Unified In Scope

We do not know if the word Christian was coined by secular observers or by Christians themselves in the months of energetic, even feverish, evangelization following the ascension of Jesus.  There was an apostolic force given for the lifetimes of the disciples of Jesus.  They had been trained and educated by Jesus and deserved the special gifts they offered and recorded for all time following. What did they teach that is Christian?  The answer from them, from their disciples (Church Fathers) and forward to history appear in Scripture, the Constitution of Christians for faith and practice.  It takes a rather simple and expanding scope that ought to be clear to Christian and non-Christian so guiding understanding to arrive at a working order of truth and responsibility to wisdom about Christian meaning.  (Acts 26:28)

1. The Individual.          The Christian message is first and foremost the message of redemption for the individual person.  It is offered for every person regardless of nationality, race, gender, or any other designation of human identity.  It is given to the penitent, asking God to deal with the flawed person (conditional indisposition of persons identified as sin), and provide forgiveness that offers from God both forgiveness for sin and sins, and begins a new life directed toward righteousness and immortality that characterizes the kingdom and nature of God.  The Christian is presumed to live in a context that moves toward model life from Jesus, with a major duty of service to others, especially in modeling the Christian life as defined in Scripture.  The individual Christian is expected to communicate faith and prayer.

2. The Family.              The first earth duty of the Christian to persons is found in the family.  Adam, the first human, is joined by the second, Eve.  The individual is now related, not only in physical identity, but in spiritual.  They are given spiritual dimension in a joined relationship.  They can do, together, what God did.  He created: they procreate.  If Christians apply the wisdom learned from Scripture, experience, and the good will of God they will likely build a family (increase of individuals) who may also become Christians.  Scripture implies that Christians have an advantage in the outcomes of their children.  The only barrier remains in the right and freedom of the children to make their own necessary decisions relative to faith and practice.  The Christian remains tenacious about the faith of the members of his and her family. Even so, there will be prodigals from the parents.  On balance the family dedication will serve well.

3. The Community.        The family is the first unit of a community, and community means (or should) to build on the divine pattern of the created family.  What a parent does relating to benefits of children, the community should do for the benefit of all families.  Because the community offers a more complex arrangement of groupings, sometimes divided meanings among the groups themselves and often between groupings, the witness of Christians of the redemptive message of Christ is made stronger by working with both factors of common grace for all persons and groups, and divine grace for those whom God has approved to himself.  The society is seen through both human eyes (creation) so to seek righteousness (right) in society.  This requires service from Christians beyond their evangelization duty/privilege.  It requires sacrifice, love, cooperative spirit, insight, understanding, wisdom and the tools of Christian culture. To the public this culture ought to be reflected in the institution of the church.  Like in the family, the institutional church may play prodigal to Scripture, which means prodigal to God and the good society.

4. The World.                The primary Christian responsibility to the world is found in the Great Commission of Christ offered to his followers at the ascension – to go into the world and preach the gospel.  That gospel is not only redemptive relating to the point of mortality to immortality noted in paragraph #1 above, but to everyday life.  The Christian serves the needs of human beings both in common grace (health, and physical needs), and divine grace which is the offering of Christ for the sins of the world. To the degree the above is biblically formulated and applied to that degree a person acts christianly.