The Bielefeldt Papers

There is a saying that has been floating around the Christian and religious community. It is a saying that sounds humble and spiritual on the surface, but when you think about the statement clearly, it doesn’t really make sense. That saying is, “I don’t follow religion, I follow Christ.”

For one thing, if you follow Christ, you’re already practicing a religion, specifically Christianity. “Religion” just means an organized way of worshiping God that involves beliefs, practices, and community. Christ Himself instituted things that are religious in nature, such as baptism, the sacrament (or communion), commandments, ordinances, and the Church itself (see Matthew 16:18). Therefore, saying “I follow Christ, not religion” is like saying “I play soccer, not sports.” Following Christ is the religion.

Another thing is that Jesus didn’t tell His followers to be spiritual wanderers. He called apostles, established a church, taught collective worship, and gave them priesthood authority. To follow Christ is to participate in the body of believers, which is religion. When people say they follow Christ but reject “religion,” they usually mean they reject hypocrisy, empty ritual, or institutional corruption, which is understandable and good, but those are failures of people, not of a religion itself.

This is where I reach my main point. Many who say “I follow Christ, not religion,” are really reacting to “legalism,” or the idea that rules or rituals alone save one’s soul. Religion, properly understood, isn’t about empty rule-keeping. It’s about a covenant relationship between Christ and disciple. James says in James 1:27 that true religion is “pure and undefiled before God,” to care for others and live holy lives. That is precisely what Christ taught. Religion, when corrupted or misunderstood, becomes hollow or oppressive. That is a distortion of what Christ instituted, not its essence. So, religion without grace becomes legalism. Religion with Christ at its center becomes true discipleship.

In the New Testament, Christ and His Church are described as the bridegroom and the bride, or the head and the body (see Ephesians 5:25-27, 30-32; Revelation 19:7; and John 3:29). One cannot claim to follow the head while rejecting the body. To follow Christ without His Church is to follow a partial and self-defined version of Him.

In the end, to say “I don’t follow religion, I follow Christ” may sound profound, but it misunderstands what it means to truly follow Him, for Christ Himself founded the very religion that bears His name.

Michael Bielefeldt