What Is Christianity & What Is a Christian?

Yesterday I co-preached a sermon with Randy Johns on the essential beliefs of Christianity. You can find that sermon and others here.

In the mid to late 1860s, Charles Hodge, the former principal of Princeton Theological Seminary, described Christianity and being a Christian like this…

Christianity, objectively considered, is the testimony of God concerning his son, it is the whole revelation of truth contained in the Scriptures, concerning the redemption of man through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Subjectively considered, it is the life of Christ in the soul, or, that form of spiritual life which has its origin in Christ, is determined by the revelation concerning his person and work, which is due to the indwelling of his Spirit.

—Charles Hodge, “What Is Christianity?” Biblical Repertory and Princeton Review 33, no. 1 (1860): 119.

And…

A Christian is one who recognizes Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, as God manifested in the flesh, loving us and dying for our redemption; and who is so affected by a sense of the love of this incarnate God as to be constrained to make the will of Christ the rule of his obedience, and the glory of Christ the great end for which he lives.

—Charles Hodge, An Exposition of the Second Epistle to the Corinthians (1863), 133.

Christianity is both a doctrine and a life.

It is not demonstrated through a mere recitation of certain facts.

It is revealed through allegiance to Jesus as King and conformity to Christ as Lord.

Let us not simply talk about what we believe…

Let us live what we believe.