Is Identity Purely Self-Generated?

Understanding the Self in Context

The Creator has come among us as our Redeemer. God has made us “new” or “born again”: we are a new creation (2 Cor. 5:14–21)! Christ has reconciled us with God and with each other. This is true not merely of my psychology but also of my being and therefore my relationships. The incarnate, crucified, and risen Lord therefore provides not just forgiveness but a new being, a new creation. Because I am in Christ, this new being-in-relation means that I am also necessarily called to a ministry of reconciliation with others (5:17–18).

While it is true that our identity is in Christ, that doesn’t mean that our family, our culture, or other aspects of our particular experience are irrelevant. Our identity in Christ isn’t something apart from our cultures and backgrounds but rather his transformation of them as he brings us to himself. Yes, we must reject sinful behaviors and impulses, but we must also recognize the parts that others play in shaping both who we are and our understanding of ourselves. This is part of why healthy churches, families, and friendships are vital to healthy spirituality. I need others if I am to be the most faithful version of “me.” We expose one another’s blind spots and help one another imagine a more beautiful, flourishing life. The Christian insight is that “I” flourish not so much by exalting myself as by learning to love and sacrifice for others as well as by learning to accept such love and sacrifice from others.

So who am I? I am a Christian. I am a saint. I am a child of God whom he has called to good and meaningful work. As a finite creature, I am from a particular place and people; I don't ignore my ethnicity, native language, socioeconomic setting, or the relationships that surround me. As God’s child, I am called not to deny my context or past but to see all of these relationships changed in and through God’s holy love. Here my identity is shaped and reshaped. Secure in Christ and aware of my dependence on others, I know that the Spirit works in me against the distorting effects of sin that harm the relationships God created me for. With gratitude, I have been set free to engage in acts of love and reconciliation that now foster mutual life-giving communion. In this way, my identity can be properly found in Christ, in the community, and in relationship to God’s whole creation.