What is a Christian?
DEEP DIVE: WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN
THESIS
A Christian is a person who has, at a single moment in time, trusted in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life. The term is not a behavior label, a moral grade, a cultural identity, or a lifelong performance metric. It is a one-time positional designation rooted in faith in the finished work of Christ, and it carries with it irrevocable, eternal standing in Him.
ETYMOLOGY AND ORIGIN OF THE TERM
The English word "Christian" transliterates the Greek Christianos (Χριστιανός), formed from Christos ("Christ" or "Anointed One") and the Latinate suffix -ianos, meaning "belonging to the party of" or "adherent of." The construction parallels terms like Herodianoi (Herodians, partisans of Herod) in Mark 3:6 and Matthew 22:16. The suffix is deliberately partisan in tone - it marks a person as aligned with, owned by, or identified with a named figure.
The term does not appear in the Old Testament, the Gospels, or the earliest epistles. It first surfaces in the narrative of Acts after the gospel had broken out of its strictly Jewish context at Antioch.
THE THREE NEW TESTAMENT OCCURRENCES
The word Christianos appears only three times in the entire New Testament. Every occurrence matters.
1. Acts 11:26 - "And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch."
The passive verb chrēmatisai carries the sense "to be called, designated, labeled," often by public or official usage. The label arose at Antioch, the first major Gentile-inclusive assembly, precisely because the believing community could no longer be classified as a Jewish sect. They were identified by their singular attachment to Christ. The designation was likely coined by outsiders - possibly Antiochene Gentiles, possibly Roman authorities - because the believers themselves preferred terms like disciples, brethren, saints, believers, and those of the way.
2. Acts 26:28 - "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."
King Agrippa II, a politically sophisticated Herodian, uses the term in a courtroom context. Whether his statement is sincere, sarcastic, or deflective is debated, but the usage confirms that by the late 50s A.D. the term was publicly recognized as the identifier for those who had placed their trust in Jesus as the Christ. Agrippa understood that becoming a Christian was a definite, identifiable act of allegiance to Christ.
3. 1 Peter 4:16 - "Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf."
Peter employs the term in a persecution context. The word had by this point become a legal charge - to be accused and punished simply for bearing the name. Peter's exhortation confirms that the label was worth suffering for, and that the Christian identity is tied to the name of Christ Himself, not to works, culture, or ethnicity.
Summary of the data - the term is rare, outsider-originated, identity-based, and attached solely to Christ. It is never defined in the New Testament by behavior, denomination, or ritual. It is defined by allegiance to and faith in Christ.
THE BIBLICAL DEFINITION - WHO IS A CHRISTIAN
Scripture gives us multiple synonymous categories for the Christian. Each is grounded in faith in Christ alone.
- A believer - one who has believed on the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 16:31, John 3:16)
- A disciple (in the Acts 11:26 sense, meaning a learner who has trusted Christ) - "the disciples were called Christians"
- A child of God - "as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:12)
- A saint - one set apart in Christ (Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:2)
- One who has passed from death unto life - "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24)
- One who is in Christ - "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" (2 Corinthians 5:17)
- One who is sealed with the Holy Spirit - "In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise" (Ephesians 1:13)
Every one of these categories is entered at a single moment, through a single means - faith in Jesus Christ. Not faith plus works. Not faith plus confession of sins. Not faith plus submission to lordship. Not faith plus baptism. Not faith plus perseverance. Faith in Christ alone.
THE MOMENT A PERSON BECOMES A CHRISTIAN
The New Testament uniformly identifies the moment of faith as the moment of salvation, and therefore the moment of becoming a Christian.
- John 3:36 - "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life" (present tense, possessed now)
- John 6:47 - "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life"
- John 20:31 - "But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name"
- Acts 16:31 - "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved"
- Romans 4:5 - "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness"
- Ephesians 2:8-9 - "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast"
- Titus 3:5 - "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us"
BDAG's primary entry on pisteuō defines the term as "to consider something to be true and therefore worthy of one's trust." There is no lexical warrant for redefining faith as commitment, surrender, submission, obedience, or perseverance. Faith means to believe, trust, rely on. The Christian is one who has relied on Christ.
Logical anchor - Romans 4:5. If salvation were conditioned on anything the believer does or continues to do, it would by definition be a wage, not a gift. Paul states the opposite: to the one who works not but believes, faith is counted for righteousness.
WHAT A CHRISTIAN IS NOT
The term has been diluted and redefined in virtually every major rival theological system. Each redefinition must be exposed.
1. A Christian is not merely someone raised in a Christian culture, family, or nation. Cultural affiliation confers no eternal life. Nicodemus was a religious insider and still needed to be born again (John 3:1-7).
2. A Christian is not someone who has been baptized. Baptism is a post-salvation ordinance of identification and obedience, not the instrument of regeneration. Paul distinguishes the gospel from baptism in 1 Corinthians 1:17 - "For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel." The thief on the cross was saved without baptism (Luke 23:42-43).
