ARE YOU MY BROTHER? – CHRISTIAN ESSENTIALS
INTRODUCTION
By what right or privilege do we call one another brother? Is it because we put forth, without any reservation or secret evasion, the challenge that we know the one true God: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Or is it because we claim to know His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ; and, that this knowledge results is our obedience to the word of God as it is written in scripture?
For many Americans, the answer is: none of the above. Americans use the term Christian as if it were a title anyone can wear, simply by choosing to call yourself a Christian. That is why you have people who call their self a Christian but they do not believe in fundamental gospel truths such as: the virgin birth, the incarnation, atonement, bodily resurrection of Jesus or the divinity of Jesus. It is almost as if people consider that being born in America and not being a Muslim or Jew or Hindu or other religion automatically makes you a Christian. It has gotten so bad people seem to think that being a Christian is a matter of genetics; grandpa was a Christian so I must be a Christian.
I certainly wish that everyone who wears the name Christian was a Christian; but, that is far from being a reality. The only way a person can be a Christian is to truly believe that Jesus was the Messiah and that Jesus’ teachings are not His own but are from God, who sent Him. We also must accept the fact that if anyone is to do the will of God then he or she must obey the teachings of Jesus, as recorded in the New Testament. It is only through submitting our self-will to the teachings of Jesus that we can come to God; for there is no other way for us to come unto God but through His son Jesus. To say that we know God apart from Jesus is a lie and the truth is not in us. If we wear the title Christian but do not obey all that Jesus taught we are nothing more than a fool who has put on a cloth of righteousness, which we call Christian.
Therefore, those who have allowed themselves to be caught up in religious movements such as post-modern spiritualism, and liberalism, and the Emerging Church, and the prosperity gospel, and other false doctrines have no scriptural justification for taking the name Christian. Those, who deny the deity of Christ and cast dispersion on the Holy Bible, may claim to be Christians but they have no foundation for making that claim. It does not matter that they are spiritual and religious and socially minded; they worship the mind of man and refuse to bow their knee to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords: Jesus Christ. Thus, they are no Christians.
If we would call one another brother it is because we have been born again into the same family, the family of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In our new birth, we are all, both male and female, sons of the one true living God.
BROTHER VERSES SISTER
The very first thing I would like to do is to establish my position relative to brother and sister: I consider both male and female my brother. I am not advocating a genderless notion … I am simply saying: “from the perspective of your being my sibling, I have chosen to use the term ‘brother’ over brother and sister.” I have taken this position because I believe, in almost all scriptural teachings; Christ’s expectations apply to both female and male. I also believe that New Testament authors have taken the same approach. For example, in Paul’s letter to the Ephesians he writes: “… In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ …” (Ephesians 1:3-14) Now, we know for certain that God also intended on saving females! Therefore, why didn’t Paul say sons and daughters instead of sons?
I would propose that in the process of being born-from-above God has not made a distinction between male and female, especially when it comes to our mission. Paul wrote: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8-9) “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; …” (2 Corinthians 5:11-21) Please note: when Paul was teaching from the perspective of our being born again that he made no distinction between male and female.
The point I am trying to make is that when we are born again we are born of the spirit; thus, human gender is irrelevant. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. Flesh recognizes gender but the spirit does not. Jesus told the Pharisees that resurrected people will be like angels: “For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.” (Mark 12:25) Paul told the Galatians that because of faith we are all sons of God and that earthly distinctions no longer are relevant: “But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:15-29) So you see, when we are born again the flesh becomes less important for, in reality, we are spiritual sons of God.
