THE TRANSFORMATION THAT ACCOMPANIES THE NEW BIRTH
The term CHRISTIAN is used three times in the Bible (Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28, and 1 Peter 4:16), and may well have been a derogatory term. Yet that name stuck, and today it is used in a broad way to describe a worldwide religion. We even speak of nations being Christianised. The word CHRISTIAN is amongst the most misunderstood of words.
How can we know if we are Christians? The only way to do this is to track it back with a Berean spirit to the word of God.
Paul gives us the answer to this question in Eph 4:24, which is our text: "and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness."
What is a Christian in the light of this verse.
A CHRISTIAN IS A NEW CREATION
[and to put on the new self, created . . .]
This is one of the most amazing statements in scripture. Every true Christian is a new CREATION. He is not merely someone who decides to follow God. Just like Adam was created by God, every Christian is a new creation of God.
John 1:12-13 "But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God."
John 3: 6-7 "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.'"
So we see that the Christian is is person who is born of God, born from above.
2Cor 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Eph 2:10 "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." This new creation is IN CHRIST. What is the new creation like?
A CHRISTIAN IS LIKE GOD
[. . . created after the likeness of God . . .]
Col 4:9-10 "Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old selfwith its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator."
True Christians become more and more like God. In a sense it greatly surprises us. But in another sense it should not surprise us. Like produces like. An acorn if cared for will become an oak tree; it will not become a banana tree. So also a fertilized chicken egg under a chicken does not hatch into a lion. It hatches into a chicken. What else can we expect of someone who is born of God? We should expect God likeness.
In what way is a Christian like God. God is holy and perfect, and no-one in South City is like that.
A CHRISTIAN PURSUES RIGHTEOUSNESS AND HOLINESS
[. . . in true righteousness and holiness.]
A true Christian is like God in true righteousness and holiness in the sense that the new nature longs and craves for perfect righteousness and holiness.
Phil 3:8-14 "Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. . . that I may know him . . . Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." In other words, Paul is saying, I am not going to rest till I become like Jeaus. I will pursue this with every fibre of my being.
This new nature is like God in the sense that it is ever in pursuit of righteousness and holiness. It desires perfection and righteousness and holiness. Why? Because a Christian is someone who is created in the likeness of God. The new nature will contend with every form of sin. It will detest evil and pursue good.
What then is a Christian?
Someone who is a new creation, who is created in the likeness of God, ever in pursuit of righteousness and godliness.
This is the Biblical definition of a Christian.
Am I a Christian? There is no question more important in all the world than to ask oneself AM I TRULY A CHRISTIAN by the definition in holy scripture, because it will determine your destiny.
Matt 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'" Such people are not a new creation; they never were. Maybe they signed a decision card or walked down an aisle, but they were never created in the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.
True Christian faith causes us to hate our sin. It causes us to cry out for forgiveness and come to the throne of grace and ask for forgiveness. It causes us to come to Him, repenting of our sin. It causes us to love Him deeply and delight in the law of God, that guides us day after day. And we will seek first the kingdom of God. This is the transformation that accompanies the new birth. There is no point in saying we are a new creation if it does not show through in our life.
What an amazing thing it is to be a Christian—created in the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.