say, at this rate very few will be saved. I answer, I know it. It is precisely what we are told in the Sermon on the Mount. The Lord Jesus said, 'Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leads unto life, and few there be that find it' (Matt. 7:14). Few will be saved because few will take the trouble to seek salvation." Read More
Charles H. Spurgeon (1834-92): "I have heard it often asserted that if you believe that Jesus Christ died for you, you will be saved. My dear hearer, do not be deluded by such an idea. You may believe that Jesus Christ died for you, and may believe what is not true; you may believe that which will bring you no sort of good whatever. That is not saving faith. The man who has saving faith afterwards attains to the coviction that Christ died for him, but it is not the essence of saving faith. Do not get that into your head, or it will ruin you.... A man does not have salvation until he comes by the power of God's Spirit through faith to a living, personal, vital, intimate union with Christ as the Lord. A man is not a Christian until he has a vital union with Christ. A man is not a Christian until he is inseparably joined - personally joined to Jesus Christ. A man is not a Christian until Christ becomes his life. A man is not a Christian unless you can cut into his heart and find love for Christ; cut into his mind and find thoughts of Christ; and cut into his soul and find a panting after Christ." Read More
H.A. Ironside (1876-1951): "It needs ever to be insisted on that the faith that justifies is not a mere intellectual process- not simply crediting certain historical facts or doctrinal statements; but it is a faith that springs from a divinely wrought conviction of sin which produces a repentance that is sincere and genuine.... Shallow preaching that does not grapple with the terrible act of man's sinfulness and guilt, calling on 'all men everywhere to repent,' results in shallow conversions; and so we have a myriad of glib-tongued professing Christians today who give no evidence of regeneration whatever. Prating of salvation by grace, they manifest no grace in their lives. Loudly declaring they are justified by faith alone, they fail to remember that 'faith without works is dead.' ... No man can truly believe in Christ, who does not first repent. Nor will his repentance end when he has saving faith, but the more he knows God as he goes on through the years, the deeper that repentance will become.” (from Except Ye Repent by H.A. Ironside.) Read Excerpt / Read entire book
A.W. Pink (1886-1952): "No one can receive Christ as his Savior while he rejects Him as Lord. It is true the preacher adds that the one who accepts Christ should also surrender to Him as Lord, but he at once spoils it by asserting that though the convert fails to do so, nevertheless Heaven is sure to him. That is one of the Devil's lies. ... Those who have not bowed to Christ's scepter and enthroned Him in their hearts and lives, and yet imagine that they are trusting in Him as their Savior, are deceived, and unless god disillusions them they will go down to the everlasting burnings with a lie in their right (Isaiah 44:20). Christ is 'the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him' (Hebrews 5:9)."
"Calvary supplied the most solemn and awe inspiring display of God's hatred of sin that time or eternity will ever furnish. And do you imagine that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to worldlings and telling them that they 'may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their personal Savior' while they are wedded to their idols and their hearts still in love with sin? If I do so, I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel, insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness."
"On every side are people full of assurance, certain that they are journeying to Heaven; yet their daily lives show plainly that they are deceived, and that their assurance is only a fleshly one. Thousands are, to use their own words, 'resting' on John 3:16, 5:24, and have not the slightest doubt they will spend eternity with Christ.... Now dear reader, you too may be quite sure that your faith in Christ is true...and yet, after all, be mistaken. The danger of this is not to be fancied, but real. The human heart is dreadfully deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9). God's word plainly warns us that 'There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes, and yet is not washed from their filthiness' (Proverbs 30:12). Do you ask (O that you may, in deep earnestness and sincerity), How can I be sure that my faith is genuine and saving one? The answer is, Test it." (all from Studies on Saving Faith by A.W. Pink, 1937.) Read Extended Excerpt / Read Entire Book
A.W. Tozer (1897-1963): "All unannounced and mostly undetected there has come in modern times a new cross into popular evangelical circles. It is like the old cross, but different; the likenesses are superficial, the differences fundamental.... The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life before the new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He seeks to key into public interest by showing that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands; rather it offers the same things the world does, only on a higher level.... If I see aright, the cross of popular Evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. It is, rather, a new bright ornament upon the bosom of a self-assured and carnal Christianity. The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it." Read More
"The doctrine of justification by faith-a Biblical truth, and a blessed relief from sterile legalism and unavailing self-effort-has in our time fallen into evil company and been interpreted by many in such manner as actually to bar men from the knowledge of God. The whole transaction of religious conversion has been made mechanical and spiritless. Faith may now be exercised without a jar to the moral life and without embarrassment to the Adamic ego. Christ may be "received" without creating any special love for Him in the soul of the receiver. The man is "saved," but he is not hungry nor thirsty after God. In fact he is specifically taught to be satisfied and encouraged to be content with little.... How tragic that we in this dark day have had our seeking done for us by our teachers. Everything is made to center upon the initial act of 'accepting' Christ (a term, incidentally, which is not found in the Bible) and we are not expected thereafter to crave any further revelation of God to our souls. We have been snared in the coils of a spurious logic which insists that if we have found Him we need no more seek Him." (from The Pursuit of God, 1948.) Read More
