Postmodernity’s rejection of modernity’s concept of a rational, autonomous knower tends toward a rejection of individualism as a whole accompanied by a sometimes radical embrace of communalism. Many postmodern Christians are therefore highly critical of the individualism they see present in contemporary evangelicalism. Some are even beginning to question whether it is legitimate for evangelicals to speak of having or pursuing a “personal relationship” with Jesus Christ. Pointing out that this phrase is not present in the New Testament text, some postmodern theologians are concerned that such language is off-putting to the post-Christians living around us, and that such a concept causes many contemporary Christians to become myopic, self-centered and consumerist in the way they live out the Christian faith.

It is true that many evangelical Christians have become too individualistic in their walk with Christ, and that the phrase “personal relationship” with Jesus does not show up in the pages of the New Testament. But does this mean that the concept of a personal relationship with Christ is altogether absent from God’s word? Is denying or even simply downplaying the idea of a personal relationship with Christ the best way to respond to the problem of Christian individualism?  

This is an important issue for any Christian who wants his or her faith to be biblically informed. Therefore, I encourage you to take a good look at the following passages in order to make your own determination as to whether the authors of the New Testament, nearly two millennia before the advent of modernity, did or did not communicate the idea that God is concerned for the spiritual well-being of individuals, and desires that individuals enter into and maintain a personal relationship with him through Jesus Christ (a personal though not private relationship that most certainly has communal implications).

C. S. Lewis has famously observed that the trinitarian God of Christianity is unique in that he is not simply personal, but super-personal. At the heart of the Godhead is a community of three persons engaged in a sort of divine dance produced by the eternal, loving interaction between Father, Son and Holy Spirit (see Mere Christianity, pp. 175-176). In other words, our God is all about the dynamic of interpersonal relationship.You might say that he is a hyper-personal God who is radically interested in a personal (though not private) relationship with each and every human being created in his image. Hence the long list of scriptures presented above!

It is precisely this desire in the heart of God for a personal, life-giving relationship with each of us that produces the drama inherent the biblical story. The sad truth is that not everyone will enter into such a life-giving relationship with God, despite the remarkable lengths God has gone to make such a relationship possible.

Make no mistake, the New Testament does emphasize the concept of a personal relationship with God. The problems of contemporary Christians adopting an attitude of radical individualism, and approaching life in the church with a consumerist mindset in place are real and need to be dealt with lest we continue to practice churchianity rather than Christianity and give the post-Christians around us more justification for dismissing the faith. But the solution to these problems is not to dismiss or downplay the idea of a personal (though not private) relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Quite the contrary.

Something to think about.