What answer would you give to the question \u201cHow can you be a Christian?\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\nHow can I be a Christian? The \u201ccorrect\u201d answer, I suppose, is by the grace of God through the power of the Spirit. I think this is true \u2013 but it isn\u2019t the whole story. The whole story has to be fleshed out by the details \u2013 and the details include the the church and the mission of the church.<\/p>\n
Consider the instructions given to the people of God (aka \u201cthe church\u201d) in the pages of the New Testament, and bear in mind with it the frequent warning that \u201cby their fruit you will recognize them\u201d \u2013 both those who are true and those who are false. None of us will accomplish these with perfection \u2013 but they should be the aim and the ideal. The following isn\u2019t the sum total \u2013 but it is a good sized chunk of the New Testament teachings:<\/p>\n
\u201cBut to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. \u2026Do to others as you would have them do to you. (Lk 6:27-28, 31) (See also Mt 5:43-45)<\/p>\n
Jesus called them together and said, \u201cYou know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave\u2014 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.\u201d (Mt 20:25-28) (See also Mt 23:8-12, Mk 10:42-45, Lk 22:24-27, Jn 13:14)<\/p>\n
\u201cThe most important one,\u201d answered Jesus, \u201cis this: \u2018Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.\u2019 The second is this: \u2018Love your neighbor as yourself.\u2019 There is no commandment greater than these.\u201d (Mk 12:29-31) (See also Mt 22:36-40, Lk 10:25-28)<\/p>\n
\u201cA new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.\u201d (Jn 13:34-35)<\/p>\n
Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. (Rm 12:10)<\/p>\n
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. (Rm 12:16)<\/p>\n
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. (Rm 12:18)<\/p>\n
Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law. The commandments, \u2026 are summed up in this one command: \u201cLove your neighbor as yourself.\u201d Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Rm 13:8-10)<\/p>\n
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Cor 13:4-7)<\/p>\n
Carry each other\u2019s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. (Ga 6:2)<\/p>\n
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love. Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. (Ep 4:2-3)<\/p>\n
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. (Ph 2:3-4)<\/p>\n
My brothers and sisters, believers in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ must not show favoritism. \u2026 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, \u201cLove your neighbor as yourself,\u201d you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. (Ja 2:1, 8-9)<\/p>\n
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 Jn 4:7-8)<\/p>\n
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. We love because he first loved us. Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister. (1 Jn 4:16,19-21)<\/p>\n
And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love. (2 Jn 5-6)<\/p>\n
As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. \u201cGood teacher,\u201d he asked, \u201cwhat must I do to inherit eternal life?\u201d \u2026 Jesus looked at him and loved him. \u201cOne thing you lack,\u201d he said. \u201cGo, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.\u201d (Mk 10:17,21) (See also Mt 19:21, Lk 12:15, Lk 12:33-34, Lk 18:18,22)<\/p>\n
This is softened a little later in the New Testament, I think because call isn\u2019t to radical poverty, but to radical love. Love of wealth hinders, even prevents, love for one another.<\/p>\n
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life. (1 Tm 6:17-19)<\/p>\n
Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. \u2026 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, \u201cNever will I leave you; never will I forsake you.\u201d (He 13:1-5)<\/p>\n
And now a slightly different set of directions \u2013 but related to those above.<\/p>\n
Let us behave decently, as in the daytime, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and debauchery, not in dissension and jealousy. (Rm 13:13)<\/p>\n
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. \u2026 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Ga 5:16, 19-26)<\/p>\n
Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. \u2026 Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. \u2026 Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you. (Ep 4:25-32)<\/p>\n
But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God\u2019s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. (Ep 5:3-4)<\/p>\n
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. \u2026But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. \u2026 Therefore, as God\u2019s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (Col 3: 5, 8, 12-14)<\/p>\n
Who is wise and understanding among you? Let them show it by their good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such \u201cwisdom\u201d does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. (Ja 3:13-17)<\/p>\n
Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing. (1 Pt 3:8-9)<\/p>\n
For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. (2 Pt 1:5-7)<\/p>\n
I\u2019m going to go out on a limb \u2013 all of the instructions contained in the New Testament, including those governing the relationships of husbands and wives, parents and children, young and old, slaves and masters, church elders and members, are governed by the directives above to love one another.<\/p>\n
I will make another observation as well. While outreach and mission are certainly important, the command to love is directed first, but not only, to one another. That is to fellow Christians and to the local body of Christians. The local church should embody love for one another as a family and as the body of Christ. Through that witness I think we would find a much more open field for the message of the gospel.<\/p>\n
If we really took the Bible seriously, believed what it says, and acted on it, Christianity would have a much better reputation. Frankly, I think I am a Christian today because most of the Christians I knew growing up thought these were to be taken seriously. None of them carried through always or with perfection, everyone failed at them more or less often \u2013 but as far as I know each and every one of them thought this was the ideal toward which we should aim. It is probably not a coincidence that the vision statement of this church was \u201ca church with a mission to care.\u201d It wasn\u2019t at the expense of theology, or at the expense of evangelism, but as a conviction that without love for one another all our theological precision, our faith, our speaking, and even our giving, is for nothing (1 Cor 13).<\/p>\n
If you wish to contact me directly you may do so at rjs4mail[at]att.net<\/p>\n
If interested you can subscribe to a full text feed of my posts at Musings on Science and Theology<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019ve mentioned in a number of posts over the 18 months or so that I\u2019ve begun a habit of simply listening to Scripture regularly \u2013 usually on my commute \u2013 in large chunks straight through. Despite having been raised in the church, for the most part in local churches that read Scripture publicly and emphasized […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":198,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45376","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-culture"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a>I\u2019ve mentioned in a number of posts over the 18 months or so that I\u2019ve begun a habit of simply listening to Scripture regularly \u2013 usually on my commute \u2013 in large chunks straight through. Despite having been raised in the church, for the most part in local churches that read Scripture publicly and emphasized individual reading and study of scripture, this experience has\u00a0 been enlightening on so many levels. There were no surprises \u2013 I knew all of the major stories, characters, and themes. But, one simply does not get the full impact of the major unifying themes of Scripture from the typical Bible lesson, devotional,\u00a0 or sermon topic focus that is so common. Or at least I didn\u2019t get the full impact.<\/p>\n