We are Christians because we have repented of our sin and believed in Jesus as our Saviour and Lord.

This statement can be meaningful and comforting and powerful to someone who has experienced the radical transformation by God that is likened to rebirth.

It can also be totally meaningless to someone who has never learned the rich content within the words and phrases of biblical understanding. It can be nonsensical jargon.

This statement can also be bewildering when trying to understand how a person can be “Christian” in the Old Testament, before Jesus of Nazareth was even born.

Perhaps our understanding of how one enters into God’s salvation has become focused on singular bits of the overall picture, and our comprehension needs to be refocused on the much larger landscape or drama of God’s rescuing work in his creation. The “bits” are vital, certainly, but they are woven inextricably into a large tapestry.

Trying to understand the much larger tapestry, or story, which extends deep into the past and eternally into the future, can provide a context for beginning to see God’s intent and activity, and for beginning to see how we, and our Old Testament brethren, and our sisters and brothers throughout time and place, have been brought together in the marvellous plan that God initiated to claim a loving, joyful people for himself.

Jesus is King.

A Christian is joined to a local church not because it’s a service provider for a consumer or a club for a member. The church is a kingdom with a king, and the Christian belongs under this king’s rule. – Core Christianity

When the rubber meets the road, everyone on this earth is saved from eternal damnation by God himself – not by time or place or race or merit or any human definition or delineation. Every person is adopted into God’s family by God’s grace. The Father sent his Son, Jesus, to be Saviour and King, and the Spirit makes the kingdom family happen and grow. We humble ourselves before Jesus Christ, believing that he, as God, has effectively completed everything necessary for his people to share his kingdom.

If asked, Why are you a Christian?, or, How do you know you are a Christian?, my answer would be–and the answer of the Old and New Testament saints would be–because God chose me.

Soli deo gloria.