What Is A Definition Of Christianity?

Last updated on: May 5, 2016 at 4:35 pm by Jack Wellman

What Is A Definition Of Christianity? 2016-05-05T16:35:14-05:00 Jack Wellman

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What is the definition of Christianity? How does the Bible define it?

First Mention of Christians

The biggest issue I see with defining Christianity is that it never speaks much about a relationship. It restricts Christianity to a set of beliefs, doctrines, or certain adherences to what the Bible teaches, however I think it’s not so much about religion as it is about a relationship and the relationship Christians can have with the Father through Jesus Christ (John 6:44; Acts 4:12). A secular or non-Christian view of Christianity is that it’s more of an Abrahamic monotheistic religion but based upon the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as presented in the New Testament. Some of that is true, but it’s not a monotheistic religion. Christians believe in God as being Three Persons; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but what the dictionary definition won’t tell you is that there is no other way to the kingdom of heaven and God the Father but through Jesus Christ and trusting in Him. The first time the word Christian appears is the only time it appears. This is found in the Antioch Church where it says “Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians” (Acts 11:25-27).

Believers

The word “believers” or as the Apostle Paul sometimes refers to them, the “saints,” is exactly the same thing that a Christian is. When non-believers used the word “Christian,” it was not a compliment but considered an insult. Even when the church was growing, Scripture reports that “believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women” (Acts 5:14) but why were they called believers? The Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:30-31), so believers are obviously those who have believed in Jesus Christ and received eternal life (John 3:16). They put their trust in Him in Whom they believe. You can call them believers, saints, or Christians; they are all the same and are called the children of God. The Apostle John wrote about “all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13).

Christ-like

A Christian could also be called “a little Christ” or “Christ-like” because that is our calling. We are to be shaped, formed, and sculpted by the Spirit of God to become more and more like Christ every day. By the way, that takes a lifetime and it’s called sanctification. This ongoing, lifelong process will never be fully completed until the day of our death, when we enter into the presence of His glory, or it will happen at the moment that He returns for us, which could be at any moment. God is at work in us but we’re supposed to be participants in this process of sanctification. Paul writes, “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:12-13). Paul isn’t saying that we work for our salvation but work out of our salvation. We seek to find God’s will for our lives, but we do it with a deep, holy, abiding reverence (fear and trembling), but we can rest in the fact that “it is God who works in you.”

Christianity vs Other World Religions

When I was researching about the other religions of the world, I did so for the purpose of comparing them with one another, but also with Christianity. I was struck by one major theme. Almost every religion of the world focused on doing this or doing that or not doing this or that. Basically, it’s “do, do, do,” so Christianity is much different in that sense. Paul writes about how we were saved in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” So what’s the main difference? It is that most world religions are all about “do, do, do” but with Christ, it’s “done!” That doesn’t mean we never do works because in the very next verse, Paul makes it clear that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:10). It is no accident that right after Paul says we’re not saved by works, he mentions we’re saved for works. God’s planned them for us to do, even before we existed (“beforehand,” see Eph 1). The word “beforehand” in Ephesians 2:10 is from the Greek word “proetoimazō” and means something that’s “prepared before” or “to make ready,” so God’s planned works for the saved to do after trusting in Christ, but the saved know that these works never save them. They already are saved! The problem with works-based religions is the question of how will they ever know for sure when they’ve done enough good works?

Conclusion

Certainly Christianity is a religion by the strictest of definitions, but in reality it is a relationship, not a religion. It’s not about rituals, rules, or ordinances, but about the blood of Christ that was shed for those who repent and trust in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. We are saved by what Jesus has done and trusting in Him; not by what we do. We should still strive to do those things that are pleasing in God’s sight, but with the understanding that nothing we could ever do, in a million years, would be enough to save us.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.

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