In Christ Alone: A Christian Understanding of Personal Identity

In my last post, I critiqued the common American cultural phenomenon of people defining their personal identity in terms of the feelings and desires that they happen to have inside of them.  Unfortunately, this phenomenon is not restricted to non-Christians in our culture.  Many American Christians have to a significant extent absorbed the idea that their personal identity is defined by their personal feelings and desires.  This expressive individualist understanding of personal identity has many far-reaching disastrous theological and ethical consequences.  It is vitally important that all Christians understand the biblical view of personal identity: finding one’s identity in Christ alone.

Christian Identity in Christ

Christian conversion fundamentally means ceasing to view reality from the perspective of “the story of my life” and instead beginning to view reality from the perspective of the story of the Gospel.  Living as a Christian, then, means participating in the story of Scripture, the word of God, which stands in Authority over every Christian.  It is impossible for being a Christian to be an individualistic affair, because Christian identity by its very nature means being part of the Church, the community of Jesus’s disciple, and seeking to live as a faithful member of this community.  All of this means that it is impossible for a faithful Christian to approach life with the intention of “living my own life”; instead, being a Christian necessitates finding one’s identity in something bigger than oneself and being willing to change oneself in order to live in to that identity.

“I have been crucified with Christ,” writes the apostle Paul, “and I no longer live but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Gal 2:20).  Paul’s language here, of course, is metaphorical; he has not literally, physically been crucified with Jesus.  But Paul uses this extreme, shocking image of experiencing a brutal, torturous execution to emphasize the radical nature of what it meant for him to give up his old “self” in order to become a follower of Jesus.  Elsewhere, he applies this same language to Christians in general, speaking of Christian conversion in terms of a crucifixion or death to oneself (Rom 6:1-14, 7:4-6; Gal 5:24, 6:14; 2 Cor 5:14-15; Col 2:20, 3:1-3; 2 Tim 2:11

Death is not something that allows for degrees; either you are dead or you are not.  By referring to conversion in terms of the death of his self, Paul drives home his point that becoming a Christian is a matter of a sharp either/or.  It is not possible to be “partially Christian,” to add Christian religiosity into one’s life as one significant part of it.  Rather, becoming a Christian by its very nature means completely giving up one’s previous identity, however that was defined, and living a new life in Christ.  

When Paul writes that “I no longer live but Christ lives in me,” he clearly rules out the possibility that a Christian could continue to define their self in terms of their inner feelings and desires.  Becoming a Christian means making a fundamental, existential decision to give up that “I”, to give up that way of defining and living out one’s personal identity.  That “I” has been crucified.  It has been replaced by Christ living in the Christian.  

Of course, becoming a Christian does not make one’s inner feelings and desires disappear.  Nor does it mean that Christ will directly take control of all of one’s actions and make them conform to God’s will.  The Christian convert still retains their free will and their ability to choose to live obediently or disobediently.  Paul is speaking here about his fundamental attitude and orientation towards life.  In other words, he is speaking about his personal identity.  That personal identity is now defined in terms of Christ and Christ alone.  It is the Christian’s relationship with Jesus and union with Him that defines their identity, and not anything else, whether internal or external.

Living Out One’s Christian Identity

So, what does it mean, practically, to find one’s identity in Christ?  First, it means repudiating all other ways of defining one’s personal identity, such as race, class, or nationality.  “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female,” writes the apostle Paul, “for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3:28).  Christians cannot allow any worldly nation, society, ideology, or cultural movement to define them and to determine their values and priorities.  Instead, they must always have their relationship with Jesus, their membership in the body of Christ, and their commitment to the Gospel define them.  Of course, Christians still must participate in nations and societies, and they may learn from certain ideologies and cultural movements.  However, they must always do so critically, never allowing these things to compromise their Christian identity in any way, shape or form.

Second, it means being willing to repudiate any of one’s inner feelings and desires that in any way do not align with living in a Christlike manner.  Many Christians have bought into the lie that, if they have a feeling or desire inside, then “this is who I am,” or “this is how God made me.”  However, the Christian doctrine of original sin tells us that not all of our feelings and desires come from God.  Because of the Fall and the separation of humanity from God, all human beings are born with distorted feelings and desires that lead them to sin.  Just because a Christian has a feeling or desire that they did not choose to have, that does not mean that this desire is “natural.”  All human beings have sinful desires, and sin is not natural; it is a distortion or corruption of nature.  Christians can only know what is truly natural by looking to Jesus and Scripture.  

Thus, living out one’s identity in Christ means rejecting the idea that our inner feelings and desires define who we are and that, in order to be who we are, we must act on them.  Instead, it means seeking to change one’s inner feelings and desires in order to align them with the objective standard of the character of Christ.  Sometimes, Christians may have certain feelings or desires directing them towards sinful behavior which are extremely difficult to change.  In this case, the Christian must choose not to act on these feelings and desires, recognizing that it is their identity in Christ, and not these feelings and desires, which defines them.  The Christian can trust that, because of their relationship with Jesus, God will eventually transform their feelings and desires to align with the character of Christ, even if it may not happen in this lifetime.  

This may make it sound like finding one’s identity in Christ means all sorts of difficulties and struggles for the Christian, and it does.  However, it is also a source of great comfort.  If we find our identity in Christ, then no matter what the world does to us, no matter what sufferings or indignities it inflicts on us, it can never take away our identity.  No matter the circumstance, we can always have an inner peace and joy, knowing that we are beloved children of God.  And when we struggle with sin, guilt, and shame, we never have cause for despair, because we know that our sins and failures do not define us.  Our identity in Christ as beloved, forgiven children of God is secure.  If we find our identity in Christ, then nothing, whether external or internal, can ever take away who we are.