The Question of Identity: Who Am I?

This is one of the five fundamental questions, and it is probably one of the most attacked by today's culture.  We are told that "identity" is something completely opposite of what it has always been known to be, so let's start there.  If I had to give you the key components of identity it would be that your identity is immutable (unchanging)--more on this later, is descriptive of your core essence and is of the same substance and nature as you, has the idea of an equivalence or equality that everyone knows who you are talking about because of the name or characteristics that you are using to describe that person.

Now, I said first that things that have to do with identity are immutable characteristics, though it's probably a bit more accurate to say that there are some things that will happen in life that will become a part of your identity and you will never get rid of them being a part of who you are and what people think about when they think about you.  Some examples of this would be adoption into a new family, getting married, and having children.  You can probably think of some other life-altering events that change the way a person thinks about himself or herself and everyone else around them thinks of them, however there is only one event that I know of that is able to change someone's identity (speaking from the authority of God's Word here) and that is the event that we generally call "salvation" but more specifically the part of that called "regeneration."

Paul does a good job in Romans 5 laying out the two different kinds of identities that we can have--and there are really only two camps we can fall into.  We can identify with our human, sinful side and be "in Adam," or we can be "born again" as Jesus described in John 3 and be transformed into the character, nature and image of God the Father and God the Son through the work of God the Holy Spirit.  Other passages that are helpful in seeing this "new creation," "transformation" are Romans 5, 2 Corinthians 5:17, Galatians 5:16-26, Ephesians 2:1-10ff, Ephesians 4:17-31.  Notice that a lot of these passages on our new identity also have to do with a new way that we should conduct ourselves--a new morality that tells us how we should live (that will be the next topic I take up here).  See how all the answers to all these questions are all interconnected?

So, my identity is in Christ and is secure in heavenly places.  No one can change the fact that God has adopted me into His family and prepared an inheritance for me--note that an inheritance is not earned, and that in the time this was written, adopted children could not be disinherited.  The fact that the father loved them enough to adopt them was assurance enough that they would receive an equal share of the inheritance with any of the biological children from the family.  "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." (Philippians 1:6).  This is just one of many verses that speaks to our certainty of receiving everything that the Lord has promised for us and is preparing for us.

Now, there's something special about our identity as Christians.  It's really less about who we are, and more about who God the Father and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are, and it's not so much about what we do as what They have done, are doing, continue to do, and will do in the future.  Everything I am is tied up in the story and plan that God had for me from before the foundations of the world--to be conformed into the likeness of His Son.  " For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers." (Romans 8:29).  There's a lot of theology in that verse that I can't totally unpack right now, but you can read my Journal Article on that passage for a bit more about it.  It essentially says that God knew me and chose me before He ever created anything with the express purpose (that was our last article) to look like and act like His Son, Jesus, and to be a member of His family (that's our identity--we are children of God, and therefore, we should act like it--our next article).  An important part of our identity is that we are eternal beings--because of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, we have eternal life and are citizens of the kingdom many of us call "heaven" (it is called the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven, the New Jerusalem, the New Heaven and the New Earth, the kingdom of his marvelous light, and the kingdom of His Son, and a few other phrases) and we are no longer citizens to the kingdom of darkness.  Notice the change in citizenship that is part of our change in identity.  We once were under the authority of a certain ruler (sin) and now we are under the authority of a different ruler (God).

So, if it seems like Christians are as different to you as meeting someone from another country with a different language, culture, politic, and all-around different identity, you'd be quite correct.  The Bible tells us that we as Christians are "in the world, but not of the world."  We live among people who are, for the most part, not like us.  Not only are we citizens of the kingdom of God, but we are told that we are ambassadors of that kingdom--we are to represent the King and His Kingdom, and we are to help others who want to change their citizenship.  This is one of the key "identities" of a Christian.  We are also called to be "witnesses" (see Mattew 28--the Great Commission) to everything we have seen, heard and experienced about how Jesus has saved us and can save others.

We identify with this new identity at the time of baptism (much like how a wedding ring doesn't make you married, but identifies you as being married).  At the time of salvation, the Holy Spirit comes upon us and indwells us, and we become the very dwelling place of God--He is literally God with Us (not that we are God, but He is with us everywhere we go, and nothing can separate us from Him or His love for us).

We have a new family (not just God the Father and Jesus the Son) made of all our other adopted brothers and sisters that we call "The Church."  We are a family that in many ways are closer to each other than those who are related by flesh and blood.  We have a unity in that we all have a common faith, and the same Spirit of God indwells all of us, and we have a common inheritance, a common mission here on earth and all the other things that I've already mentioned.

Perhaps now you see why the issue of identity is under attack and why the world wants to tell you that you should choose for yourself who you are--even in opposition to natural law and biology sometimes.  You see, if God is the one who not only made us, but He is the one who gives us purpose and identity, and He gives us a moral code to live by, and we look forward to being with Him and being one with Him as our destiny--well, that is far different than the kind of life that comes from a worldview where one is on the throne of their heart and tries to answer these questions for themselves (and almost certainly fails in finding adequate answers as we know God has created us to be something more and better than anything we can be apart from Him).

This article can only scratch the surface of what it means to have our identity "in Christ."  Much of the Bible explains how the people of God are to have a different nature, identity, and behavior than the people of this world who are still in darkness and sin and controlled by "their flesh."  That is to say that evil people do evil things because they are evil, but if we have the Spirit of God who is good within us, then we should be the good things that God is and do the good things God does as we let Him work in and through us.

This is probably the hardest one to explain to others.  It's hard to tell someone what it's like to be married, but they understand what you meant after they get married themselves.  It's hard to explain to someone what it's like to be a parent, but there is understanding after the person becomes a parent themselves.  Likewise, it is hard for someone outside the family of God to understand how life is better under God's authority than under our own authority (at least, that's who we assume is in control if we don't submit our lives to God--though that's only partly true and mostly false).  Which kingdom are you a citizen of?  Are you in Adam, or in Christ?  When someone looks at you and talks about you, is their first thought that you are a Christian and that it is obvious in everything you say and do and are?  (It should be!) Have you experienced regeneration and been "born again"? If all this sounds like something that you want to know more about, please ask me.

I rarely include songs with these Faith and Culture blogs, but I love this one and think it cover some of the things that we've talked about in our change in identity (and origins, meaning, morality, and destiny).