A Primer on Christianity

The Bible: The Foundational Document of Christianity.

The Bible is the most logical place to begin describing Christianity. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God – a special message from God to all people everywhere! This does not mean that the Bible ‘fell out of heaven.’ Instead, the Bible is inspired, meaning that it was written by humans who were directly guided by God in what they wrote down. In fact, we sometimes refer to verbal plenary inspiration to refer to the fact that every single word in the Bible exists because God wanted it to be that way. This means that, while humans are fallible, God prevented them from making mistakes while writing the words of Scripture. But what is Scripture? The Canon is the list of books that make up the Bible. Most Christians agree that the Canon consists of the Old Testament, written before the time of Jesus Christ, and the New Testament, written after the time of Jesus Christ, while the Apocrypha (a list of ancient religious writings) is not part of the Canon.

If the Bible was infallible when it was written down, we also believe that it was transmitted to the present day by God. This does not mean that different manuscripts do not have errors, but that God has always preserved the exact words that He intended to communicate to mankind. Careful study of the different manuscripts shows that there is virtually no disagreement between the ancient texts and the English Bibles we read today! This is one point that Christians make when we engage in apologetics, or logical defense of the Christian belief system. The Bible is not simply one book. I mentioned already that it is divided into two Testaments. It is further subdivided into 66 individual books. These books are finally divided into chapters and verses. The books in the Bible are written in various genres, or styles. Some of them are history books, some are books of poetry, some contain religious instruction, and some contain prophecies about the future.

God: A Christian Understanding

Despite the fact that the Bible contains many different styles of writing, all the books in the Bible give us information about God. Theology is the study of God. Just as a scientist looks at the natural world and draws conclusions about nature, so we look at the Bible and draw conclusions about God.

God has attributes, or characteristics, that define Him. While there are many different characteristics, the Bible presents God as a personal God – that is, He is a person. Being a person does not mean being a human. Rather, it means that God has personality and conscious thought. He is not an inanimate force or power that acts without thinking. Nor is he simply an idea that people have dreamed up. He is an actual personal being. Unlike all other persons, God is unbounded, or infinite. We are limited by time – he is not. We are limited in our power – he is not. We are limited in our knowledge – he is not. Whatever limits we may have, God is without those limits. This leads to the reality that God is sovereign – He does what he pleases, at all times. He is entirely in control. God often uses means, or secondary causes, to accomplish his goals. However, he is ultimately the Being in control. Another attribute of God is that he is good. This does not simply mean that he is ‘nice.’ It means that he is absolutely morally perfect. Goodness is part of God’s nature, or essence. Because he is entirely good, he cannot permit or tolerate anything that is less than perfectly good. This makes him just. It is also part of what we refer to when we say that God is holy, although holiness refers not only to goodness, but also God’s greatness.

One defining characteristic of God is that he is mysterious. This does not mean that we cannot understand God or know about him. We can. However, we cannot fully understand him or describe him. He thinks and does things in ways that do not always seem to make sense, but which are always in line with his nature. One of the more mysterious aspects of God is that he is a Trinity – composed of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You cannot separate these individual persons from God. It is impossible with our human, finite minds to fully explain this, or understand this, but it is what the Bible teaches.

The Origin of the World

The Bible begins in the book of Genesis (which means beginnings) to describe the origin of the world. The origin of the world is important, because it is the foundation on which the rest of the Bible is based. We are taught that God directly intervened to create everything that exists today in a span of six days, a belief called Creationism. This creation included the first human couple, Adam and Eve. These two people were placed in the garden of Eden and given a directive for how they should live. We call it The Creation Mandate, and it says, basically, to have many offspring, fill the world, and rule it.

Despite living in a perfect paradise with the constant presence of God, Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating from a tree that they were commanded not to eat from. This resulted in the fall of man, as Adam and Eve were thrown out of paradise, God withdrew from them, and their human bodies began to gradually wear out, eventually resulting in death. As human beings continued to fill the world, they also continued to grow more disobedient to God.  Eventually the world was so evil that God determined to destroy it and start again. However, to preserve the human race, God told Noah to build an ark. Noah and his family was spared destruction when God subsequently sent a worldwide flood. This flood dramatically changed the structure of the earth as the surface of the world buckled into mountains, was torn into different continents, and was deluged by water that had previously remained in the atmosphere.

