Identity in Christ Meaning

What does identity in Christ mean? Let’s start first with what identity means.

What does it mean to know your identity?

Knowing your identity means knowing who you are. The talents, abilities, passions, what you love and care about are all things that make up your identity.

If we were to do a survey of favorite things you like or don’t like, what would that tell us about you? Things like – your favorite color, flower, vacation, animal, sport to play, sport to watch, music to listen to, or a hobby. These are all items that help us learn more about who you are from your likes, dislikes, and preferences.

We could talk about your career if you have one or a career you’d like to pursue and why. Your career and your talents and abilities can define your identity. When you meet someone new, what is one of the first questions they ask you? “What do you do for a living?” Or if you are in college or a recent graduate – “what are you studying or what would you like to do?”

Tell me about your family. Where did you grow up and how many siblings did you have? Your identity is also defined by your family background and your current relationship status.

Or a survey could dig a bit deeper into what ideas you are passionate about or your faith. What causes do you believe in or support? Why? Maybe you support cancer walks because you or a loved one is a survivor. Are you conservative or liberal? Do you believe in God or not?

All these topics, from your favorite things to what you believe, define who you are and your identity.

How does your faith define you as a person?

Like any of these items above, your faith defines you. Whether you believe in God or not, your faith or lack thereof defines how you talk, how you act or behave, and what your perspective is on life, death, and the afterlife.

There is a woman who is a smooth talker. Her lips drip with honey. She wanders down wrong paths and lures men to her apartment. She doesn’t ponder her life, ways and becomes a bitter and cynical woman. Eventually, she will die a lonely death with no one at her side.

This woman is one who is described in Proverbs 5:3-6 ESV. The writer, King Solomon, describes her and many others throughout this book of wisdom as a fool. They are doing the opposite of wisdom and the fear of the Lord. Her lack of faith defines her as a person.

Identity in Christ Meaning

If you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior, you have your identity grounded in who you are in Christ. Throughout God’s inspired Word, the writers tell us how God describes us and sees us based on accepting Christ.

You are still a person who likes certain things, has passions about certain ideas or causes, and works at a career that you thoroughly enjoy. But do these things, ideas or causes give you your self-worth? Do they give you confidence that you need to go forth and conquer the next big thing?

There will be many articles to come that will describe how God sees us. One example is that we are called His children.

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

1 John 3:1a ESV

Being called His child is a comfort. He loves us like we love our children, nieces, nephews, etc., and yet even more. When you are someone’s child, you have a special bond or relationship with them. Those who may not have had that special bond with their parents can find comfort in this identity statement of love from our loving Father.

What does it mean to represent Christ?

Those who have accepted Christ are called Christians. Christians are people who believe in and follow Christ.

All people were made in the image of God (Gen. 1:27) and Jesus is the image of the Father (Col. 1:15). When we follow Jesus, we desire to act as He did. We imitate Him and people look at us to see if we are acting like Christ.

Since Christ died, rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3-8), and then ascended into heaven (Acts 1:9), people are not able to physically see Him. We become the model or representation of Him for others to see.

A family example similar to identity in Christ

Think about your family. Did you ever hear someone say? “You look a lot like your father or mother?” Or if you have children, “Wow, she looks exactly like you.”

When people meet my daughter, Rachel, they say that she looks like me. Or if they meet her daughter, our granddaughter, Cailin, they say that our granddaughter looks like her. The people who knew Rachel as a child and see our granddaughter see how they look alike. Cailin is like a miniature representation of how Rachel was when she was little!

Each child in a family wants to model and be like a member of their family. This is seen when they say the things we say or put on our shoes and pretend to be us in playing house or some sort of game. My daughter and her husband are foster parents. They have a cushion balance beam on the floor. The other day, their foster daughter who is 14 months old, was mimicking Cailin. The foster daughter would put her hands on the balance beam, stand on one leg, and put the other leg in the air. It was so funny to see her doing that but she was modeling after Cailin.

When we show love to others and speak as Christ did, we model and represent Him. That is the meaning of identity in Christ. Being a child of God and many other attributes of being a Christian, describe our identity in Christ.

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Reflection Thoughts

1. What are your preferences?
2. What is it that defines you? Is that good or bad? Take some time to pray about how you define who you are. If there is something there that is not God honoring, repent or turn from that behavior and ask God to help you become more like Christ.
3. Look in your Bible’s concordance for verses on the attribute of Christ you’d like to be. Do a study on some of the verses for that word.
4. Think about the fact that you are a child of God. Spend some time today thanking Him for calling you His children and the comfort that brings to your soul.

Other topics you may like…

Want to know what God’s Will means? What plans does He have for all people of creation and what verses speak about God’s Will?

Free Resources

The free resources in the Resource Library are there for the taking! There are Bible Verse cards that you can download and print for you to keep in the forefront of your mind. Put them up on your mirror, memorize one a week or month. In order to save space on the verse cards, the verses are abbreviated. So if you want to memorize the longer version, go for it! There are also cute bookmarks as well for printing.

Let me know what you think of these resources. If you have other ideas or resources you’d like, please email me and let me know.