Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 10
Dean challenges an evangelical assumption by asking, “Can a person be a follower of Christ without following Christ?” and contrasts “mental recognition” with “Christ within us”; where do you see your own faith tempted to settle for recognition/creed/assurance language rather than a lived apprenticeship to Jesus, and what concrete “shoe leather” change would expose whether Christ is actually ruling your life?
Another way to ask: Where are you tempted to settle for right beliefs and assurance instead of actually obeying Jesus day to day? What specific change in your life would show whether Jesus is really in charge?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Dean’s teaching suggests the temptation is to treat salvation as “mental recognition” of facts (or a “proper creed”) while avoiding costly obedience—being “saved” without “shoe leather” following. A concrete test is whether you will literally practice Jesus’ teachings (especially in hard areas like enemies, money, retaliation, and truthfulness), because that exposes whether salvation is a Person “within us.”
- Dean asks directly: “Can a person be a follower of Christ without following Christ?” and says his background functionally answered “yeah… as long as you’re saved.”
- He repeats: “It wasn’t put in the shoe leather.”
- He contrasts recognition with reality: “Our salvation is a person… not a creed… not a doctrine… not a mental ascent.”
- He uses John 3:3 to stress new birth and kingdom sight: “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
- He critiques Luther’s “It suffices… we have recognized the lamb,” responding: “It suffices when the lamb of God is inside of us.”
- He ties inner reality to judgment/obedience texts: when Christ is within, Jesus’ words about “those who obey me” make sense.