" . . . The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch."
What do the words, “Galinha,” “Huhn,” “Kip,” “Poulet,” and “Pollo” have in common?
They are the Portuguese, German, Dutch, French and Spanish words for what the English-speaking world calls a chicken.
They are the simple descriptive words each language uses to describe the tasty staple of many dinner tables.
“Rhode Island Reds,” “Mahrans,” “Leghorns,” “Jersey Giants,” and “Silkies” -- are names used to describe particular types of chickens.
Knowing the right name for the right kind of chicken is important, because each type of chicken has certain qualities -- each has certain characteristics -- each is bred to be different!
How about “Christen,” “Chrétien,” “Cristiano,” “Cristão,” and -- “Christian?” Do these words describe different people?
When the people of Antioch looked at those who believed and followed Christ, they saw a group of people who were trying to live like Christ. They started calling them "Christians." They saw a group trying to head in the same direction -- a biblical concept desired by Christ, even as He was facing His own death...
John 17:20-23: ". . . I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”
If you place a term before or after "Christian" to describe the kind of Christian you are, ask yourself -- why?
Are you consciously trying to be united to that for which God gave His Son -- or are you unconsciously being lead in a slightly different direction?
There is only one body -- one church. And, it has only one head -- Jesus Christ!
Ephesians 4:4-6: There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
Colossians 1:15-20: The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
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