What Does It Mean To Be "Christian"

I recently did a word study on the Greek word for "Christian" (Christianos) and I thought it would be fun to share some of my findings. While this is an extremely popular title for believers in the modern day church, this title is only found 3 times in the New Testament (twice in Acts and once in 1 Peter).

Long story short, the title of "Christian" was a term originally give to the early church believers by non-believing Gentiles as a term of scorn and mockery. Whereas today being a Christian is a overpopulated title, back then the church had no name, and while today we consider the term "Christian" to mean "little Christ," back then it was a means of persecution of the early church.

The Gentiles used this term in mockery of their persecuted Messiah. The early church was called "Christian" as a derogatory term pertaining to the suffering and execution of Jesus. To the Gentiles, Jesus was a failed Messiah who was kill by man, and the early church believers were just as delusional as their Messiah. To the Jews at large, the teachers of Jesus were still largely controversial, and to the Greeks it was foolishness, so being called a "Christian" was like being called a fool and was followed by persecution.

In 1 Peter 4:16, Peter writes to encourage those who are being persecuted for being "Christian." Never in Scripture did the church propagate that term or refer to it as an adopted title. Every time it shows up in the first century, it was a derogatory term used by the Gentiles.

So what happened? In the second century, as persecution and martyrdom became even more prevalent, the testimony of the martyrs was a testimony of honor in sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Therefore, being a "Christian" was associated with persevering under persecution and having faith in the resurrection/eternal reward. It wasn't until the second century that the Gentile meaning of the word turned on itself and suddenly being a Christian was a honorable life of sacrifice unto death (martyrdom). It was then that the church actually did adopt the term as believers who shared in the sufferings of Christ.

Obviously, the 2nd century definition is greatly different than today's definition. Today, being a Christian is a casual belief system and worldview, whereas in the early church, being a Christian meant enduring hardships and persecution. This gives us a little bit of perspective into the heritage behind our title. Being a Christian is not just believing in Christ, but it is being born into an eternal family of persevering believers who will receive their just reward with Christ.

Selah

Report from theWall, March 2011

We had a great time at theWall this weekend! We had a girl who was wearing a brace on her wrist and was in constant pain because of a volleyball injury and carpal tunnel. She couldn't move her wrist, hand, or fingers without feeling pain (you know where this is going...). During the time of small group prayer, some of the students laid hands on her and prayed for her hand and it was instantly healed! She took off the brace and moved her hands and showed me how she could shake her wrist and wiggle her fingers with no pain! Praise God! She was a singer on the worship team that night!

I was also amazed by the power and the boldness of our student's prayers that night. We had a time of "rapid fire" prayer where students prayed one after another and each of the prayers were so powerful and faith filled. It's like all the sudden there is an expectancy among the group that is building with each event, and rightly so as the Lord continues to move in increasing measures!

Praise God!

It's A Boy: Samuel Pate Bloom

Yesterday, we were so blessed to have our very first sonogram of our new baby due in August! We were so excited to find out the gender because Molly wants to quickly decorate the room and refer to the baby by his name! Molly had been feeling a small pain in her abdomen that turned out to be the place Samuel uses as his pillow for his head! Already Molly is 20 weeks, half-way to the due date, and we are more excited than ever for our newest member of the family!