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Reflection Paper:
What does it mean to be a Christian?
Melinda Ervin
Theology 104, D14
Professor Samuel
December 15, 2011
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What does it mean to be a Christian? A person who makes the choice to accept Jesus
Christ as their savior and live out their lives according to the word is the starting point of how a
person becomes a Christian. Where do we go from there? Throughout this course, I have learned
several different principles that have helped change my perspective on what it means to be a
Christian. Being a person who is saved I have come to the realization that Christianity is a
process that we have to continue to develop on a daily basis. Although there are several things a
person must learn, in order to understand what it means to be a Christian, I will be focusing on
the following three questions:
1. Did Jesus claim to be God?
2. Did Jesus need to be born of a virgin?
3. If a person is a Christian, does it matter how they live their life?
My goal is to provide a better understanding of how all three questions individually play a
crucial role in what it truly means to be a Christian.
Did Jesus Claim To Be God?
Throughout the Bible, there are many references pointing to the Deity of Jesus Christ. For
example in John 8:25, 58, the Jews asked Jesus who he was, “Just what I have been claiming all
along,” Jesus replied. He later goes on to say; “Before Abraham was born, I AM.” In the book,
Core Christianity, Dr. Towns, discusses how Jesus Christ is the second person of the Trinity, and
that when he appeared in human form he let people know He is God. When you really think
about the concept of how “God is Jesus”, and “Jesus is God,” it can be rather confusing even to a
Christian. I can remember growing up and being so confused on whether I was supposed to pray
to God or Jesus. It took me a long time to realize that they are one of the same. Trinity is what
makes up God, God the father, God the son (Jesus), and God the Holy Spirit. Christianity is
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unique in the fact that it claims one God made up of three entities that would not exist without all
entities. “Jesus Christ is the core of Christianity. There is no Christianity without him” (Elmer
Towns, 2007, Core Christianity 14). There are eight different references to Jesus’ claim to deity.
According to the article, The Deity of Christ, the author claims that there are eight references to
Jesus’ claim to deity. I AM was just one of the eight discussed previously. Some other examples
include; Adonai, Jesus identifying Himself with God in the baptismal sense, He claims to be one
with the Father, He claimed to forgive sins, He allowed people to worship Him, He claimed
omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence, and finally, by addressing the heavenly Father as,
“My Father.” In my personal reflection in order for us to have salvation we have to understand
the importance of God and how without his son Jesus Christ there would be no purpose to life,
because without Jesus (God), we wouldn’t have everlasting life. Dr. Towns brings up a very
interesting fact in his book, Core Christianity; he explains that God took on flesh through a
process called “kenosis.” Kenosis is derived from Greek meaning emptied. So essentially, he is
stating that God emptied himself into a man. “Jesus remained God, but He emptied himself by
veiling His glory, accepting the limitations of being human, and voluntarily suspending the
independent use of His relative attributes” (Elmer Towns, Core Christianity, 2007, 8). God
knows our hearts He created us, and he created a tangible version of Himself through His son
Jesus Christ to give us a better understanding of His love for us.
Did Jesus Need To Be Born Of A Virgin?
The next question coincides with the previous one. In Dr. Town’s book, Core
Christianity, he explains that, “When an individual understands the deity of Jesus-that He is
God-it, becomes easier to understand why He was miraculously conceived in a virgin.” This
topic can seem just as unfathomable as Jesus’ claim to deity. As if that claim was not difficult
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enough to grasp, now we have to try and mentally process the birth of God in the flesh through a
virgin. If Jesus is God, and God is perfect, that would mean that Jesus would have to be perfect
as well. A perfect God would not create an imperfect version of Himself in flesh form. So how
then would this be possible, a baby born from the womb of a virgin? The human mind is not
sophisticated enough to completely understand how it could be possible, but does that mean it is
impossible? If God is real and Jesus is person of the Trinity, then it makes complete since that He
would only be born of a virgin. A virgin represents purity and since we are all born sinners,
according to scripture, then Jesus would be imperfect if conceived by two individuals that are
sinners. Therefore, the only logical option would to be from the seed of a woman who is a virgin
with God Himself being the Father. According to Dr. Towns in Core Christianity, “The result of
the virgin birth is that Jesus was born with the human nature of His mother and the divine nature
of His father. He did not inherit the sin nature that the human race inherits from ones’ fathers
because His Father was God.” This concept made me analyze it further; I used to think that
because Jesus’ mother was human she also was born with a sinful nature, and that would make
Jesus essentially born from a perfect Father, but a mother who is a sinner. With that concept, how
is Jesus perfect if His mother is not? The key is in the Father, God first created man; women
were then created from man. Therefore, the man is the place where the sin nature is inherited. To
put it into perspective, then Jesus could only be God if God was the Father and the woman would
have to be a virgin untouched by a man.
If A Person Is A Christian,
Does It Matter How They Live Their Life?
Christianity is about having Jesus Christ as your personal savior. When a person makes
the decision to ask Christ into their hearts they are essentially saying that they accept God and all
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that he is. God gave us a book called the Bible, which is His Word. In that Word He gave us a set
of rules called commandments. God made it very clear that we are to live our lives according to
these commandments as well as follow all other commands he set for us. If this is all true, then
how a Christian chooses to live their lives upon salvation is extremely important. Something that
is key to understand here is that even though we as Christians are to live our lives according to
scripture, we are all sinners. We will always be in imperfect even in our walk with Christ. The
difference is that through Christ, our sins are forgiven, and we are cleansed. As a Christian, we
start to feel conviction for sins that we did not before, and God gives us the strength to overcome
our weaknesses. In result, even though we are always going to be sinners, our actions that take
place after sin will be different from those who are not saved. We have a duty to God as
Christians to live our lives in a way that glorifies Him. People are always watching what we do
and if we neglect to live life according to God’s commands then we are not providing a positive
example of what it truly means to be a Christian.
In conclusion, God created man in His image and has such a deep profound love for all of
us that He chose to give the ultimate sacrifice in order to give us a chance at everlasting life. He
paid the price for our sins through His perfect son Jesus Christ born of a virgin. The only thing
He has asked from us in return is to live our lives as an example to all that glorifies Him. He
longs for us to have a deep relationship with Him, to spend time with Him, to worship Him. He
wants us to spend our lives building up His Kingdom reaching as many people as possible so that
they too can have the gift of everlasting life. We may not fully understand how to digest how
Jesus and God are one of the same, or how Jesus was born of a virgin, but that is where faith
comes in to play. All we need to do is have faith, and God takes care of the rest. All things that
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once seemed impossible to the human mind are suddenly possible, for we realize that there is
nothing that God cannot do.
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Reference
Towns, Elmer L. (2007). Core Christianity
The Deity Of Christ. The Doctrine Of Christ
The Virgin Birth Of Christ (VII)
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THEO 104 Course Paper Grading Scale
(include as the last page of your paper)
Possibl
e
Points
Points
Receive
d
Content: Does the paper cover the subject as thoroughly as
possible? Are three topics covered? Does it
demonstrate a personal understanding of the subject?
80
Introduction: Paper has an introductory paragraph
20
Structure: Did student provide headings for each section?
10
Conclusion: Paper is given a concluding paragraph
20
Spelling/Grammar
40
Grading Rubric: Is this page provided as the last page of the
paper?
10
Format: Is the paper 12 point, Times New Roman font and one-
inch margins, double-spaced
20
Comments from Instructor:
Total
Score
200
