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Who Are Christians?

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Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jan 19, 1882

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 8, No. 3.

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Who Are Christians?

By R. F. Cottrell

Those who believe in Christ, follow his example, obey him, and keep his Father’s commandments; they are those who “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” Christ is the “Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him.” Heb. 5:9. Said he, “If a man love me, he will keep my words.” Again, “Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you.” John 14:23 and 15:14. Again, “Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in Heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.” Matt. 12:50.
The apostles, who were commissioned to disciple all nations, made a good beginning on the notable day of Pentecost; and the three thousand that “were added to the Lord” on that day heard and obeyed these words: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” Their sins were their violations of the law of God; for “sin is the transgression of the law.” To repent of their sins was to turn from their transgressions of God’s law, and their immersion in the name of Christ was an acknowledgment of their faith in Christ “for the remission of sins that are past” (See Rom. 3:22–26); and both these were necessary in order to obey Christ, and become his disciples and friends, according to the words already quoted. In order to be in full a Bible Christian, it is necessary to keep the commandments of the Father and believe on and obey the Son.
Open communionists adopt the motto: “No test of Christian fellowship but Christian character.” In this, we are happy to agree with them. But the question arises, What is Christian character? Perhaps it is replied, “To deal justly with men, giving all their dues, invading none of their rights, and being benevolent to the poor and needy.” We reply, it is all this, and it is more. Besides all this, it is to acknowledge both the Father and the Son, and to “continue in the Son, and in the Father;” for “he is Antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son.” John 2:21–24. “All men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.” John 5:23. There is one special act of honor to the Father required in the moral law of God; and that is, to remember the day of his rest from the creation of the world to keep it holy. He honors the Father who yields to his authority. And we may, so far as human eyes can discern, keep every precept of the decalogue except the Sabbath, and not be known to do one act of special honor to the authority of God. But the name of God, as the Creator, is found only in the fourth of the ten commandments; and therefore to keep the Sabbath is equivalent to a profession of loyalty to the Creator. And it is a special act of honor to the authority of the Son to be “baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.” However moral a man may be in the eyes of the world, how can he have a Christian character without takingupon him the name of Christ in the Lord’s appointed way? A good Mohammedan may be as honest in deal as his religion of the Koran requires; yet his is not a Christian, but a Mohammedan character.
A true Christian is teachable. Apollos, “an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures,” was zealously preaching the truth, so far as he had learned it; but Aquilla and Priscilla, having heard him, “took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of the Lord more perfectly.” Instead of rebuking them for presuming to instruct a minister, he received the advancing light, and immediately began to preach the gospel of Christ in its then present state of development. If a man asks Christian fellowship who openly violates one of the ten commandments, and consequently has not repented of all his sins, or has not submitted to Christ by being baptized in his name, we will teach him the way of the Lord more perfectly, expecting that if he desires above all things to be a Christian, he will do what Christ says. Said Jesus, “Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
But here comes in the plea, “We differ in regard to baptism and the Sabbath. We do not see these things as you do.”
We certainly ought not to differ. “Can two walk together, except they be agreed.” It is the will of Christ that Christians should be perfectly united. He prayed that his disciples might be perfectly united in one even as he and the Father are one. John 17:20–23. Do the Father and the Son differ in regard to the Sabbath and baptism? Where then is the fault? Is it in the word of God? Are the ten commandments so expressed that we cannot understand and obey them? Is it impossible to know what the gospel requires, when it commands us to be baptized? My friends, the fault is not in the Bible; but men have come to the conclusion that something else will do just as well. The difference on these points is that some hold to what is said, while others hold to substitutes. Let us illustrate this by a quotation from the learned Conybeare and Howson.
“It is needless to add,” say they, “that baptism was (unless in exceptional cases) administered by immersion, the convert being plunged beneath the water to represent his death to the life of sin, and then raised from this momentary burial to represent his resurrection to the life of righteousness. It must be a subject of regret that the general discontinuance of this original form of the ordinance of baptism (though perhaps necessary in our northern climates) has rendered obscure to popular apprehension some important passages of Scripture.”
Yes; and it is also to be regretted that a human substitute for the Lord’s Sabbath has rendered obscure to the people the fourth commandment. Now who has a right to substitute something else, in any climate, for what the Lord has said? And who has a right to say to those who do this, It is just as well; we can call you good Christians, while you make the word of God of none effect by your traditions? Has God failed to express the ten precepts of his moral law so as to be understood by those who desire to understand him? And are the precepts of the gospel left obscure, so that of necessity honest seekers for truth must differ? We cannot thus traduce the word of God. We dare not; hence we are bold to charge the fault to sinful men; men who would be heirs of the promises, while they justify themselves in keeping their traditions in preference to the word of God.
As long as Christians so widely differ on points of duty, there is need of reform; and a reform will be considered worthless, so long as its advocates seem to esteem it of no importance. Imagine Luther, if you can, pleading for open communion with the Roman church, while at the same time he was exposing her corruptions of the word of God.
True Christians will learn of Christ, follow his example, obey his word, and honor his Father.
R. F. COTTRELL.