What is a Christian?

The New Testament definition of a Christian is a person ‘in Christ’. It is necessary to insist therefore, that according to Jesus and his apostles to be a Christian is not just to have been baptized, to belong to the church, to receive holy communion, to believe in the doctrines of the creed or to try to follow the standards of the Sermon on the Mount. Baptism and holy communion, church membership, creed and conduct are all part and parcel of living as a Christian, but they can form and sometimes have formed an empty casket from which the jewel has disappeared. The jewel is Jesus Christ himself. To be a Christian is primarily to live in union with Jesus Christ, as a result of which baptism, belief and behaviour slot naturally into place.

From John Stott’s “Life in Christ” (Eastbourne: Kingsway; Wheaton: Tyndale House, 1991), p. 37. Excerpted from “Authentic Christianity”, by permission of InterVarsityPress