Stop Saying “Jesus Was Not a Christian.”

A common sentiment in my social media feeds. Found via Google image search.

Aight y’all… I’m not saying no names, but some of y’all need to stop with the “Jesus was not a Christian” memes. This statement is nonsense.

Maybe I’m being too harsh by calling it nonsense, because I believe that most of you mean well with this statement, but without qualifying what you mean, you have the potential to cause more confusion than bring clarity, especially if you call yourself a Christian or a disciple of Christ. That’s why I think it’s nonsensical; it doesn’t necessarily help to make the point that you probably think you’re making.

Now, I’ll give you some credit up front. “Jesus is not a Christian” is true, but it’s only true in the same general way that a Department of the Treasury printing plate is not the same as a Federal Reserve note. Of course Jesus is not a Christian. Jesus is the Christ. He is the original, the one for whom whom a whole global movement was named. To me, saying “Jesus was not a Christian” is like saying “Michael Jordan never signed an endorsement deal with Jordan Brand.” Well, duh. He didn’t need to. He was Michael Jordan.

The truth is, phrases like “Jesus was not a Christian” are problematic because they don’t shed…