How to Be a Christian

By Jesse Hamilton

What does it mean to be a Christian? Answers to this question in both the secular world and the church have often been anything but clear. In this book, Jesse Hamilton seeks to provide a simple, clear, and honest answer to the question of what it really means to be a Christian. Intended for both believers and unbelievers alike, How to Be a Christian considers the full range of the New Testament evidence and presents the Christian life as Jesus and his apostles both taught and lived it. At the heart of this message lies a call to an all-out commitment to the teaching and mission of Jesus that both the world and the church desperately need to recover in our increasingly corrupt times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Release date: Jun 20, 2023
• ISBN: 9781666776775

Jesse Hamilton

Jesse Hamilton has more than twenty years of experience in Christian ministry, including more than seven years on the mission field in Asia. He holds an MA (with Distinction) in systematic and philosophical theology from the University of Nottingham, where he studied under Simon Oliver, now Van Mildert Professor of Divinity at the University of Durham. He was enrolled in PhD studies in analytic philosophy of religion at the University of Aberdeen, writing his thesis on compatibilism and the problem of evil, before God led him to withdraw and refocus on ministry. He is the author of How to Be a Christian, published by Resource Publications (a Wipf and Stock imprint); Discipleship and the Evangelical Church: A Critical Assessment, published by Wipf and Stock; and Prayer: The Church's Great Need, published by Grace and Truth Books. He is married to Ana, an award-winning classical pianist, and father to Lizzy, an aspiring neurochemist. He occasionally writes poetry.

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Introduction

I am heir to a unique spiritual legacy. I realize that sounds pretentious, so let me explain.

My parents, whose stories I have told in greater detail elsewhere, came to Christianity out of relative ignorance. Yes, they were born into the Bible Belt, and both of their families professed allegiance to Christianity on some level, but their profession was about as nominal as you could get, as is common in those parts. It wasn’t until college that my parents encountered serious Christians—those who had thought deeply about the message of the Bible and were sincerely trying to live it out. Both were converted to Christianity during their days at LSU, and both became involved in Christian ministry from the get-go. My dad eventually ended up at Dallas Seminary, and this is where my legacy begins. I was born while my father was taking a test in his Greek language class—but it wasn’t in the seminary classroom that my true legacy began. In an occurrence replete with literal and figurative significance, my legacy began underground—in the womb of the Dallas Seminary library. There, my father discovered a dusty collection of back-issues of a little-known British theological journal, one that adhered to a doctrinal perspective that was perhaps best represented by a highly specific group of Christians—the English Puritans of the 17th century. My father was fascinated with this group and their obvious learning, but more than anything else, he was profoundly affected by their deep and serious devotional lives. In the end, it was not their theology so much as their piety that drew him in. This eventually led him to seek out other Christians in history with a similar approach to the Christian life, and by the time I was old enough to remember, Jonathan Edwards, David Brainerd, John Wesley, Henry Martyn, Hudson Taylor, A.W. Tozer, Amy Carmichael, Jim Elliot, and Leonard Ravenhill were our constant bedfellows, to name a few. I had to read and reread significant portions of their journals and writings and was regularly read aloud select passages in case I missed anything. My father, already a pastor, preached sermons inspired by these spiritual luminaries, and I can say in all honesty that both he and my mother did their very best to live out what had inspired them. Extended Bible-times, all-night prayer meetings, strong and direct preaching, and missionary zeal pervaded our church and home. I realized fairly early that I was being reared on a rare and very serious brand of Christianity—one that demanded an all-out surrender to Jesus and a life given up to the needy around the world. This vision so impressed itself upon my young soul that by the time I was 7 or 8 I knew I was going to be a missionary. Giving up my life for the cause of Christ seemed like a daunting task, to be sure, but I felt I really had no choice in the matter. When my parents decided to become missionaries themselves—in which calling they have labored for the past nearly 25 years—my destiny was confirmed. Or so I thought; but again, I tell that story elsewhere.

