Cox – What are the Marks of a Christian?

Cox – What are the Marks of a Christian? is a study of what are the marks of a born again believer so we know how we should act and be, and so that we can deal with other Christians. As a Christian, we deal with other people very differently if they are our “brother in Christ“, or an unsave person pretending to be saved.

Why should we be focusing on this? Firstly, because we need the reassurance of God’s Word as to whether we are saved or not, and within this, we need to know what elements in our lives identify us as a child of God or a child of the devil. Secondly, part of being a Christian absolutely is relating to other Christians. We must edify and serve them as well as they serving us. God gives spiritual gifts to His children, and these people exercise their spiritual gifts and talents in the local church. It is extremely important to realize that Satan also “gifts” the Christian with false prophet to disrupt and cause damage to them, and these people are excellent “actors” acting and pretending that they are saved and serving God when in reality they are the enemy, secret agents for Satan. We must insist on those who claim to be saved to act like a child of God. Realizing what defines a true Christian and what is not in line with that is imperative for every Christian.

This post is an Appendix that Pastor David Cox is working on the Holy Spirit. It is Appendix #38. The larger work is in theWord at the moment. If you would like a peak at more chapters, see

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Introduction

Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

God does not make salvation a guessing game. The divine act of God saving a person’s soul, making that person a child of God, a citizen of heaven, is something that is not questionable. Does a Christian still sin? Yes. Absolutely. 1 John 1:8-10 teaches us with two declarations, 1) if we say we have no sin, then we are lying (the truth is not in us), and 2) we deny God’s statement that all men are sinners.

But Romans 8:14 teaches us that every single Christian is going to accept the leading of the Holy Spirit because their salvation is involved and intertwined with that same concept, their relationship with the Holy Spirit. While it can be said that everything that God commands believers can be a “mark of a Christian“, some are more important, essential, and reach into the actual soul of the believer. In other words, unsaved people can mimic the marks of true Christians, but they cannot imitate certain traits of Christians that are very hard for an unbeliever to do.

The Believer enters salvation through confession of his sin, repentance, and faith. He lives these same elements forever.

Every single saved person is saved the same way. There is no variance between one person and another. There is no variance between dispensations, so those in the Old Testament were saved the same way that we are saved. Paul could not argue his position in Romans against the Jews being saved by keeping the law, if that keeping of the law worked to saved them. Everybody is saved the same way, in all times.

So we need to dissect the salvation of a person. Everything starts with God, His holiness, and we then proceed to the fact that all men are sinners. No person can be saved if they do not believe that they are needing salvation. Luke 5:31 And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. That need and awareness of the individuals own need in his life is necessary before God can save the person. “Confession” (Greek homologeo) means one person saying the same thing as another. We must admit our sinfulness before God. (1 John  1:8-10)

That self awareness of one’s sinful life does not necessarily save the person. It is a first step towards salvation. The next step is repentance. Remorse comes in when a person does something that afterwards he wishes he hadn’t have done it. But again, that is a second step, but falls short of saving the person. But every single person that is saved has to have gone through these two steps BEFORE they have faith in Jesus Christ. Repentance comes from examining one’s self, self-reflection, and then determining to take steps to stop the things in one’s life that they have remorse. But the key elements here is to compare the sins and failings in one’s life against some norm or standard, and then see where the person went wrong, study this, then take steps to stop those wrong things from continuing Repentance has the essential element of abandoning sin, wrong doing. If there is no sincere effort and heartfelt abandonment (remorse), then it is not repentance.

Within this concept and practice of changing a person’s life, there has to be a moral factor that enters into the thinking of the person. In other words, it is not that same person who is making an ever shifting set of standards that he is using to guide his life. He looks outside of his own self, and he looks to the Supreme Being, God, and seeks to understand God’s moral standards. What he doesn’t know but will find out, if he is to be saved, is that the wisest, and best moral standard is not just some law or rule that God has stated, but rather, the moral standard is the character and person of God. But this element that enters into salvation is the Word of God, the communication or message of God to humanity. We note here that this message is a revelation of the person of God, as well as a revelation of God’s character, and focus on sinful man is not accepted in the presence of a Holy God, so sinful man is punished in hell forever.

It is only through the faith in Jesus the Savior, His work of dying on the cross, being buried, and rising again the third day (which indicates the acceptance of God of Jesus’ sacrifice) that he is saved.

So the third step is to understand that Jesus is every saved person’s Savior. Faith in Jesus means that the person receives Jesus as his Savior (John 1:12), and that the believer has confidence in Jesus to save him. This reception of Jesus also means that the person understands that Jesus is his moral pattern, and the believer will live his life like Jesus lived His life. This means that salvation is a moral conversion (John 3:3-5). The lack of an understanding and practice of this moral change means the person is not having the kind of faith, the sincerity of faith, that saves a person. He is just knowledgeable about salvation, but he has not entered into salvation himself yet.

