Chapter 4 - What is a Believer?
There are a number of names and titles for those that believe that Jesus, the Son of God was born from a virgin, lived a sinless life, suffered, died and came back to life again for the sake of all humanity and have accepted His free gift of salvation. However, before we get into the names and titles, let’s stay on the subject of Jesus. For someone to say they are a follower of Jesus is, well, not enough, they need to clarify some things since there have been many to claim to be Jesus and we know that many more will come onto the scene in the future (Matthew 24:5, 23-26; Luke 17:23). Plus, even though they may say something like, “I believe in Jesus Christ of the Bible,” they still may need to clarify. Why? Because for nearly 2,000 years the name of Jesus has been laughingly bantered around by the foolish, used as a expletive, modified by poor theologians, discounted by skeptics, overly mystified by self-proclaimed prophets, denied by scoffers and hijacked by the misguided. Is your head spinning yet?
First of all, Jesus is a real person (can’t say ‘was’, as He is still alive and will forever remain alive). The first four books of the New Testament section of the Bible are referred to as the ‘gospels’ from a Greek word meaning “good news.” In these gospels are four accounts of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ (the Greek word for ‘Messiah’). These are not made up fiction or fantasy, the events happened and Jesus is real. The Bible does not contain the only accounts of Jesus, as there are many secular (non-Biblical) accounts as well. Simply put, He is real.
One of the more well-known verses in the Bible comes from the gospel according to the Apostle John. By the way, we get the word ‘apostle’ from a Greek word that was used to describe someone being sent by someone who had authority, like a king sending a messenger to a general in battle. Sorry, back to the verse, it starts out with the words, “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16), it points out the greatest truth, bar none, that God loves everyone! The Bible makes this abundantly clear, God’s love for us is beyond our ability to comprehend. It seems like mankind has done everything they can to disobey Him, but yet He still loves all of us, that is known as true unconditional love. That verse continues by saying, that He gave is only Son, and that of course would be Jesus, to die for us, why? So that mankind could be saved, since it could not save itself. Do Jesus and His Father love us that much? Yes!
Next, believers need to know that Jesus did all the work for our salvation, there is nothing they can add to that. Which means we can eliminate all of the so-called followers and groups of people that believe they need to contribute to their own salvation. To most that sounds silly, and it is, but there are many sizable organizations that claim that Jesus only did part of the work. While that sounds insane, it is true, so if you believe you need to do something more to assure your salvation, other in believing in Jesus as your Savior, then you should probably review Appendix 3.
Okay, now that we are all looking at the One and only Jesus Christ, let’s go back to reviewing the names and titles for those that believe in Him. In the Bible, believers are most often referred to as ‘saints’, a term that is familiar to many as it has been misapplied to refer to people that have done something above and beyond for God and humanity, but that is not how the Bible uses the word. A saint is simply a believer in Jesus, period. In fact, more often than not, the word translated to ‘saint’ in the Bible is the word that means ‘holy’ and only God can make someone holy, no matter what we do.
Perhaps the most recognizable name for a believer is Christian. Sadly, many have used that title for themselves not knowing what it means and more importantly, have no knowledge or relationship with Jesus. I know for some the idea of having a ‘relationship’ with God is both awkward and improbable, if not impossible, especially if you view Christianity as a religion of strict protocol, ritual or tradition. The Bible teaches that following Jesus comes from our desire to serve Him and through our longing to know Him personally, not by ritual. A Christian is one that has accepted Jesus as their Savior and as a result of what He did for them, loves Him back.
Ultimately as believers they will also want to be disciples of Jesus, someone who not only accepted Jesus as their Savior, but has made following Jesus the number one priority in their life. To do that they need to know and understand Jesus through the Word of God, the Bible. That can only be done through diligent Bible study. As one grows in their understanding of Him, they begin to see the world differently and understand that life is not about them, but about Him and the spreading of the gospel message.
