A Christian, everyone will admit, ought to be a Christian in conduct and walk, as well as in name; how else is the character which stamps him as such, the life of Christ in him, to be seen? In these days of worldliness and declension we often have to leave the question whether a person is really a Christian or not. We know that "The foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His"; but it is incumbent on everyone who names the name of the Lord to depart from iniquity (2 Tim. 2:1919Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. (2 Timothy 2:19); J.N.D. Trans.). It is not the walk which makes the Christian, though to walk in some measure as Christ walked entitles such a one to the name; for what a Christian is before God should be reproduced in his walk. Before God he is seen in Christ as holy and without blame in love (Eph. 1:44According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: (Ephesians 1:4)), and such a character should mark him now. (1 Thess. 3:12, 1312And the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we do toward you: 13To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. (1 Thessalonians 3:12‑13).) He is in the same position before God as Christ is; he has no other standing, for he is in it as the effect of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. He knows it by the Holy Ghost which dwells in him, through whom he enjoys all the results of that death and resurrection, whether present or future. His sins have been forgiven for His name's sake. He is in Christ, saved forever from judgment; for love with him has been made perfect, so that it can be said, "As He [Christ] is, so are we [Christians] in this world." God sees each believer as such absolutely; he is complete in Christ.
Has the state of Christendom, which is a witness of the ruin of Christian profession, altered one bit what a Christian is, and consequently what his walk should be? True, the altered condition of things around us from those of early days of the Church, and the varying phases of that which bears the name of Christ, and therefore stands in the responsible place of answering to that name, may and do make the circumstances more difficult in the midst of which Christian walk has to be maintained, but we ought to be true to what, through God's grace, we are.