http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=1499
The Name “Christian”
Christendom
is conspicuous for the myriad of names worn by individuals and
churches—from “Catholic” and “Protestant” to Baptist, Methodist,
Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Episcopalian, and an
innumerable host of others. Those who employ these terms to identify
their religious orientation also would claim to be “Christian”—as if the
secondary terms are simply further refinements or clarifications of the
broader, more basic designation of Christian.
Whence did these names arise? History answers this question for each
name. For example, “Catholic” simply means “comprehensive” or
“universal.” The Catholic Church therefore wishes to emphasize that it
constitutes the universal church. “Baptist” is connected to the Greek
word for immersion, and thus represents the wearer’s conviction that
baptism is by immersion. A “Baptist” is an “immersionist.”
“Presbyterian” comes from the Greek word
presbuteros, which
refers to the form of government by which the church is to be organized.
A “presbyter” in the New Testament was one of a plurality of elders who
functioned as the leaders or overseers of the local congregation.
“Pentecostal” refers to the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 when the Holy
Spirit empowered the apostles to speak in tongues. Thus a “Pentecostal”
is one who believes in the miraculous gifts of the Spirit. All other
names, terms, and designations by which people who claim to be Christian
refer to themselves may also be explained on the basis of some doctrine
or feature of Christianity that historically came to receive special
emphasis among a specific group of people.
What does the New Testament have to say about this state of affairs?
Does Christ sanction the use of differing names and terms to identify
individuals and churches? Perhaps the place to begin is in the Old
Testament when the messianic prophet Isaiah predicted that the day would
come when God would implement a “new name:”
For Zion’s sake I will not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest,
Until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a lamp that burns.
The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory.
You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will name (Isaiah 62:1-2).
This fascinating prophecy contains four points that merit close
consideration: (1) Righteousness/salvation would go forth from
Jerusalem; (2) the Gentiles would see this righteousness/salvation; (3) a
new name would be given; and (4) the Lord Himself would bestow that new
name.
One must go to the New Testament to find fulfillment and clarification
of these marvelous assertions. A number of names are used to refer to
God’s people in the New Testament, including believer, disciple, saint,
servant, and brother. But all of these terms were used previously in the
Old Testament (Exodus 4:31; Isaiah 8:16; John 9:28; Psalm 106:16;
Proverbs 2:8; Leviticus 25:46,55; Nehemiah 1:2). They were not new.
Isaiah’s inspired prediction allows us to pinpoint the precise occasion
on which a
new name was given. His first indicator was that
righteousness or salvation would go forth from Jerusalem. Here is an
apparent allusion to the commencement of the Christian era on the Day of
Pentecost in
A.D. 30, described in detail in
Acts 2. After His death and resurrection, Jesus instructed His apostles
to go to Jerusalem and there await the coming of the Holy Spirit (Acts
1:4,12). They did so, and the Holy Spirit, as predicted, empowered the
apostles to present the Gospel message and to launch Christianity and
the church of Christ (Acts 2). Indeed, on that auspicious occasion, just
as Isaiah predicted, the means to salvation went forth as brightness,
and proceeded to go forth from Jerusalem even as Jesus predicted (Acts
1:8). The first point of Isaiah’s prophecy was fulfilled.
However, the throng gathered on Pentecost was composed entirely of Jews
(Acts 2:5). In fact, though about 3,000 were converted to Christianity
that day (Acts 2:41), and several thousand thereafter (Acts 4:4; 5:14;
6:1,7), all the converts were Jewish. Samaritans (half-Jews) were
eventually incorporated into the Lord’s church (Acts 8:5ff.). But it was
not until perhaps eight to ten years later that the first Gentiles
obeyed the Gospel and were added to the church. This momentous event
occurred when Peter, at the instigation of a heavenly vision, agreed to
go to the home of a Roman centurion to preach the Gospel to him, his
family, and close friends (Acts 10:24). They, in turn, became the very
first Gentile converts to Christianity as a result of hearing the
preached message and submitting themselves to water baptism (Acts
10:47-48; 11:14).
But look back at Isaiah’s prophecy. The second action that Isaiah
anticipated would occur, after salvation went forth from Jerusalem, was
that the Gentiles themselves would be the recipients of this same
righteousness/salvation and likewise bask in the glory of the Lord. The
conversion of Cornelius and those with him in Acts 10 constitutes the
fulfillment of the second criterion of Isaiah’s prediction. Incredibly,
immediately after the conversion of the Gentiles in Acts 10, in the very
next chapter, Luke reported that Peter was confronted by hostile
Jerusalem Jews who had heard about the inclusion of Gentiles into the
Christ’s church. These Jewish Christians insisted that he give account
of his actions. He did so in Acts 11:4-18, recounting sequentially the
events of Acts 10. Upon hearing of these astounding events orchestrated
by the Holy Spirit, the hostile Jews melted, backed off, glorified God,
and conceded: “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to
life” (Acts 11:18). This was an amazing concession that further cleared
the way for Gentile missions.
At this point in his inspired narrative, beginning in Acts 11:19, Luke
proceeded to clarify the full significance of what had just occurred.
