What Is A Christian?
The Issue
Most Americans self-identify as Christians. PEW research has the number at 63% in December of 2021. Although the word, “Christian,” was coined a couple thousand years ago and began as a synonym for those who were active, sold-out disciples of Christ, the meaning has changed considerably since then.
Of those who choose to identify as, Christian, far fewer would qualify as, “Christfollowers,” based on Biblical observations of and instructions for genuine disciples. Christfollowers is a term we have adopted to help us make the distinction between what many “feel” a Christian is and what God actually defines a Christian to be, as presented in Scripture.
So which is it?
Am I a Christian if I say a prayer, wear a t-shirt, jump up and down at worship and put a bumper sticker on my car, yet in many other ways, live for myself?
Or could it be that God expect something more?
Please don’t receive this as “judgmental” on my part… at least not me being judgmental towards you. This question is one I’ve been trying to answer correctly and live my life around for 35 years or so–about half of my life. I enjoy it when I experience getting it right and I don’t when I’m not. I’m writing now just as much for me as I am for you.
Is it “grace?” Is it “obedience?” Is it “faith?” Is it “mercy?” Figuring out how these things and others are supposed to work together in the life God designed for me is critical. While Matthew 7:1 makes it clear that I’m not supposed to judge, as in condemn,
2919. κρίνω krínō; …In the NT, it means to judge, to form or give an opinion after separating and considering the particulars of a case.[i]
you or others, 1 Corinthians 11:31 teaches that I am; however, supposed to judge, as in decide about according to God’s standards,
1252. διακρίνω diakrínō; …to distinguish, decide, judge.[ii]
what is right and what is wrong. This is particularly important as it applies to me and how I live my life.
The essence of discipleship is the active following of the one who disciples (teaches, invests in, gives time to, and imparts to). At its highest and governing level, the One Who Disciples is Jesus Christ. It may sting a little bit, but the truth is, I’m not much of a disciple if I’m not actively following The One Who Disciples, right? Since the term, Christian was coined originally as a synonym for a disciple of Christ,
… And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.[iii]
and since Jesus said it, Himself:
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.[iv]
it’s also fair to say that I’m not much of a Christian if I’m not actively following The One Who Disciples, either.
To be a Christian, as God authored the concept, I must be an active, intentional Christfollower.
How The 63% Live Their Daily Lives
As I mentioned above, 63% of Americans call themselves Christians. Here’s some stats on what they believe, as a group.
1. Two in five are not engaged in any type of Christian discipleship.[v]
2. 56% believe that their spiritual life is entirely private.[vi]
3. Only 45% strongly agree that their relationship with Jesus brings them deep joy and satisfaction.[vii]
4. Pre-Covid, only 20% said that they attended church regularly. And now, 28% of those who were regular church attenders (Pre-COVID), have not attended in person or watched an online worship service even one time since the outbreak.[viii]
What The Bible Teaches
1. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.[ix]
Discipleship must be a way of life for a Christfollower. It’s the prescription for living that allows us to be influencers of and protected from the influence of people who have chosen something other than God and His priorities as the standard by which they live.
This begins with Jesus as the Head… the Chief Discipler, and He extends limited authority to those whom He has called and appointed for the purpose of equipping Christians throughout their lives.
Notice that the calling and authority is given to leaders who perform this function for “the saints.” That translation may imply some special class of Christians, but that’s not what the word means. In the original language, it is best understood as, “all of God’s people of faith”–Christians.
And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.[x]
2. It continues as the maturing disciple exercises his own gifts in discipling others.
Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.[xi]
The entirety of the Bible teaches that “…love, joy, peace, longsuffering [patience with difficult people], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control are characteristics of a Christian who is led by God’s Holy Spirit (Ga 5:22–23). This applies universally, towards all people, regardless of how they live or who they serve.
Astoundingly, however, Jesus also taught that the way non-Christians would correctly identify those who were Christians–Christfollowers–was by their commitment to and demonstration of love for other Christians.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”[xii]
Loving in this manner obviously is impossible to exercise “in private.” When we love as Christ commands, our faith becomes public–even to those who don’t share it.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience [with difficult people], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control….[xiii]
3. Fruit is the natural expression of a healthy, fruit-bearing tree. It’s also the result of being a Christ-follower. The expression of that fruit listed in Galatians 5:16, above, and its presence in my day-to-day life is directly correlated to the quality of my relationship with God and my measure as a Christfollower. Remember… I’m writing for me, more than you. The statement above is meant to be a yardstick by which I measure myself for growth, not condemn myself or others.
How Close Is “Close Enough?”
Following Christ closely is the theme for the day. But the question arises, “How close is close enough?” When this thought occurs to a Christian, it often comes with a little guilt. We know intuitively that whatever the answer to that question is, it should be, well… pretty close. I found a great article online, penned by a Messianic Jew. In it, he shares his research of an answer to that question that goes back hundreds of years before Jesus was born on earth.
