We Are Christians

called Christians…Acts 11:26

Could it be like the days of Paul in Antioch when the disciples of Christ were first called Christians? As people realize their true identity in Christ they choose to identify with Christ. As they do, they are less likely to identify with a certain church group. Instead of being a Baptist, they are a Christian; or a Presbyterian, or a Lutheran, or a Catholic, or Adventists, etc. Perhaps we are going back to being Christians who are Baptists or Presbyterians, etc. 

This movement is the result of people realizing they are free in Christ. We have come to understand we are no longer slaves; slaves to anything. We are free. We are free from our past. Just as important, we are free from the doctrines of denominational leaders.  

Sadly, some are still slaves. Then Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You almost persuade me to become a Christian.” Acts 26:28. King Agrippa, like many today, could not bring himself to break free. So, he refused Christ. Which caused Paul to say, I would to God that not only you, but also wall who hear me today, might become both almost and altogether such as I am, except for these chains. Acts 26:29 Though Paul was a prisoner of Rome, he was free in Christ—a Christian!

Perhaps this will happen when we move from “I” to “we.” When we say, we are Christians, rather than “I am a Christian.” When we identify together in Christ, we assert our true freedom in Christ. When we do this, we assert the unity Christ desires for us. The unity Paul prayed for. The unity Jesus prayed for: that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. John 17:21 The “they” in Jesus’ prayer is all who identify as Christian.