Stop Saying Christianity is not a Religion

For years, I said it too: “Christianity isn’t a religion, it’s a relationship.” I meant well. I was trying to emphasize the personal nature of faith. But over time, I came to realize this catchy phrase creates a false and harmful dichotomy.

It’s like saying, “Marriage isn’t a covenant, it’s just love.” That sounds poetic, but it rips apart what God designed to stay together. Christianity is a relationship, yes—but it is a relationship within a revealed religion. It’s covenantal. Ordered. Structured. Rooted in truth.

Jesus didn’t just offer us vague spiritual intimacy. He established a new covenant. He gave His people a church, ordinances, a body, a mission. He didn’t hand us a feeling. He gave us a faith.

This slogan often grows out of a fear of dead religion. People are rightly tired of hypocrisy and legalism. But the answer isn’t to throw out religion altogether. The Bible doesn’t. James calls the Christian life “pure and undefiled religion.” Paul calls the church the pillar and foundation of truth.

When we reject “religion,” we often discard doctrine, discipline, and the very covenantal boundaries that guard the relationship we claim to love. That’s not Christianity. That’s spiritual consumerism wearing a Jesus t-shirt.

Let’s stop apologizing for the word religion. What we need is not less of it but more of the real thing—a living faith, alive in truth, shaped by the Spirit, grounded in the Word.

God never asked us to choose between religion and relationship. He gave us both.

Nino Marques