What actually saves a person then is to understand that the divine love, (definition of love is my sacrifice for your benefit), sent Jesus to sacrifice himself for our salvation. This is a work of arbitrage in which two parties reconcile differences between them. The arbiter has to have representation with both parties in order to intercede and make the reconciliation. Jesus is total God, and Jesus incarnated to be totally man. That has to be in order to represent both parties in salvation. The arbiter cannot have sin in himself, or his work and sacrifice would not be accepted by God. So the righteousness of Jesus is applied to the celestial account of the sinner, blocking out the sins of the individual in the sight of the Judge.

Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Since God is our Judge, and God is omniscient, knows and sees everything, how does God “not see” (or not let something come to his attention) our sins? God is a Trinity, one Supreme Being which exists in three persons, and two of those persons have a relationship of Father and Son between them. That generates concepts of love, service, sacrifice, etc. which humans understand very easily. But if God is defined as having this love and being this love as his essence (1 John 4:7), then God the Father is repelled at anything that is unjust, evil, wrong, bad, etc. that human men do to the incarnated Son of God. Men crucified Jesus. Jesus died in the act. God did not stop that from happening, but planned on it happening in order to make a plan of salvation.

1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 1 John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 1 John 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 1 John 4:12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

The death of Jesus is the central point of the salvation of man. Who he is (both fully God and fully man) comes to play in important ways. The sinfulness of man, and the individual’s admitting (confessing to God) his sins, and his remorse and repentance in turning away from those sins comes into play. But salvation happens when the person receives Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, the Savior as his Savior. At that point, God puts the evidence for his sins (Col 2:14 “blotting out the handwriting of ordinances again us” ) on the Cross of Jesus. God the Father, being an upright father to Jesus His Son, could not bear to watch the death of Jesus. That God the Father “turning away” to not see not because he couldn’t see it, but because he didn’t want to see it, that is where we slip into salvation, and all the evidences of our sins are “nailed to the cross of Jesus“.

This salvation is a miracle every time it happens. It shouldn’t happen. The grace and mercy of God to us as sinners is just a miracle. So the fact that God saves us should change us morally. If there is no moral change, the individual does not appreciate the miracle factor of salvation, and is not saved.

So we can tell that a person is saved by how they live their lives after their salvation. It is not hard to tell, but it is hard to live a changed life. The person has to “give up” or “set apart from their life and practices” what is displeasing to God, and they have to strive to do what pleases God. But to understand this correctly, changing one’s self is not really salvation.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Ephesians 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

The changed life has to be a consequence of salvation (100% of the time) but not the cause of salvation. To “get” saved, it is only by or through faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection that that happens. But once saved, every believer has their process of sanctification working within them until they get to heaven.

But a believer never does something once, and forgets and does the opposite later on, and forgets how he got saved. No. A believer lives forever remembering and reliving those moment of confession of his sin, abandoning those sins in repentance, and fighting for righteousness in his own life. A believer does this for the rest of his life, and it is “how he lives” from the moment of salvation forward.

A believer is marked by Christian Growth, Discipleship

He constantly reviews his life (this reflection that brought him into salvation), and he is constantly “growing” as a Christian (1 Peter 2:2 “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby”). Christian discipleship is a mark of a believer.

But the growing spiritually is the slow process of understanding more and more of the principles of God involving the believer’s life. This only proceeds from studying the Scripture more and more. It is a slow process, but it has certain sureties that mark its progress. This present list of the marks of a believer encapsulates many of these points. But these points are things that have to be in a believer.

While this growth will happen over time, the problem is when a believer doesn’t put his efforts into it. God exhorts us and rebukes us when we do not progress spiritually. (2 Peter 3:18)

Hebrews 5:12 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. Hebrews 5:13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. Hebrews 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

1 Corinthians 14:20 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men.

1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

The important point here is to understand that there is nothing wrong with being a child, as long as you progress to being a mature adult. Staying a child and clinging to childish things is always wrong. It is through the experiences of life, problems, mistakes, crises, etc. that a person becomes mature. (James 1:2-4)

A Believer “walks in Christ”

Colossians 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Colossians 2:7 Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Again, salvation is much more broader that a single event. It is a moral conversion, and we have to insist that the “receiving of Jesus Christ” extends for the rest of the believer’s life. This concept is label “walking in Christ” or following diligently the path of God. Colossians 1:9-10 links the wisdom of God as well as spiritual understanding as the means by which a believer can walk in God’s path (“that ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing” as well as producing spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-23), and “increasing in the knowledge of God”. Paul’s ministry was to impart the wisdom of God (knowledge as well as mysteries) among “those who know the mind of God”, i.e. the spiritually mature (1 Cor 2:6).

So at the same time, we do not close the door to new converts, saying they are not saved if they are not perfect, and yet we exhort all believers to continue diligently along the road of maturity and holiness.

There are levels of maturity, of understanding. Hebrews 6:1 “leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection” (maturity). While the end result of salvation is getting into heaven with God, there is a lot of work to be done here on earth in the believer’s life before he or she dies. This is spiritual maturity (2 Timothy 3:16-17 “Scripture… that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works“).

The goal of spiritual maturity is to protect us.