The persecution that drove Jewish Christians out of Jerusalem (Acts
8:1-4) forced them to travel into predominately Gentile areas. However,
these Jewish Christians had refrained from imparting the Gospel message
to Gentiles (Acts 11:19). But with the conversion of the household of
Cornelius, the Gospel now began to be presented to the predominately
Gentile population in the city of Antioch: “And the hand of the Lord was
with them, and a great number believed and turned to the Lord” (Acts
11:21). Aside from Cornelius’ own household, Antioch thus became the
first Gentile church of Christ in all of human history. The church in
Jerusalem immediately sent Barnabas to Antioch to confirm the reports,
who in turn (quite logically) went to Tarsus in search of the “apostle
to the Gentiles,” Paul, to introduce him into the mix at Antioch.
Together, the two men spent an entire year meeting with the church and
teaching many people.
In line with the prophecy of Isaiah, the first two preconditions to God
imparting a new name had now been met. If the application of Isaiah’s
prophecy is correct, one ought naturally next to expect the bestowal of
the new name. We are not disappointed. The very next statement by Luke
is simply: “And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch”
(Acts 11:26). What an earthshaking statement! Astonishing! Isaiah was
absolutely accurate—dead on! Consider the following three observations
about this astounding moment in human history.
First, observe that from the inception of Christianity (Acts 2), converts were called “disciples.”
They were not called Christians
on the day of Pentecost! Though thousands had converted to
Christianity, and now belonged to Christ and were therefore followers of
Christ, they nevertheless were not called
Christians. Unlike
Judaism, one of the central features of New Testament Christianity is
its international application—with absolutely no consideration given to
ethnicity. In this sense, the church of Christ reached its full
existence only when Gentiles were incorporated into its membership (cf.
“also to the Greek” in Romans 1:16; 2:9-10). This circumstance came only
with the conversion of Cornelius and the commencement of the Antioch
church of Christ. Thus we do not read what we would full well expect to
find: that “the disciples were called Christians
first in
Jerusalem.”
Second, Luke included a grammatical feature worth considering. He said the disciples “were called.” The term he used (
chrematidzo)
is typically used in the New Testament in relation to those occasions
when God is specifically the One Who does the calling: “to appoint,
warn, or nominate, by Divine direction” (Clarke, n.d., p. 772; cf.
McCord, n.d., 2:311). The term occurs nine times in the New Testament:
Matthew 2:12,22; Luke 2:26; Acts 10:22; 11:26; Romans 7:3; Hebrews 8:5;
11:7; 12:25 (Moulton, et al., 1978, p. 1011). In every case, divine
calling, warning, or admonition is contextually self-evident (cf.
Thayer, 1901, p. 671; Robertson, 1930, 3:160). In fact, several
translations indicate this use of the word by inserting “by/from/of God”
(
KJV, ASV, NASB, RSV), or “divinely” instructed/warned (
NKJV) in some or all of the passages.
Third, observe the final feature of Isaiah’s prophecy: “which the mouth
of the Lord will name” (Isaiah 62:2). Church historians insist that the
name “Christian” arose as the result of persecution wherein the enemies
of Christ originated the name as a term of derision. However, they are
mistaken. Isaiah predicted that
God Himself would be the author
of the name. And so He was. The name Christian is, indeed, so special
that it occurs only three times in the New Testament and each time flags
a critical aspect of the name. In addition to Acts 11:26, where the
fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy spotlights the magnificent inclusion of
the Gentiles in the church of Christ, the word occurs again in Acts
26:28. In that setting, Paul strove ardently to convert King Agrippa.
Agrippa indicated his awareness that Paul’s purpose—his mission and goal
in life—was to make people
Christians. He endeavored to make people followers of Christ—not followers of Moses or any other religion.
The final occurrence of the word Christian in the New Testament is
Peter’s use of the term in a context dealing with suffering that is
inflicted on God’s people by their enemies: “Yet if anyone suffers as a
Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this
matter” (1 Peter 4:16). “In this matter” in the
NKJV is a rendering of the literal Greek phrase “in this
name,”
i.e., the name “Christian.” Peter insisted that the suffering that is
heaped upon a follower of Christ ought to be borne under the name
Christian—not some other religious appellation.
Writing over 200 years ago, Rice Haggard recognized the extreme
importance of the name “Christian” in the divine scheme of things, when
he wrote: “[I]t is but a due honor to the Lord Jesus Christ, the founder
of Christianity, that they who profess his religion, should wear his
name” (1804, p. 14).
REFERENCES
Clarke, Adam (no date),
Clarke’s Commentary: Matthew-Acts (New York: Abingdon-Cokesbury).
Haggard, Rice (1804),
An Address to the Different Religious Societies, on the Sacred Import of the Christian Name (Lexington, KY: Joseph Charless).
McCord, Hugo (no date),
Fifty Years of Lectures (Atwood, TN: Atwood Church of Christ).
Moulton, W.F., A.S. Geden, and H.K. Moulton (1978),
A Concordance to the Greek Testament (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark), fifth edition.
Robertson, A.T. (1930),
Word Pictures in the New Testament (New York, NY: Harper).
Thayer, Joseph H. (1901),
A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1977 reprint).