The bottom line? We should be following Jesus so closely that we’re covered with the dust caused by His footsteps.
…the Mishnah, Avot 1:4. (The Mishnah is a collection of rabbinic thought from 200 BC to 200 AD that still forms the core of Jewish belief today.) The quotation is from Yose ben Yoezer (yo-EHZ-er). He was one of the earliest members of the rabbinic movement, who lived about two centuries before Jesus:
Let thy house be a meeting-house for the wise;
and powder thyself in the dust of their feet;
and drink their words with thirstiness.The overall idea here is to encourage people to make their homes places of Bible study, and to welcome itinerant teachers and eagerly learn from them. These teachers were called “sages” before 70 AD (hakamim, or “the wise”). After that the title “rabbi” began to be used.
The middle line is sometimes translated as “sit amid the dust of their feet,” and understood as being about humbly sitting at the feet of one’s teacher to learn from him. This is because it was customary to honor a teacher by sitting on the floor while he taught seated in a chair.
From this arose a widely-used idiom for studying with a rabbinic teacher, that you “sat at his feet.” Paul even says that he was educated “at the feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3). The fact that Mary “sat at Jesus’ feet” in Luke 10:39 suggests that she was learning from him as a disciple, too.
If you look more closely at the Hebrew text of Avot 1:4, however, it does not explicitly describe a person as sitting. It reads, hevei mitabek b’afar raglehem—literally, “and be powdering yourself with the dust of their feet.”
The verb mitabek is the hitpael form of avak, and it means “to powder yourself,” like a woman powdering her face. It comes from the noun avak, which is very fine powder, often that which is kicked up by feet on a dusty road. (See Ezekiel 26:10, Nahum 1:3; Mishnah Shabbat 3:3, 12:15).
Read literally, Yoezer’s saying sounds more like it’s describing the idea of “powdering yourself” by walking through clouds of dust billowing up along a dirt roadway. Because of this, some highly respected scholars believe that “walking in your teacher’s dust” was the original intent of Avot 1:4.
Supporting this conclusion, rabbinic literature records numerous discussions between rabbis and disciples as they traveled from town to town. The teacher always walked in front, and his students behind. Here’s how one scene begins (~120 AD):
“Once Rabbi Ishmael, Rabbi Eleazar and Rabbi Akiva were walking along the road followed by Levi the net-maker and Ishmael the son of Rabbi Eleazar. The following question was discussed by them: ‘Whence do we know that the duty of saving a life supersedes the Sabbath laws?’”
Apparently, three scholars decided to confer on an issue as they journeyed together, while two of their disciples followed closely behind, taking mental notes.
In earlier periods, discussions between sages and their disciples are often set within daily life—while sitting under a tree, in a marketplace, sharing a meal, or walking along a road. It was about a century after Christ that rabbinic study became confined to study halls and synagogues. (7) The Gospel accounts firmly fit Jesus into the earlier tradition of training disciples through living and traveling together.
Walking or Sitting?
So, how should we read Yoezer’s adage? Is it about sitting or about walking? Both readings are possible. The first line of Avot 1:4, about “making your home a meeting place” suggests that it’s about inviting him in and sitting at his feet. The second two lines suggest traveling behind him—not only does a disciple get dusty journeying behind his teacher, he gets thirsty too.
Modern commentaries realize that Avot 1:4 has more than one possible interpretation, so many mention both. The well-known Soncino Talmud, for instance, states:
Either: let the dust of the feet of the Sages, as they walk, cover you (i.e., follow them closely), or, sit in the dust (on the ground) at their feet whilst they teach. (8)
In The Moral Maxims of the Sages of Israel: Pirkei Avot, Martin Sicker writes,
What is the sage attempting to convey by his urging that one “become covered with the dust of their feet”? Some consider this to reflect the imagery of a group of disciples sitting on the earth at the feet of their master, who is seated on a stool before them. … Others, however, see it as urging the disciple to follow in the footsteps of his master wherever he goes, figuratively as well as literally. In either case, the teaching may be understood to convey the idea that the disciple should always remain within the ambit of his master’s “dust” or influence. (9)
That’s why I usually quote this line as about “being covered” in the dust of your rabbi, which can suggest either walking or sitting. The point of course, is to humbly follow in Christ’s footsteps, staying close beside him and drinking in his words.
“Covered In The Dust Of Your Rabbi: An Urban Legend?”, Lois Tverbert, https://ourrabbijesus.com/covered-in-the-dust-of-your-rabbi-an-urban-legend/
For me, the question needs to be adjusted. I shouldn’t be asking, “How close is close enough?” I should be asking, “How close can I get.”