There have been many viewpoints regarding Christianity that have been developed over that last 2,000 years. The Bible teaches that God cannot be fully understood through man’s wisdom alone (1 Corinthians 1:18-31; 2:6-16), but that hasn’t stopped people from attempting to understand God their way. Sadly, this has created more division than cohesiveness in Christianity. It is interesting to note that Jesus knew this would be an issue, as He prayed to His Father in heaven just before He was crucified, desiring all believers to be united (John 17:20-26). Through the years there have been many theologians who have developed many theologies (the term ‘theology’ refers to the study of God) and many of those theologies have become the basis of many church beliefs. So rather than be united under God, Christianity has become splintered and divided. Today, there are literally hundreds of different ‘viewpoints’, each under the banner of Christianity. Are they all Christian as described in the Bible? No, many have embraced man’s understanding of God, while others have chosen ritual and protocol. Now you can begin to understand why there is so much confusion, not only among non-believers, those observing Christians, but also among believers.
Many prefer to refer to themselves through their denominational identity, instead of calling oneself a Christian. The problem with that is multifold, first and foremost, Christians should only identify with Jesus, not through someone’s idea of what God is or should be. But that’s not all, over a period of time these groups often begin to teach only their traditions and using only their writings instead of the Bible, slowly stripping the understanding of who Jesus is and what He did for them. I only bring this up to help explain to those who are confused by the appearance of Christianity seen today. For those who are not believers, it truly does look disjointed and disorganized.
One reason for that is that Christians have an enemy, who will try nearly anything to keep them from being able to tell others about Jesus and His plan for salvation. I like to call him the chief misinformation officer of the world. How does he work? By disrupting Christian lives, by keeping them busy doing unimportant work, creating distractions, encouraging non-Christian behavior, etc. and all the while, trying to corrupt the truth of God’s Word in every way possible. I’m sure you have heard of him, he is the one called the devil, and yes, he is real too. He would love it if Christians got misinformation about Jesus or got them emotionally stirred up regarding what is and what is not worship to distract them from sharing the gospel message. The author of the book of Jude warned that false-teachers have already crept into Christian lives and churches, largely unnoticed (Jude 4), and that was written over 1,900 years ago!
I know this is not painting a great picture regarding Christianity, but the truth is this, being a Christian may be simple, but it is not easy being a disciple. Which is why some believers keep their faith to themselves. They act like everyone else in their community and never talk about Jesus, you might call them undercover Christians. They may be saved but they do not have any interest in helping others find salvation or do anything else that pleases God. While this occurs occasionally, it certainly is not what Jesus wants believers to be, He desires that we come fully to Him and become His disciples, so that we can help others to be disciples too.
The good news is that God gives Christians everything necessary to live, He gives them guidance and the resources they need. The third person in the God-head is the Holy Spirit. But before we talk about the Holy Spirit, let’s first discuss what is the God-head. The term refers to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit together. Some call this the Holy Trinity, although you probably shouldn’t look for that word in the Bible, since it is not there. The word ‘Trinity’ was created by scholars to help explain what the Bible teaches about God, namely there is only One God, but manifested (that is made known) in three distinctly different persons. This is incomprehensible to us, there is no way we can fully understand how one can be three and vice versa, no matter how we might choose to explain it! This is one fact of God that we need to accept by faith. I have heard many attempts to explain, such as water can be found in three states of existence, fluid, ice and steam, but that example falls apart when we consider that God is all three simultaneously.
We have discussed God the Father and God the Son (Jesus), now let’s go back and take a look at the third person of the God-head, the Holy Spirit. In the King James Version of the Bible, the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Holy Ghost, as well as many other earlier Bible versions and Christian writings. This was the acceptable way to refer to a spirit in the past, but now the word ‘spirit’ is preferred.
To begin with, the Holy Spirit is invisible, even though He has been in existence from the beginning, He now simultaneously resides in every Christian since Jesus returned to heaven (John 14:25-26; Acts 1:4-8; 1 Thessalonians 1:5). He knows us intimately (Romans 8:26-27), He provides strength (Ephesians 3:14-21; Colossians 1:11), He gives us special abilities to do what we were called to do (1 Corinthians 12:1-30) and He will never leave us (Ephesians 1:13-14).
But even with the guidance and provision of the Holy Spirit, God wants us to work and fellowship with other believers. He brings Christians together to help nurture and grow new believers, to reach out to those who do not know Jesus and to be an influence in the world around us. This is what is known as the church.