What A Christian Is

By Tammy Lacock

A Christian is one in whom Christ lives.

As believers, our spirits are fixed in Christ. His Spirit is joined to our spirit making us one spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17). We stand perfect before God in Spirit because Christ is our new life; our old selves no longer live (Galatians 2:20).

The Apostle Paul was the only man in the Bible who was raised up by Christ, Himself, to bring this knowledge to humanity. One man brought this knowledge to the world.

Peter wouldn’t be able to handle it. He knew Christ in the flesh and couldn’t grasp the idea of Christ now living in him. John couldn’t get a grasp on it until 30 years after Paul’s death in his writings.

After Paul’s conversion on the way to Damascus, he spent at least three years proclaiming Christ; however, it wasn’t until his revelation in the Arabian Desert that God “reveal(ed) His Son in me” (Galatians 1:16). From that point forward, Paul knew nothing else. In fact, he states in Philippians 3:8: “Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.”

Christ IN Him. A Christ-person. A Christian.

From the Day of Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit came to the believers, Christ was living in them and yet not one of them knew it. It wasn’t until God revealed it to Paul that this message started spreading to the churches through his epistles. In fact, most of his writings on Christ living in believers was done while he was in a Roman jail cell.

As Christians, Christ occupies our Spirit. He’s fixed there by God birthing His Son, the incorruptible seed, in us. We must be born again with Christ as our new life, our eternal life, to be a Christian. As Warren puts it, we are the temples, the tabernacles, the clay pots “chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.” (Ephesians 1:4). Even though our clay pots are filthy and corrupted by sin, He so loved us that He came to live in us (John 3:16).

The Holy Spirit, however, came to occupy our souls, where our ever-changing minds, hearts, and emotions reside. While we are perfect before God in Spirit, who we are to ourselves and to others comes out of our soul area. This is where the Holy Spirit works. Jesus said the “Spirit of Truth” will not speak of Himself but reveal what he has heard and what is to come (John 16:13).

The Holy Spirit’s greatest mission is to reveal the Christ who lives in each and every one of us who believes. He speaks to our minds and hearts. He is our teacher, our guide, our comforter. With His help in our souls, we express the Christ who now lives in us; we emanate His love, His strength, His peace, His righteousness, His very Life. He is life, the vine, where we as branches are joined to Him in Spirit and express Him. This is where Paul consistently reminds us that our minds must be renewed. We must suffer the death of our old selves so that we, too, can know the “excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord.” Getting to know Christ is all we need.

Churches don’t make Christians by anything we do or don’t do. A Christian is a Christ-person, one in whom Christ lives. As believers, when He died, we died, too. When He arose, we arose, too, to a new life in Him. With the help of the Holy Spirit inhabiting our souls (minds, wills, and emotions), our life in Christ is a love affair in operation. Knowing Him and loving Him now is all we need.