I Peter 4:14
“If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God ….”
Who is a Christian? Many are the answers that have been given to this question. A dictionary definition does not help us very much: "Christian -- the professor of the religion of Christ." According to that definition, the majority of people in the United States would be considered Christian.
Illustration: A pastor was invited to a home for Sunday dinner with one of the families in the church. In the course of their conversation around the table he asked the host’s little daughter how she would define a Christian? She answered, "People who go to church, talk about religion and take the preacher home for dinner." That was her idea of a Christian, which doubtless, she had gathered from the "professing" Christians with whom she had come in contact.
These definitions, while they may contain a minor grain of truth, are not correct. We need the Bible answer to this question for multitudes profess to be Christians who are not Christian at all. "Christian names are everywhere; but Christian men are very rare."
Some think that because they are born in a Christian country or have Christian parents, or have affiliated themselves with a Christian church, that they are Christian. The fact of the matter is that one can do all these things and still not be a Christian. We must turn to God's dictionary for the answer to the question, "Who is a Christian?"
In the New Testament true Christians were called "saints" about 60 times; "disciples" 30 times; "believers" 80 times; "brethren" about 200 times and "Christian" only three times and yet this is the name that has stuck through the centuries. Why is this? Because the name "Christian" not only denotes the one who is the leader, Christ, but it was also meant to describe the follower. The word "Christian" itself, as to its etymology, comes from two words: "Christos" which is the Greek for Christ with the Latin ending "iani."
To answer the question, "Who is a Christian?" let us examine the three times in the New Testament where the word "Christian" is found and then allow the Spirit of God to measure us to see if we are deserving of this name.
“King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you do believe.” Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You almost persuade me to become a Christian.’” (Acts 11:27, 28)
The apostle Paul witnessed to King Agrippa and encouraged him to believe savingly in Jesus Christ. In doing so he was not advocating a simple belief in the existence of Christ. There are those who do believe in the historical Jesus Christ -- that He was an actual person who lived in history and because they believe the historical record of his personhood, they assume that they are Christians. That cannot be the case at all. There are those who vehemently reject Jesus Christ as Savior, but who do believe that He existed.
James, in his epistle writes, "The devils also believe, and tremble." (James 2:19) To merely believe in the existence of Jesus Christ is only to believe as the devil believes. Obviously, this is not a saving belief. Agrippa himself already believed in the physical existence of Jesus Christ. Paul was not trying to convince Agrippa that Jesus existed.
A Christian is one who not only believes in the existence of Jesus Christ but who also willingly and lovingly embraces Jesus Christ as Savior from sin. Agrippa did not embrace Jesus Christ as his Savior. The word "believe" means to trust in, cling to, and rely upon. Therefore not just a profession of the religion of Christ but the possessor of the person of Christ is a Christian.
