Romans 1:6: What is a Christian

What is a Christian? How would you answer that question to someone who asks? How would the person on the street answer that question? In the past this question has been answered in various ways. In South Africa in the late 1800s you will find this sort of description. There were walking on the road three men, a black man, an English man and a Christian; in other words, someone who had been baptised as a baby in the Dutch Reformed Church. To some of the Muslims being an American or British makes you a Christian. Some have defined Christianity negatively, ‘don’t dance, don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t chew; and don’t go with girls that do.’ Perhaps we would hear these descriptions in Timaru, ‘Someone who goes to church every Sunday, someone who reads their bibles and prays every day, someone who believes in God,’ etc.… There are theologians that will tell you that anyone who is a believer of any sort, in any religion, is in fact an anonymous Christian, and that they believe in Jesus even though they don’t know it. And others who will say that anyone who lives a good life, embodying Christian principles like loving your neighbour, they are Christians, and even though they don’t think of themselves as such, God does.

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