Seven Types of "Christians"

Culled from The Naked Church by Wayne Jacobsen

Pretend Christians only go through the motions of religion for the benefits of being thought a Christian. It might please a spouse, help them make business contacts, or give their children a religious heritage, but they are not interested in growing closer to God or obeying His will.

Cultural Christians think that they inherit Christianity from previous generations. These people love chaplains in legislatures, “Now-I-lay-me-down-to-sleep” prayers, and invocations at graduations. Cultural Christians produce the kind of headlines we see coming out of Ireland: “Catholics Kill Four More Protestant In Belfast.”

God gets more bad press from Pretend and Cultural Christians than from any other variety. They are hypocrites of the worst order, exploiting Christianity for their own gain. The next four varieties are less maliciously inclined, but that still doesn’t negate the emptiness they feel or the damage they can cause.

Fire-Insurance Christians scare easily, and though thoughts of hell may drive them to “accept Christ,” they are always trying to find minimal salvation—just enough to qualify for heaven. Their favorite question upon hearing what God wants of them is “Do I have to in order to still be saved?”

Creedal Christians find salvation by agreeing with a prescribed list of truths. Our evangelistic strategies, or lack of them, have produced more of these than any other. The Four Spiritual Laws are the epitome of Christianity by creed. They forget that good theology isn’t enough: it’s how much of it we allow to shape our lives that is important. As James 2 points out, even demons can affirm correct theology: “You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.”

Good-hearted Christians seem so loving, kind, and generous that even though they don’t get “too religious” everyone assigns them believer status. They do little harm to Christianity itself, since they often demonstrate more kindness than the others, but they endanger themselves by finding false security in their perceived goodness rather than in surrendering to Jesus.

Ethical Christians try to find salvation by living a morally impeccable life, and outwardly they appear that way. Yet when this is produced by their own strength of will, it yields very little of Christ’s compassionate character. These people are usually happy only when demanding of others the same ethic that makes their own life so miserable.

These last four may indeed be better-intentioned than the first two, but they are equally as misguided. All of them seek to answer the legal question of escaping the flames of hell, but do not fulfill the purpose of salvation, which is to restore our fellowship with God. 

We may see a wide variety of so called Christians, but the Bible recognizes only one kind—disciples. Disciples are those people whose hearts burn with an unquenchable hunger for God, desiring to know him better every day. They are not perfect, but they love him and continue to draw near him to learn how to trust Him more and be changed into His likeness.

There are lots of people like this (you probably even know some), but regretfully they are often typed as exceptions. In actuality, they are model normal Christianity—walking in a real relationship with the living God.