The Life of the Christian

And Agrippa said unto Paul, “With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian.” — Acts 26. 28

“But if a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name.”- — Peter 4. 16

3 HE disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” “With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make

me a Christian.” “If a man suffer as a Christian, let him

not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name.”

These are the only occasions where the word “Christian”

occurs in the.New Testament. This word, occurring so rarely, and gradually passing into general use, has become almost commonplace. Yet the word in itself has a deep significance and suggestiveness. Seeing therefore that with the passing of the centuries the word has now come to be so widely used, it is interesting and valuable to go back to the beginnings, and consider what it meant in the early days.

The name by which the followers of Christ were most generally known at that period was that of disciples. They also spoke of themselves as believers, as brethren in Christ, as those who were of “the Way.” But they did not speak of themselves as Christians. The first time the word Christian is used, it is in the way of description. It has been said that these men of Antioch, proverbially witty and clever, created this as a term of opprobrium, a kind of nickname. I am not at all sure of the correctness of that view. It was certainly a name given to these followers of Christ by those who were without. The disciples did not call themselves Christians. They “were called Christians first in Antioch.” The people of Antioch observed these

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10. THE LIPE Of THE. CHRISTIAN

people, took note of them as to their conversation and their habits, and said, They are Christians. Those not themselves Christians were the first to apply the name to the followers of Christ, and it was intended to describe them.

The next occurrence of the word is where a king used it in a tone of supercilious contempt. The Revision has altered the text, and corrected a very popular misconception. Agrippa did not for a moment mean to say that Paul very nearly persuaded him to be a Christian. On the contrary, noticing the earnestness of Paul, and the aggressiveness ot his spirit, and having listened to his argument, in disdain for him the king said, “With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian.”

Only once in the New Testament is the word “Christian” used of Christian people by a Christian. Peter made use of it in his Epistle, and yet even here, if the whole context be read, it will be found that in all probability he was quoting from others. Writing of the fact that believers suffer persecution on account of their pure ‘life, he declared that those outside would wonder that they did not run to every “excess of riot,” but he added, “If any man suffer as a Christian, let him glorify God in this name”; and thus it is seen that the expression is probably a quotation from the language of those outside. If it was intended that opprobrium should attach to it, then the apostle charged them not to be ashamed of it, but rather to glorify God in it. Let the name be used, and its true significance revealed.

These are the only occurrences in the New Testament, and yet the word has taken hold upontus, and now throughout the world the followers of Christ are spoken of as Christians. Thus the word has come to have a far wider meaning than it had when the men of Antioch used it ee

ITS NATURE se

to describe the disciples, when Agrippa used it in supercilious contempt, or when Peter used it recognising that

it was being made use of as a term of reproach.

If we examine these occasions of New Testament use, we shall find that all the values that attach to the name to-day are to be found in them in germ. First let us examine these instances carefully, in order that we may see how it was used at the beginning; and then let us go behind these early uses of the name, and find

out what it really meant. Thus I think we shall be able

to understand what the nature of the Christian life really is.

The fact that the term was first applied to the disciples by outsiders is in itself suggestive. Why did the men ot Antioch call these people Christians: There can be but one answer, a simple answer, and yet including the whole fact. They saw that these people had been with the Christ in spirit, if not in actual personality, and that they had learned of Him. They talked of Christ, lived for Christ, worked for Christ. They had caught His Spirit, they were occupied with His business, and were manifesting Him in character and conduct; and the men of Antioch said, These people are Christians, men connected with Christ in some way.

For a moment think of the story of the history of Antioch.

‘This was God’s new starting-point. The Church at Jerusalem had failed to obey the law. It had become self centred, conceited, and self-satisfied, interested only in the

movements emanating from its authority. This Church was the most dire and dismal failure, never realising its own privilege and power. Obedience to the Master’s plain injunction to begin at Jerusalem and to go to the uttermost part of the earth, was only realised as they were thé Baal of their life Eat oem to name oe Christians. Coming from outsiders, the name is of grea 2 value. The force of this fact may best be felt by asking, = ‘How many persons would name us Christians if we f. “not in so many words declare ourselves to be such? —. The supreme fact evident i in n the lives of these Bes

B oo Se called them Christians. Therefore the name first signified that these people manifested in outward life their elanets Ae ship to Christ. es aaales a Passing to the next occasion of the use of the Bik ee 3 find ourselves in the presence of a familiar and yet beautiful: - picture. Paul, with the chain of imprisonment upon him, is arguing his case before Agrippa. It is impossible to cops: that argument without discovering the fact that Paul was = far more anxious to bring Agrippa face to face with his Master, than he was to defend himself as in the presence 23 Of. Agrippa. I do not say that there is no defence of himself, for it is indeed a most remarkable one, showing Paul’s Se 5 mastery of the law of his people, and his understanding af 2 a the technicalities thereof, But surging through all is the — great passion of his heart so to present Christ, and tell dee story of his own life, as to compel men into a like loyalty

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