Two Kinds of Real Christian

“Suppose a man marries and he knows that he is going to be unfaithful to his wife — in fact, he already has adulterous plans. But for various reasons, he thinks it expedient to be married, so he does to the church and makes the vows. Now, is he married? Of course he is — he is under covenantal obligation to keep his vows, whether or not he meant them. Using a figure of speech, we might say that he was not being a ‘real’ husband to his wife, meaning that he did not treat his wife the way a husband should. But in another sense, he is very much a real husband. In using the figure of speech, saying he is not a real husband, we are not saying that he has no obligation to keep his vows. We simply mean that he is being a scoundrel. In the same way, baptized infidels are not ‘real’ Christians, and unless they repent, they will all perish. But this is where modern evangelicals must take care. These hypocrites remain under the obligations of the covenant, and so in another sense, they are real Christians” (Mother Kirk, p. 97).