What is Christianity? Guide to the Basics of Faith

Everyone who asks “what’s Christianity?” often wonders in regards to the truth behind something made difficult to know by man. As the video above says, Christianity is pretty easy. It’s all about one life, the lifetime of Jesus, the Son of God. The Bible teaches that Jesus was God Himself, come to live in His world as a human. Perhaps you’ve got never thought of it very much, however the lifetime of Jesus has an incredible impact on you.

The Bible teaches that because we’re sinners by nature and by selection, we have now a broken relationship with our Creator. We live out our days in search of achievement and meaning within the things that surround us, but probably the most profound need of the human soul is to be restored to the One who made us. Jesus got here to perform that restoration.

Jesus (Yeshua) was Himself, Jewish. He was brought up by faithful parents who commonly took Him to synagogue. He observed the Torah perfectly. The last recognized Jewish prophet, John the Baptist, declared that Jesus was the proper “Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

The Apostles, the primary disciples of Yeshua, were Jewish. After Christ’s resurrection, in Luke 24:1, Jesus showed His followers how all of the Hebrew prophets of former times pointed to Him, saying, “Was it not essential for the Christ to suffer this stuff and to enter into His glory?” Then starting with Moses and with all of the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all of the [Hebrew] Scriptures.

The central message of Christianity is that Jesus Christ is God the Son who got here to earth to rescue sinners not only from a lifetime of sin but additionally from everlasting damnation in hell. Christians imagine that the 66 books of the Bible comprise the inerrant Word of God. As such, they read it, come to know God more deeply by it, stand for and live by its truth.

Who Can Be a Christian?

At the center of what it means to be a Christian is justification—that’s, being right with God (see Romans 4:20). So, one other way of asking “who could be a Christian” is “who might be considered right with God?” John 1:12says that “…as many as received Him [Jesus], to them He gave the correct to change into children of God, even to those that imagine in His name.” In other words, not everyone seems to be mechanically a child of God just because she or he is born into the world.

Galatians 3:1 explains that one becomes a baby of God “through faith in Christ Jesus.” An individual will not be saved by faith. We are saved by Christ, the thing of religion. In other words, every body who asks to be delivered from sin and trusts Jesus Christ alone for forgiveness will receive God’s forgiveness. Romans 10:9 says, “…if you happen to confess together with your mouth the Lord Jesus and imagine in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will probably be saved.” 

This forgiveness also means reception right into a recent family relationship with God and His people. People who follow Christ regularly tackle the character of Jesus. A real child of God will probably be known by good works, pure thoughts, and godly attitudes. These things will not be the grounds for justification. Rather, they function evidence of being “born again” by the Spirit of God who lives in all believers (John 3:1; Ephesians 1:1) from the very moment of salvation on. 

People query the exclusivity of the Bible’s claim, however it’s not an conceited stance. The gospel of Jesus Christ isn’t any more conceited than saying 2 + 2 = 4. Trust in Jesus Christ is the one path to a right relationship with God. Trusting who Christ is and what He did through the cross and resurrection is what we’re called to do. Rejecting that shows disregard for the reality and disrespect to probably the most loving being within the universe. One of probably the most common ways people reject Christ is by considering, “I’m adequate to get into heaven.” But the Bible says nobody is nice enough to enter heaven (Romans 3:10). Just one sin will keep us out of God’s presence. In Matthew 5:48, Jesus commands: “Be perfect, your heavenly Father is ideal.”

Furthermore, this trusting in Christ is at all times accompanied by repentance, in keeping with the Bible. Repentance means turning away from sin and submitting to Jesus Christ because the ruler (Lord) of 1’s life. Intellectual assent to the Bible’s truth and not using a holy pattern of life is a trait of God’s enemies, not His children (James 2:1). 

What makes Christianity different?

1. It is a spiritual belief that’s open to all, no matter age, religion, sex, or economic status.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

2. It is a faith relationship with God that solves the issue of sin.  In other words, deliverance from sin will not be achieved by one’s personal adherence to a system of works. One is delivered from sin by receiving God’s grace in Christ. A sinner is said to be right with God because the merits of Christ’s life, death, resurrection and ascension are applied to him through faith. 2 Corinthians 2:21says it this manner: “He [God the Father] made Him who knew no sin (i.e. Jesus, God the Son) to be sin on our behalf, in order that we would change into the righteousness of God in Him.”

Other faiths imagine that salvation is predicated on good deeds or keeping certain laws.  Christianity recognizes that “There is none righteous, not even one” (Romans 3:10). 

The Bible clearly says that “He saved us, not on the premise of deeds which we have now done in righteousness, but in keeping with His mercy.”  (Titus 3:5)

3. Unlike Buddha, Mohammad, and other religious leaders, Christianity accepts that its Messiah, Jesus Christ, continues to be alive today. 

“…Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, moderately who was raised, who’s at the correct hand of God, who also intercedes for us.” (Romans 8:34)

Jesus died on the cross for sinners, but was resurrected after three days.  His resurrection vindicated the truthfulness of His message. He was witnessed by many who were eventually martyred for his or her faith. The historic truth of Christ’s life and message has stood the test of time and can ultimately conquer all other beliefs (Revelation 21:1).

Isn’t Christianity Just a Political Movement?

No. Real Christianity will not be a political movement that seeks to vary the world from the surface in. Rather, it’s truth that radically changes one’s entire worldview from the within out. Twentieth century British creator, C.S. Lewis, said it well: “I think in Christianity as I think that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see every part else.” 

There are many hypocrites and counterfeits on the earth. And Christians can and do sin. But the overall direction of an actual Christian’s life is to increasingly love the things which are dear to God’s heart akin to (see Acts 2:42) faithfully handling, believing and obeying His Word, being relationally committed to the people of His Church, worshipping Christ sincerely from the center, and being winsome in the way in which one lives and shares His message of hope to the lost.

What’s Missing from the Average Person’s Picture of Christianity?

One Christian creator* has answered the query like this: 

It’s like we’re in a war—in a concentration camp—and suddenly you are hearing on the smuggled-in radio that the troops of deliverance have landed in helicopters five miles away. They’re conquering every part of their path and so they’re nearly to get to the gate and open the doors. And having lived all of your life on this concentration camp, you are now going to be let out. 

That’s Christianity. It is news that God sent rescue troops into the world, namely Jesus Christ, and that at great cost to Himself He has conquered our enemy the Devil, opened the gates of the concentration camp, and welcomed us home. 

And you then add the attractive image of bride and bridegroom and realize that this will not be only a soldier who simply frees you to go and do what you wish to do. He’s your Husband, because it were, who has been separated from you for years and years, and you are the wife who has been within the camp. And when the gates are opened, there He stands on the opposite side, and the affections are huge. 

I remember watching at the tip of the Vietnam war a few of those magnificent videos of men who had been away from their wives—a few of them I believe as much as five years. I remember watching them run toward one another and seeing them sweep their wives off their feet. My heart leapt and my tears flowed once I watched that type of reunion. I think it is that this deeply emotional response to being rescued and united with God that’s missing from so many individuals’s picture of Christianity.

Christianity.com: What is Christianity? from christianitydotcom on GodTube.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE ®, Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.

*Adapted from the article “Is Christianity Just a Bunch of Rules for How to Live?” is by John Piper. © Desiring God 

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