# The Lutheran Pioneer_St. Louis_1888_S34 # Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration) 34 The Lutheran Pioneer. (For the ‘‘Lutheran Pioncer.’’) Who is a Christian? This is a very important question. There are thousands claiming to be Christians, who are but miserable pretenders. Again, there are thousands that think they are Christians, but they deceive themselves. And we know that there are numbers of those who sincerely seek an answer to the question: Who is a Chris- tian and am I one?—So let us see! Look at the name itself. It will tell you all. It is not the name of a business, nor of a polit- ical party, nor a name given to people of a cer- tain country. It isa religious name. It means that a person, called a Christian, is one of the believers and followers of the Christian religion. He cannot, as a Christian, believe in the Jewish, Mohammedan, or heathen religion, nor in the religion of the infidels and worldlings. As a Christian he must, as his name says, believe in the Christian religion, the religion of Jesus Christ,*that religion of which Jesus Christ is not only the greatest teacher, but of which He is the foundation, center and very life, which principally speaks of Him and His glorious re- ‘demption. In a word, a Christian must, to be such, believe in the Bible, which contains the Christian religion. The doctrines of the Bible must be his faith and his guide in all matters of religion and life. If you reject the Bible, if you refuse to make its doctrines your faith and religion, you cannot be a Christian. You have therewith rejected the Christian religion which the Bible teaches. You have rejected Christ Himself. The principal doctrines of the Bible are about Him and His free salvation, and all other doctrines are founded upon and closely connected with these. The Gospel of 'Christ, like golden threads woven in cloth, runs through the entire Bible from beginning to end. —How then can you be a Christian, without believing with heart and soul in the Christian religion, that is, the Bible? A Christian is a person that, as the name says, has been saved by Christ, that has sought and found forgiveness of his sins through Christ, whose way to heaven is Christ alone.—All this is implied by the name Christian. A true Chris- tian, therefore, believes that Christ came into the world to save sinners. He believes that Christ has ‘‘redeemed him, the poor lost and condemned sinner, purchased and won him from all sins, from death and the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death.’’ He believes that Christ, his Sav- jour, has completely redeemed him, that He did not omit or forget to do anything necessary for our salvation, that God is now perfectly satisfied and reconciled ; consequently, who- soever believeth in Christ, and though he be the vilest and greatest sinner, will surely, for Ghrist’s sake, be pardoned and will not perish but have everlasting life. A Christian believes, ‘also, that Christ is the only hope of sinners— and sinners all men are. There is no other name, nor person, nor thing, whereby we may be saved, it is only through Christ. Outside of Christ there is no pardon, no heaven for man. No one cometh to the Father but by Him. Whosoever believeth not in Him will be damned. Hence, a true Christian neither de- spairs on account of his sins, nor relies on his own good works and upright life, to be saved; from Christ and through Christ he expects everything. It is unnecessary to say that a Christian could not have this faith if sincere repentance, that is, a thorough knowledge of his sinful, dam- nable state without Christ, and a deep sorrow on account of his sins, had not gone before it. Without repentance of sins it is impossible to believe in Christ. —Are you that kind of @ Christian? If not, you are none atall. A per-, son truly called a Christian believes in a God of which Christ is a person, namely His Son. In short, he believes in a God not only con- sisting of the Father—as the enemies of Christ say—but also a Son and besides these also a Holy Ghost. Therefore the Christian’s God is a God of three persons, the Father, who created all things, the Son, who redeemed us, namely Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost, who sancti- fies men to follow and believe in Christ, their Saviour. Such is the one true God that the Bible speaks of. Such a God only the Chris- tians worship. All other religions do not teach such a God. The heathen religions know nothing about the true God. The Jewish and Mohammedan religions speak of a God con- sisting of but one person, that is the Father. — How then can a person bear the Christian name if he believes not in the Christian’s God, the God of the Bible; if he believes not in the Son of God and the Holy Spirit?— Then the Christian or believer in and follower of Christ is made such through Holy Baptism. Christ’s command to His apostles and all His ministers of the Gospel is: ‘‘Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.”’ As this passage reads in the Greek text—in which lan- guage the New Testament was originally wrif- ten—it means: Go ye and make all nations (my) disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father, etc. Thus it is so beautifully said of a person having been baptized, that he has been ‘‘christened,”’ that he has been made a Christian, made a follower and disciple of Christ. And so itis. Through baptism man is born again and made a new creature. By baptism he is given the faith in Christ, so nec- essary to be saved, and if he already hath it, it is strengthened by his baptism. Through Holy Baptism man obtains the forgiveness of sin and eternal life, which Christ secured for man by His sufferings and death. By baptism man is given grace and power to lead a new life. In short, through baptism man obtains all the parts of a Christian. As many as have been baptized, have put on Christ (see Gal. 3, 27). To put on Christ is to become a true: Christian in every respect. Holy Baptism is also an out- When a ward sign of a man’s Christianity. person is baptized, he is known to be separated from the world and to belong to the Christian people. By baptism a person is received into the Christian Church. Then, a person baptized also vows and promises before God, that he will forsake the devil and all his works and the world, to live as a Christian after the com- mandments of God. To sum up. A Christian is a person who be- lieves in the Christian religion which is con- tained in the Bible, believes in Jesus Christ as his Saviour, believes in God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost and is baptized in the name of the Triune God. He will, as a necessary con- sequence, serve, love and confess his Master and follow His example.—J’. B. ——_ — +o Morning Bible Reading. The best time for Bible reading is in the morning. The mind and body are fresh after the repose of the night, and the highest powers of thought may be brought to bear upon the chapter selected. But, with most people, each recurring morning brings its own pressing task. Business cares, the daily toil, and the duties of the house are the first and most engrossing concerns. Svume hours must pass, with many, before they can find time to sit down to any quiet reading. Let the plan be honestly tried by taking some words from God’s book for the first meditation of the morning. Make for a month a fair, steadfast trial of the plan of studying the Bible when your faculties are at mental high-water mark, you wonder at the familiarity of this or that friend with the Psalms, the Epistles, the Gospels. It has been gained a little at a ,time, by patient daily reading— thoughtful, prayerful reading too, which was hived by the soul as something worth treasur- ing. We shall all gain immeasurably in our influence as our comfort by giving more of our unwearied thought to the holy book.