Ephesians 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; Ephesians 4:15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:

Children can be swept away with a persuasive personality, a false prophet with a charismatic personality, but a mature Christian knows his Bible well, has a lot of spiritual experience because he is constantly analyzing life with Scripture, and he forms strong iron-clad moral rules that are not going to be broken easily. There is the element of deception that works on immature Christians, and there is the element of moral strength which keeps and protects the well-being of a mature Christian.

The unsaved cannot imitate the indwelling Holy Spirit.

On the one hand, unbelievers cannot imitate the Holy Spirit dwelling within them. On the other hand, a true Christian will always shine forth the Holy Spirit’s effect within their lives.

1 Corinthians 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 1 Corinthians 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your sp1 Corinthians 6:20irit, which are God’s.

So the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within a person is going to show up as the seal of God, (also see H. Deposit / Seal / Earnest , M. A Seal, and i. Bruce Terry The indwelling and the Seal of the Holy Spirit) i.e. the Holy Spirit, on that person’s life. There is a relationship between God the Savior and the believer. That relationship is seen in the Holy Spirit’s effect on the person’s life. This gets very into the basics and fundamental elements of the saved person. His body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Galatians 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

The Bible uses imagery of both a farmer planting seeds for food, and a rancher who cultivates animals for the same benefits, food, clothing, etc. But consider that God also use the Parable of the Sower to show the production of new Christians as the result of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Apples have seeds in them. Those seeds with cultivation and time bring forth new apple trees. When the Holy Spirit dwells within us, that Spirit of God will produce spiritual fruit in our lives, and in turn, that spiritual fruit will reproduce new Christians.

Psalms 126:6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.

A mark of a believer is when through their lives and efforts, their concerns and prayers, other people come to know Christ as their Savior. The Devil will not have any part in that. He may send unsaved people deceived into believing that they are saved into a church, but just as in one, so in another, when you see the marks of a believer, it is hard to attribute that to the Devil. That becomes the work of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

See 7. He may be blasphemed.

The Believer is marked by Spiritual Growth and Fruit

Proverbs 4:18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.

The believer absolutely and without exception will have a life that “shines” the glory of God unto the world.

2 Corinthians 4:3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: 2 Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 2 Corinthians 4:5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake. 2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

The point here is simply that a believer is like a candle. His entire purpose is to shine. He shines Jesus Christ the Savior to the unsaved living in darkness. A believer can do no other thing. Self glory is a contradiction of giving all glory to Jesus Christ our Savior.

Matthew 13:23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Galatians 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

In the parable of the Sower, Jesus equates bearing spiritual fruit with salvation. All other types of soil that did not produce spiritual fruit represent unsaved people. This spiritual fruit is specifically enumerated in Galatians 5:22-23.

These are then the marks of a believer.

John 15:2 Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.

Specifically, the believer’s “life” in the Holy Spirit is what gives that believer spiritual power and the proof of being saved. God is the only judge. When He sees that a person does not produce spiritual fruit, He judges that person as unsaved. Their profession of Jesus as Savior is a fraud, is a lie. God is the only one who can judge that, but He does judge, and He does cast some who claim to be saved into hell. (Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.) So this brings into view another mark of a believer, that is, he does the will of God, he obeys God, he submits to God.

The Believer’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.

In other words, the very way that a believer lives his daily life is a testimony to his salvation. The baptism of the Holy Spirit that happens at the moment of salvation saturates the holiness of God (via the Holy Spirit’s indwelling which is this baptism) is visible and can be seen every day in the decisions, actions, speech, attitude, motives, etc. of the believer.

Part of the practical results of the indwelling Holy Spirit is the conviction of sin that the Holy Spirit causes in our lives. When this becomes a common occurrence, the believer has to concede that he was a sinner, is still a sinner but saved by the grace of God, and that in the future when he sins, he will spiritually fight to not sin.

Luke 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

The manner of a believer is humility.

He does not exalt himself over others in any way. This is a natural and always result of the Holy Spirit indwelling the person.

James 4:6 But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.

Perhaps the point is overlooked by many people, but the believer is a person who has found the ear of God. That entrance into God’s activity in his life is ALWAYS dependent on humility. Never will God do wonderful things in the life of a proud person, except the wonder of bringing him down from his arrogance.

Faith is a true mark of the believer

To define faith, we need to understand that faith is a spiritual activity deep in the soul the person exercising their faith. Faith is not “faith in yourself, in what you are and have done in the past” (Eph 2:8-9 “that not of yourselves… not of works, lest any man should boast“), rather faith is trusting the ability of God, and His eternal wisdom. We can never turn true faith into a work we do, but it is a confidence in God because of his moral character, his abilities, his past acts. We turn to the chapter of Hebrews 11 for help here.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear. Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Firstly, faith is a spiritual activity where something is not plain and explicit to see, understand nor believe, but the person comes to seeing, understanding and believing in faith. Faith and believe is the same root word in Greek, with one being a noun (faith) and the other a verb (believe). But faith gives us spiritual understanding, discernment, and the ability to use spiritual things to our material and spiritual benefit. Secondly, our understanding is opened, and we can fully accept something real comes from something that come into being spiritually by God. The universe came forth from nothing, and that is logical if we have faith. Scientists that cannot “wrap their minds around” the concept of God and the spiritual will be in the dark forever. Thirdly, faith is making your life subject to the benefits and punishments that God assigns on different moral actions. Fourthly, the concept of rewards and punishments as motivators of our actions and moral character comes from faith, what we believe. Some believe that God is good, He is love, and He would never punish anybody. The belief in that controls their actions through that faith (which is incorrect in this case).

