What does it mean to be (insert your name)? Does it mean to be kind, to be cheerful, to be generous, to be polite, to be humble etc.? That is probably not the whole picture. It is much more than that. To be you simply means you live out and express yourself - your heart’s desire, your intention, your preferences, your thought processes, your hope and all that govern your being and daily walk.
Likewise, to be a Christian is to live out a living Person. That living Person is Christ. It is not merely to follow Him, or to imitate Him. How can we live out a Person that is other than ourselves? In answering this, we need to first understand the kind of life that we inherit as a man.
When we were conceived in our mothers’ wombs, we received natural life. This natural life that we inherited is marred by sin and is corrupt in nature (Romans 5:12 Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin, death; and thus death passed on to all men because all have sinned —). To say one thing is corrupt means that it has been made unreliable by errors or alterations (Oxford’s English dictionaries).
A very experiential instance of this corrupt nature in us is that we get annoyed with persons, matters, and things. It is actually not the persons, matters, or things that annoy us. Rather, it is simply us deflecting uneasiness, tension, and strain that is within us - often it could be thoughts that do not sit well with us or that cannot see the light of day - to some objects (persons, matters, or things) that happen to be in our vicinity in a given moment. This is a mechanism for us to rid the uneasiness in us. Where does this pervasive uneasiness come from? It takes its root from this corrupt nature with the fallen features that we have in us.
This is why Paul said, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death (Romans 7:24)?” The expression “the body of this death” indicates the author’s sense of hopelessness when he became conscious of the fallen condition that was in him and that is universal to all of mankind.
This natural life having been corrupted causes man to become fleshly and sold under sin (Romans 7:14 … but I am fleshy, sold under sin). In man’s flesh nothing good dwells (Romans 7:18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but to work out the good is not).
In John 3:15, the Lord said, “That everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life.” This eternal life is the divine life, the uncreated life of God. It is not only everlasting with respect to time but also is eternal and divine in nature. And we need to take note that believing into the Lord is not the same as believing Him (John 6:30 … What sign then will You do that we may see and believe You?...). To believe Him is to believe that He is true and real, but to believe into is to receive Him and be united with Him as one. The former is to acknowledge a fact objectively; the latter is to receive a life subjectively.
This eternal life brings with it the divine nature just as the human life brings with it human nature. This is proven by Peter’s writing in 2 Peter 1:4, “Through which He has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises that through these you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.”
As partakers of the divine nature, those who believe into Christ are in the position to enjoy all the riches of Christ, that is, His Person and His accomplishments (Ephesians 3:8 … the unsearchable riches of Christ). The issue of the working of this eternal life in these ones is that they participate in Christ’s resurrection. Christ’s resurrection was His victory over Satan, God’s enemy, over the world, over sin, and over death (1 Cor. 15:54 And when this corruptible will put on incorruption and this mortal will put on immortality, then the word which is written will come to pass, “Death has been swallowed up unto victory.”).
This is what it means to be a Christian. It means that one not only is forgiven of his sins (1 Peter 2:24) but also that he partakes of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). All that Christ is and has accomplished are made available to this one (Ephesians 3:8). This is to restore man to God’s intention in creating him as stated Genesis 1:26 (And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth).
To be a Christian is not merely to be blessed (though it includes that), but more importantly, it is to cooperate with God in fulfilling His purpose of creating man.
Reference
Recovery version bible with its footnotes.
Likewise, to be a Christian is to live out a living Person. That living Person is Christ. It is not merely to follow Him, or to imitate Him. How can we live out a Person that is other than ourselves? In answering this, we need to first understand the kind of life that we inherit as a man.
When we were conceived in our mothers’ wombs, we received natural life. This natural life that we inherited is marred by sin and is corrupt in nature (Romans 5:12 Therefore just as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin, death; and thus death passed on to all men because all have sinned —). To say one thing is corrupt means that it has been made unreliable by errors or alterations (Oxford’s English dictionaries).
A very experiential instance of this corrupt nature in us is that we get annoyed with persons, matters, and things. It is actually not the persons, matters, or things that annoy us. Rather, it is simply us deflecting uneasiness, tension, and strain that is within us - often it could be thoughts that do not sit well with us or that cannot see the light of day - to some objects (persons, matters, or things) that happen to be in our vicinity in a given moment. This is a mechanism for us to rid the uneasiness in us. Where does this pervasive uneasiness come from? It takes its root from this corrupt nature with the fallen features that we have in us.
This is why Paul said, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from the body of this death (Romans 7:24)?” The expression “the body of this death” indicates the author’s sense of hopelessness when he became conscious of the fallen condition that was in him and that is universal to all of mankind.
This natural life having been corrupted causes man to become fleshly and sold under sin (Romans 7:14 … but I am fleshy, sold under sin). In man’s flesh nothing good dwells (Romans 7:18 For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but to work out the good is not).
In John 3:15, the Lord said, “That everyone who believes into Him may have eternal life.” This eternal life is the divine life, the uncreated life of God. It is not only everlasting with respect to time but also is eternal and divine in nature. And we need to take note that believing into the Lord is not the same as believing Him (John 6:30 … What sign then will You do that we may see and believe You?...). To believe Him is to believe that He is true and real, but to believe into is to receive Him and be united with Him as one. The former is to acknowledge a fact objectively; the latter is to receive a life subjectively.
This eternal life brings with it the divine nature just as the human life brings with it human nature. This is proven by Peter’s writing in 2 Peter 1:4, “Through which He has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises that through these you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.”
As partakers of the divine nature, those who believe into Christ are in the position to enjoy all the riches of Christ, that is, His Person and His accomplishments (Ephesians 3:8 … the unsearchable riches of Christ). The issue of the working of this eternal life in these ones is that they participate in Christ’s resurrection. Christ’s resurrection was His victory over Satan, God’s enemy, over the world, over sin, and over death (1 Cor. 15:54 And when this corruptible will put on incorruption and this mortal will put on immortality, then the word which is written will come to pass, “Death has been swallowed up unto victory.”).
This is what it means to be a Christian. It means that one not only is forgiven of his sins (1 Peter 2:24) but also that he partakes of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4). All that Christ is and has accomplished are made available to this one (Ephesians 3:8). This is to restore man to God’s intention in creating him as stated Genesis 1:26 (And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of heaven and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth).
To be a Christian is not merely to be blessed (though it includes that), but more importantly, it is to cooperate with God in fulfilling His purpose of creating man.
Reference
Recovery version bible with its footnotes.