The
name Christian denotes a follower of Christ.
About 700 BC God says in Isaiah 65:15, “You shall leave your name as
a curse to my chosen; for the Lord God will slay you, and call His servants by
another name.”
And Isaiah 62:2 says, “The Gentiles shall see your righteousness, and
the kings your glory.
You shall be called by a new
name, which the mouth of the Lord will name.”
This new name was to be given when the Gentiles saw their
righteousness.
After the conversion of the Gentile Cornelius and his household we read
in Acts 11:18, “And they glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also granted
to the Gentiles repentance unto life’”.
After the Gentiles saw their righteousness, Acts 11:26 says, “And the
disciples were first called Christians in
Antioch
”. Christian
is the name the Lord gave.
Kings were also to see the righteousness of God’s people.
Acts 26:28 says, “Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You almost persuade
me to be a Christian’”.
But just wearing the name Christian does not make one a Christian.
Many claim to be a Christian just because they believe in the existence
of God. But
believing in the existence of God does not make one a Christian because James
2:19 says, “You believe there is one God.
You do well.
Even the demons believe and tremble.”
1 Peter 4:16 says, “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not
be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this manner”.
We glorify the Lord by wearing the name Christian.
God’s word says that Christians are special people.
1 Peter 2:9 says, “But you are a chosen generation, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people”.
There is no name nobler that men can wear.