But we have to understand that faith is a life dominating force. It makes us what we are. Believing lies is what causes people to go wrong in their lives. But faith cannot be hid. It is always visible, not in itself, but in what it does to the person who has faith. (This faith is believing God, while people with spiritual problems in their lives believe Satan’s lies, and therefore do not really “have faith” as God would use the phrase). In the study of the Holy Spirit we need to dissect this point, and separate out the “spirit” part of it. A spirit is an animating moral force, so the Holy Spirit which is fully God uses himself to affect us through the Holy Spirit’s indwelling in the person to move the individual to spiritual activity in line with the moral character of the Spirit of God, holiness.

While we do not understand all the ways and means that the Holy Spirit moves in us and affects us, we definitely know that He uses a few elements, (1) the Word of God, (2) our consciences, (3) the example of Jesus Christ in his earthly life as our supreme example, (4) the example and encouragement of other Christians to motivate us to holiness.

Believers are marked by an ever focusing View on rewards

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Bound up in the mark of a believer, that he has faith, is also another mark. A believer is a person absorbed in seeing rewards and punishments for our actions, speech, and attitudes here on earth.

Romans 5:5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

Hope is a sister of faith. Faith and salvation produce hope in the believer. You can mark a believer because they constantly return to that hope of salvation, of the blessing of God in eternity because of their faith

Hebrews 6:19 Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;

The hope of the believer is that Jesus died for them, to save them from their sins. This is an “anchor of the soul”, that thing which fixes us or attaches us firmly to God. With that spiritual anchor, the believer will never be moved from that salvation.

The Love of God is practiced by believers

1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

Love is not what the world says it is. The world focuses on selfishness, while God and God’s love focuses on sacrifice of the person (Eph 5:2) loving to provide benefit for the one loved. The unbeliever doesn’t understand this aspect of salvation, and they have a very hard time falsely imitating it. Although they can give things to a person imitating that love, things always come back to them and their selfishness. They “love” a person by doing things and giving things so that that person will love them, and they themselves get the benefit. That is not true godly love.

Let’s review some things about God’s love. First of all, love is not just an emotion, neither is it started as an emotion. Love is a spiritual activity. In Ephesians 5:25, God commands husbands to love their wives. God does not command us to do things that are physically outside of our ability. Every single command of God can be done by man. Some are difficult to do, but in reality, the majority or all of what God commands is difficult to do, to do consistently all the time. But God commands man to love, and that places true love into the category of a spiritual action that you do to obey God or disobey God. To stop loving is a decision just like your decision to start loving in the first place.

When a person has a mindset or spiritual attitude of coveting, (wanting excessively, entering into being an obsession), and they want material things, the riches of this world, trinkets that people esteem, etc. then they have no room for love. Love costs a person, but in establishing and supporting, building a relationship with the person loved is worth the effort.

1 John 2:10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

It would probably be very hard to link these two things together without God outright stating them, that is, love is a mark being saved. But there is a constant testimony of a person’s salvation when he loves his brethren.

1 John 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

If we want to know what marks or distinguishes a saved person from an unbeliever, then we look to this verse, and see two marks.

(1) Whosoever doeth not righteousness.

This plants a certain foundational thought that is often missed among Christian commentary. Absolutely Calvinists oppose this biblical thought. The thought is that when a person is saved, he can live a life “of righteousness“. This is not that he is perfect. Every saved person still on earth will sin (1 John 1:8-10). That is a given. And this righteousness is not in place of saving faith in the Savior, Jesus Christ, but is built on top of that salvation.

But John presents us with a special view on this truth. Christian people are marked or distinguished because they “do righteousness“. You have to twist and turn and do a lot of explaining to make this passage mean something other than that. Salvation can be seen in the believer’s life, and John’s point is that you can separate who is saved from who is not saved by simply seeing the person’s life.

(2) Whosoever… loveth not his brother.

In the same vein as the above mark or distinction, love is a characteristic of salvation or the saved. This love is not sex. People are given over to sexual perversions like gays, transgenders, prostitutes, adulterers, etc. are all far from showing their saved state by that kind of activity. This love is self sacrifice for the good of the other people that they love. We must focus on the words “his brother.” There is an identity between saved to saved that both people will recognize. A child of God will always have a good relationship with other saved people. They “have an affinity” directed towards fellowshipping with other Christians. The children of the devil have an affinity towards conflict and aggression towards everybody else, but the Christian refuses to live constantly in turmoil with others. That is John’s point. These marks are very obvious, outward, and discerning (they indicate what is on the inside of the person, salvation or perdition).

