Persecution Sparks Growth in Antioch

Called Christians by Divine Providence

For a whole year, Barnabas and  Saul "taught quite a crowd, and it was first in Antioch that the Disciples were by divine providence called Christians."  It is unlikely that the Jews were the first to call Jesus' followers Christians (Greek) or Messianists (Hebrew), for they rejected Jesus as the Messiah, or Christ, and therefore would not tacitly recognize him as  such by calling  his followers Christians.  Some think that the heathen population may have nicknamed them Christians in jest or out of scorn.  The Bible,  however, shows that the  name Christians was God-given. -Acts 11:26.

In the Christian Greek Scriptures, the verb used in connection with the new name, generally translated "were called," is always associated  with something supernatural, oracular or divine Scholars thus render it "to utter an oracle,"  "divinely intimate," or "to give a divine command or admonition, to teach from heaven."  Since Jesus' followers were called Christians "by divine providence,"  it is possible that Jehovah directed Saul and Barnabas to give the name.

The new name stuck.  Jesus' disciples could no longer be mistaken for a sect of Judaism, from which they were quite distinct.  By about 58 C.E., Roman officials knew very well who the Christians were.  (Acts 26:28) According to the historian Tacitus by 64 C.E., the name was current among the masses in Rome too.

Next time: Jehovah Uses His Faithful Ones

Watchtower, 2000