NOTES for Act 11:19-26

What a seemingly simple word: “Christian.” It is so familiar that our eyes encounter it and we pronounce it without paying much attention to what precisely lies behind this combination of sounds. The person who first uttered this word probably did not fully realize either that Christians are not merely some faction within Judaism. No. Christianity is more than a group of people. A Christian is called not merely to be the “bearer” of a certain ideology or the follower of some movement. A Christian is the bearer not of a teaching, but of the Teacher Himself. A Christian is a person of Christ, a person belonging to Christ. We can call ourselves Christians precisely to the extent that our life is given to Christ, dedicated to Him, and directed toward Him. Unfortunately, this extent often proves very, very small. But only the One into whom we were baptized and whose name we bear can make us—and does make us—greater Christians than we are.