The Christian Story

God, creation and human purpose

Christians believe there is one God, who created the universe and gives it life. God is not one object within the universe. He is the source of everything that exists.

Christians know this one God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. This is called the Trinity. Christians do not believe in three gods, but in one God who eternally exists as three persons. The Trinity will be explained more fully in the next part.

Christians believe that creation is good and meaningful. Every human being has dignity because each person is made in the image of God.

This does not mean that people physically resemble God. It means that human beings were made for relationship with God and with one another, and were given the capacity for love, responsibility, creativity and moral choice.

Sin and separation from God

The world is not as it should be. Human beings can love and create, but we also deceive, exploit, harm others and turn away from what is good.

Christians use the word sin for this rebellion and brokenness. Sin includes particular wrong actions, but it goes deeper. It is the condition in which humanity turns away from God, damages other people and fails to live as God intended.

Because God is perfectly good, sin cannot simply be treated as unimportant. It brings guilt, judgement and separation from God. Human beings cannot remove that guilt or repair their relationship with God merely by becoming more respectable, religious or moral.

God came to rescue humanity

The Christian story is not mainly about humanity climbing upwards towards God. It is about God coming towards humanity.

The Bible tells the long story of God seeking and preparing to rescue humanity, beginning with creation and continuing through Abraham, Moses, the people of Israel and the prophets.

Christians believe this story reaches its centre in Jesus Christ. Jesus is not only a teacher or messenger sent by God. He is God the Son, who became fully human while remaining fully divine.

Jesus lived without sin and revealed what God is like. He then willingly died on the cross, bearing in our place the judgement and punishment that human sin deserves.

Jesus died and rose again

Christians believe that Jesus truly died, was buried and rose bodily from the dead.

Through his death, Jesus made forgiveness and restored relationship with God possible. Because he bore the judgement for human sin, those who turn to him do not have to earn forgiveness or bear final condemnation themselves.

His resurrection showed that sin and death had not defeated him. It also revealed the eternal life and future resurrection that God promises to those who belong to Jesus.

Forgiveness is given by grace

God offers forgiveness freely by his grace. It is not earned through good deeds, religious effort, suffering, payment or moral achievement. It is given because Jesus bore the judgement for human sin and rose from the dead.

A person receives this gift by turning towards God and trusting in Jesus. Christians call this repentance and faith.

Forgiveness does more than remove guilt. It restores the broken relationship between a person and God and begins a new life with him.

Good deeds still matter, but they do not purchase forgiveness. They follow as a response to God’s grace and as part of the new life that grows from trusting and following Jesus.

Christian hope

Christian hope is not merely that a person’s influence or memory continues after death. Christians believe that God will raise the dead, finally overcome evil and renew creation.

Those who belong to Jesus are promised eternal life with God—not because they have made themselves worthy, but because they have been united with Christ and received God’s gift of salvation.

The whole story in one sentence

The Christian message is that the one God who made us came to rescue us in Jesus Christ, bore the judgement for our sin on the cross, rose bodily from death, and now offers forgiveness, restored relationship and eternal life, all freely given by his grace.