christian Summary and Overview

the name given by the Greeks or Romans, probably in reproach, to the followers of Jesus. It was first used at Antioch. The names by which the disciples were known among themselves were "brethren," "the faithful," "elect," "saints," "believers." But as distinguishing them from the multitude without, the name "Christian" came into use, and was universally accepted. This name occurs but three times in the New Testament (Acts 11:26; 26:28; 1 Pet. 4:16).

The disciples, we are told, #Ac 11:26| were first called Christians at Antioch on the Orontes, somewhere about A.D. 43. They were known to each other as, and were among themselves called, brethren, #Ac 15:1,23; 1Co 7:12| disciples, #Ac 9:26; 11:29| believers, #Ac 5:14| saints, #Ro 8:27; 15:25| The name "Christian," which, in the only other cases where it appears in the New Testament, #Ac 26:28; 1Pe 4:16| is used contemptuously, could not have been applied by the early disciples to themselves, but was imposed upon them by the Gentile world. There is no reason to suppose that the name "Christian" of itself was intended as a term of scurrility or abuse, though it would naturally be used with contempt.

CHRIS'TIAN . Acts 26:28. This was a name given to the followers of our Saviour, and its proper beautiful meaning is "a follower of Christ." The Christians called themselves first "disciples," "believers," "brethren," "saints." The name "Christian" originated at Antioch. Acts 11:26, about the year 42 or 43, and probably (like the names " Nazarenes " and "Galilgeans ") as a term of reproach or contempt. The word occurs in only three places in the New Testament -viz. in the two passages before cited and in 1 Pet 4:16, where it is implied that the very name was associated with reproach and suffering. Tacitus (b. about a.d. 54), a profane historian, tells us of the low or vulgar people called the followers of Christ, or Christians. The term Christian is now employed (1) in contradistinction to pagans, Jews, and Mohammedans, and (2) to denote the open professors of religion, in contradistinction from those who are not professors. In some countries it is still a term of bitter reproach, and the assumption of it is attended with persecution, cruelty, and death. The Christian religion is received at the present day (as it is supposed) by nearly one-third of the inhabitants of the world -i. e. over 400,000,000 among 1,460,000,000. But in point of intelligence, civilization, and influence on the world the Christian nations far surpass all other nations combined. One of the most recent estimates is the following: Jews......................................7,000,000 Mohammedans................230,000,000 Pagans..............................793,000,000 Roman Catholics..............216,000,000 Protestants.......................130,000,000 Eastern Christians.............84,000,000 .......................................1,460,000,000

The name first given at Antioch to Christ's followers. In the New Testament it only occurs in 1 Peter 4:16; Acts 11:26; Acts 26:27-28. Their name among themselves was "brethren," "disciples," "those of the way" (Acts 6:1; Acts 6:3; Acts 9:2), "saints" (Romans 1:7). The Jews, since they denied that Jesus is the Christ, would never originate the name "Christians," but called them "Nazarenes" (Acts 24:5). The Gentiles confounded them with the Jews, and thought them to be a Jewish sect. But a new epoch arose in the church's development when, at Antioch, idolatrous Gentiles (not merely Jewish proselytes from the Gentiles, as the eunuch, a circumcised proselyte, and Cornelius, an uncircumcised proselyte of the gate) were converted. Then the Gentiles needed a new name to designate people who were Jews, neither by birth nor religion. And the people of Antioch were famous for their readiness in giving names: Partisans of Christ, Christiani, as Caesariani, partisans of Caesar; a Latin name, as Antioch had become a Latin city. But the name was divinely ordered (as chreematizoo always expresses, Acts 11:26), as the new name to mark the new era, namely, that of the church's gospel missions to the Gentiles. The rarity of its use in the New Testament marks its early date, when as yet it was a name of reproach and hardly much recognized among the disciples. So in our age "Methodist," a term originally given in reproach, has gradually come to be adopted by Wesley's disciples themselves. Blunt well says: "if the Acts were a fiction, is it possible that this unobtrusive evidence of the progress of a name would have been found in it?"