p. 8 | What Constitutes a Christian? by C. P. Whitford

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 7, 1916

What Constitutes a Christian?

By C. P. Whitford

C. P. WHITFORD

“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Rom. 6:1, 2. The apostle Paul answers this question in verse 14: “Sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.”

These scriptures and many others we might cite lead us to ask the question, What constitutes a Christian?

A real, genuine Bible Christian is an individual whose profession and life correspond with the teachings and with the example of Christ. A Christian will live the same life in kind that Christ lived. He lives the life that Christ lived because he loves that kind of life. A person who does not like the principles lived out in the life of Christ, does not like Christ, and therefore is not a Christian. He may belong to the church; may outwardly keep the Sabbath, and observe all the ten commandments in form; but if the law of God has not been written in his heart so that he has a real love for every principle contained therein, it would not be safe to take him into the kingdom.

“If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Col. 3:1-3. This scripture teaches that the Christian is dead. Sometimes we hear professed Christians say, “I am exceedingly sensitive, and oftentimes I get very angry.” Are dead people sensitive? “How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” Col. 3:3.

You may say all the good things you can think of over the grave of a dead person, and there is no response. He will not be exalted by words of commendation. You may say all the bad things you can think of, and there is no response. So it is in the case of the Christian. Gal. 2:20.

In many scriptures we are taught that the Christian is dead to sin, and dead to the world. It may be of interest to speak of some things a dead person will not do: A dead man will not get angry and abuse his wife and children; he will not be offended when men do not speak well of him.

There are many people who call themselves Christians, in whose lives the Christian graces do not appear. Love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance characterize the life of a Bible Christian. Gal. 5:22, 23.

“Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Isa. 57:15.

The humble heart in which dwells the spirit of Christ has no desire to make a display by wearing costly apparel, but chooses “the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.” I Peter 3:3, 4.

Does the Bible mean what it says when it speaks of the Christian as being “dead”?—Yes, it means just what it says, and we shall find it so when we come to meet our life's record in the judgment. It is sad to see that some do not seem to believe what the Bible says on this point, but go right on patterning after the fashions of the world.

Let us all ask ourselves the following questions: Am I dead? Has the world lost its charms for me? Do I love God more than I do the things of this life? Am I converted to God, or to a theory of the truth? Am I ready now to meet the record of my life in the judgment? Am I dead?

If we find that we are not dead to sin, what must we do?—Make the experience portrayed in Col. 3:5, 12-16, and ours. To mortify means to die. If we are not dead and want to die, the thing for us to do is to will to do God's will; and it is his will that we should die to sin and become alive to him; and when we have reached this place in our Christian experience, the sins we have mentioned will not appear in our lives.

Orlando, Fla.