I fully realize that we cannot totally ignore the role gender plays in our daily lives, although we would profit much if we could. I also acknowledge that scripture clearly makes earthly distinctions between male and female. Still, in my humble opinion, I consider all who have been born again to be spiritual sons of God and as such they are my brother. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13)
BLIND GUIDES
Christendom is made up of people who claim to be a Christian; i.e. they claim to be like Christ. Well … to be honest, most of them have no real idea what it means to be a Christian. What they really know is they are not a Muslim, or a Jew, or a Buddhist, or a Hindu or some other religion. Even many who profess to be a Christian because they believe in Jesus have no idea what it really means to believe in Jesus. Few who claim to be a Christian understand that even the demons believe in Jesus; but their belief does not save them. (James 2:19) The term Christian has almost totally lost its true meaning in today’s culture.
When the bible talks about our believing in Jesus it is talking about our having faith in Jesus. The Greek word, which we translate as believe, really means that we have anchored our faith, our confidence, and our assurance in Jesus as the King of Kings. You cannot reach this point of believing just because someone led you through some salvation ritual: like saying the ‘sinner’s prayer.’ There is only one way to reach the point where our belief is rooted in true faith, and that is through the word of God. (Romans 10:17) In the same way, we can only receive the Spirit of God through hearing the word of God with faith. (Galatians 3:2) A person can say: “I believe,” but it means nothing unless that belief originates from a faith derived from the word of God … not the words of man.
At a time before the gospel existed, as we know it today, Paul said: “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Romans 10:14) Paul was telling the People that there must be preachers if the people are to hear the word of God and that people must hear the word of God if they are to be saved. People believed and were saved because they heard a preacher speak the words of God and not his own words. It is the same today! If a person hears the words of God they will have the opportunity to embrace these words or they can reject them.
All too often, however, people hear the words of God as it has been corrupted by the mind of man. In this case, we have the blind leading the blind … straight into a pit: into hell if you can accept it. (Luke 6:39) The mind of man has invented numerous formulas for salvation: none of which has the power to save. These blind preachers lead people through a series of rituals and then proclaim: “you are now saved.” The people know nothing but the ritual, and they believe in nothing beyond the ritual. Even if they do attend church, all they will probably hear is more variations on the salvation formula, plus a lot of meaningless pabulum. They flock to warm and fuzzy gatherings where blind guides massage their egos and, with reassuring boldness, lead them deeper into darkness.
CHRISTIAN ESSENTIALS
St. Augustine (354-430), Bishop of Hippo Regius, in North Africa, is credited with first saying: “In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things love.” This is a noble statement and one worth living by; but we are left with the question: what are essentials?
WHY ESSENTIALS
Humans have a propensity to resist all forms of absolute authority and this includes the absolute authority of Jesus Christ. That is why Christendom is riddled with the cancer of subjective authority and the corruption of evil doctrines. Doctrines like Post-Modernism and the Emerging Church have torn the crown from Jesus and given it to Satan. If you are to truly wear the title Christian you will have acknowledged that Jesus Christ is the King of Kings and you will have bowed your knee in humble obedience to all that He taught.
It is only through scriptural essentials that we can restore the deity of Christ in the minds and hearts of the people. The current trend of adopting such things as: believing in many paths to salvation; disavowing absolute truths; following feelings instead of the teachings of Jesus; and rejecting the Holy Bible are becoming unifying factors, which lead people to a false belief. These people call themselves a Christian but they are not. They acknowledge Jesus as a great teacher but not as the divine creator and restoring judge. They reject the essential New Testament teachings about who Jesus really is. Therefore, essential doctrines are a means by which we can distinguish a true brother in Christ and it is the only basis for Christian unity.
NEW TESTAMENT PRECEDENT
It is most evident, by the current condition of Christendom, that most ministers try to steer away from defining Christian essentials. They know that the seed of Satan, which is in every human, will automatically rebel against any form of absolute authority. Thus, they find it easier to teach people to put their faith in some sequence of salvation rituals than it is to tell them the truth. But, this has not always been the way of those who would serve Christ.
Timothy made the statement: “Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness:
He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.” (1 Timothy 3:16)
Paul made the statement: “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-5)
The apostles taught such things as Jesus being God incarnate; that the atonement of Jesus was the only means of salvation; that Jesus is our only absolute authority and that Jesus will return one day to judge both the living and the dead. The New Testament clearly proclaims the deity of Jesus Christ.
