5) Identity and self-expression

Identity and self-expression (click the arrow to listen)

If you have been working through this section on identity, you may have begun to think that there is no such thing as an ‘identity’; that as Christ’s servants filled with character qualities derived from the Holy Spirit, we are all alike. So, let’s work this out and come to some understanding as to what makes up our individuality, and especially our identity in God’s eyes.

characteristics

The modernist view of identity includes many features which might contribute to what people ‘identify’ as: racial features such as skin colour, sexual or gender characteristics, social status, and so on. The bible undermines the basis of such categorisation by focusing on each of us as people made in God’s image; and this is especially true when we are joined to Christ through spiritual regeneration (being born again):

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26-29)

In Christ Jesus there is no racial distinction (Jew nor Gentile), no social distinction (slave nor free) and no sexual distinction (male and female). This means that in spiritual terms we are ‘all one in Christ Jesus’ and to make us even more spiritually merged together, we are ‘Abraham’s seed’: or, if you prefer, we become one new spiritual race which is based on faith.

The bible attributes no significance to racial characteristics based on skin colour, for instance; preferring to see us all as created in the image of God. The bible notes that there are different nations and languages, but ignores physical characteristics (obviously, people of the same race can live in different countries and have different languages). However, although Paul wrote about our similar spiritual identity, this doesn’t change the fact that we do possess different racial, social and sexual characteristics. The point is that these are not factors of any significance in the way that God sees and knows us. I’ll return to this point at the end of this study.

cross

The book of Proverbs provides us with an insight into a modernist mentality:

A fool has no delight in understanding, but in expressing his own heart.
(Proverbs 18:2 Modern English Version)

Self-expression has become not only an obsession with some – discovering my real self, who I really am; being myself – but it is also taught as truth by the ‘gurus’ of this world. However, Jesus had a very different take on the place of self for those who wish to follow Him:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it. What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done. (Matthew 16:24-27)

This teaching has two prongs: saving life and losing life. The Greek word for ‘life’ and ‘soul’ in this passage is the same. It is referring to that inward person – the core of what we are.

In order to gain the whole world, we must conform to its way of thinking; to its way of doing things, of seeing things, of its values. Conforming in this way, says Jesus, is not the way to discover the true self, but is the way to become a clone of this world. The world provides all manner of suggestions as to how we can avoid focusing on the real inward person, and encourages us to create an identity which is a mirage of what we really are. We can present ourselves in ways which we think are original, but they focus mainly on our bodies, our appearance and our values. In the drive to be accepted by the world, we end up being like everyone else according to the values of the world.

Jesus gave a warning about the dangers inherent in following the world:

The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight. (Luke 16:14-15)

Here Jesus was teaching about the world’s obsession with the love of money. But his words can be applied in the widest context: whatever worldly people value highly is detestable to God. I have always found this a great principle to live by when there is a need to evaluate some new fashion or movement.

self-control

Losing life involves self-denial. This was how Paul approached Christian living:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last for ever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air. No, I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. (1 Corinthians 9:24-27)

The manifestations of self are mainly through the body: our physical, emotional and mental life. Identity in worldly terms focuses on the body. Paul is looking at something deeper; something which will bring benefit not only to our lives now, but something which will have eternal consequences

We must accept that self-denial will involve curbing our natural instincts. We may have to learn the importance of what is called technically, ‘delayed gratification’. Generally, delayed gratification means resisting the experience of an immediate reward in order to receive a more beneficial reward later. Apparently, delayed gratification, or as we are seeing it – denying self, leads to other positive outcomes, including academic success, physical health, psychological health, and the ability to socialise with others. Delayed gratification means developing patience, recognising impulsive behaviour, discovering self-control and using willpower.

individuals

Finally, let’s return to our uniqueness in God’s sight. He takes great interest in each one of us: remember, Jesus said God even numbers the hairs on our heads (Matthew 10:30)! The view of us which God takes, and which is much more difficult for us to comprehend, is the individual identity of our spirit or our inner self. Whilst we will acknowledge that there is such a thing as the human spirit, we often relegate it to qualities such as being irrepressible, or courageous, or other character expressions. However, the bible view is that God, who is Spirit, identifies us by our spirit:

Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. (1 Peter 3:4)

This passage is about godliness in women. But it speaks to a principle of how God sees us – a unique identity of spirit.

This divine viewpoint is spoken of in Hebrews in this way:

You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect (Hebrews 12:23)

This passage is referring to the state of those who have been redeemed in Christ through faith but have died and who are waiting for the final resurrection. We would not be able to identify them as individuals, as at that time they are not yet embodied. However, God knows each one of them through their spirits. So, while God created us as embodied people and not just spirits like the angels are, our spirit is the foundational part of our identity. Yet this identity of spirit is not easily recognised by us due to our unspiritual immature natures.

knowing

As I am emphasising, the modern preoccupation with identity is based on the world’s standards and viewpoint. But Christians should be escaping from this trap; and seeking to see things as God sees them. It is so easy for Christians to be captured by the world’s principles:

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? (Galatians 4:8-9 ESV)

Our emphasis should be on growing in the knowledge of God. This is similar to the principle which John wrote about:

We love because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

We can know God, who is Spirit (John 4:24), because he first knew us as spirit. As we draw close to God in order to know Him, our spirits become more alive to God through knowing him.

This inward spiritual person, which is hidden from the world, is spoken of in other ways too:

For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. (1 Corinthians 2:11-12)

Our spirit is our true unique identity. In fact, it is spirit which makes us physically alive:

As the body without the spirit is dead (James 2:26)

Our spirit will be clothed with an eternal body in the resurrection from the dead. Our spirit, through which God identifies us, is eternal; God’s gift in His eternal Kingdom is a body which likewise will also live for ever.

In conclusion, disciples of Christ have their focus, not on some worldly concept of identity, but on putting to death their old life and experiencing change in their character and spirit:

And were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:22-24 ESV)