What is Christianity all about?
Before reading on, try to answer this question in your own words.
It is difficult to answer such a broad question briefly, and many answers are possible. Common answers offered these days include “Faith in Jesus Christ, A personal relationship with God through Jesus, Being saved by believing what Jesus taught.” Some answers address loving God and neighbor, perhaps phrased in a roundabout way about kindness or acceptance. Protestants would be likely to emphasize Bible-based belief, Catholics could mention receiving Sacraments as essential to Christian life, but is there any brief answer that hits all these notes?
Saint Paul’s words in today’s New Testament reading touch on the very heart of our faith and relate to everything stated above: “Whoever is in Christ is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17).
This statement expresses that Jesus Christ is the basis of our faith, and our faith comes from him; it also expresses that our faith is not simply ideas about God or a certain worldview – it is a personal relation because of being “in Christ”; it expresses that an essential change takes place, touching on the power of Sacraments to effect a new life in God’s grace; it expresses that our religion is from God, because no one can be “in Christ” and a “new creation” by his own will – it is a gift of God even to desire this and comes about by his will prior to ours; and it expresses that as a renewed creature, the Christian has abilities to know and act differently than the old creature.
This simple phrase is a profoundly deep statement that encapsulates so much. I recommend meditating on these words in light of the question, “What is Christianity all about?,” because the world has many answers, and few of them express the rich understanding that our faith gives us. Remember the dignity that you have as a member of Christ; consider the overwhelming wealth you have access to as a member of the Communion of Saints; let yourself be moved by the love of Christ, who gave his life so that we might live no longer for ourselves but for him. And when asked for your reason for hope, know by experience that “Whoever is in Christ is a new creation.”
-Rev. Nathan
