What exactly is a Christian? Or a true disciple of Christ? These are questions every believer should ponder occasionally. Of course, the New Testament clearly shows that a true follower of Christ is not simply someone who believes in God (James 2:19), for even demons do that, and tremble. Nor is a true follower just one who feels they are a good person (1 John 1:8). But how do the Scriptures actually identify a real Christian?
Dr. George Barna, head of the respected Barna Research Group, recently shared some interesting statistics (Raising Spiritual Champions, Arizona Christian University Press, 2023) regarding Christianity in the United States that are relevant to this question. Barna noted that there are some 174 million self-identified Christians in the US – constituting 68 percent of the country’s population. But there are only 84 million who attend a church once a week – constituting 33 percent of the population – and only 46 million Christians – some 18 percent of the population– who self-identify as being deeply committed to their faith.
What is amazing is not that these numbers are so low, but that true disciples of Christ are probably far fewer still. As Barna correctly notes, just being willing to identify ourselves as Christian, growing up in a Christian family, going to church, or even feeling that we are “committed” believers does not make us Christians. Sadly, even among the minority of more committed individuals, Barna’s research shows that very few understand what actually constitutes the biblical definition of a disciple of Christ.
Fundamentally, as the apostle Paul wrote, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ ... The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:9, 16), but how do we recognize such a person – a true disciple or follower of Jesus? Several verses in the Gospel of John provide the answer to this question from the words of Jesus himself.
First, Jesus taught unequivocally that “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples” (John 8:31). Jesus spoke these words to those who were said to believe on him (“To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said …”), showing belief alone is not enough to make us a real follower of Jesus. If we do not obey Christ’s teachings, we simply are not his disciples – and, of course, this involves knowing what those teachings are. If we do not know what Christ commanded, we cannot “hold to” or keep his teachings.
Jesus also insisted on another identity test for his true followers: “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). Although this primarily means love of other Christians in the context in which it was spoken, loving “one another” also has the broader application of loving everyone, whether fellow believers or not. And what made it a new command, was his statement to love one another “as I have loved you” (verse 34). Love as Christ loves.
Finally, Jesus told his followers: “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (John 15:8). Even if we obey Christ’s commands and love one another, we must still bear spiritual fruit in order to truly be a follower of Christ. Usually we tend to think of spiritual fruit in terms of Paul’s list of the “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23), and these qualities could certainly be included in what Jesus said, but in context his words about bearing “fruit” perhaps apply even more to Christian service – that we do not simply develop ourselves, but that we enable God to work through us to produce spiritual fruit, doing good works and spreading the gospel in whatever ways we can. Notice, regarding this final test, John shows Jesus spoke to his disciples about being one with him in a context of service (John 15:14) and stressed that “I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit” (John 15:16 emphases added). The disciples were not appointed and then told to “go” just to develop their own spiritual attributes. Fruit on a tree is not just for the tree, but to feed others – people, deer, and more. In the same way, fruit God produces in us is to be shared with others for their benefit.
Jesus summarized exactly these three criteria of discipleship on the final evening of his ministry. In John 15:10–16 we find that he told his followers “If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love … Love each other as I have loved you ... I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.”
The apostle John elaborates on these same requirements of discipleship repeatedly in his letters (1 John 2:3; 2:10; 3:10; 3:17–18; etc.), but it is important to remember that the criteria were not just John’s and that they were established by Jesus himself.
Jesus showed that anything less than the pursuit of these goals is not really following him. It is only as we obey him, love one another, and produce spiritual fruit in the form of good works and the furtherance of the gospel that we are truly his disciples – that we are really following Jesus Christ. Are we settling for less? That is something we can all think about.
*This blog post was adapted from the author’s website at TacticalChristianity.org.