EARLY CHURCH PRECEDENT
The concept that there were essential doctrines regarding Jesus and the Christian faith emerged early in the Christian church. This belief in essential doctrines is probably best demonstrated by creeds such as: the Old Roman Creed, Apostle’s Creed, Creed of Chalcedon and the Nicene Creed. To a large extent, the early church adopted their basic tenets of faith as being:
(1) One God in three persons (the trinity),
(2) The fallen or lost state of mankind
(3) The necessity of God’s grace,
(4) The necessity of faith,
(5) The necessity of Christ’s atoning death,
(6) The incarnation of God in Jesus,
(7) Christ’s virgin birth,
(8) Christ’s sinless life,
(9) Christ’s deity,
(10) Christ’s humanity,
(11) Christ’s bodily resurrection,
(12) Christ’s bodily ascension,
(13) Christ’s present High Priestly service, and
(14) Christ’s second coming, final judgment, and reign.
As we can see, the early church put Jesus Christ at the center of their religion. Not only was Jesus the foundation and focal point of their religion, He was also their God: to be worshiped and obeyed. This is exactly what many today, who call themselves a Christian, reject. They are willing to accept Jesus as a great teacher but they refuse to bow to His deity. These so called Christians do not believe in essentials such as the incarnation, Christ’s virgin birth, Christ’s sinless life, the necessity of Christ’s atoning death, Christ’s current position of authority over the universe and the fact that He is returning to judge the world.
PROPOSED ESSENTIALS OF UNITY IN BROTHERHOOD
As most Protestants after the Magisterial Reformation have done, I reject the notion that any religious body or Church Council has the authority to generate doctrine external to the bible. I suppose, to some extent, I am more in-line with the Radical Reformation, especially the early Anabaptists because I also reject any ecclesiastical authority and hold strongly to the belief that the Bible alone has divine authority.
This is not to say that I do not see the word of God in nature, coming from others, or in personal introspection. In every case, however, all is circumscribed by the New Testament. To that end, I am persuaded that essentials of Christian brotherhood must be center on Christ and only come from the New Testament. I am of the firm conviction that a person must adhere to the following tenets of Christian doctrine to be a brother in Christ.
1. Authority of Scripture – a person who does not believe the New Testament is God’s complete, final and accurate revelation of His instructions for mankind has absolutely nothing on which to anchor their faith. Without our confidence in the New Testament we have no grounds for unity in Christ and no foundation on which to build a Christian brotherhood.
• Complete – the bible contains everything we need to know about God.
• Final – there is no teaching that needs to be added to the bible.
• Accurate – what we need to know to come to Jesus and to follow Him as a disciple is accurately revealed in scripture.
2. Jesus Existed, As Part of The Godhead, Before He Came To Earth – this is a fundamental requirement for the deity of Christ. If the man Jesus was not the incarnation of God, then He was nothing; and the New Testament is just another philosophical book.
3. Dual Nature of Mankind – every human is made up of both a physical body and a spirit.
4. Human Depravity – every human has sinned and thus they are not worthy of eternal life with God. The spirit of God cannot exist in a human unless that human has accepted Jesus as both Lord and Savior, which means that they have been born again: experienced a spiritual rebirth from above.
5. Substitutionary Atonement – forgiveness of our sins was only possible through a perfect sacrifice. God’s desire for mankind was corrupted in the Garden of Eden and could only be restored through a divine sacrifice. As long as we exist on this earth we will never fully understand the requirement for sacrifice, but that does not negate it. Jesus had to die to establish a means for restoring mankind and for restoring nature.
6. Virgin Birth – the only means of achieving the perfect sacrifice was through a virgin birth of the incarnation. In other words, a portion of the Godhead (Jesus) had to come to earth as a perfect human; this required a virgin birth.
