What is a Christian?

Why am I writing this? Because so many people who profess to be a Christian don't act like one. Or, at least how I think one should act. I figured the best place to start would be with an official definition of the word "Christian". Now, according to Merriam-Webster, a Christian is "one who professes belief in the teachings of Jesus". While true, it doesn't really tell us anything. So, I did a little more digging and came up with this: "Different people have defined a "Christian" as a person who has:
1.Heard the Gospel in a certain way, and accepted its message, or
2.Become "saved" -- i.e. they have trusted Jesus as Lord and Savior), or
3.Been baptized as an infant, or
4.Gone to church regularly, or
5.Recited and agreed with a specific church creed or creeds, or
6.Believe that they understand and follow Jesus' teachings, or
7.Led a decent life." (religioustolerance.org)


As you can see, instead of narrowing the scope, this just widened it. So, next, I tried a historical approach. The Roman Emperor Constantine is credited with advancing the cause of Christianity throughout the world, but it wasn't until 380 CE that Emperor Theodosius I issued the Edict of Thessalonica and declared Christianity the state religion. At that point, it can argued, that all citizens of the Empire became Christians. Again, not helping. At this point, I went to the Bible (I know, should have been my first resource). The word "Christian doesn't occur very much and when it does, it's not saying what it means to be one. Of course, it wouldn't that easy; it never is. At that point, I realized why the definitions are so diverse: there's not any one set definition. I was going to have to do what everyone else had done: read, study and put it together myself.



In the Great Commission (Matt. 28:16-20), Jesus told his followers to "make disciples of all nations". So, we're supposed to disciples. Okay, that's something to work with. But, what is a disciple? This time, I went to the Bible first. Unfortunately, it's not a dictionary and didn't lay out a nice pat answer like I wanted. I realized other definitions I found wouldn't really work because they're from our time and culture. And, to understand this, I needed to see from a 1st century Hebrew point of view. Now, in 1st century Galilee (and Galileans were the most religious of all Jews at the time), a young man started his religious education at the age of 5 and spent the next 5 years or so learning the Torah, memorizing it. That's right, all 5 books memorized. If he excelled at that, around the age of 10, he spent the next 5 years learning and memorizing the rest of the Hebrew Bible. After that, say at 15, if he was really good, he could become the disciple of a rabbi. But, he had to prove his worth to the rabbi and show that he was capable of following in the rabbi's footsteps. Because, in those times, that's what a disciple did. He followed his rabbi around everywhere he went, listening to what the rabbi said, observing what the rabbi did, learning what the rabbi knew in an effort to be just like his rabbi. There was a blessing of the time that roughly translated "May you be covered in the dust of your rabbi". In the blog "Standing Out in the Cold", the author tells us "This was meant to say that you followed your rabbi so closely that you were covered in the dust his sandals kicked up. Basically, you learned what it meant to be a rabbi and a true follower of God by learning to be exactly like your rabbi in every way. You emulated him completely. You literally learned by following his example." Not exactly how we view discipleship today, is it?



What does this say about being a Christian? Well, Jesus called us to follow him and be his disciples. In the preceding paragraph, we see what being a disciple meant to him. In a nutshell, being a Christian means living the life of Christ. Or least trying to live the life of Christ. It's definitely not something you get right on the first try. The original disciples didn't. They didn't really get what He was about until He was gone. Fortunately, we don't have to have all figured out to follow him. We just have to try. And, we have to believe in our rabbi. Otherwise, what's the point?