3. A Christian is not someone who has walked an aisle, signed a card, or prayed a prayer. These are human responses that may accompany faith but are not faith itself. Faith is the internal reliance on Christ; the external action is not what saves.
4. A Christian is not someone who has "made Jesus Lord of his life" in the Lordship Salvation sense. That system front-loads discipleship conditions into the moment of justification and collapses the salvation/discipleship distinction. Scripture consistently invites the lost to believe (over 150 times in John's Gospel alone), not to surrender every area of life as a precondition for eternal life. Lordship at conversion confuses Jesus's deity and saving identity, which must be believed, with submission to His commands, which is a lifelong discipleship process (Romans 12:1-2).
5. A Christian is not someone who is maintaining his salvation by ongoing confession of sins, sacraments, or sacramental participation. The Catholic maintenance model contradicts Romans 4:5 directly. If salvation must be maintained, it is a wage, not a gift.
6. A Christian is not someone whose works have proven his faith was genuine. The Reformed "proven by perseverance" model denies present-tense assurance and collapses justification into sanctification. 1 John 5:13 states that John wrote so that believers "may know that ye have eternal life" - present tense, present knowledge, not a verdict withheld until death.
7. A Christian is not a moral category or an ethical tier. Paul addresses the Corinthians as "brethren" even while calling them "carnal" (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). Their behavior was deficient; their identity in Christ was not.
STANDING VERSUS STATE
One of the most important distinctions for understanding what a Christian is - and is not - is the biblical difference between standing and state.
Standing refers to the Christian's position in Christ. It is granted at the moment of faith, is perfect, complete, and unchangeable. Ephesians 1:3-14 catalogs the standing - chosen, accepted, redeemed, forgiven, sealed, inheritance-bearing. Every believer shares this standing equally. A new convert and the apostle Paul have the same standing in Christ.
State refers to the Christian's present experiential walk. It is variable, can be carnal or spiritual, obedient or disobedient, fruitful or unfruitful. The state can fluctuate daily. 1 Corinthians 3:1-3 describes Christians whose state was carnal even while their standing was secure.
Every warning passage, exhortation, and rebuke in the New Testament addresses the believer's state, never his standing. Failure to grasp this distinction is the single greatest source of confusion about what a Christian is. A Christian living in carnality is still a Christian. His standing is untouched; his state is at issue, and his future rewards are at stake (1 Corinthians 3:14-15, 2 Corinthians 5:10).
ETERNAL SECURITY OF THE CHRISTIAN
Because a Christian is defined by his position in Christ, the Christian cannot become a non-Christian. Eternal life, by definition, cannot be temporary.
- John 10:28-29 - "And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand."
- John 6:39-40 - Christ explicitly says He will lose none given to Him and will raise every believer at the last day.
- Romans 8:38-39 - Nothing in all creation can separate the believer from the love of God in Christ Jesus.
- Ephesians 1:13-14 - The Holy Spirit is the seal "until the redemption of the purchased possession."
- Ephesians 4:30 - Believers are "sealed unto the day of redemption."
- 1 Peter 1:3-5 - The inheritance is "reserved in heaven" and believers are "kept by the power of God."
To say a Christian can lose his Christianity is to deny the plain force of these passages and to reduce eternal life to a conditional, revocable status - which Scripture never does.
ASSURANCE FOR THE CHRISTIAN
Assurance is not a secondary privilege reserved for an elite tier of believers. It is the normal condition of every Christian, grounded in the testimony of Scripture about the promise of God.
- John 6:47 - Christ's direct promise: the one who believes has everlasting life.
- 1 John 5:13 - "These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life."
- Romans 8:16 - "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God."
Assurance rests not on the Christian's performance, feelings, or continuance, but on the character and promise of God, the finished work of Christ, and the witness of the Spirit.
THE THREE COMPETING FRAMEWORKS
A Christian, biblically defined, stands in sharp contrast to the two major rival frameworks.
- Free Grace - A Christian is one who has received the gift of eternal life by faith in Christ alone. Salvation is a gift. Works affect reward and fellowship, never possession of eternal life.
- Reformed Lordship - A Christian is one whose faith is proven genuine by persevering works. Salvation functions, in practice, as something demonstrated rather than simply received.
- Catholic - A Christian is one who is maintaining salvation through sacraments and ongoing confession. Salvation is conditioned on continued participation.
Only the Free Grace framework preserves the plain force of Romans 4:5, John 6:47, John 10:28, Ephesians 2:8-9, and 1 John 5:13 without qualification.
SUMMARY DEFINITION
A Christian is a person who, at a single moment in time, placed his trust in Jesus Christ alone for eternal life, and who was at that moment regenerated, justified, indwelt, sealed, baptized into Christ's body, and made a child of God. His standing is in Christ and is eternally secure. His state may vary; his rewards may vary; his fellowship may vary. His identity as a Christian cannot.
He is not a Christian because he behaves like one, proves it over a lifetime, maintains it by confession, or submits every area to lordship. He is a Christian because he has believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and Christ is the one who keeps him.
John 6:47 - "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life."
That is a Christian.
