Acts 5:12-42 | First Loyalty (No Matter What)Sample

When the angel frees the apostles and tells them to go back into the temple courts to preach Jesus, he tells them to talk about something specific. In translations like the NIV, it says: “Tell the people all about this new life” (Acts 5:20). Translations like the ESV or NASB nuance it differently. “Speak to the people all the words of this Life.” The former accents new life in Christ as a different way of being. The second treats life more like an identity. It treats “Life” like a name.

Those first Christians didn’t call themselves “Christian.” That title didn’t happen until later. In fact, it doesn’t seem they were too concerned with calling themselves anything. They were disciples of Jesus, loyal to him and doing life his way. It wasn’t until more and more started to notice them, and people were forced to find a way to talk about them, that all sorts of names began to attach to the Jesus movement: The Way, Christians, the Nazarene Sect. Sometimes even just by association with Jesus. The temple leaders tell the apostles not to teach in this (Jesus’s) name. Calling followers of Jesus “The Life” might not be a bad one to add to the mix.

When you come across someone as big and amazing as Jesus, one descriptor alone can’t contain him. So you see all kinds of descriptions in the Bible for those submitting to his kingship and new life in his name. Today we’ll read some of the passages referencing Jesus’s movement. Which do you like the most? What are some other names you could call it?