Does Calling Yourself a "Christian" Make You One? (Apology for Church #9)

Dan Best
Oct 6, 2023
6 min read

In my experience as Christians we are typically squeamish to evaluate the quality of another person's faith. We'll say things like "Their faith is between them and God", and it's not for us to judge. And that squeamishness is a good thing! We can't see into someone else's soul, and we don't have God's perspective to see all the factors that go into a person's spiritual journey.

However, while we are wise to not judge the spiritual life of this or that specific individual, I think we need to speak honestly about the fact that on a general level there are people in our society who mislabel themselves when they call themselves a "Christian". Anyone who has spent significant time in church settings knows this deep down, but we just don't often speak about it out loud so as not to ruffle anyone's feathers.

In ministry circles and sociological circles this type of person is called a "nominal" Christian. "Nominal" means "existing in name only". In other words, although they call themselves a Christian there is not much else in their lives or beliefs that aligns with that label. Anybody can check off the "Christian" box on a census or survey, but genuine faith is more than checking a box.

Of course, it's hard to nail down exactly what a "real Christian" is. Different denominations would emphasize somewhat different beliefs, values, and behaviours. And even the most devoted Christians have seasons in their lives of spiritual dryness, temptation, failure, laziness, and so on. It may be a spectrum of "realness" rather than a stark either-or.

But having said that, I believe the bible is relatively clear that there is a difference between truly following Jesus versus just labelling yourself a "Christian", the key being whether you actually do what Jesus says. Here's some relevant verses:

John 14:21 - Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me.
Matthew 12:50 - For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.
Titus 1:6 - They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works.
1 John 4:20 - Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.
Matthew 15:8 - This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Revelation 3:15-16 - I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.
Matthew 7:21-23 - “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Let's pause and be clear about what is not being said:

I am not saying—and the bible is not saying—that real Christians are perfect. Everyone makes mistakes, but true following Jesus is marked by sincere and continual trying to do what he says.
I am not saying that nominal Christians are going to hell. Peoples' eternal destinies are entirely up to God to decide, and it's not up to me to figure out.
I am not saying that nominal Christians are "bad people". Many nominal Christians are kind, respectful, caring people who would make great friends, family members, neighbours, etc.
Lastly, I am not saying nominal Christians are somehow inferior to sincere followers of Jesus. This has nothing to do with our worth. We are all made in God's image and therefore have ultimate dignity. This simply has to do with one's ongoing decision to try (or not try) to follow Jesus.

So why does any of this matter? If we're not supposed to judge other people, why are we even having this discussion?

Well, there's a number of reasons, two that I'll briefly mention and then a third that I want to focus on. The first reason is that it is a constant temptation for sincere followers of Jesus to stop being sincere, and they need to be sure that they don't shift into becoming nominal over time. The second reason is more evangelistic in nature, and it is that the abundant life that Jesus promises is only found when sincerely following him. Nominal Christians may know some of the basic facts of the faith but they are missing out on truly experiencing the Gospel in their lives.

The third reason is that the Church has a Public Relations problem. The increasingly popular societal narrative about Christians and the Church is that we suck.

That's at the heart of this whole Apology for the Church series that I've been doing. I believe this is an important issue, not least because we as Christians are accepting the narrative about ourselves! One of the biggest drivers turning Christians away from their faith is the sins they see in the Church. I have to admit that when I'm in public I am often embarrassed to mention I'm a Christian!

If you've been tracking with this Apology for the Church series, I started with the fact that as Christians we have failed in a bunch of ways (too many ways). But in this post specifically I'm trying to make the case that not everything done in the name of Christianity is genuinely Christian or done by genuine followers of Jesus. When you're hearing about a Christian failure on the news, when you're talking with a rude person at church on Sunday, when you're reading a sad statistic about "Evangelicals" online—in all these cases we should stay conscious of the fact that absolutely anyone can call themselves a Christian, or show up to a church, or wear a cross around their neck.

Here's one concrete example that I found fascinating. We've all heard the stat that 50% of Christian marriages end in divorce, just like non-Christians right?

It's a depressing statistic. But I was listening to an interview with author Nancy Pearcy and she was saying that the picture is different if you distinguish between devout vs nominal Christians. Devout Christians divorce less than non-Christians, but nominal Christians divorce more than non-Christians! Likewise, wives married to devout Christian men reported higher marital satisfaction in a number of areas compared to those married to non-Christian men, but wives married to nominal Christian men reported less marital satisfaction in a number of areas compared to those married to non-Christian men (including higher rates of domestic violence). I want to be clear that I'm not an expert in this area and I'm sure all sorts of nuance and qualifications can be made about the data, but the main point is still important: there is a significant difference between sincere followers of Jesus vs nominal Christians.

And I think we have to honestly grapple with the fact that there are probably more nominal Christians than we realize.

The numbers will differ depending on where you look and who you survey, but let me give you one example from the Barna Group, perhaps the most respected Christian sociological research organization. In their Faith For Exiles study they looked at the faith of 18-29 year olds with a Christian background:

They found that:

22% had totally left the faith ("Prodigals")
30% still called themselves Christians but hadn't attended a church in a long time ("Nomads")
38% called themselves Christian and had attended a church service at least once in the past month, but did not have the core beliefs and behaviours marked by committed followers of Jesus ("Habitual Churchgoers")
Only 10% (!) were Christians who "(1) attend church at least monthly and engage with their church more than just attending worship services; (2) trust firmly in the authority of the Bible; (3) are committed to Jesus personally and affirm he was crucified and raised from the dead to conquer sin and death; and (4) express desire to transform the broader society as an outcome of their faith." ("Resilient Disciples")

Again, all sorts of nit-picking of the data could be done and certain qualifications should be made, but the main point remains the same: a surprisingly small minority of Christians are really leaning in to following Jesus. Yes this study was only on 18-29 year olds but my guess is that the "Resilient Disciples" category would still be the minority in any age demographic.

In Matthew 7:14 Jesus calls this ahead of time when he says "But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it." Knowing this is discouraging in the sense that a number of the people out there wearing the Christian label are not committed to Jesus, but in another sense it can be reassuring to know that Jesus truly is the light and life of the world when and if he is actually followed. Truly following Jesus leads to Life over the long run. The problem occurs when we convince ourselves that we're following Jesus but in actual fact we're not.