4. There is no explicit biblical command to assemble as the church.
But there is a command to not stop assembling as the church (Hebrews 10:24-25).
I guess, before we jump into this, it’s worth talking a little about what exactly, “going to church,” means. That’s the term we seem to use most, although it’s misleading. In scripture, the Greek word for Church doesn’t refer to a place. It means an intentional assembly… a “get together”… of people who are Christians. If you were walking down the road to Damascus a couple thousand years ago and ran into the Apostle Paul, coming from the other direction, he would be completely confused if you happened to tell him you were going to church. However; he’d get it if you said you going to a church gathering or assembly.
Church is a group of people, not a place.
Here’s the thing. People who value being around the people they care about don’t need a rule to get together, they just do it. People who intend to attempt to fulfill God’s command to love one another already have the only instruction they need to gather intentionally and regularly with other believers.
The New Testament is filled with historical examples of Christians getting together as the church. In fact, they did so at great personal risk to themselves. They were also doing it a whole lot more frequently than weekly.[xv]
As I’ve already shared, it’s not possible to practice the love we are to have, one for another[xiv] if we exercise our faith as strictly personal and private.
It’s also not possible to do so outside the context of gathering as the church.
So… why do Christians today so often feel that assembling as the Church is optional?
I’ve heard lots of folks speak unkindly about a church or the church in general, calling it everything from hypocritical to money-grubbing. I know for a fact that’s even true in some cases. That doesn’t change the fact that we’re expected to gather and that we need to gather. To the extent we love God and follow Christ, we will love people.[xvi] And, “people” includes Christfollowers.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”[xvii]
Loving people requires that we invest in people… invest our time, our attention, and our money. To do that, we’ve got to be around/with/among them! Part of the way we accomplish that is to gather as the church.
If I have a problem being with the group God has me assembling with, I should really lock-in with God and figure out why. If there’s a problem, what Does God want me to do about it? Does He want me to stay and be part of the solution? Does He want me to suffer for a time so I can learn that I should keep my eye on Him? Perhaps He wants me to find a different group of believers with which to assemble. Perhaps I’m simply uncomfortable because I’m hearing Truth with a capital “T”, and I don’t want to change. The point is, the solution won’t be to quit assembling with other believers. The solution will be for me to know what God wants me to do by seeking Him, before taking any action. When He leads me in a particular direction, it will always be in line with what my Bible teaches. If I’m smart, I’ll walk through this process with someone who isn’t afraid to challenge my thinking and who I have identified as a a Christfollower.
It’s in the context of the assembled church that I am best challenged by people who are called to love me and to speak truth into my life.
Church isn’t everything… but it is part of God’s design and plan for His people. As a side note, it’s always been interesting to me that some of my best and most significant growth has happened when another Christian treated me poorly. Consistent with Holy Scripture is the concept that my healthy “growth” doesn’t require that the things that caused me to grow were healthy, good or even well-intentioned!
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.[xviii]
Wrap Up: What Is a Christian?
A Christian, as taught clearly in scripture, is a rabbi’s-dust-covered-sold-out-God-chaser. It’s someone who can’t abide time away from The One he or she loves–Jesus Christ.
A Christian is a Christ-follower.
I’m thankful for the mercy God lavishes on me. Being a Christian is a demanding identity, at least if attempted in the manner taught in the Bible. I’ve pastored since 2000. I’ve been a believer for decades before that. It’s only in the last ten years or so God has quickened me to understand what He wants of me as His adopted child–a Christian. Rare is the day that goes by where I can’t quickly identify a dozen or more places where I’ve let Him down.
Rather than allow that to become an excuse for my wayward spirit and inattention, every year that goes by intensifies my drive and desire to do it… do life… do faith… the way He wants. I’d don’t want to “get it right” in order to “be right.” I want to get it right because that’s what He wants me to do.
If any of this prompts you to consider “stepping up” your own faith-walk or even simply to investigate further, I’d love to have some more company on the journey!
[i] Zodhiates, S. (2000). In The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). AMG Publishers.
[ii] Zodhiates, S. (2000). In The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). AMG Publishers.
[iii] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ac 11:26). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
[iv] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Lk 14:27). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
[v] https://www.barna.com/research/christians-discipleship-community/
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Ibid.
[viii] https://www.rotw.com/get-facts/behaviors/regular-church-attendance-has-dropped-70-our-population-1960-just-20-and-now-28
[ix] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ac 2:42). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
[x] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Eph 4:11–14). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
[xi] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Jas 5:16). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
[xii] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Jn 13:34–35). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
[xiii] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ga 5:22–23). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
[xiv] “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” –The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Jn 13:34–35). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
[xv] Acts 2:42-47
[xvi] Matthew 22:37-40
[xvii] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Jn 13:34–35). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
[xviii] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Ro 8:28). (2016). Crossway Bibles.