The Concept of Truth is Reality, especially in the View of God

The Bible uses the word “truth” as reality, especially spiritual reality. Believers believe and practice the truth of God. For example, men are faithful to their wives. Sinning men are adulterous towards their wives. One practices or walks in the truth of God, and the other doesn’t. One is rewarded and the other is judged and condemned.

See 23. The Bible concept of “Truth”

A believer is marked with Christlikeness

God uses several things to guide us spiritually. One is the Word of God that gives us clear commandments, do this, do not do that. But God also sends the Holy Spirit to clarify this work of the Word of God by using the Holy Spirit to teach us, and make us understand the spiritual principles involved. See B. Teacher. But beyond these two principles forces, God gives us the example of Jesus Christ in real life situations.

When we see ourselves becoming more and more like Christ, we have assurance that we are saved.

Christians are marked by Worship

To understand this, we need to back up and relay the foundation of being saved. Everybody is a sinner. Sin is whatever God dislikes. It is the fault of not doing the righteous of God (what God likes). A person becomes saved by confessing that he is a sinner before God, and then repenting of that sin, disliking it in his soul such that he gives up that sin. He declares his faith in God, meaning that what God says, and especially what God commands for a person to do, he is pursuing those things.

So the person is at that point saved. But the consequences of being saved continue in that person’s life. Every single Christian must continue this interaction that brought him to salvation. The elements here is most importantly, the Word of God (Scripture) as well as the Holy Spirit’s influence, both making the individual understand what God sees as sin and what God sees as righteousness or goodness (see the Holy Spirit teaches us, or makes us wise).

Worship enters into this in the singular point that in a corporate setting (a spiritual community, or as the Bible states, a church), the individual hears the reading and explanation of the Word of God, and the person worships by becoming like how God wants us to be, which in short, is to be morally like our God. We insist that worship has to be focused on moral change within the individual in that corporate setting. People can worship at home, but that is more personal in some way. Corporately, a person submits their soul to a group encounter of God’s will, that is in a sermon.

As developing thoughts here, sermons do not fulfill their functions if there is no clear reading of God’s Word, and there is no explanation of what is read. Moreover, the explanations given must move the hearers, the congregation towards a moral change within their lives. You do not have to have an invitation after every sermon, nor after every moral point in a sermon, but every sermon must have their essence as being that moral change. Churches are dead, and their people spiritual dead because this essential element has been removed. Praise enters in beside worship in the sense that worship examines what God is morally, what is His character, and praise is what that character has moved God to do in actions in the past. Israel praised God in the Psalms, and these focus on God’s character in actual examples. Hymns are basically a mixture of worship (God’s character) and praise (God’s actions), and we sing these good old hymns to declare these doctrinal points, and then say amen after them, (amen means “so be it“).

A Mark of a Believer is his Discernment, Recognition, and Welcoming, of the Word of God

John 16:8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:

A mark of the Holy Spirit is that he convicts sinners, and the mark of a Christian, (i.e. a person under the power of the Holy Spirit, being saved and following God) is that this person is constantly allowing himself or herself to be exposed to the preaching and explaining of the Word of God so as to promote repentance in their own life.

2 Timothy 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

All believers understand and concede to the spiritual power of the Word of God to change them morally. They exalt the Scriptures for this very point. They understand that it is like soap, that cleans us, yet while we do not like the scrubbing so much, we accept that it is necessary and seek it.

John 10:14 I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. John 10:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: John 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.

The Word of God is the very thing that first introduces him to the Savior. So there is a very strong link between Jesus, the Christ or Savior-Messiah and the Word of God.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God. John 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

So we can say with all certainty that Jesus is the Word of God. So a believer recognizes that it is the Word of God (both Scripture and Jesus Christ) that saves him. The Scripture informs him of the Christ-Messiah Savior, and Jesus is who actually died on the cross. But a believer is identified by his knowledge the Bible, his understanding of the Scripture, and his exalting of the Word of God as his authority and guide in life.

Christians are mark by the Spiritual Community that is Important in their Lives

Salvation is always in a group. God speaks of the community of saved individuals as a Church, or the Redeemed. But it is completely wrong when an individual both wants to be saved but that individual does not want to associate or be part of the Redeemed. Things don’t work as you want them to work, but as God insists that they must work.

Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

The spiritual unity of one believer with other believers is a mark that the person is saved.

Acts 2:42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. Acts 2:43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. Acts 2:44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common; Acts 2:45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. Acts 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Acts 2:47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.

God places every Christian He saves into the group called the Redeemed or the Church. Every believer makes this spiritual community which is a creation of God for us, for our spiritual benefit, a must have element of their lives.

Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

The exhortation within a good church is essential to the spiritual life of the individual. This dovetails with the concept of love, of mutual edification, of receiving the blessings of other believers that God has endowed with spiritual gifts to be a blessing to you. Satan fights hard to destroy this, and in many churches he is constantly successful. Some churches and some individual believers find the truth of God, make church a blessing for everyone. Blessed is the person that goes to such a church.

Ministry, the Believers interrelationship with other believers in the body of Christ

It is very important to understand that God saves individuals, and this has a lot of dependent other actions and elements. It is very important to capture the essential point that our salvation incorporates a “friendliness between brothers” that showcases the moral attributes of the believer.

