Acts 11:26

And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.

 

What does it mean to be a Christian?

Well, like many things, it can have different meanings depending on the context and the perspective.

For example, if you are Muslim or Hindu, living in a country without much if any exposure to Christians or Christianity, you may have a vague idea that Christians follow a man named Jesus who was a teacher and may have claimed to be God. All Christians are lumped together as one. They typically know little or nothing about the different Christian beliefs and denominations.

If you grew up in the American South like I did in the 1960’s, you may have thought of Christians as being either Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, or Christian (the denomination). I didn’t meet my first Catholic or Episcopalian until I was almost a teenager. And I didn’t know any agnostics or atheists (at least they didn’t admit it), until I was in high school or college.

But what does it really mean to be a Christian?

Of course, the Bible is always the best source. It is its own best dictionary.

First, let’s see what the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) says, though.

According to the OED, Christian is “relating to or professing Christianity or its teachings.” Also, “a person who has received Christian baptism or is a believer in Christianity.”

Pretty good definition.

What do theologians and churches today say a Christian is?

A lot of different things unfortunately. It’s confusing.

Some say you have to be born again to be a Christian. And to be born again, you have to accept Jesus as your personal savior, and say the sinner’s prayer to be saved and become a Christian.

Some say you have to be baptized in their church and only their church to be a Christian.

Some say that not only do you have to believe and accept but you also have to live a holy life from that point forward or you are not really a Christian. You are just a false professor instead. You must persevere in the faith to be a “real” Christian.

As with many things, there are some half-truths imbedded in these false ideas of what it means to be a Christian.

It’s exhausting.

I don’t think this is what Jesus had in mind when he said my yoke is easy and my burden light.

In our scripture it does not say what is required to be a Christian. It just says that they were called Christians.

The word “Christian” or “Christians” only appears three times in the Bible, all in the New Testament, obviously.

The first is in our scripture. “The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

Along with Rome and Alexandria, Antioch was one of the busiest and most prosperous cities of the first century. There was a sizable Jewish community there, but many Christians were Gentiles. In Antioch, Christianity was no longer just a Jewish sect.

So, they needed a new name. Why did people call them Christians?

Notice the scripture didn’t say they called THEMSELVES Christians first in Antioch. They were CALLED Christians first in Antioch. Others called them Christians. Why?

They weren’t called Christians because they were reclusive and never went out to reveal themselves, keeping their lights hidden. If that were the case, they would have been unknown to others. No, there was something about these folks in Antioch that made other people call them Christians.

Let’s take a look at the other 2 uses of “Christian” in the New Testament.

Paul was testifying to King Agrippa before he was shipped off to Rome.

He was making the case to the king, who knew the Jewish scriptures, that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah.

Paul tells the king his life story of being a Pharisee, persecuting the early church, his Damascus road experience with the risen Christ, and then ends his appeal to Agrippa with the truth of Christ crucified and risen.

Then he challenges the king with this:

Acts 26:27-28 King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

So, it seems from this passage that one of the conditions to becoming a Christian is that you believe what the scriptures say about Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ.

Agrippa says he was almost persuaded by Paul to believe and be a Christian.

The last time the word “Christian” is used in the Bible is:

1 Peter 4:15-16 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.

This passage teaches us that a person will sometimes suffer for being a Christian. You will have to make sacrifices to be a Christian.

So far, we have that a Christian is someone who believes in Christ and may suffer for it.

What else?

When they were called Christian at Antioch, I believe this implies that they were living in a way that was different. They were recognized as not like everyone else.

Someone would perhaps say, “Look, that’s one of those Christians.”

They were counter cultural. You could say they were living an alternative lifestyle.

What did that look like?

A disciple is a student or a follower of a teacher, leader, of philosopher.

When you follow someone, follow the leader, you can begin to look and act a lot like your leader. Sometimes you may start to talk like him. Or behave like him.

Is that what the people of Antioch were seeing? People who talked and acted like Christ?

Isn’t that part of being a Christian? Being Christ-like?

Philippians 1:27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel

Conversation here is behavior. Behave like you are a Christian. In all of your affairs or dealings with everyone.

Stand fast in the faith. Be of one spirit.

Of course, as always, Jesus says it best, when he described what it is like to be one of his followers or disciples. Being a Christian.

John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

You can’t really overemphasize the broad implications this simple sentence, spoken by our  Lord, has for our lives as Christians.

This does not mean just to have affection for our brothers and sisters in the church, our family and friends.

It’s actually much more than that. Much harder than that. But it’s harder only because we make it harder.

After all, Jesus did tell us that His yoke was easy and His burden light.

But we make it difficult just like Martha did when she was busy about many things, even when her sister Mary had found that good place at the feet of Jesus, learning from him and loving him.

From history, early Christians were known for some things that were out of the ordinary.

First of all, we can see from the New Testament that Christians treated women better than the cultures around them.

Women were first at the empty tomb on that resurrection Sunday. They were the first eyewitnesses and were given great credibility by being recorded in scripture.

This was counter cultural. In Jewish culture the testimony of women was not respected.

Women were not allowed to testify in court. Their testimony was not considered to be believable. But, here in the New Testament, these early Christian women at the cross and the tomb testified first of the risen Christ. They were the ones to run and tell Peter and John and the other apostles.

Also, it was Aquila AND Priscilla who instructed the great preacher Apollos more perfectly in the faith.

Christians also treated children better.

Remember, it was Jesus himself who said this:

Matthew 19:14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.

In Roman society, children did not have the same rights as adults. As a matter of fact, a Roman father could decide to just dispose of a child. They could be put out with the trash and exposed to the elements, often dying of exposure. Infanticide was a legal and accepted part of ancient Roman culture. Early Christians were known to go out and rescue these children, bringing them into their homes and providing for and raising them. Loving them.

It may have been that someone saw a man or woman outside in the cold rescuing an infant and said, “Oh, that must be one of those Christians.”

Treating women and children like cherished and respected human beings is a hallmark of Christianity.

This is simply an extension and example of loving each other as Jesus taught us to do.

Being a Christian is believing the truth of the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus, loving each other, and suffering for our beliefs and actions whenever necessary.

Believe, love, suffer and sacrifice.

Be a Christian!

May the Lord richly bless you to be the Christian He would have you to be.