In each reference, the emphasis, inherent in the original Greek, is on the fact that people from outside the faith recognized Christians as a distinct group. It is often assumed that the name “Christian” was given somewhat flippantly or even derogatively by these powers-that-be-a sort of dismissive wave of the hand to those “little Christs.” Technically, the ending “-ian” means “belonging to the party of,” so “Christians” meant those of Jesus’ party.Īfter Acts 11:26 the word “Christians” is used only two other times in the New Testament: in Acts 26:28 (by Agrippa, an unbelieving King that applied the name he knew as an outsider) and 1 Peter 4:16 (in the context of being oppressed in wider society under that given name). The term “Christian” comes from the world’s realization that something new and unheard of was happening. But in Christians, they saw something different. What’s interesting here is that there were so many off-shooting sects within Judaism that Antiochians never bothered to learn or categorize differently. This group of people was redefining community in a radical and unprecedented way, so much so, that a new word was needed to categorize what in the world was happening. People from all parts of the city - Jews and Gentiles alike - were suddenly coming together. The Church came to Antioch and began breaking down the dividing barriers in a way that upset the society’s existing categories. That always bring to my mind this map of Chicago divided by race.Įnter Christ-followers. Antioch was designed like most cities of that day: A circular wall on the outside, a marketplace in the center, with the interior of the city walled in way that divided different people groups from one another. Antioch was referred to as “all the world in one city,” where you could see all the world’s richness and diversity in one place. But why a new name for this group of Christ-followers? Why, from the perspective of outsiders, weren’t they simply lumped in with all the other variants of the Jewish faith? It wasn’t a name Jesus’ disciples gave themselves - it was a name given to them by the society in Antioch. The early church was called “Christians” by the powers-that-be for the first time in Antioch (Acts 11:26).
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