Who do you think you are? - Our identity in Christ

In the opening paragraph to his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin wrote, ‘Nearly all the wisdom we possess, that is to say, true and sound wisdom, consists in two parts: the knowledge of God and of ourselves.

‘But while joined by many bonds, which one precedes and brings forth the other is not easy to discern. In the first place, no one can look upon himself without immediately turning his thoughts to the contemplation of God, in whom he “lives and moves” …’ It isn’t surprising that this is not the way the average person thinks about themselves today; but it surely is surprising that neither is it true of most professing Christians. That should give us pause for thought and confront us with the question, ‘Who do you think you are?’

Self-understanding

In an age when many people are utterly confused over their identity, there can hardly be a more pertinent question we need, not merely to ask, but to which we need to find a credible answer. That’s true in the broadest sense for a generation that has abandoned nearly all fixed reference points for self-understanding; but it is alarmingly true for many Christians as well. ‘What difference does conversion make?’ ‘How should I relate to other Christians and to the wider community?’ These and many questions like them cry out for answers in the church today.

The question, ‘Who am I?’ must inevitably touch each of us as individuals in a way that is as individual as we are. However, there are certain broad principles that help us answer it in light of what the Bible says. In particular, they flow out of that key thought expressed by Calvin that we only begin to understand ourselves when we start to understand the God ‘in whom we live and move and have our being.’ These are the principles we want to briefly explore together in the paragraphs that follow.

Defined by relationship

At a very human level, we can’t begin to make sense of ourselves in isolation. We owe our very existence to factors outside ourselves: namely, the relationship of our biological parents through which we were conceived. We inherit DNA, genes and chromosomes from both parents that define everything from the colour of our eyes to our personality. So immediately we are forced to look more widely than self to make sense of self! We could take it further on that human level and look at the whole range of relationships from friends to teachers to dark strangers that further define what we are; but suffice it to say, relationships define our identity.

The Bible, however, takes it further. From the very first chapter of Genesis, we are told that there is one relationship that rises above all others: our relationship with God. He is the God who relates to the entire world and universe as much as to the whole human race for one simple reason: he is the creator and sustainer of all things. So Paul is quite right when he says to the men of Athens, ‘In him we live and move and have our being’ (Acts 17.28) — a fact, he says, that even the pagan philosophers of his day acknowledge in some sense or other.

What does this say to the Bridget Jones generation of our 21st-century world? It says that no matter how much we may think we can define ourselves in whatever way we choose, that can never be. It isn’t merely a biological fallacy; at a deeper level, it is a spiritual fallacy as well. We are all forced to think outside the box of ‘self’.

Controlled by relationship

It stands to reason that if relationships have a role in defining who we are, then they also have a significant role in controlling what we are and how we live. Again, we could point to those natural factors of the kind of role models we’ve been exposed to and experiences we’ve had in relation to others that leave their mark on us for good or ill. It’s all fertile territory for psychologists, psychiatrists and counsellors who think the problems of the present are always somehow rooted in the past — the influence of Sigmund Freud runs deep!

All of this may be true to some limited degree — why else would it hold such appeal? — but once again the Bible digs deeper and takes us much further into a true self-understanding. It is supremely our relationship with God that controls what we are and where our destiny ultimately lies. It isn’t merely that we relate to God as the source of our being and the sustainer of our daily life, it is the fact that we are accountable to him that controls us in ways we rarely stop to consider.

For those who aren’t yet Christians it is the sobering reminder that the Maker of the universe is also the Judge of all the earth. It is to him ultimately that we ‘all must give account’ (Hebrews 4.13). Being prepared to meet our Maker is more than just the stuff of cartoons! For those who are Christians it means conversion not only gives us salvation, it brings us under the lordship of Christ. No longer are we controlled by a fallen nature that is in rebellion against God, but we are controlled by grace that is expressed in obedience to him. So, if you claim to be a child of God, are you striving day by day to understand his will and then submit to it?

Changed by relationship

It’s quite amazing to see the way we evolve as individuals from the cradle to the grave. We change in all kinds of ways so that what we are at the end of life bears little resemblance to what we were like at its beginning. Many of those changes we undergo are simply biological development; but they are also brought about in no small measure by the impact of relationships at different points along the way. The classic defining moments in life that effect the most significant changes in us are marriage and bereavement — relationship formed and relationship severed. (That is not to say that those who are single all their life don’t have significant defining moments and relationships that may be similar; simply that, by their very nature, marriage and death have widely acknowledged far-reaching uniqueness.) In those many marriages that work, it is thrilling to see how two lives joined as one becomes the catalyst for changing the two individuals involved. Very often that means change for the better. (Sadly, the converse can be just as much the case: such intimacy can also mean change for the worse.) But the point is: relationships change people.

Nowhere is that clearer and more significant than in the offer of the greatest of all relationships held out to us in the gospel. ‘Believe on [or, into relationship with] the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved’, Paul tells the Philippian jailer (Acts 16.31). The only way we can move from being under divine displeasure to enjoying God’s favour is by entering a new relationship with him through his Son. Christ alone — by virtue of his unique person and work — can change our relationship with God.

Clearly that has huge significance for where and how anyone can find a new beginning in life; but it has equal significance for where that new beginning leads. The big question for every true believer is not merely, ‘Have I genuinely entered that life-transforming relationship with God through faith in Christ?’ but also, ‘Am I continually being changed through that relationship?’ Sadly, that’s where so many professions of faith give rise to question.

Fulfilled by relationship

The end-point in this tapestry of relationships that make us what we are lies beyond this world in the eternity that is to come. The covenant bond — and covenant is simply relationship — that determines what we are on earth will ultimately determine our destiny in what is yet to come.

For those who are in covenant with God through saving union with Christ, that covenant will be consummated in the new heavens and the new earth. The closing chapters of Revelation are replete with the language of covenant fulfilment. However, for those who are out of covenant with God in this life, their prospects in the next life are the grim nadir of that condition: coming under everlasting covenant curse.

These two lines of destiny converge in history at one extraordinary point and in one extraordinary person: Christ and on the cross. He who was in everlasting fellowship with God as the eternal Son was made curse for his people on the cross, so that through faith in him and all he has accomplished, all who trust him might know only everlasting blessing. Where are you in relation to Christ, and, if you claim to be his, what difference is he making to the way you live day by day?

Mark Johnston,
pastor of Grove Chapel, Camberwell, and a Trustee of the Banner of Truth