Matthew 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Matthew 22:38 This is the first and great commandment. Matthew 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Matthew 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

To summarize this verse and point, the young fellow asked Jesus a single question, what is the greatest commandment. In other words, if you could boil all the commandments of God down to a single commandment, what would that commandment be? The answer, God is one. This makes no sense. Most commentaries just gloss over that part and jump to love God, love your neighbor. But the point is important or Jesus would not have stated it as the answer. How does this “God is one” “fit in” to the question and answer? If we can understand that God wants us to understand certain things about God, then we can open this mystery and apply it. God is one, numerically, yet God exists as three separate persons. But within the situation that a creature of God has three persons to respond to as far as a creature obeying and praying to God, some people will do like a kid whose parents are divorced, play one parent against the other.

Here God seems to be addressing people who would want to pray to the Holy Spirit or to the Father instead of to the Son. They think that it is possible to get the favor of one person of the Trinity against the will of another. The point of Deut 6:4-5 (Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.) is that God is emphasizing the unity of God, and that there is no other “Supreme Being” to which a person who is rebellious against Jehovah can go to for help. Understanding that, then there is an implicit point which God is making in referring to this “God is one” which is God “gets along one person with another” perfectly among the Trinity.

If Jesus answers this question with what we can “gloss”, i.e. that Jesus would answer the question with “you need salvation“, then this has to tie in with salvation, i.e. the unity of God is somehow related to our salvation. Then Jesus continues with breaking the answer further into two parts, love God, love others. This is this unity again coming into the answer.

So in order to be saved, and the greatest command is going to be directed at being saved, you need to “love God” and “love others“, your neighbor indistinctly of who that other is. While loving God is the key to being saved, it needs to be meditated on. God knows everything, so God does not need any proof to know whether you really love Him or not. He knows. But I myself do not know my own heart. So the answer here is not to prove to God, but for each person to prove to himself that he loves God by showing that love to other people. If every human is made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27; 5:1; 9:6; Colossians 3:10; James 3:9; 1 Cor 11:7), then what we do to other human beings we are in a sense doing to God himself if we could do so.

Matthew 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: Matthew 25:42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: Matthew 25:43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Matthew 25:44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Matthew 25:45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

This principle of what you do to other people is as if you did it to God is not a fault or a consequence not planned but just happened. It is part of the perfect plan of God. We live out what really is our love to God in the way we treat others. So therefore, a Christian that shows aggression towards others is just got a serious spiritual problem.
Coming back to the believer ministering to others, if Jesus was in body in the room where we are now, it would be completely correct to wash his feet, serve him water, give him something to eat, etc. Why is this so easy to see if it were Jesus himself, but so hard to apply the same thing to others?

To serve or minister to other people is how we show our salvation, how we show how much we love God. It is the tangible way that God has planned for this to work out. When we study Matthew 22:36-40 and Matthew 25:40-45, we see an essential element of others in our salvation, with the binding element is a spiritual activity called love. Love is our sacrifice for the benefit of others.

Another element of a truly saved person is appreciation in the heart and life of the saved for the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. While this appreciation is usually invisible and very rarely seen as far as between the believer and his Savior, it is seen abundantly and excessively when we consider that we serve the body of Christ (and reach the unsaved with the Savior) because we love our Savior and appreciate what He did for us on Calvary.

Reaching the World for Christ

Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Matthew 28:20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

If we want to study the marks of a believer, there is a very obvious mark that the believer will be evangelizing the unsaved himself, and he will support that same work through either he himself going to all the world, or supporting those who are doing so.

When we take a step back from the close up study of Scripture, we see clearly that the Day of Pentecost was the Day that the Holy Spirit “descended” upon men, specifically, believers. But so many in Christianity have missed the most obvious point of the Holy Spirit’s coming. So many think that now that the Holy Spirit has come upon men, that they are like mutants with super powers that they can impress unsaved men’s small minds. They almost think that they can fly through the air like Superman. They miss the most important point of all.

Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

In other words, God sent the Holy Spirit upon believers at Pentecost SO THAT THEY WOULD WITNESS POWERFULLY TO THE SAVIOR! People today want to miss this key point and focus on the supernatural, speaking in tongues. There is no reason for God to empower Christians to speak in tongues neither in Acts 2 nor today if these people are not preaching the gospel of the Savior’s death for unsaved men. In fact, the entire purpose God giving tongues so that people speaking one language can share the gospel to people that do not understand them disappears when both the saved evangelist and the unsaved speak the same language. There is no purpose for tongues in that setting. Tongues and the interpretation of tongues both become distracts from the presentation of the Gospel.

One of the marks of a Christian is when he has power in witnessing to others, first through his own life, and secondly through words of testimony to his Savior before men.

A Summary on the Marks of a Born Again Person

Note that these meditations are a help for us to consider ourselves if we are in the faith. (2 Cor 13:5) Jesus used the concept of “being born again” (John 3:3, 5) as a reference to a saved person who will enter heaven when they die.

