SO CALLED CHRISTIAN?

Friday 14 March

 And when he had found him, he brought him back to Antioch. For a whole year they assembled together with and were guests of the church and instructed a large number of people; and in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians. Acts 11:26 (AMPC)

But if [one is ill-treated and suffers] as a Christian [which he is contemptuously called], let him not be ashamed, but give glory to God that he is [deemed worthy to suffer] in this name. 1 Peter 4:16 (AMPC)

There is a saying ‘if you were charged in a court of law for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you?’

The Word Christian is ‘Christianos’ which in Greek means a follower of Christ. One of the most interesting things about the term is the manner in which it came about. If we look into this we find that it was not the disciples who named themselves Christians but the unsaved who coined the phrase.

It was later on adopted by the Apostle Peter in his first epistle and even though it was a name spoken out of contempt by many, Peter tells us to be unashamed and ready to suffer for the name of Christ. This shows us that although it started out as a negative connotation from unbelievers, the term Christian began to be accepted by the early church in the process of time.

The fact that the word Christian is only mentioned twice in the New Testament indicates it was understood that the definition of ‘follower of Christ’ was insufficient to describe all you in Christ and Christ in you was all about. Another term used to describe the early church was ‘follower of the Way’. This was no doubt taken from Jesus famous words when He said in John 14:6 ‘I AM the way, the truth and the life.

But even this description of those disciples was not showing the whole picture of what it means. There is something called the limitation of human language. In other words, it will take usually take more than one word or phrase to attempt to explain one concept. For example; the ‘Believer’ is someone who believes in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

Other phrases to describe what happens after salvation include ‘born of the Spirit’, sons of God, new creatures in Christ, born of the Word, saved, children of light, children of God, the regeneration, Me in Christ, Christ in me, etc.

These words are not what the ‘unsaved’ are naming you, they are what God has called you in Christ through His word. Each one of the names that describe the graces and glories of salvation displays a different facet of what is the same object, which is Christ.

So the principle here is to call yourself what God calls you first and foremost. What if the term for those in the early Church was not ‘Christian’ but some other term? The point I am making is do we let ourselves be defined by what man calls us or do we look into the Word to see what God calls us, because that is exactly who we are.

‘Follower of Christ’ as a definition is limited compared to the richness of revelation that is in His Word. Truth be told, as believers we only follow Christ in, through and by the Word because He now lives in us by His Spirit. Wherever we go Christ goes, Wherever we are Christ is. This is far more than following. This is Oneness.

Ultimately, the indwelling and infilling of Christ and possessing the eternal life of God is what it means to be…

APPLICATION

Go and read all the names we are called that describe our identity in salvation and study each one to know who we have become in Christ according to the Word.