It's amazing to many that Christianity is actually Jewish, both in its roots and heritage. It is the culmination of Judaism. Jesus (Yeshua) was Jewish. He was brought up by faithful parents who regularly took Him to synagogue. He observed Torah perfectly. The last recognized Jewish prophet, John the Baptist, declared that Jesus was the perfect "Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world" (John 1:29).
The Apostles, the first disciples of Yeshua, were Jewish men. After His resurrection, in Luke 24:25-27, Jesus explained to them how all the Hebrew prophets of former times pointed to Him, saying, "Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?" Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the [Hebrew] Scriptures.
The central message of Christianity is that Jesus Christ is God the Son who came to earth to rescue sinners not only from a life of sin but also from eternal damnation in hell. Christians believe that the 66 books of the Bible comprise the true and inerrant Word of God. As such, they read it, love its truth, come to know God more deeply by it, and live by its counsel.
The Bible teaches that the only way to know God and enjoy a right relationship with Him is through faith in Christ. Faith assumes that one turns away from his sin and submits to Jesus Christ as the ruler of every aspect of his life, calling Jesus "Lord," a synonym in that context for God (see Romans 10:9-10). Merely nodding the head and giving intellectual assent to truths about God is what characterizes demons, not the children of God (James 2:19).
Who Can Be a Christian?
At the heart of what it means to be a Christian is justification—being right with God (see Romans 4:20-25). So, another way of asking this question is, "Who can be considered right with God?" John 1:12 says that "...as many as received Him [Jesus], to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name." In other words, not everyone is automatically a child of God simply because he or she is born.
Galatians 3:26 says that one becomes a child of God "through faith in Christ Jesus." Notice that a person is not saved by faith. We are saved by Christ through faith in Him. It is the object of our faith, the Divine God-Man Jesus Christ, who saves us. In other words, every person who will cry out to be delivered from his sin and will trust Jesus Christ, the Lord—the Divine Messiah—alone for forgiveness will be justified. Not only will that person be right with God, he will also be a child of God.
Such full forgiveness and reception into this new family relationship produces deep allegiance to God and to His people. An observable result of this new allegiance of heart and mind is that the life of a true child of God is characterized by good works, thoughts and attitudes. Good works do not serve as any ground for one's justification, however. As Romans 10:9 states, "...if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Good works, rather, serve as corroborating evidence that one has truly been "born again" by the Spirit of God who now dwells in the believer (see John 3:1-20; Ephesians 1:13-14).
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