Mankind: A Tragic Story

God created the first human being, Adam, and placed him in the Garden of Eden. Adam was perfect but had no helper, so God created Eve. Humans were created ‘in the image of God,’ meaning that they bear a remarkable resemblance to the God that created them. This does not mean a physical resemblance, but instead that the human being has characteristics that resemble God – such as a human spirit and a capacity to think that other creatures do not possess. While God made man’s body from the dust of the earth (physical and organic particles that disintegrate after death), man is more than a body. He also consists of a spirit, which cannot be seen, but is mysterious connected with a human’s body. When the body and spirit are separated, death occurs. Man also has a soul, which is the capacity for sensations, feelings, and emotions (however, the soul is generally considered a subset of the spirit).

Because people are created in the image of God, they are intended to represent God. However, Adam and Eve sinned, or disobeyed God, when they ate the forbidden fruit. This fall of man resulted not only in physical consequences (leading to physical death). It also resulted in spiritual consequences. Man’s spirit lost the relationship that it enjoyed with God. Mankind’s purity and goodness was destroyed, so that humans became fundamentally flawed. This sin nature refers to the natural propensity of humans to sin (disobey God). This means that humans do not have a perfectly free will to choose good or evil; instead they are naturally inclined to choose evil.

The Bible teaches that humans choose sin for three reasons. First, the world is often referred to in the Bible as the human system that is opposed to God, and influences people to make sinful choices. Second, the Bible refers to the flesh – not the actual physical body, but the sinful principle in mankind that hates and wars against God. Finally, the Devil, or Satan, is a celestial being, created by God, who is engaged in a spiritual battle against God, seeking to destroy God’s work in the world. In fact, Satan sees human beings as pawns to be used in the fight against God. Satan urges people to sin, but he also hates them because they resemble God (remember, humans are made in the image of God). Because Satan hates everything that resembles God, he longs for the opportunity to ruin and destroy humanity, which he does whenever he can.

Israel: God Intervenes in History

After the fall of man, the beautiful relationship between God and humanity was broken. Because God is so good, He is the source of eternal joy and loveliness. Humanity, suddenly without God, began to seek for cheap imitations of this joy and loveliness; tragically, we turned to imitations that do nothing to truly satisfy us.

Because God is so good, He cannot endure anything that is bad or evil. Man’s sin nature is absolutely incompatible with God. In fact, because God is good, he always punishes sin with the punishment that he deserves. (Earlier I defined sin as being disobedience to God. Since God is entirely good, disobedience to God is, by definition, entirely evil). While humans may not think of sin as being terrible, God knows that every sin is an offense against Himself – the best, most beautiful, and lovely Being in the universe. Sin is what broke the relationship between God and man. Because the crime is committed against an eternal being, it deserves a suitable punishment.

Of course, if the story ended at this point, it would be very tragic. However, the Old Testament recounts that God immediately began to work to restore the relationship between humanity and divinity. I mentioned earlier that God is a personal God. This also means that he is able to have a relationship with humans. God began by calling a man named Abraham and making a covenant (agreement) with him. This covenant promised that God would bless Abraham and use him to bring blessing to all nations of the earth. God then began to teach and test Abraham, bringing him and his descendants through many different adventures, and each time teaching them more about himself.

Abraham was the first of the patriarchs, the ‘founding fathers’ of the nation of Israel.  Eventually, Abraham’s descendants (who took the name Israel) travelled into the land of Egypt. In Egypt, a wicked king made them all slaves until Moses was directed by God to lead them out of Egypt to the Promised land, the land of Canaan, which God had promised to Abraham. Moses was one of the first prophets that God used – a class of people who received messages from God and transmitted those messages to humans.

Throughout this time, God worked directly in history through miracles. Many people try to disprove that miracles can happen, but a miracle is, by definition, a supernatural suspension of scientific and natural laws. A miracle means that God is directly intervening in a situation – often to prove His power and teach something to humanity.

Moses was also a lawgiver who gave the people a system of rules, called the Mosaic Law or the Old Covenant. These laws instructed the Israelites how to live and what God wanted from them. While the Mosaic law contained hundreds of specific commands, it is most famous for the Ten Commandments. One of the centerpieces of the Mosaic Law was the practice of circumcision – a practice that Abraham had originally completed, and this practice was a defining feature of the Israelites. It became a mark of who was really an Israelite (also known as a Jew), and who was a Gentile (a non-Jew). After the Israelites moved into the promised land, they went through many different adventures. Oftentimes they disobeyed God, and subsequently God sent enemies to enslave them. When they called out to God, He sent them Judges, men who rescued them from their enemies and then taught them the ways of God. Later, the Israelites decided to set up a kingdom. The nation had traditionally been divided into the twelve tribes of Israel, but this kingdom contained all twelve tribes, so it was known as the United Kingdom. It was ruled by three kings, Saul, David, and Solomon.

