Christian Faith as Allegiance

Christian spirituality has to do with a system of beliefs, so we tend to think. We often equate spirituality with beliefs and rituals. However, in the light of the Bible, spirituality is not something that you believe or do but something that you belong to. Let me put in another way, it is not belief but belonging.

What did Peter had to do when he left his father, the net and the boat when Jesus called him to follow him? He did not have to sit for a membership test. If he had, I am sure he would have failed! All that he had to do was to leave what he had (what belonged to him) and follow after Jesus. He was no more a man of the lake, he belonged to Jesus. Ask James, John and even Paul who came to the scene much later. They just changed their allegiance. They had to reorder their relationships and loyalties so that they belonged to Jesus.

"What shall do to be saved?" the terrified jailer of Philippi screamed at Paul and Silas? What did he mean by "being saved"? He might have Paul preaching about Jesus who is the savior of the world. He was an employee of the Roman empire and by law accepted the fact that Caesar is Lord or divine. As a Roman citizen his allegiance was to the Caesar. Paul's answer was not to believe in a system of doctrines, but "believe on the Lord Jesus". It is to accept the Lordship of Jesus which demands that he denounce the Lordship of Caesar over him.

All that the Apostle demanded from their audience was confession of sins and confessing that Jesus is Lord. They did so in absolute obedience that the Lord had given them: to make disciples. The apostolic ministry in the first century was to make followers of Jesus and not believers of Jesus.

However, this change of allegiance, like any allegiance is not devoid of a set of beliefs. They had to believe that God has sent Jesus to this world, they had to believe that Jesus rose from the dead. They had to accept the fact that all humanity are sinful and needed a savior and that savior is Jesus of Nazareth who is God. However, it is the order that matters. Their faith is primarily an allegiance to Jesus and what they had to believe was to make that allegiance and to foster it in the days to come. Belief was at the service of this allegiance and not a substitute to it.

Jesus always thought in terms of relationship; that is why he called those who put their trust in him "my sheep" and his disciples "friends".

Have we not reduced Christianity to a set of beliefs and have lost this dimension of our relationship with Jesus. When we imagine Christian spirituality in terms of beliefs only we don't regret about the unholy alliances that we have made with the world and its sinful system.However, Jesus demands our absolute loyalty.

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