New Testament Study Bible Summary: Who are Christians?

After studying all 27 books of the New Testament, focusing on this specific question, one of the clearest conclusions I reached is that the destiny Scripture gives Christians is far greater than I had previously understood. Christians are not merely people who believe in Jesus and receive forgiveness. They are God’s children, Jesus’ brothers and sisters, members of his body, and people whom God is actively transforming into the image of Christ.

Not every New Testament book speaks to this question with the same level of detail. Some emphasize present discipleship and moral transformation, while others speak very explicitly about Christians’ final likeness to Christ. But when the New Testament is read as a whole, the cumulative picture is remarkably consistent: Christians are called to follow Jesus now, become like him in character, share his life and mission through the Holy Spirit, follow his path through suffering into resurrection and glory, and ultimately reign with him in God’s restored creation.

The New Testament does not present Jesus as someone Christians merely admire from an unreachable distance. Jesus is the firstborn, pioneer, teacher, Lord, and head of a family that God is bringing toward the same kind of holiness, glory, and resurrection life that we see in Christ.

God’s Children and Jesus’ Brothers and Sisters

The most basic answer to the question “Who are Christians?” is that Christians are children of God.

John says that those who receive Christ are given the right to become “children of God” (John 1:12). Paul says that those who are led by the Spirit of God are God’s children and that the Spirit testifies that we are His children (Romans 8:14–16). Galatians likewise says, “You are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26).

This places Christians in the same family as Jesus. Romans calls Jesus “the firstborn among many brothers” and immediately says that God’s purpose is for His children to be “conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29). Hebrews says that Jesus and those he sanctifies are “all from one,” and that Jesus is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters (Hebrews 2:11–12).

Romans goes even further. Christians are “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ,” suffering with him so that they may also be “glorified with him” (Romans 8:17). Jesus is preeminent—the firstborn Son and Messiah—but Scripture places him within a family of sons and daughters who inherit from God together with him.

The Christian story is therefore a family story. God is bringing His children home, and Jesus is the firstborn brother who has gone before us.

Conformed to the Image of Christ

The New Testament repeatedly describes the goal of Christian transformation in terms of becoming like Jesus.

Jesus himself says, “Everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). Matthew likewise presents disciples as people who are called to become like their teacher and to follow Jesus’ way of life (Matthew 10:24–25).

Paul makes the promise even more explicit. God has predestined His children “to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Romans 8:29). In 2 Corinthians, Christians are “transformed into the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18). In Galatians, Paul describes his labor for Christians as continuing “until Christ is formed in you” (Galatians 4:19).

Ephesians describes the Church growing toward “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” and tells Christians to “grow up in all things into him” (Ephesians 4:13, 15). Colossians speaks of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” and Paul’s goal of presenting “every person perfect in Christ” (Colossians 1:27–28).

Then 1 John states the future promise with remarkable simplicity:

“We know that when he is revealed, we will be like him.” (1 John 3:2)

This is not merely a call to admire Jesus or imitate a few of his virtues. The New Testament describes a real work of God in which human beings are progressively transformed into Christ’s image and will ultimately become like him.

Jesus is called “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). If Christians are being conformed to Jesus’ image, then God is restoring God’s own image in humanity through Christ. Christians are becoming what human beings were created to be.

Holy, Mature, Perfect, and Blameless

One of the strongest themes across the 27 books is that God intends to complete the moral transformation of His people.

Jesus tells his followers, “Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). James tells Christians to allow perseverance to complete its work so that they may be “perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:4). Ephesians says God chose His people to become “holy and without defect” before Him (Ephesians 1:4).

First Thessalonians gives one of the clearest promises of God’s role in accomplishing this transformation:

“May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely… May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.” (1 Thessalonians 5:23–24)

The promise is not simply that Christians should try harder to become holy. God Himself is committed to finishing His work in them. Philippians says that “he who began a good work in you will complete it” (Philippians 1:6). Jude ends with praise to the God who is able to keep His people from stumbling and present them “faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy” (Jude 24).

Titus emphasizes purification and transformed conduct. First Timothy emphasizes growth in godliness. First Peter calls Christians to holiness patterned after Christ. Across books that use somewhat different language, the direction is the same: sin and moral brokenness are not the permanent identity of God’s children.

God intends to finish what He began.

The Same Spirit, the Same Mission, and Christlike Works

Christians are not only promised future likeness to Jesus. The New Testament portrays them as beginning to participate in his life and mission now.

Jesus was empowered by the Holy Spirit for his ministry, and Acts shows that the same Holy Spirit fills ordinary Christians. Through Her, God’s people proclaim God’s truth, receive wisdom and courage, endure persecution, and perform extraordinary works. Stephen’s death even echoes Jesus’ own pattern: filled with the Spirit, he remains faithful and asks that his killers not be held guilty for their sin (Acts 7:55–60).

In Matthew, Jesus gives his disciples authority to heal sickness, cast out demons, and proclaim the kingdom (Matthew 10:1, 7–8). Jesus calls his followers “the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14), language that closely parallels his own description of himself as the light of the world in John.

Jesus also tells his disciples:

“He who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these.” (John 14:12)

John’s Gospel goes even farther. Jesus prays that his followers will share the profound unity that exists between him and the Father, and he says that he has given them the glory the Father gave him (John 17:21–23).