After Solomon was the period of the Divided Kingdom. One line of kings ruled ten tribes in the north (the NorthernKingdom or Kingdom of Israel), while the other line of kings ruled two tribes in the south (the Southern Kingdom or Kingdom of Judah). Eventually, the Northern Kingdom was destroyed by a nation called Assyria, while the Southern Kingdom was captured by the nation of Babylon. The people lived in Babylon during the period of the Exile, but eventually returned to the land of Canaan by the end of the Old Testament.

The Promise Arrives: Jesus Christ

All throughout the time of the Old Covenant, God repeatedly promised the people of Israel that he would send them a Savior who would rescue them. This savior was described as a Messiah, a Hebrew word that refers to the ‘anointed one.’ (In Greek, the word for ‘anointed one’ is Christ). By the time of the New Testament, God’s people of Israel were living under Roman captivity. Suddenly, an angel appeared to a girl named Mary, promising that she would bear a child through the intervention of God’s Holy Spirit. This was miraculous, since it was a Virgin Birth. Mary’s fiancee, Joseph, was also notified of the miracle. This virgin birth is essential for understanding Jesus, because it points to his unique nature – Jesus actually came from heaven and took on a human body (the incarnation)! Hence he is a single person who is both fully God and fully man (the ‘Hypostatic Union’).Jesus grew up in Nazareth, eventually becoming a travelling Rabbi who proclaimed God’s word to people and performed miracles. He selected twelve disciples whom he named apostles. Jesus’ teaching was unique: he proclaimed that he had come from heaven and was the only path to the Father!

The Death and Resurrection of Christ

Jesus repeatedly forewarned his disciples that he would go to the city of Jerusalem, where the scribes and Pharisees – the Jewish religious leaders – would crucify him, but he would rise again on the third day. The disciples did not understand, and they puzzled over the meaning of ‘rise again.’ As predicted, when Jesus came to Jerusalem, after celebrating the Last Supper in an upper room, Jesus was betrayed by one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot. Jesus was handed over to the Jewish leaders, who accused him of blasphemy, since he claimed to be the Son of God. The Jews then brought him before Pontius Pilate, the Roman Governor, seeking the death penalty for reputed treason. Pilate hesitatingly agreed, and Jesus was crucified. The events around his crucifixion were remarkable, and his body was taken down and placed in a sealed tomb after clear evidence of death. On the third day, several women came to the tomb to anoint his body, according to the Jewish custom. They were startled to find the tomb empty. The news spread rapidly, and many other individuals viewed the empty tomb and had personal encounters with the resurrected Christ. In all, over 500 individuals encountered him after his death. Jesus explained, prior to the crucifixion, that he had come to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. The disciples preached that Jesus’ death is the means of our salvation. In particular, Paul explained that Jesus was ‘delivered up for our transgressions,’ and ‘raised for our justification.’

The End of the World

After his resurrection, Jesus gathered his disciples, and while speaking to them, he suddenly ascended into heaven. The disciples stared, dumbfounded, into the sky, but two angels appeared and explained that they should not marvel: Jesus would again return in the same way that he had left. Jesus himself had foretold that he would come again dramatically, and therefore, his disciples must always be prepared for his coming. For those who were distracted with the world, Jesus would come like a thief in the night. When Jesus appears at his second coming, his followers were themselves resurrection with a glorified body – meaning that they will not spend eternity as disembodied spirits. All individuals will stand before God and give account for every thought, word, and deed at the final judgment. Because of their union with Jesus Christ and his righteousness, those who believe will enter the New Jerusalem, while unbelievers, who fail to attain God’s standard of perfection, will be cast into the Lake of Fire. The study of these events, the last times, is known in theology as eschatology.

Reaching the World with the Gospel

Prior to his ascension, Jesus told his disciples to go into all the world and to make disciples, baptizing them and teaching them – a command known as the Great Commission. Christians obey this through Missions and Evangelism, aiming to bring the gospel to every single human being in the world. The aim of evangelism is not merely to get unbelievers to acknowledge that Jesus is the Son of God, but for them to become disciples, that is meaning that they are submitted to his Lordship and hence are genuine Christians.