The mark of a born again person is that they are “spiritually alive” through the Holy Spirit. (John 6:63) This being born again, being spiritually alive is caused by the gospel. (1 Cor 4:15) The gospel is defined as believing that sinless Jesus Christ, fully God, died on the cross for you, and resurrected the third day. (1 Cor 15:1-4) Their highest interests, their most pressured priorities are spiritual things, not physical, earthly, or material interests. He is “spiritually minded.” (Rom 8:5-7, 13; James 1:8; 4:8; Col 3:1-2) Being spiritually minded means having the Word of God, the thoughts of God, the concerns of God first in our hearts. We cannot accept any kind of “spirituality” without insisting that the gospel is at the heart of that spirituality. That is the most important priority in God’s eyes. Secondly, we have to also insist that our joy and delight is in pleasing God, not ourselves.

The mark of a born again person is that they practice or “live” righteousness. (1 John 2:29; 5:18) The person who lives and willfully practices sin is a child of the devil, and is not born again. (1 John 3:7-10) The fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22-23) is present in his life in a natural way, nothing forced or against that person’s will. He abhors that which is evil and cleaves unto that which is good in God’s sight. (Rom 12:9) The born again person listens and obeys Christ his Savior (John 14:24). He believes that Jesus is fully God. (1 John 4:15; 5:1) He believes that his salvation “is in God the Son, Jesus Christ,” (1 Jn 5:11) and that salvation or eternal life is by having faith in Jesus Christ. (1 Jn 5:12) The born again believer “puts off” of himself the old nature with its sins. (Eph 4:21-24; Col 3:9-10)

The born again person understands and works in union with the Holy Spirit dwelling within him. (Rom 8:9, 14) Every truly born again person has been sealed with the indwelling Holy Spirit since the moment of their salvation. (1 John 4:13) This is first seen in a clear profession of Jesus as fully God, and as his Savior. Secondly, this is seen in the person living a holy life, because the Holy Spirit makes us holy. He is pure. (1 Jn 3:3)

A born again Christian desires and does the will of God (John 1:13). He obeys God’s commandments out of his love for God. (John 14:15, 21; 1 John 2:3-6; 3:23-24) He “abides in” the commandments of God, which means that he limits his activity to what is God’s will. (John 8:31) His disposition is to be different from the world (not conforming to the norms, thinking or practices of the world), approving through personally living the will of God. (Rom 12:1-2)

Moreover, for the born again person, obeying God’s commandments is not burdensome or grievous. (1 Jn 5:3) He “puts on” (like a coat) the image of Christ. (Eph 4:24) He has a tender heart towards what is God’s will, and obeys that will. (Eze 11:19-20; 36:26) Their identity and relationship with God is seen in their obedience to God’s will. Moreover, they have a spiritual unity with their brethren in Christ, which is the outworking of this new heart (Eze 11:19). He considers God, especially Jesus, as his Lord. (Acts 16:31; Rom 10:9) This is the equivalent of obeying God. (Luke 6:46) His attitude is that he is like a new-born babe that seeks with anticipation and much energy the “milk” of God’s Word. (1 Peter 2:2)

The born again believer rejects false teaching. (1 Jn 2:26; 4:5-6) The misguided, non-born again person is marked by the lack of perseverance in following God and correct doctrine. They leave faithful fellowships because they cannot continue to accept their biblical doctrines. (1 John 2:19) Here the born again believer ties into following God’s Word, and rejecting false prophets. (1 Jn 4:4)

The born again Christian desires and strives “to be Christlike.” (1 Cor 11:1; Phil 2:5; John 10:26; 13:15; Rom 8:29; 2 Cor 3:18; 1 Thess 1:6; 1 John 1:7; 2:6; 3:3, 7; 4:17; Luke 6:40; 9:23-24; 1 Peter 2:21) This obligates the born again believer to be a student of Scripture, especially studying the life of Christ so that he can imitate Christ. Being Christlike demands that the person denies their own self, their own pleasures in order to follow Christ and be His disciple. (Mat 16:24; Luke 9:23-24) The born again believers “arms himself” with the same attitude of Christ, i.e. complete willingness to suffer for God. (1 Pet 4:1; Luke 22:32; 1 Pet 1:5) Christlikeness in the born again believer is to believe in Christ making him saved, but at the same time, he testifies of his salvation by acting morally like Jesus Christ. (1 Jn 5:9-10)

All humanity sins. (Gen 6:5; Psa 143:2; 1 Kings 8:46; Isa 53:6; Rom 3:10-12, 23; 5:12-19; 7:18) A born again person still sins (1 John 1:6, 8-10), but he constantly fights against the sins that beset him. (Eph 4:22-24) He keeps the commandments of God joyfully of his own desire, will and heart. (John 15:10; 1 John 2:5) He is led by the Holy Spirit. (Rom 8:14) He understands this spiritual conflict within him and works towards godliness. (Gal 5:17)

