Tuesday: The Disciples Were First Called Christians in Antioch
WEEK 19
TUESDAY
THE DISCIPLES WERE FIRST CALLED CHRISTIANS IN ANTIOCH
Acts 11:19-26
We have seen the relationship of the church to the kingdom and of the fellowship to the church. We must now look into the nature of the New Testament church and, seeing it, bathe our spirits in its spirit. For here the water is pure, gushing out of Reality.
In one church in the Acts of the Apostles this fellowship came to embodiment. The fellowship was born in Jerusalem but had to find a complete embodiment elsewhere. Christian faith did not come to its own in the Jerusalem church. For two reasons: it was in an exclusively Jewish setting, and it caught some of the surrounding racial pressures. Peter was an example; amazingly full of the Spirit, he nevertheless had his reservations about the Gentiles, “You all realize that it is forbidden for a Jew to associate or visit with outsiders” (Acts 10:28). This was characteristic of the Christianity at Jerusalem. Hence it never came to its own there. It was too bound up with racialism. It had to be transplanted to a totally different environment, free of these inhibitions, before it could come to full flower.
There was another reason Christianity couldn’t come to its own in Jerusalem. The apostles were tending more and more to become the center of authority; things had to be referred to them for decision. The church was taking on the pattern of the society around them with its authoritarian heads. Jesus had said, “You know that the ones who are considered the rulers by the Gentiles show off their authority over them and their high-ranking officials order them around. But that’s not the way it will be with you” (Mark 10:42-43). But it was becoming so with them, and the pattern had to be broken. A fresh beginning had to be made, and it was made in Antioch. There, in a pagan environment, and thus not inhibited by a religious tradition, Christianity came into its own. It was no mere chance that “It was in Antioch where the disciples were first labeled ‘Christians’” (Acts 11:26). They gave names in those days to express characteristics, so they gave the name Christians, for they saw the marks of Christ upon this society.
O Lord, we thank you for the church, the best life of the kingdom. Help us to make our church fellowship as near the life of the kingdom as possible. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: When the people think of me, may they think of one thing: the Christian.