What is Christianity? What are its core beliefs? So many folk seem to be confused about the answers to these questions. Nowadays, so many claim to be Christians, but their beliefs are all over the place. People call themselves Christians for a variety of reasons; however, the true definition is found only in the Bible. Anything that contradicts the Bible is not Christianity.
Here’s how the Bible sums it up:
1 Corinthians 15.1–4 (ESV): 15 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,
You may be thinking: “OK. Jesus died for my sin, was buried and was raised from the dead. What does that mean for me?”
It means EVERYTHING. When Adam and Eve sinned, they passed that sinful nature to everyone after them and placed us under the condemnation of God. But let’s not just blame them: EVERYONE has broken God’s law. EVERYONE sins (Romans 5:12). Everyone is guilty (Romans 5:18) But that is not a valid excuse. Just because everyone does it doesn’t mean it’s OK. It’s not. What it means is that because of our sins, we all have to take the punishment for our crimes. That punishment is death (Romans 6:23) and then eternity spent in a place of punishment, separated from God (Matthew 25:46). The Bible calls this the “second death”. (Revelation 20:14-15
All of this sounds like bad news, doesn’t it? This is where the gospel of Jesus Christ comes in.
The word “gospel” means “good news”. The good news here is that even though sin causes death and separates us from God, God loved the world so much that He has provided a way for us to be forgiven of our sins (John 3:16). He sent his son, Jesus Christ to live a perfect life on this earth and take on the sins of us all on himself. When He was crucified, he paid the price for our sins (1 Peter 2:24)!
Because of Jesus, we are free from the penalty from our sins (John 14:6, Romans 6:23). The only thing we have to do is place our faith in Jesus Christ. Placing our faith in Him means that we agree with God that we are sinners turn our back on our sins, and put our trust in Jesus alone for our salvation.
There are no other conditions. It’s not about how much you go to church, it’s not about what you wear. It’s about having complete faith in Jesus Christ and because of that faith, living in gratefulness according to His word.
Sounds simple, right. Well…it is. But it’s NOT easy.
We’ll talk about that next time.
Do you have any questions or comments about this? Please leave a comment below!