What does it mean to be a Christian?
The Greek word Christianos means "follower of Christ." So, what does it mean to be a Christian—a follower of Jesus Christ? It means you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, by accepting Him as your personal Lord and Saviour. Simply believing in God is not enough. Being a good person is not enough. Nor is going to church, being baptized or taking communion, although all of those things are done by Christians. According to the Bible, a Christian is someone who has received the Lord Jesus as Savior (John 1:12), trusts Him alone for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 4:12), has put no trust in his own efforts (Isaiah 64:6) to please God, and repented from his/her sins (Mark 1:15). But does being a Christian consist of only theological knowledge? It is a theology that defines who Jesus is and what He has done, but it is not the end of all things. We are Christians who believe the above points, yes, but we have a living and open relationship with the Lord Jesus. We experience Him through His indwelling Spirit. As Christians, we seek to do the will of the Lord, to follow in His footsteps, and to honor and glorify God in all he does.
Also, according to Eph. 2:10, a Christian is called to do good works. It is just that these works are not combined with our faith to merit the forgiveness of our sins, they are, instead, a natural result of our saved condition. We do good works because we are Christians, not to become Christians.
Being a Christian means he is God-fearing. Christians have come to understand that God is holy and just, as well as powerful. They understand that God must judge sinners and destroy all who remain His enemies. They also understand that all people, being naturally rebellious, deserve to be destroyed.
Christians trust Jesus alone for salvation. They know that only Jesus paid God's required penalty for sin—the penalty of death. They understand that Jesus, who never sinned even though tempted, was...