First-Generation Christians

The terms “second generation” and “third generation” are often used to describe Catholics, Baptists, Mormons, and even some Christians in the religious world today.  More often than not, these terms are intended to be harmless and to simply express that an individual’s parents and grandparents were of the same religion.  Unfortunately, too many of the people who use these terms are a “second” or “third” generation simply because their parents or grandparents were of that religion and not because they have sought out and grounded themselves.  If questioned as to why they are a Christian rather than a Baptist, Mormon, or a Catholic, could they give a definitive answer that is supported Scripturally?

Every parent is to bring up their children “in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:1-4), but every Christian needs to be a “first generation” Christian in the sense that we have personally evaluated the evidence found in the Bible and developed our own faith.  While Christian parents are to teach their children about God and what to do, we are also to teach why we obey God.  Consider how in 2 Peter 1:16-21 Peter used the fulfillment of prophecy as evidence of faith and the reason righteous men spoke as the oracles of God.  In this manner, Peter showed through evidence why he had faith in Christ and why he was obedient.  Peter, like the rest of the Apostles (except, perhaps, for Judas), had made his faith his own; he had to examine the evidence and to adhere to the gospel of his own volition, not only because someone else in his life had believed. 

In order to develop our own faith, we must be willing to question, and we need to teach our children to question conclusions, demand Scriptural evidence for a conclusion, and to accept conclusions that are founded only in Scripture.  In Acts 17:10-12, there was a group of Jews who were considered “fair-minded” because they questioned the teachings of the Apostle Paul.  While Paul could have been offended by this questioning, he was not; rather, Luke records positive words concerning them.  Like Paul, every modern day evangelist and Bible teachers should welcome those who question their conclusions and test them against the Scriptures to ensure validity.  Parents, likewise, should strive to maintain a true Scriptural grounding and teach their children how to establish authority from the Scriptures as well. 

There is an abundance of evidence in the Bible that proves its validity; in Romans 15:4, we are informed that the things written in the Old Testament were written for our learning, and that we can gain faith and hope from these writings.  From the Old Testament, we learn of those who had great faith, we learn principles of obedience to God, and we learn about the power of God to bring about His plan(s).  Throughout the Old Testament, we are provided with numerous prophecies; some of these prophecies were fulfilled within the times of the Old Testament and some were fulfilled in the New Testament.  Both stand as evidence of the power and omnipotence of God. 

God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would be a great nation stands as a wonderful example of a prophecy that was both given and fulfilled in the Old Testament (Genesis 22:15-19; Exodus 1:1-10).  In addition to this example, we have other prophecies which are specific in nature, such as the one concerning King Josiah found in 1 Kings 13:1-5.  The prophecy, given in approximately 930 B.C., provided the name of the king, the king’s tribe, the place where the prophecy would be fulfilled, and particulars about what would happen during the fulfillment.  From an examination of the prophecy and its fulfillment in 2 Chronicles 34:1-5, we see that it was not a generalized prophecy; some purported “psychics” today make generalized prophecies and they make them in bulk in hopes of getting one or two correct.  The prophecy concerning Josiah was specific in nature and the fulfillment came approximately 300 years later in 630 B.C.  How can this not stand as evidence for the validity of the Bible?

In addition to the prophecies like the one mention above, we also have numerous prophecies in the Old Testament that are fulfilled in the New Testament.  Many of them directly relate to the coming of the Christ, life of Christ, or His death and resurrection, and there are too many of them to fully explore here.  We will, however, take a look at one such prophecy.  Few people think about the fact that King David (who lived approximately 1000 years before Christ) was also a prophet, and yet there are multiple prophecies in the book of Psalms pertaining to the Christ.  One such prophecy is located in Psalms 22:16-18 where we read, “For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.  They pierced My hands and My feet; I can count all My bones.  They look and stare at Me.  They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.”  The fulfillment of this prophecy is located in Matthew 27:33-36 where Jesus has been nailed to the cross, the guards divided His garments and cast lots, and they stared at Him as He died. The fulfillment of prophecies is powerful evidence that proves the validity of the Bible and our faith in God. 

Belief and faith are absolutely necessary for salvation; Hebrews 11:6-13 states that it is impossible to please God without having faith.  Therefore, we cannot simply go through the motions and hope to be saved.  Likewise, Jesus stated in John 8:24 that we must believe in His deity if we desire salvation; denying His deity will result in our own condemnation.  Faith can be established through a variety of methods; Thomas required physical proof (John 20:24-31), but the Centurion required no such evidences (Matthew 8:5-13).  We fall somewhere in between because we are unable to see the miracles of Christ and the Apostles firsthand, but we have been provided with records of “infallible proofs” (Acts 1:1-3; 1 John 1).  Our faith is to be established by the hearing of the word and these proofs contained therein (Romans 10:14-17).  In addition to the “infallible proofs” referred to by Luke, we have numerous examples of great faith in the Bible that were shared for our learning (Romans 15:4).  The Hebrew writer provided many such examples in Hebrews 11, and both the Old and New Testaments give us examples such as Johnathan and his armor bearer (1 Samuel 14:1, 6-23), Elijah (1 Kings 18:22-39), Stephen (Acts 7:54-60), and so many more. 

In Philippians 2:12-13, Paul encouraged the Philippian brethren to “work out” their “own salvation with fear and trembling”.  Was Paul suggesting that the Philippians could dictate their own methods for salvation? From the context, Paul was actually showing his confidence in the Philippian brethren for their ability to maintain their faith and obedience even without his physical presence.  Paul wrote that they had always obeyed, not only in his presence, but much more in his absence.  In essence, Paul established in this passage the principle we are driving at with this brief article; these Christians had their own faith and were not dependent upon Paul’s physical presence to drive them to obey the commandments of God.  Like them, we need to ensure that our faith is our own and firm up our foundation in the Lord.  Great examples, like those mentioned previously, can aid us in the establishment of our own faith, but that simply makes us first-generation Christians!