“Let me know you, for you are the God who knows me; let me recognize you as you have recognized me.” (Augustine, Confessions x.1)
Personal identity in the modern world is commonly premised on the idea of expressive individualism, that is, the idea that we find our true self by listening to our inner voice to discover and articulate our personal identity. Instead of conforming to social conventions, we give expression to our feelings and desires in order to become authentic. As noted in the previous post, expressive individualism is the underlying philosophy of the LGBT sexual revolution. [Re: The Triumph of the Therapeutic and the LGBTQ Sexual Revolution]
However, Charles Taylor warns that “taking authenticity to be the sole or chief criterion for human behavior and the main way to direct our lives raises significant concerns. The urge to self-fulfillment can lead to a shallow and destructive narcissism. And on its own, the urge to be true to ourselves ignores the social fabric of our existence. Relationships can easily become disposable if they stand in the way of self-expression: “Our ties to others, as well as external moral demands, can easily be in conflict with our personal development.”
In contrast to contemporary expressive individualism, the Bible emphasizes that our fundamental identity is based on God’s recognition of our relationship with Christ, our Savior and Lord in whom we find healing and wholeness. Christian identity begins by being known by God in Christ. Brian Rosner writes, “Colossians 3 demonstrates how the identity of believers in Christ gives moral direction to our lives. If authenticity refers to living in accordance with who you are, those whose life is hidden with Christ in God the Father are to put on their new identity and dress accordingly… The defining moment of believers in Christ is our identification with the death and resurrection of Jesus, the ultimate expression of God’s love.”
Living authentically means putting on our new identity in Christ and being renewed in God’s image as we live a life of imitation of Christ.
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Excerpt from Brian Rosner, Known By God: A Biblical Theology of Personal Identity. Zondervan, 2017.
THE SEARCH FOR AUTHENTICITY
How important is authenticity for a person’s identity and conduct according to the Bible? …our world puts a premium on being true to yourself and following your heart. Charles Taylor states it well: “Modern freedom and autonomy centres us on ourselves and the ideal of authenticity requires that we discover and articulate our own identity.”
“Authenticity points towards a more self-responsible form of life…at its best it allows for a richer mode of existence.” Authentic living can mean behaving in a way that is honest and open, not overly concerned with the impression you are making on others nor second-guessing what others make of you.
However, taking authenticity to be the sole or chief criterion for human behavior and the main way to direct our lives raises significant concerns. The urge to self-fulfillment can lead to a shallow and destructive narcissism. And on its own, the urge to be true to ourselves ignores the social fabric of our existence. Relationships can easily become disposable if they stand in the way of self-expression: “Our ties to others, as well as external moral demands, can easily be in conflict with our personal development.”
Indeed, ignoring factors outside of ourselves is both limiting and unrealistic. As Charles Taylor notes:
I can define my identity only against the background of things that matter. But to bracket out history, nature, society, the demands of solidarity, everything but what I find within myself, would be to eliminate all candidates for what matters. The ideal of authenticity can lead to “anthropocentrism, which by abolishing all horizons of significance, threatens us with a loss of meaning and hence a trivialization of our predicament.”
Perhaps the greatest problem with looking to the ideal of authenticity to provide direction for our lives is its naivety. While it is true that who you are affects how you behave, it is also true that what you do changes who you are…As well as having your identity drive your behavior, your behavior can alter your identity. As C. S. Lewis observes: “Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before.” Authenticity is a two-way street: we act out of our identity, but our repeated acts can alter that identity. Our character, which is formed by settled habits of action and feeling, is both fed by our identity and feeds that changing identity. Following our heart can turn us into a different person, and not necessarily for the better.