I eventually experienced my own conversion to Christianity, went to the mission field (twice), returned home under perplexing circumstances, eventually met the most interesting woman in the world and married her, received my own graduate training in theology and philosophy, and now have had considerable time to reflect on my upbringing. Through it all, not much has changed in my perspective. Sure, the brand of Christianity I was reared on had some shortcomings, but all-in-all I’ve come to believe in that vision more strongly than ever. For one thing, it is clearly taught and exemplified in the Bible, in particular in the New Testament. I undertake this present book, then, firmly convinced that the tradition of spiritual piety that is evident in the life and teachings of Jesus and the Apostles, that was manifest in Augustine and other early Christians, that can be found scattered throughout the Middle Ages, that was resurrected with greater clarity and purpose in the Reformation, that launched the modern missions movement, and that is so rarely discussed and practiced today, desperately needs to be recovered. Because at its core, this perspective on the Christian life is not merely for a certain class of Christians; it does not represent some higher way. It is, in fact, the only way in which the Christian life is to be lived; it is the only way to be a Christian. In this book, then, I hope, as simply and clearly as possible, to present what I take to be authentic Christianity, for the benefit of everyone. This book is thus intended for those who claim to be Christians and those who do not, and while the discerning (or even the casual) reader might perceive that at times I am speaking more directly to one or the other of these two audiences, my hope is that whatever is said is useful to everyone.

Undoubtedly my perspective comes with a certain slant. Those who know a bit about Christianity will likely realize that all the names I have mentioned above have at least three things in common: first, they were all Protestants; second, they were all Evangelicals—meaning, among other things, that they had a high view of the Bible, that they valued a personal relationship with God, and that they were zealous to bear witness of their faith to others; and third, with the exception of one or two on the list, they were all Reformed in their theology—meaning that they had a high view of the sovereignty or control of God over all things. There is no question, then, that much of what I say will constitute an interpretation of the relevant biblical evidence; and of course it should be mentioned as well that I certainly do not pretend that everything I say in this book would be agreeable to every great Christian figure I have referenced here.

Though my purpose in this book is mostly to explain, and less to defend, where defense of a particular claim is warranted, I have done my best to provide it. I have not, however, bogged down the reading with footnotes or excessive biblical references. What is undertaken here is a simple and clear explanation of material that is better left, for the sake of breadth of audience and ease of reading, in the background, for those eager enough to pursue the matter to investigate further on their own. It is, to be sure, intentionally exoteric—to be understood by any and everyone.

I hope and trust, then, that this book makes absolutely clear how to be a Christian; and I hope in time that you, reader, will be persuaded to become one yourself—or, if you are one already, to be further assured that you are on the right path. For no question in life is more important than this one.

Part One

Some Basic Christian Beliefs

1

God

When learning about Christianity, there is really only one place to start. Now, you might think that I should begin with where I am coming from—my starting point, so to speak. Whatever I am going to say, you might argue, I need to set forth first why I am saying it, or what I am basing it on. And this certainly makes sense. For that reason, many people might begin a book of this sort by defending the Bible, or some other sort of authority—whatever authority they subscribe to. But this is not really that kind of book. As I said in the introduction, this book’s purpose is more to explain, and less to defend. I will discuss the Bible and what Christians should think of it later; it certainly is for me, and will be for this book, our final authority. For now, however, it makes sense to say that we had better start with what Christians believe about God.

No doubt when you say or think this word—God—a number of distinct ideas or feelings come into your mind. Most of us—most people in the world, it turns out—have some concept of God, and depending on where you live, of course, that concept can be quite different from someone else’s. I have found, and I think we can all agree, that even in our own country, where Christianity and Judaism have been influential, people have quite different views of God, so that the concept of God means rather different things to different people. There is little question that one’s concept of God is often shaped by their background, education, or life experiences; so we had best be as clear as possible about what the Bible says.