A born again person has faith. (Acts 16:31; John 20:31) This faith is belief in what God declares, be that orders, commandments, prohibitions, or commentary on the good or evil of things, or the reality of things. (Hebrews 11:6) What marks the believer is that they trust God’s promises as being matters on which God will be true to His promise. (2 Pet 1:4) This faith is never dead faith, but living faith in that there is a constant flow of actions or evidences from that person of what is their faith. (James 2:14-16) The believer “lives by faith”, i.e. his moral beliefs are the spiritual guide that he follows in his life. (Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11; Hab 2:4) The believer is marked by “knowing his Savior,” listening to Him, following and obeying Him. (John 10:14, 27; 1 John 4:6)

He is taught of God. (John 14:26; 16:13) His own logic and wisdom are placed to one side (1 Cor 2:14) in order to understand and believe what God teaches him through the Word of God. He understands that his salvation is by means of the Word of God, and his spiritual life thereafter is also benefited by his expanding study of God’s Word, or his spiritual life is crippled by the lack thereof. (1 Pet 1:23) His delight is in the law of the Lord. (Psa 1:2)
The born again believer is convinced that he will be judged of God after his life, and he will be rewarded for both what he has done for Christ as well as what suffering he has in his life. (Hebrew 11:6)

The born again person has hope and trust, and the objective is God who gives life. (1 Tim 4:10) His hope is anchored (Heb 6:19) in the person of God and the promises of God. That anchor or foundation makes him unmoveable as to this hope.

The born again person rejects the world and its sinful system. (1 Jn 2:15-16) There can be only one option that is real in a person, they love God (Mat 10:32-33) or they love the world. The lover of the world is the enemy of God. (James 4:4) Likewise, if you are a lover of God, the world hates you like it hates Christ. (1 Jn 3:13)

He overcomes the world (a system of sin) (1 John 5:4; Rom 6:6) and is more than a conqueror. He considers himself “dead to sin” and “alive to Christ.” (Rom 6:11) He puts on a new self which is the image of Jesus his Savior. (Col 3:10; Gal 3:27 he “puts on Christ“) He is constantly becoming more and more like Christ his Savior. (2 Cor 3:18) The mark of a believer is the constant practice of repentance, confession of his sins to God and abandonment of sin, and seeking to replace that sin with the justice of God (what God wants us to do instead of sinning). (Luke 13:5; 1 Jn 1:6-10; 3:9) The person who constantly sins and repeats those sins is not a born again believer. (1 Jn 2:29; 3:10)

Everybody sins, but the born again believer cannot enjoy his sin. He fights as best he can to overcome that sin, and he lives (constantly practices with his life) righteousness. (1 Jn 3:7-8) He has a hunger and thirst for righteousness. (Mat 5:6) The born again believer seeks the conviction of the Holy Spirit over his sins, the Spirit teaching him, and he responds faithfully with abandoning his sin and doing the justice of God in its stead. (John 16:8)

He strives to be holy, because God is holy. (Rom 1:4; 2 Pet 1:4; Psa 119:128) He is pure in his heart. (Mat 5:8)

God in His essence is love, which is a spiritual activity of the will. The born again person is marked by his loving, the spiritual activity towards others, (1 John 4:7-12); he loves God (Mat 22:37), and loves his fellowman (Mat 22:38), especially his brethren in Christ. (1 John 2:9-11; 3:11-15; 5:1-2; Rom 12:10; John 13:34-38) A born again person seeks fellowship with his brethren in Christ. (Heb 2:11; 10:25) This love in his soul is seen by obedience to God. (John 14:21) This loves manifests itself in giving preference and spiritual service to their brethren in Christ. He “bears the burdens of his brethren.” (Gal 6:2) His love imitates God’s essential being, which is love. This love is genuine (Rom 12:9) and sacrificial (Rom 12:13; 1 John 3:16). This love confirms and reassures us that we are born again. (1 John 2:5) The intense loving action, this freewill spiritual activity of an individual is an important mark of their being born again. Aggression and contention one with another is the opposite of this mark and are marks that he is not a born again believer (1 John 3:14-15; Mat 5:9).

He serves God. He is not lazy. (Rom 12:11) He views his salvation in such a way that it is natural and essential that he serves God through serving his brethren (helping, edifying, being a blessing to them). (Gal 5:13) He is consumed in reaching the unsaved with the message of the Gospel. (Mat 28:19-20)

The born again person “puts on” humility, meekness, and a selfless life (i.e. does not focus on himself, but on being a blessing to others). (Rom 12:16) The believer constantly humbles himself instead of puffing himself up in his own arrogance and deceit (Luke 18:14) Again, he imitates Christ his Savior. (Mat 11:29; Mark 9:35)

The born again person constantly runs to Christ for His help and advocacy when they sin. (1 John 2:1) They confess and abandon their sin (repentance) doing what is God’s will, (justice, the opposite of sin).

The born again person is a person marked by his belief and practice in prayer. (Rom 12:12; James 5:16) In every need, in every crisis of life, in every decision of life, the born again man lets God enter into his thoughts to consider what God says to him. (Luke 18:7) His view of God is that God is Abba, his beloved “Father.” (Gal 4:6; Rom 8:15-16)

All of this elements of “being born again” are produced naturally and sincerely by the work of the Holy Spirit within the believer.