Who does Christ say I am?

Identity and Belonging | Be secure in who I am in Christ and my place in the biblical meta-narrative.

One of the spokes of the Wellbeing Wheel is Identity and Belonging, where we aim to grow student’s faith to be secure in who they are and their place within the Biblical metanarrative.

Jesus famously asked his disciples, ‘Who do you say that I am?’ It was a moment for his followers to recognise Christ’s Messiahship, and for Peter in particular to be affirmed in who he was. It was a pivotal scene of rock-solid identity: who Jesus is, and who he calls us to be in him.

Today, society flips this question on its head - ‘Who do we say that we are?’. The pressure to define our identity, likes, interests, passions and personality can feel overwhelming. In our quest for self-definition, we are encouraged to ‘explore all avenues’, and to suggest that some roads should remain taboo or have been pre-established by a Higher Power is down-cried by a choir of secular voices bent on upending all certainty.

The bygone era ‘Christian societies’ included robust parameters to guide people’s thinking as young adolescents navigated the murky waters of formation. Today, with the dearth of such certainty it is no wonder so many teens commonly feel confused, anxious, overwhelmed, and unanchored. The confusion and pain these paths can take us to are well known, and the fruit is often a life unnecessarily damaged. 

In stark contrast, Scripture provides a framework for human identity as God’s image bearers (Gen 1:27), formed in the womb (Jer 1:5; Psalm 139), adopted to sonship (Eph 1:5), children of God (John 1:12), called out of darkness and into his marvellous light (1 Peter 2:9). We are invited into a transforming, new creation life (2 Cor 5:17), clothed in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:27) where we imitate him (1 Cor 11:1) rather than define ourselves.

It is the choice of Eden all over again: trust God and who he says we are as his image-bearing special creation; to be a mirror reflecting his nature & character… or take autonomy for ourselves, determining our own definition of right and wrong; to be self-portraits.

The Christian invitation is to say like John the Baptist, 'He must increase, but I must decrease' (John 3:30), to set our 'minds on things above, not on things of this earth' (Col 3:2), and ultimately 'we shall be like him' (1 John 3:2). In doing so we join Peter in confessing “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” and in the radiance of that glorious truth to know who we are as his children. 

Simeon Hawkins
Head of Faculty for Biblical & Religious Studies