Of course, some might want to argue that the Bible does not, in fact, present a clear or unified picture of God. You might be thinking of the problem of how the two parts of the Bible, what Christians have come to call the Old and New Testaments, fit together, assuming they might be able to do so. Doesn’t the Old Testament present a radically different picture of God than the New, you might ask? Such sentiments are often expressed, but in the end, they don’t really hold up very well to scrutiny. The Bible does, in fact, present a unified picture of God; there are things about him that are clear and uniform from beginning to end. There are differences in how God deals with his creatures at various places in the biblical record, of course, but these have to do with his larger plan and purpose for specific times, and not any inconsistency in his character. So we can dismiss this concern rather quickly; no one who has studied the Bible carefully has ever taken it seriously.

So where to start about God? I wish to begin with what is most immediate to us, and that is this. Quite simply, the Bible presents God as the creator of the world. This truth about God, one could argue, is the most foundational truth about him in the entire Bible. Certainly the Bible starts there; its very first sentence, as you likely already know, asserts that God made both the heavens and the earth. And throughout both the Old and New Testaments, this fact about God is both assumed and boldly proclaimed. But perhaps here we should pause. Am I arguing here that to be a Christian one must believe that God created the world? Well, not exactly; but it would be hard for a Christian to think otherwise, if you reflect on it for a moment. Surely some sense of the existence of God must be impressed upon someone’s mind if they are to take a step forward in this whole matter of becoming a Christian. It is undeniably true, however, that many people have become Christians out of stark ignorance or genuine and persistent doubt; and doubts about God’s existence continue to plague many believers long after they are converted. So, again, why would I mention this characteristic at the outset, as a belief that is essential to being a Christian?

First of all, quite simply, I mention it because I am convinced that most people in fact do believe in God—even nonreligious people—and that they do so simply by taking in the created world. The Bible makes it clear that this is the primary way in which we know that God exists; more to the point, it was intended by God to be this way. You might say, in fact, that belief in God arises in us naturally or spontaneously as we observe or reflect on creation. Both the Old and New Testaments proclaim that the created world produces in us just this sort of effect, this sort of instinctual belief. As theologians and Christian philosophers have emphasized, this sort of belief is not something that arises in us by way of inference; that is, we don’t argue from a set of premises to reach the conclusion that God exists. It simply happens, and it was meant simply to happen. Secondly, the Bible makes it plain that true Christians inevitably come to see God as creator of the world and praise him for it. No man awakened by the Holy Spirit to the reality of God can miss his handiwork. The Bible is replete with passages that proclaim God as creator and compel all people to worship him for the splendor of his creation.

Of course, again, all sorts of things can affect our general belief in God over the course of our lives; this belief can weaken, grow faint, appear less important, or disappear altogether. This might be due to the presence of arguments to the contrary that convince us, or trials and suffering we pass through, or the presence of sin, which might lead us to suppress our knowledge of God. Surely we can all agree that there are many in the world who are antagonistic toward the idea of God even while they profess not to believe in him; and this antagonism is often present in our own souls, especially when things happen that we are not entirely happy about. But the point in all this is that belief in God as creator is presented in the Bible as something incredibly foundational to the Christian faith; creation is the primary way in which we know that God exists. And yet there is another, very specific reason why belief in God as creator is important.

That reason is that the creation speaks to us in a unique way of certain foundational truths about God; in particular, his goodness. The very way in which the world has been made—so obviously designed for the flourishing of human beings—tells us in no uncertain terms that God desires our wellbeing. The sun that bathes us so bountifully in its light, and fills us with energy and happiness; the lovely blue sky and gently drifting clouds; the soft, grassy meadow and welcoming trees, which feed and shelter us; the soothing breeze that now and then refreshes us; the hills, mountains, lakes, and streams that bring us deep, abiding peace; the varied living creatures that delight and fascinate us; even the changes that greet us in the form of rain, or new seasons, or cold, or night, at various times delight us, charm us, and bring us entirely different, but no less nourishing, experiences and feelings.