The Almost Christian

Observations from D.R. Brooker @ http://drbrooker.net

The worst words one will ever hear are, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” Imagine the shock of those who have attended church for most their lives, heard the gospel preached, yet never repented of their sin or put their faith in Christ. They come to that day that all men will most assuredly face, and they hear those words uttered by the One who will judge all perfectly. Christ, and heaven, will be lost to them forever. The heart of man is deceitful above all things and no greater deception exists than the one that causes a man to believe that he is in Christ when is heart is far from Him.

In the excerpt that follows from Archibald Alexander, the first Principal of Princeton Theological Seminary in the early 19th century, he explains for us what it means to be an “almost Christian.” Oh, that this will not be said of us!

The almost Christian may have a speculative knowledge of all the leading truths of Christianity, and may be able to defend them. The almost Christian entertains a great respect for religion and its professors and institutions. The almost Christian feels a strong desire to enjoy the benefits of the gospel, and may often have his affections much moved, and may form many good resolutions; he may indeed possess a counterfeit of experimental religion, so like that it may deceive not only the man himself, but the most judicious ministers. The almost Christian may be exact in attending on all the external duties of religion; he may be “blameless”; and in regard to zeal, he may be ardent, so as to put to the blush the real believer.

He may also be liberal, and contribute liberally for the support of the gospel, and to feed the poor. He may become a popular preacher of the gospel, and be the means of the conversion of others. He may, in short, do every thing which the real Christian does, and feel every thing which the real Christian feels—but one. He fails in one single point, but that is an essential point. He never has given his heart to God. He loves the world better than he loves Christ. That most excellent gift of charity has never been poured into his heart. His religion may be all traced to the mere love of happiness, and the operations of a natural conscience, enlightened and awakened by the doctrinal knowledge of the truth.

The apostle Paul teaches, that if a man without CHARITY, that is, love to God and man, should possess angelic eloquence, prophetic knowledge, and the power of working the greatest miracles; yea, if he should have zeal strong enough to make him a martyr, and liberality great enough to induce him to give away all his goods, it would “profit him nothing.” Such a one would, after all, be only an almost Christian. The deceitful heart of man will turn itself into every conceivable form and shape but that of true holiness; of this it may assume the shadow, but never the reality.

-Taken from Practical Religion, 1870 edition.