Definition of a Christian

[Emmanuel Okpanachi]

I was wondering, what is the definition of a Christian? What makes a Christian, a Christian?

Is a Christian simply one who has the Spirit of God?

From what I'm aware, one can be a believer without having His Spirit. But can one be a Christian without His Spirit?

[Bertin Pelletier]

scriputre says if someone does not have the spirit of christ he is none of his. many think by going to Church is what makes a christian. you can be a christian on sunday and live like the devil the rest of the week.

[Dan Lysthauge]

Saul(Paul) thought he was a " Christian" until The Lord showed him otherwise. I believe the some for Job as well.

When The Lord gives you to question yourself, question what you think you know. When He gives you to be entirely feed up with the way you are and gives you to know you can do nothing about it. When He gives you to know and believe He is the only answer.

When he gives you to truly get on your knees and tell you are sorry and tired of being like you are. Then when He removes your bonds and you know it is He and only He that can do it.

When He gives you to stand with Him and forsake everyone you know.

When you speak His name and do using caution because you don't want to take His name in vain, the same goes for your new life.

Dan Lysthauge

[Paul Cohen]

Manny, it seems to me it was outsiders, not the believers themselves, who started calling the believers "Christians."

"And it happened to them a whole year they were assembled in the church. And they taught a considerable crowd. And the disciples were first called Christian in Antioch" (Acts 11:26 MKJV).

The point is that those who gathered together in the Lord's Name, being identified by a common belief and faith in Him, were called "Christians."

Otherwise, there isn't much made of being a "Christian" in the Scriptures, is there?

All that matters is that each of us is faithful with what God has given us. This happens through the faith of His Son Who died for our sins and rose again for our justification.

"He Who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:6 MKJV).

There is material in our recent posting, Manny, that should help you with what it means to be born again in Christ and the way of being made complete in His Name: http://thepathoftruth.com/teachings/wha ... -again.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not sure where you get the idea Job wasn't a believer ("Christian"), Dan. Job feared God, Who called him a "perfect and upright man," which could only be by God's grace.

[Dan Lysthauge]

It was not my intention to make it sound like Job didn't "believe in God."

Job 42:1 And Job answered Jehovah and said,
Job 42:2 I know that You can do all, and not any purpose is withheld from You.
Job 42:3 Who is he who hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have spoken what I did not understand; things too wonderful for me; yea, I did not know.
Job 42:4 Hear, I beseech You, and I will speak; I will ask You, and You will cause me to know.
Job 42:5 I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear; but now my eye has seen You.
Job 42:6 Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.

The simplest I can make it is, I didn't know until He gave me to know.

Dan

[Paul Cohen]

If Job was a believer, Dan, then he was a "Christian" as you put it, and didn't just think he was one, as you also said of him. Job believed in the Living God. Yes, he was brought up higher, because he had something already by God's grace.

Isn't this what the Scriptures teach us about our faith in Christ, that we need to endure to the end? Even Job is mentioned as an example of God's complete work of mercy:

"My brothers, take the prophets who have spoken in the Name of the Lord, for an example of suffering ill, and of patience. Behold, we count blessed those who endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and you have seen the end of the Lord, that the Lord is full of pity and of tender mercy" (James 5:10-11 MKJV).

What was your point about Job in relation to Manny's questions?

[Dan Lysthauge]

So, before The Lord took His hedge down, The Lord had given Job to repent at some point in his life and this trial by fire took him to a higher level. Am I correct in thinking this is what you are saying?

Dan

[Paul Cohen]

Yes, Dan, Job wasn't being corrected as a sinner of the world, as we heard about this past Sabbath:

Paul says:
Are you not, therefore, seeing your great foolishness and wickedness because He has delivered you?

Nanan says:
I see it Mr. Paul
I have been so wicked, so evil in this life

Nanan says:
I have travelled up and down this world like Satan just following the dictates of my heart mostly my flesh

Paul says:
Didn't Job hang his head in shame when he was corrected?

Victor says:
That was another level all together, Paul

Paul says:
Yes

Victor says:
He hadn't been living in sin

Paul says:
Right

Paul says:
I thought the principle could apply here that when corrected, we see how wrong we were

Nanan says:
As the Lord brought me from destruction I realized that there is no good in me and that it is by His power that I will live a holy life [END]

Nanan was being brought to repentance for the first time, after leading a godless life. But Job had been leading a godly life, as the Scriptures testify.

What happens after repentance, in due time? Are we not baptized with the Holy Spirit AND FIRE? Didn't Job undergo a fiery ordeal, not because of sin, but to bring him into greater fellowship with the Lord?

"Son of man, when a land sins against me by acting faithlessly, and I stretch out my hand against it and break its supply of bread and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast, even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver but their own lives by their righteousness, declares the Lord GOD" (Ezekiel 14:13-14 ESV).

[Dan Lysthauge]

I see and understand, my error for including Job, thankful for this.

Dan

[Emmanuel Okpanachi]

I was looking in the archives and found this:

'A Christian in the Biblical definition is one who has genuine faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, one who has repented of his or her sins and counts Jesus Christ as the One True God worthy of worship. A Christian is one born by the will of God:

“But as many as received Him, He gave to them authority to become the children of God, to those who believe on His name, who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but were born of God” (John 1:12-13 MKJV).'

'A spiritual Jew is one who is a true Biblical Christian, one who has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, or if you will, Yeshua HaMashiach, Son of YHWH. '

'A spiritual Israelite is a true Christian, a Jew circumcised in the heart, a true descendant of Abraham, a child of God. Such are Paul and I and those with us.'

'A child of God is a descendant of Abraham by faith, a true Christian, which is a true Jew, a member of the Kingdom of God – “an Israelite indeed,” as Jesus referred to Nathanael, who spoke truth. Such are Paul and I and those with us.'