Christians therefore continue Jesus’ work in the world. The Church is called the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27), with Jesus as its head (Ephesians 4:15; Colossians 1:18). Together, Christians become Christ’s hands and feet—displaying his character, continuing his mission, and representing him to the world.

His Path Becomes Our Path

Becoming like Jesus does not mean sharing only the pleasant parts of his destiny. The New Testament repeatedly presents Christ’s path as the pattern Christians themselves follow.

Jesus says that anyone who follows him must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow him (Mark 8:34). First Peter says that Christ suffered for Christians, “leaving you an example, that you should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). Philippians calls Christians to have the same mind as Christ and repeatedly connects Christian life with his humility, obedience, suffering, and eventual glory.

Romans expresses the pattern succinctly: Christians suffer with Christ so that they may also be glorified with him (Romans 8:17).

Jesus’ story therefore becomes the pattern of the Christian story: faithfulness to God, suffering, death, resurrection, exaltation, and glory.

Ephesians even describes Christians as already, in a spiritual sense, being made alive with Christ, raised with him, and seated with him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:5–6). What has happened to Christ becomes the pattern and promise of what God is doing in His people.

Resurrection, Immortality, Glory, and Divine Life

The future likeness between Christ and Christians is not limited to character. Scripture also promises that Christians will share the kind of resurrection life Jesus now possesses.

First Corinthians 15 describes Jesus as the pattern of resurrected humanity and says that Christians will “bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15:49). Their mortal bodies will become imperishable and immortal (1 Corinthians 15:42–54).

Philippians says that Jesus “will change the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of his glory” (Philippians 3:21). Colossians says that when Christ is revealed, Christians “will also be revealed with him in glory” (Colossians 3:4). Second Thessalonians speaks of Christians obtaining “the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 2:14). Second Timothy says that if we endure with Christ, we will also live and reign with him (2 Timothy 2:11–12).

Second Peter uses especially striking language, saying that God’s people become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Scripture describes Christians as sharing in God’s life, holiness, immortality, and glory through what God gives them.

The future Christian is therefore not simply the present Christian made slightly better. God promises a transformed humanity—holy, immortal, glorious, and fully alive.

Christians Will Reign With Christ

The New Testament also presents Christians as sharing in Jesus’ God-given authority and reign.

Paul tells the Corinthians that the saints will judge the world and even angels (1 Corinthians 6:2–3). Second Timothy says, “If we endure, we will also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:12).

Revelation brings this theme to its climax. Jesus promises the one who overcomes:

“He who overcomes, I will give to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.” (Revelation 3:21)

The parallel is remarkable. Jesus overcame and was exalted to sit with God on His throne; Jesus then promises that his faithful followers will overcome and sit with him on his throne.

Revelation later describes God’s people as priests of God and of Christ who “will reign with him” (Revelation 20:6), and the final chapter says God’s servants “will reign forever and ever” (Revelation 22:5).

Christians are therefore not merely subjects who stand at an eternal distance from King Jesus. They are his brothers and sisters, fellow heirs, priests, and co-rulers who participate in the kingdom God has entrusted to Christ.

One Body, One Family

All of this happens not merely to isolated individuals but to a people.

Romans says that Christians, though many, are “one body in Christ” and members of one another (Romans 12:5). First Corinthians develops this picture in detail: the Church is Christ’s body, made of many members with different gifts and functions (1 Corinthians 12:12–27). Ephesians says this body is growing toward the fullness of Christ (Ephesians 4:11–16).

Christians do not all become the same person. Their individuality and different roles remain. But God is forming them into one united family and one body that increasingly reflects Christ.

This is why Christian unity matters so much. Christians belong to one another. We have the same God, the same Lord, the same Spirit, the same hope, and the same future. God is not creating millions of disconnected copies of Christ; He is creating a family and a people who together reflect His Son.

Jesus Remains the Firstborn and Head

None of this means that every distinction between Jesus and Christians disappears.

Jesus is God’s Messiah, the firstborn among many brothers, the pioneer who went before us, the head of the Church, our Lord, and the one through whom God reconciles humanity to Himself. His role in God’s plan is unique.

But his uniqueness does not require Christians to remain eternally unlike him. In fact, the New Testament repeatedly presents Jesus’ uniqueness in relational terms: he is the firstborn because there are other children; the head because there is a body; the pioneer because others follow; the teacher because disciples are being trained to become like him.

Christians do not become Jesus. They become like Jesus.

And Jesus remains worthy of extraordinary honor precisely as the one who went before us—the faithful human Messiah whom God perfected, raised, exalted, and appointed as Lord, and whose image God is now reproducing in His children.

Conclusion: We Will Be Like Him

After reading all 27 books of the New Testament with this question in mind, I believe the cumulative answer is clear.

Christians are followers of Jesus—but Scripture describes them as far more than followers.

They are children of God.

They are Jesus’ brothers and sisters.

They are members of his body.

They are fellow heirs with Christ.

They are being transformed into his image.

They are being sanctified toward complete holiness and blamelessness.

They share his Spirit and participate in his mission.

They follow his path through suffering into resurrection and glory.

They will bear his heavenly image in immortal bodies.

They will share his glory and reign with him.

The Christian hope is therefore not simply that God will forgive us and allow us to live forever. God intends to finish His work in us. He is restoring His image in humanity by conforming His children to the image of Christ.

Jesus shows us what redeemed humanity can become.

And Scripture gives God’s children this astonishing promise:

“We know that when he is revealed, we will be like him.” (1 John 3:2)