What Acts tells us

The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch (Acts 11:26).

The word Christian is only used 3 times in the Bible.

The word Disciple is used 261 times.

‘Christ’ is the Greek word for the Jewish title, ‘Messiah’ (which means ‘the anointed, servant king’ as per the prophesies in Isaiah).

And since Antioch was the third largest city in the Roman Empire, it shows that the word ‘Christian’ was first used in a non-Jewish cosmopolitan city.

As substantial numbers of Gentiles began to believe in Jesus, they were distinguished from the Jews who did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah by the use of a new description; ‘Christian.’

We can understand like this: The Gentiles who came to believe that Jesus was the Jewish Messiah were called ‘Messiah-ians,’ which in Greek is; ‘Christ-ians’.

But it’s not only a title; it’s a lifestyle description.

A Christian is a ‘Christ–ian,’ a little Christ.

In his book ‘Mere Christianity’ CS Lewis writes, ‘The church exists to draw us into Christ and to make us little Christs. If the church is not doing that, all the Cathedrals, Clergy, Missions, Sermons, even the Bible itself, are simply a waste of time.’

Dallas Willard makes the point that today, there is a widespread misunderstanding that it is possible to be a Christian without being a disciple. While over 30% of the population of the world are happy to identify with the title ‘Christian’, it is painfully obvious that 30% of the world’s population are not ‘little-Christs’ – disciples of Jesus.

Jesus told his disciples that they were the ‘salt of the earth and the light of the world’ (Matthew 5:13-16). He was referring to those who like the seed that fell on good ground, ‘hear’ the message of the kingdom, ‘and understand it’ and yield a substantially larger crop (Matthew 13:23).

Stories from the Kingdom

Recently, I was in Coventry Cathedral. The new cathedral building was completed in 1962 after the first was bombed and destroyed by the Nazis during the Second World War. The building itself speaks powerfully of the sovereignty of God, and from the Cathedral, a far-reaching ministry of reconciliation has been established. It is a powerful example of how good triumphs over evil and how humanity is brought to peace and unity at the Cross.