We live in a culture which, despite its obsessive preoccupation with identity, is suffering from an acute case of identity crisis. In this chaos and confusion about identities that plague the postmodern world, how are Christians to think of their own identity?
The postmodern sensibility, with its aversion to objectivity of any kind, has deemed identity to be nothing more than a social construct. This has willy-nilly resulted in a proliferation of identities, some of which are imagined and fashioned by our subjective experiences.
These include genderqueer (people who challenge normative gender categories), transracial (people who identify with a race different from their assigned race category), furries (those who identify with anthropomorphic animal personas), and transabled (those who identify as disabled even though they are able-bodied)—the list can be easily expanded.
Christians inhabiting such a culture can also be swayed by its subjectivism, and be tempted to adopt multiple, fluid identities. Alternatively, they may be persuaded to establish their identities based on markers such as gender, sexuality or political affiliation.
The latter became glaringly evident during the last presidential election in the US, where some evangelicals championed a form of nationalism which subordinates their Christian identity to that associated with their country or political party.
In this chaos and confusion about identities that plague the postmodern world, how are Christians to think of their own identity?
The Christian’s identity is not established on the basis of social conventions, nationality, or what the Canadian philosopher, Charles Taylor, calls expressive individualism. Rather, it is grounded in Jesus Christ with whom the Christian is united.
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,” writes Paul to the Christians in Corinth, “he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The apostle speaks about an identity change or transition that took place as the individual puts his faith in Christ—from a sinner to a redeemed child of God.
This recalls the well-known passage from the prologue of John’s Gospel: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12). Commenting on this verse, the saintly Bible scholar, William Hendriksen, writes:
As many as did accept him; i.e. as many as appropriated, acknowledged, and welcomed the light, as many as continue to embrace him by a living faith in his name (i.e. in his self-revelation in the sphere of redemption), to them he gave—it is ever a gift of God’s sovereign grace—the right to become children of God.1
But what does it mean to say that the Christian’s identity is grounded in Christ?
It means that everything about the Christian— his sense of self, purpose and worth—is shaped and governed by his relationship with Jesus Christ, and not his own feelings, achievements, social status or worldly definitions.
This is captured by the provocative statement found in Paul’s letter to the Galatians where he writes:
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
Describing this as a truly remarkable statement, the sixteenth century Reformer John Calvin points out that when Paul says that believers live “in Christ”, they are living “outside themselves”.2
Calvin explains further that there are two possible ways in which we can understand this. The first “consists in his governing us by his Spirit and directing all our actions”. And the second is “what he grants us by participation in his righteousness, that … we are accepted in him by God”.3
Because the Christian’s identity is grounded in and shaped by his profound union with Christ, he must not be “conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of [his] mind” (Romans 12:2). This surely includes rejecting the fashionable lie of identity fluidity that is so prevalent in our postmodern culture.
Because the Christian’s identity is primarily rooted in Christ, everything else he is associated with must not only be given secondary importance but must also be shaped by his relationship with Christ.
Because the Christian’s identity is primarily rooted in Christ, everything else he is associated with must not only be given secondary importance but must also be shaped by his relationship with Christ.
For instance, a Christian’s loyalty to their nation must always be subordinate to their identity in Christ. This means that a believer should see himself first and foremost as a Christian, and only thereafter as a Singaporean, Malaysian, American or any other nationality. The same principle applies to how Christians should understand their gender, race and social status.
In sum, our most basic identity is not something that we imagine or concoct based on our subjective expression or our social association. It is bestowed upon us by the One who brought us into being and created us in his image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-28).
Our genuine identity, that is, the truth of who we are, is rooted in our relationship with God in Jesus Christ. All other factors that might contribute to our self-understanding are less significant because they fall short of the depth of who we are before God.
1 William Hendriksen, The Gospel of John (The Banner of Truth Trust, 1959), 81.
2 John Calvin, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians (Eerdmans, 1975), 43.
3 Ibid.
Dr Roland Chia is Chew Hock Hin Professor of Christian Doctrine at Trinity Theological College and Theological and Research Advisor at the Ethos Institute for Public Christianity.