By Marty Haas

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God, just as I also please all men in all things, not seeking my own profit, but the profit of many, that they may be saved.
1 Corinthians 10:31-33

Paul was both consistent and fluid in his self-identity. He consistently thought of himself as a servant of God. When helpful, he identified himself by his calling as an apostle. When helpful he called himself “the chief of sinners” or “the least of the apostles.” He was consistent in his identity but at the same time he was flexible regarding those personal descriptors that many others go to first. To Paul, these attributes were no longer important.

No doubt you know the the first thing everyone says at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting: Hi, I’m Joe and I’m an alcoholic. At an AA meeting, identifying yourself as an alcoholic is a critical part of the recovery process. The Apostle Paul wasn’t an alcoholic, so how did he identify himself? Perhaps his example can help us to identify ourselves correctly.

Paul was both consistent and fluid in his self-identity. Paul described himself in numerous ways. An apostle. Chief of all sinners. The least of the apostles. A servant of Christ. He tailored his description of himself to his audience and their immediate need. All of these descriptors were true of him, as were many more, but he wasn’t caught up in his personal attributes. To Paul, these attributes were no longer important.

Take his genealogy, for instance. By flexible I don’t mean that he would play loose with the facts. He would not be one of those who tries to pass himself off as a race that he wasn’t. But he no longer clung to his race for his sense of identity. More than anything else, his genealogy, his career, his accomplishments, his strengths, even his weaknesses were just tools that he used to build bridges with people to whom he wanted to minister. That’s where his fluidity comes in. Paul looked for bridges that he could build between himself and those whom he hoped to reach. So he looked for what they had in common and used those commonalities to begin building a relationship from which he could share the gospel — or if they were already Christians to build them up.

That wasn’t always the case, of course. Before he met Christ on the road to Damascus, Paul was a typical Pharisee. He was quite proud of his heritage and his rise in the religious community. He was born on the right side of the tracks, to the right parents. He applied himself and rose to the top of the ranks. He was respected. Feared. And foolish. It was the grace of God that showed him the folly of building your identity on such things.

If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so: circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews; concerning the law, a Pharisee; concerning zeal, persecuting the church; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as dung, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
Philippians 3:4–11

Paul’s true sense of identity was very rooted in Christ, and that’s the way he identified other Christians as well. In this passage from 1 Corinthians 10 you’ll note that he identifies three groups of people: Jews, Gentiles, and the Church of God. Within the Church there were, of course, individuals who were Jews and individuals who were Gentiles. But Paul no longer viewed them in those terms. He viewed them as saints, “holy ones” who are members of the body of Christ. He has no room in his theology for identity politics. And he had no room in his life for anything that is not defined by theology. Nor did he have room in his life for self-seeking or self-pity. He is single minded in his purpose, to guide others toward the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.

To that end he gladly gave up everything: his Jewish birthright, his trophies of personal success, his right to a comfortable life. God calls us to the same purposefulness in how we live our lives. The Bible says that we are saints, which literally means “holy ones set apart by God.” That’s our identity. We are not defined by our past sins, our past successes, our past failures. We are not defined by those ways we’ve been victimized or in which we have victimized others. We are defined by the transformation that happened to us when we received the good news of God’s love. We received the holiness of Christ in exchange for our sins. Our past was washed by the blood of Christ. Our future was sealed in His grace. And our present is lived in His name.

Today we see some people trying to build bridges by fabricating them out of falsehoods, faking genealogies, faking accents, faking personal histories, faking passionate concern over today’s social-issue-de-jour. Some do it for political office. Some do it for peer acceptance. All who do it do so to manipulate others. Paul didn’t have to twist, hide or deny the truth of who he was, but he always looked for those commonalities that would help others to listen to him and to engage in the gospel. He was a servant, an apostle, a Christ follower.

Let’s not label ourselves or others in any way that does not reflect this simple truth: we are all either children of God or lost people who need to learn about the new birth. Let’s lead more to Jesus so they, too, can rightfully call themselves children of God.