And what is a Christian?
In light of all the discussions about Kim Davis and her anti-Trinitarian church, it is useful to think about how the Bible describes a Christian:
“And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.” (Acts 11:26)
What is a Christian? A Christian is a disciple of Jesus. It is convenient for us that Jesus has told us how to define a disciple: “Make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20).
Therefore, a Christian is one who has been baptized in the triune name of God and is being taught to observe all that Christ commanded.
So when I say that someone is a Christian, I am making a verifiable claim about their objective status as a part of the visible church. The New Testament *never* uses the term “Christian” to refer to some inner reality that no one else can know. Christian is the term that refers to one’s public, outward participation in the church of Jesus Christ. In the same way that a Muslim is someone who conforms to the outward requirements of Islam, a Christian is someone who conforms to the outward requirements of Christianity.
At least, that’s what the Bible says.
Of course, Jesus also makes it clear that not all Christians will enter into glory (e.g., Matthew 25:31-46). It is permissible to say that not all Christians are “truly Christian” — because there are those who apostatize. But unfortunately, many people today seem to take this secondary sense of the word as the primary sense. They use the term “Christian” to refer to those who will enter glory at the final judgment. But that is *not* how the Bible uses the term Christian.
When I say that Kim Davis is not a Christian, I am not saying that she is eternally damned. I have known many Oneness Pentecostals who appear to have truly believed the gospel (and generally speaking, they wind up leaving the Oneness Pentecostal religion and they become Christians by being baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and are taught to observe all that Christ commanded!). The question of one’s eternal destiny is not identical to the question of whether they are a Christian! To put it simply, the thief on the cross *never* became a Christian (he was never baptized), but Jesus says that he belonged to Him — and I make a particular point to avoid disagreeing with Jesus!
But *ordinarily* there is no salvation outside the church. And since Jesus has reserved to himself the right to judge extraordinary cases, I leave it to Jesus to make those decisions!
But if you are not baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit — and if you are not currently being taught to observe all that Jesus commanded (in other words, if you are not part of a Christian church) — then you are simply not a Christian.
