The importance of "doing" and the tools we need to "do"

Is being a Christian a passive state or an active lifestyle?

Many people view salvation as a passive state of being. This would be equivalent to being a brown haired, blue eyed, white guy. I don’t have to do anything to considered a brown haired, blue eyed, white guy, it’s just my essence or my innate nature.

Consider that I could dye my hair blond, buy contact lenses to turn my eyes green, and undergo surgery to look like a woman. Would I then be legitimately considered a blond, green eyed, white girl? On the contrary, I have changed only exterior characteristics, not the essence of my being.

Many people see being a Christian in this same sort of way. Once they undergo a conversion, their essence has been changed into that of a believer. They are now innately Christian. They don’t do anything to make themselves Christian, they just are, by virtue of the saving work of Jesus Christ. This seems to be supported in various passages of scripture: II Corinthians 5:17

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

However, consider the problems that arise from this line of reasoning. If being a Christian becomes a part of our essence, then moral piety matters little if at all. If being a new creature means that I have a golden ticket into eternal bliss, and all wickedness, past, present, and future have been completely erased by Jesus, then by logical implication I have no responsibility to conduct my life in a moral and pious manner.

We would fall into the heresy addressed by Paul in Romans 6:1-2

Romans 6:1–2 ESV

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

Or we would be the hypocrites spoken of by James in James 2:14

James 2:14 ESV

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him?

Or we would spurn the very words of Christ when he stresses the importance of surrendering your life to a higher will, the will of God, in Matthew 16:24-27

Matthew 16:24–27 ESV

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

Ladies and Gentlemen, let me suggest that this notion of Christianity as a passive state, as something we are inherently whether we follow the commands of Christ or not is a grave misunderstanding of the gospel and the divine plan of God. Consider a relevant illustration.

I am a Caucasian man. It is my essence. But I, in spite of my essence, undergo surgery to try to become a woman. Say I undergo pigment implantation to become dark skinned. In foolishness and arrogance, I now go around claiming to be an African American woman. I now look like a woman, thanks to the surgery. I now look like a dark skinned person, due to the implantation. But consider that a hundred years after I pass away an astute anthropologist finds my bones and wishes to discover something about me. The shapes and sizes of my bones will reveal to that scientist that my innate essence was male. The shape of my skull will tell the observer that I was indeed Caucasian. It is part of my essence.

Consider now an analogy

I become a Christian. Let’s assume that Christianity is an innate essence applied to me from the moment I accept Christ. For three years I am a fired up, zealous Christian, preaching Christ to my acquaintances, tithing regularly, and giving up my filthy addictions. Then, year four, the excitement of my conversion begins to wear off. Life starts to become a little rough and I get discouraged. Year five comes and I take up drinking again to find relief from my trials. Years six and seven go by and my drinking becomes worse. I’ve now developed the habit of getting drunk on the weekends. As I spend time in the bar, I begin to find pleasurable company in the girls there. I begin sleeping around. These bad choices lead me into fits of anger and I begin getting into fights. My life is filled with impurity and sensuality, and one day, in a fit of drunkeness, I die. I stand before God in heaven, and he shakes his head as he reviews my past behavior. But I say, “hey! all that sin’s been paid for by Jesus’ blood. I accepted Christ at one point in my life.” And God says, “yeah but I said in Galatians 5 that those who practice sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, fits of anger, strife, and drunkenness will not inherit the kingdom of God.” And then I reply with “but at my conversion I became a new creature. My innate essence became Christian and so my sins are covered and I deserve to enter heaven.” And God says “Oh well, I guess you’re right. In you go.”

Do you see the ridiculousness of this scenario?