Christian teaching recommends being true to yourself, your true self, as someone known by God as his child. As children of God, we are included in God’s story and tell Christ’s story as our own story, reckoning ourselves as having died with him to self-interest and seeking to live in the light of sharing his glorious future in the kingdom of God. This is seen nowhere more clearly than in Paul’s teaching about the Christian life in Colossians 3…
Colossians 3 is full of both profound identity statements for believers in Christ and practical instructions about how to behave. With respect to our identity, believers in Christ are those who died with Christ and have been raised with him and whose destiny is tied up with his glorious appearing (vv. 1–4). We have made a break with the life we once lived and have taken off our old selves (vv. 5–9) and have put on our new selves, which involves being renewed in knowledge and in God’s image (v. 10). We are God’s holy, dearly loved, chosen, and forgiven people (vv. 12–14)…
Moo is right that the contrast of “old self” and “new self” alludes to one of Paul’s most fundamental theological conceptions: the contrast between a realm in opposition to God, rooted in Adam’s sin and characterized by sin and death, and the new realm, rooted in Christ’s death and resurrection and characterized by righteousness and life. To put on the new humanity is to enter a new sphere of existence in union with Christ…
Colossians 3 demonstrates how the identity of believers in Christ gives moral direction to our lives. If authenticity refers to living in accordance with who you are, those whose life is hidden with Christ in God the Father are to put on their new identity and dress accordingly.
Colossians 3 opens in verses 1–4 with a powerful description of the Christian’s secret identity; believers died and rose with Christ, and when the powerful Son of God is revealed in glory, they too will be revealed as God’s children. Then in verses 5–14, Paul gives instructions for Christian living. How the two sections are related is made clear by the word “therefore” at the beginning of verse 5: “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity,” and so on. Christians are to infer from their heavenly identity that they must put to death what belongs to their earthly nature.26 The behavior that Paul enjoins in Colossians 3:5–14 is a logical inference of the identity that Paul describes in 3:1–4.27.
In Colossians 3, our new identity as those who died and rose with Christ and whose life is now hidden with Christ in God gives moral direction to our lives. However, the focus is not merely on our present identity. Should you be true to yourself? Believers in Christ are to live out their new identity by looking in three directions:
Christian Self-Expression
1. The Future—Be who you will be in Christ—As one who died and rose with Christ, and will appear with Christ in glory, behave in a Christ-like manner (Col 3:1–4).
2. The Past—Be who you were intended to be—As a member of the new humanity, which is being renewed in the image of God, rid yourself of sexual immorality, anger, and lies (Col 3:5–11).
3. The Present—Be who you are in Christ—As a child of God, “holy and dearly loved,” put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and love (Col 3:12–14).
Should we be true to ourselves? According to Colossians 3, Christians are to live in accordance with our new identity in Christ…
DEFINING MOMENTS AND SIGNATURE MOVES
What events define you? And what signature moves express your identity and character?…
But in the deepest sense, the core identity of being known by God as his children and being in union with Christ brings its own defining moment and signature move. According to Colossians 3, the defining moment of all believers in Jesus Christ is something that happened two thousand years ago: we died and rose to new life in union with Christ (Col 3:1–4). It is that “moment of truth,” the memory of which defines us forever. It changes everything for us. And we would not be who we are were it not for Christ’s death and resurrection.
And the signature move that grows out of that identity is acts of love. Our conduct is to be compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, patient, and forgiving, all of which grow out of “love, which binds them all together in perfect unity” (Col 3:14). Just as our identity as children of God was forged through an act of amazing love, so too we are to live lives of costly, selfless, other-centered love. The defining moment of believers in Christ is our identification with the death and resurrection of Jesus, the ultimate expression of God’s love. Accordingly, our signature move is putting on love….
Christ died not only as our substitute, to secure our forgiveness with God, but as our representative. In Christ, we died to living purely for self-interest. Jesus’s death sets an unforgettable example of loving sacrifice as the pattern for our lives. But it’s more than just an example that he has set. By faith we believe that we have died with him. The direction of our lives is set by that defining moment. Living authentically then becomes the task of living in accordance with our new identity and regularly performing our signature move.
It is not that other identity markers and what you do with your life are of no consequence for your personal identity if you are a believer in Christ. Your race, gender, family, occupation, marital status, and so on are important, but they are not all-important. Obviously, life events and experiences can have a lasting impact on your identity and conduct. But at the most profound level, if you are a believer in Jesus Christ, what sets the course for your life and keeps it on track is your identification with Christ and imitation of him, and being known and loved by God as his child. Putting on that identity will determine the sort of man or woman, worker, friend, neighbor, father or mother, and son or daughter that you will become.
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The Triumph of the Therapeutic and the LGBTQ Sexual Revolution
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