Identity
Identity speaks to who we are. Our cultural definition of identity includes our strengths, weaknesses, interests, associations, appearance and beliefs, among other things. From a faith-perspective, however, identity has more to do with relationships and to whom we belong. For those who are Christ-followers, the following Scriptures instruct us on the basis of our identity:
Romans 8:15-16
One of the most essential truths about our identity is that we are set-free, children of God:
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.*
Romans 9:25
The Apostle Paul makes clear the Old Testament promise that God adopts us and adores us:
As He says also in Hosea, “I will call those who were not my people, ‘my people,’ and her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’”*
Isaiah 62:4
The prophet Isaiah foretells of how God will transform us from people who feel forgotten to those intimately connected to Him:
It will no longer be said to you, "Forsaken," Nor to your land will it any longer be said, "Desolate"; But you will be called, "My delight is in her," and your land, "Married"; For the LORD delights in you, And to Him your land will be Married.*
Isaiah 62:12
Redeemed means that a price has been paid to restore someone or something to its rightful relationship. This passage shows that God has sought you out and paid that price:
And they will call them, “The holy people, the redeemed of the LORD”; And you will be called, “Sought out, a city not forsaken.” *
1 Peter 2:9
A result of this redemption is a new identity, which the Apostle Peter so passionately articulates here:
But you are a chosen race, A royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; *
1 Corinthians 5:17
This passage speaks to the fact that we have new identities. Not new as in “someone completely different”, but rather as in “renewed and revitalized”:
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!†
Romans 8:37-39
Our identities are fused to God in Christ. Once that has happened, nothing can change it:
In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.†