It is tempting at times to revert back to a more Harnackian approach. Harnack, in his Essence of Christianity, asserted that the true faith of Jesus had been corrupted by Paul to a faith in Jesus. Harnack's description of true Christianity was that of the "Fatherhood of God and brotherhood of man." However, one can not so easily dismiss the origins of the church, whose faith in the resurrected Jesus undergirded its existence. There would be no Christianity today without the earliest church's belief in the resurrection of Jesus and in the cross which the resurrection vindicated. However, as I have stated previously, the evangelical church especially is too prone to separate Jesus' death and resurrection from the historical life of Jesus, without which the death and resurrection would have had no meaning. Jesus died as a result of the life he lived and for that reason his life must be included as a necessary component of the entire salvation event.

I cannot claim the salvific importance of Jesus' death and resurrection for myself without committing myself to the life of Jesus as the example for Christian life and faith. This is the existential aspect for the Christian faith which all too often is lacking in our evangelical experience and preaching. The important question for me as I begin each day is not simply, "Am I a Christian?" but rather, "Do I want to be a Christian today?"