Clarifying Christian Terminology

The following is addressed to those who claim to be Christians who use the terms 'evangelical' and 'born again' to disparage or to classify believers as radical or apart from the "main-stream" of Christianity.

Christian: The word 'Christian' comes from the Greek word 'Χριστός' (Christos) which in turn is a translation of the Hebrew word 'מָשִׁיח' (Mashiah), 'annointed one.' This a title applied to Jesus of Nazareth by his followers. A Christian is a follower of Jesus of Nazareth who is called Jesus the Christ. To be a Christian is to accept the words of Jesus as truth and to obey his commands to the best of one's ability. Because Jesus claimed to be the Son of Man to whom the Ancient of Days would give an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, one cannot be a Christian unless one accepts the whole of Jesus's teaching as authoritative. (There is no middle ground here. Because of the things that Jesus claimed for himself, he was either a lunatic or a deceiver, or he was the unique Son of God. There is no third option. If you believe he was a lunatic or a deceiver, then everything he said is suspect, and you cannot trust any of it. If you believe he was the Son of God, then everything he said is authoritative.)

Matthew 26 (New King James Version)
63 ... And the high priest answered and said to Him, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!”
64 Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.”

Daniel 7 (New King James Version)
13 “ I was watching in the night visions,
And behold, One like the Son of Man,
Coming with the clouds of heaven!
He came to the Ancient of Days,
And they brought Him near before Him.
14 Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom,
That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
Which shall not pass away,
And His kingdom the one
Which shall not be destroyed.

Bottom Line: Christians strive to obey the commands of Jesus Christ.

Evangelical: The word 'evangelism' comes from the Greek term εύαγγέλιον (euangelion) or 'good news'. [Eύ (good) + Άγγέλλω (I bring a message)] The term evangelion is also the Greek term translated as 'gospel' in the English New Testament. Therefore, to be evangelical is to spread the good news of the Gospel. Jesus Christ himself commanded his disciples to spread the Gospel to all nations.

Matthew 28 (New King James Version)
16 Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. 17 When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Not only did Jesus command his followers to make disciples, he also singled out for us the two greatest commandments, the second of which was, love your neighbor as yourself.

Mark 12 (New King James Version)
28 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered [the Sadduccees] well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” 29 Jesus answered him, “The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. 30 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

This is important foremost because Jesus also declared that apart from him, no one comes to the Father. Jesus made it abundantly clear that those who did not come through him could not come to the Father at all. Jesus told many parables that consigned those who did not take his message to heart to outer darkness, where there would be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

John 14 (New King James Version)
1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And where I go you know, and the way you know.”
5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."

So, if a Christian believes that Christ's words are summarily authoritative, then a Christian believes that Christ has commissioned his followers to make disciples of all nations. Further, a Christian believes that the second most important of God's commandments is to love your neighbor as yourself - second only to loving God with all of your being. Next, a Christian believes that no one can come to the Father except through Christ, and if they do not come to the Father, then they will be consigned to a place of darkness and sorrow. If a Christian truly loves his neighbor and truly believes that without Christ, they are doomed to an eternity of wailing and gnashing of teeth, then will that Christian not at least make an attempt to share with his neighbor the good news of Jesus Christ? How can that Christian be considered to be a follower of Christ if he ignores the second greatest commandment of God and sacrifices evangelism on the altar of tolerance?

The object here is not to force your beliefs onto anyone: no one can be made a Christian by the sword any more than they can be made to believe anything else by force. The object is to spread the Gospel. If your neighbor refuses to hear or rejects what you tell them, then you have still fulfilled your obligation to love them and to teach them. However, a Christian's efforts to proselytize cannot and must not be stifled under the guise of freedom of religion because evangelism is essential to the practice of Christianity.

Bottom Line: In order to fulfill Christ's commands, a Christian must make disciples.

Born again: This terminology arises from Christ's teaching of the Pharisee Nicodemus.

John 3 (New King James Version)
1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.”
3 Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”
5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9 Nicodemus answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?”
10 Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. 12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Here, Jesus makes the claim that no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again. To be born again is made synonymous with immersion in water and with immersion in the Holy Spirit - with baptism.

A baptism is a conversion of the heart, a repentance, sparked by the Holy Spirit, which is then followed by obedience and submission to Christ through the outward proclamation of immersion in water, which symbolizes sharing in the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. It is a symbol of the cleansing power of Christ's blood shed on the cross for the remission of our sins.

To be born again has nothing to do with radicalism, and the term should not be disparaged nor used disparagingly. If we believe that Christ's words are true, then all Christians must be born again in order to see the kingdom of God.

Bottom Line: Unless you are born again, you cannot see the kingdom of God.