He was the eldest of eleven children born to John George, Elector of Brandenburg by his third wife Princess Elisabeth of Anhalt-Zerbst.

The death of the childless George Frederick the Elder in 1603 marked the extinction of the original Franconian line of the Margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach-Kulmbach.

Christian inherited Kulmbach and his younger brother Joachim Ernst received Ansbach.

He was also one of the founders of the Protestant Union and formed an alliance during the Thirty Years' War with Sweden.

In Plassenburg on 29 April 1604, Christian married Marie, daughter of Albert Frederick, Duke of Prussia.