Salvation: A Work of God’s Grace

Paul explained that a man becomes right with God not by doing meritorious works, but by believing on Jesus Christ. In this way, God is able to declare sinners as righteous. God treated Jesus as ‘sin’ when he was on the cross, because he took on the sins of his people. However, those who believe in Jesus are spiritually united to Him, and they become partakers of his righteousness. Although they are sinful by nature, their account thus contains Jesus’ righteousness, and God can declare them righteous, or justify them. Because Christ is a substitute who bears their punishment (thus placing them in a position of God’s favor), what Christ accomplished is known as penal substitutionary atonement This transformation begins with God regenerates an individual, a miraculous process of rebirth in which God changes a sinner’s heart so that it suddenly loves God. The person who has thus been born again believes in God through faith, and it is by this faith – rather than any actions or works – that God justifies. This means that salvation is a work of God and gift of grace, rather than a result of human action.

Piety and New Life

At this point, we can understand how Christianity is not like most religions. Rather than a set of rules or regulations that explain how a person gains favor in God’s sight, Christianity focuses on how one develops a relationship with God – an action which God himself begins. For those who are in a relationship with God, discipleship and obedience are the natural result of relationship, rather than the means to attain it. The Christian, who has experienced God’s grace, experiences an entire transformation of priorities. He begins to live for God’s glory, rather than his own desires. He begins to think of himself as a pilgrim in the world, in a period of preparation for the eternal world.

While the Christian is instantly declared righteous, or justified by God at the moment of faith, he is not immediately sinless. However, God’s grace immediately begins to work the process of sanctification, in which the believer becomes more like God. This happens as one kills, or mortifies, sin and pursues God’s grace. Prayer, reading the Bible, and fellowshipping with other believers are ways in which believers continue to experience this internal transformation. While the believer does, unfortunately, sin in this life, God’s spirit has given him freedom from sin and will not allow him to continue to practice sin. Complete sanctification does not happen in this life, but the Christian is on an upward trajectory. Although he has been freed from the Mosaic Law, the Christian follows the Law of Christ because he is pursuing holiness; that means that he rejects both antinomianism (being ‘without law’) and legalism (being bound to Mosaic Law or manmade tradition). By recognizing that Jesus is the supreme lawgiver for the Christian, we can begin to understand why Christians hold to Christian morality. Jesus’ clear teaching on the sanctity of human life, the one-man/one-woman ethic of marriage, and strict sexual mores are followed by those who recognize him as the ultimate lawgiver. Indeed, the believer begins to develop a Christian worldview in which he views everything through the lens of biblical teaching.

The Church: God’s People in the World

While Jesus was on earth, he instituted the church. While all believers constitute a sort of universal church which is spread across the world, the emphasis of the New Testament is on the local church, the group of believers that meets together regularly to pursue Jesus Christ. The local church focuses on biblical teaching, fellowship, celebrating the Lord’s Supper, and prayer. New believers join through the local church through baptism, in which they confess their belief in Jesus Christ. The church also commemorates the death of Christ through its regular celebration of the Lord’s Supper. (These two practices are known as the ordinances, though they are sometimes called the sacraments). The study of the church is known as Ecclesiology. Although the local church is for believers, it sometimes contains unbelievers who are expelled from the church through church discipline, which is necessary to maintain the church’s reputation by expelling those who commit obviously un-Christian actions.

The church is a sort of ‘embassy of heaven’ which is responsible to declare God’s Word in the world; involvement in the local church is essential because the church has the power of the keys, to bind or loose – in other words, by admitting a member, the church is indicating that that individual is a believer, while by expelling a member, the church is indicating that the individual is not a Christian. (In these actions, the church is merely echoing what God has already done in heaven).

The church is led by elders (also known as pastors) and it is served by deacons, but the whole church is responsible for the work of ministry – a view known as congregationalism. Despite the important role that the church has (for it is the spiritual body and bride of Jesus Christ), some people have entered the church and caused division. Such people are known as heretics. Some churches have continued to follow orthodoxy, or Biblical teaching, while others have veered into heterodoxy.

The early church gradually departed from the teachings of Jesus, instituting new traditions like the mass, worship of saints, and the role of the Pope. Around 1000, the Roman Catholic church in the west split with the Eastern Orthodox church in the east. In the 1500s, the Protestant Reformation reemphasized the idea of justification by faith alone, rather than in combination with human actions. Since then, there have been many denominations of Protestants which seek to follow the Bible, along with a number of heresies. In the 1500s, English Protestants known as Puritans became famous for their serious attempts to structure all of life according to the Bible. In the 1600s, German Protestant Lutherans known as Pietists reminded the church of the importance of good works as a central aspect of the Christian’s obedience to God. In the 1700s, the Great Awakening swept the English Protestant world as tens of thousands heard the gospel preached. Around the same time, rationalism and religious liberalism infiltrated many churches, rejecting the ultimate authority of the Bible and injecting higher criticism into Biblical studies.