How Does Christianity Alter Who We are?

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Recommended: The impact of Christianity in society

“What is in a name?” Most everyone would recognize that Shakespeare quote, but it is actually a very valid question that every Christian should ask themselves often. The name Christian is thrown around so casually in our society it certainly does not ring with the same tone that it once did. Whether it is a TV evangelist smiling for “Seed money” promising peace, joy and prosperity or the neighbor who claims Christianity because their mother dragged them to church as a child, we can find professing Christians all around us. But what does it really mean this name that identifies us with the risen Savior, this Christ? How does Christianity alter who we are and how we live? This paper will seek to answer those two crucial questions.

I. Christian Identity: A Slave of Christ

Christian Identity: A Theological Definition

One must ask themselves one simple question. Who are you? The answer to this question alone offers significant insight into what one believes about Christianity and themselves in light of those truths. One who professes to be a Christian is claiming their identity in Christ, thus all that they do is in the name of, and is to the glory of the Lord Almighty. In his recent book, Slave, John MacArthur explains “When we call ourselves Christians, we proclaim to the world that everything about us, including our very self-identity, is found in Jesus Christ because we have denied ourselves in order to follow and obey Him.”

Christian Identity: Biblical Foundation

2 Corinthians 5:17 is clear. “If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come; the old has gone, the new is here.” But just what is that “new” creation? The author in the very next chapter in verse 4 identifies ...

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...sin. They are purchased by the blood of Jesus their Redeemer and united with the family of God. This purchase takes them out of the bondage of sin and makes them a slave of Christ. The individual no longer lives for his own desires and purposes but rather surrenders his will to be an obedient slave to his loving Master, God. This new identity brings about a genuine change of person. The old is washed away and a new creation is formed. Through intentional dedication to the spiritual disciplines, a believer grows and matures in God’s ways, for God’s purposes, glorifying God alone. The life of an authentic Christian is marked by the love, and continual growth of this new creation as a child of God.

Bibliography

Harris, Murray. Slave of Christ. Downers Grove, IL: Inter Varsity Press, 1999.

MacArthur, Johm. Slave. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 2010.

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