7. Mankind Must Submit To The Authority Of Jesus – we must believe in who Christ is, and we must demonstrate this belief by our desire to follow the teachings of Jesus. You cannot live to satisfy your own personal desires and still be a Christian. We either die to our personal desires, by replacing them with the desire to serve Jesus, or we are a liar and Jesus is not in us. This is something we will struggle with our entire life … when we stop struggling we fall back into a lifestyle of sin.
8. Jesus’ Bodily Resurrection – Jesus died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice and He bodily arose from the dead having put on the imperishable spiritual body every Christen will one day inherit.
9. Deity of Jesus – Jesus was the incarnation of the Godhead and in Him rested the essence, power, perfection and authority of the Godhead. Jesus not only came to earth as God in the flesh but He also returned to heaven and was given total and singular authority over all of creation.
10. Second Coming – Jesus will return one day to judge all of mankind and to rule a new heaven & earth.
To be a Christian and part of the brotherhood one must be born again, spiritually reborn, which means born from above. (John 3:1-15) This means that a true Christian is one who has died to their old self and been reborn as a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:11-21) In other words, the essentials of being a Christian are rooted in our rebirth; and our rebirth is totally dependent on our sincere acceptance of Jesus as both Savior and Lord. This belief is not a mental exercise. A transforming belief must come from our heart and our soul.
CONCLUSION – BROTHERHOOD BY THE GRACE OF GOD
By what right or privilege do we call one another brother? Is it because we put forth, without any reservation or secret evasion, the challenge that we know the one true God: the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Or is it because we claim to know His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ; and, that this knowledge results is our obedience to the word of God as it is written in scripture?
For those who truly have the right to call one another brother the answer is: all of the above. In fact we can go on to proclaim that if you do not believe in the fundamental essentials of Christianity you are not born again and thus you are not a brother in Christ.
With this having been said, I suppose Liberal, Post-Modern, Prosperity Gospel, Emerging Church and other so-called Christians will loudly protest. They will claim we are elitist or separatists or exclusionist or intolerant. Of course we are all of that! We are all of that because we will never stop proclaiming that a person cannot be a Christian unless they bow their knee to the divine authority of Jesus Christ.
Yet, you should know this: there is no door on our church. There is neither an entry fee nor a secret password that gains you membership. All who have been born again, spiritually reborn, born from above, are automatically a member of our church: the body of Christ. Please understand that those who are a member of the church come from the chosen elite and they are separated from the rest of humanity. Our church is an exclusive church; it is exclusively for those who are born again and no others are true members of the church. We love everyone and we will strive to live in peace with everyone, but everyone is not a member of our church. To be a member of our church you must be a Christian.
It is imperative to also understand that, although our church is exclusive, we desire that every soul should become a member. Those who are outside of the one true church are not rejected because of their sins; they are rejected because they refuse to bow their knee to the divine authority of Jesus Christ. (John 3:18) I say again, a sinful lifestyle does not block you from the body of Christ; your social position is never held against you; the color of your skin is of no concern; all who have been born again are brothers. The only thing standing between a person and the Body of Christ is that person’s love for themselves. The brotherhood of the body of Christ excludes all but those who have truly been born again.
Of course, this means that a person has faith in Jesus Christ being exactly who the New Testament says He is. And, it is our true faith in Jesus that persuades us to submit to His authority. (James 2:14-26) When a person places their trust in Christ as Savior and Lord it means they came to Him in repentance and faith. In this you were the one taking those actions, even if your faith did come from God. For, all true Christians have received a faith of the same kind from the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ. (2 Peter 1: 1) But, what we do with that faith is totally up to us. We can reject it, or we can ignore it; or we can embrace Jesus as the author and perfecter of our faith. (Hebrews 12: 2) God offers us the opportunity to submit to Jesus but it is something we must honestly do; not with our mind but with our heart. It is then and only then that one will experience a spiritual rebirth into the true brotherhood of Christendom.
