Is He a Christian?

A Word in Season: Messages by R.J. Rushdoony on the Faith for All of Life · Jun 1, 2026 · 2m

Some church members tolerated a man whose conduct was repeatedly dishonest, disruptive, and morally offensive, excusing their inaction by saying, “Maybe he really is a Christian, so we must be patient with him.” But this attitude betrayed a false standard. Christ Himself said believers are known by their fruits, not their claims (Matt. 7:16–20); to assume a man is a Christian while his actions deny it is not charity but folly. Worse yet, such thinking creates a double standard treating sin as more tolerable in a professing believer than in an unbeliever and produces a church with lower moral…