And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.
-Acts 11:26
And Agrippa unto Paul, With but little persuasion thou wouldest fain make me a Christian.
-Acts 26:28
But if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but glorify God that you bear that name.
-1 Peter 4:16
These 3 instances are the only use of the word "Christian" (Greek: Christianós) in scripture.
The word "church" is also problematic as it is rendered in the Greek can be used of any company. Scripture uses it of a mob in Acts 19:32 and of Israel as in Acts 7:38. I do use "Christians" and "Church" (with caveats) when speaking as most people are familiar with the terms. I then try to work in a clarification.
I mostly use "Christendom" to mean anything that is supposed to be representative of followers of Christ while very few are true believers (IMO). The vast majority of what calls itself Christian denies the gospel of the free grace of God. Not only do they deny it, they condemn it.
Personally, I say that I follow Paul as Paul follows Christ.
Personally, I say that I follow Paul as Paul follows Christ.
Be [Become] ye followers [imitators] of me [Paul], even as I also am of Christ. -
Part of the poisoning of what we define as "Christian" or the "church," etc. comes from what men call the "Early Church Fathers" (ECF). While we should be following Paul, just as all in Asia had abandoned Paul by the end of his ministry (2 Tim 1:15), the early creatures that represented Christendom abandoned Paul's Post-Acts ministry and claimed authority they never had. Worse than that, literally billions of professed believers today assign these men an authority they never had.
The self-described Red-Letter Christians have abandoned Paul's revelation from the Spirit as revealed in Ephesians and the other Post-Acts epistles and have sought to claim the Lord's earthly ministry to Israel for themselves. They do not know who are the "brothers" for this age. Some even carry a visceral hatred for Paul. These who claim to put love above all, who preach ecumenism, have no place for the Bible-Alone believer and readily steal from Israel's earthly promises and claim them as their own.
We've covered this topic previously, but just for the sake of this short study, I will note a few things.
Many of these grace-denying (thus Christ-denying) faith systems openly acknowledge that many of their teachings trace back to the so-called "Fathers." These men become "authorities" and are placed above Paul in so many ways.
The ECF have poisoned more of the faith than almost anything else. And the poisoning is not limited to the sacramentalist groups. Even among the Reformed there is a puzzling reverence for the ECF. RC Sproul has called Aquinas (I know he's not from the earlier centuries, but he's still revered among Reformed theologians for some reason), "one of the greatest Christian minds." Aquinas taught the Christ denying doctrine of Purgatory is the place where the fires of "hell" lick out and torture believers to make them pure, etc. How he could reverence such a man is troubling.
Those who listen to my podcast this season will know that I declare in the opening, "We believe in the Bible alone here, and we believe in Christ alone here, and we don't compromise on that no matter what some 'Early Church Father' said!"
Sin and error were rampant among believers in the first century. "The enemies of the cross of Christ" (Phil 3:18) were believers. The ones jealous of Paul who sought to make his chains harsher (Phil 1:15-16) were believers. The ones involved in sexual sins and other sins in 1 Corinthians were believers.
Many of these grace-denying (thus Christ-denying) faith systems openly acknowledge that many of their teachings trace back to the so-called "Fathers." These men become "authorities" and are placed above Paul in so many ways.
The ECF have poisoned more of the faith than almost anything else. And the poisoning is not limited to the sacramentalist groups. Even among the Reformed there is a puzzling reverence for the ECF. RC Sproul has called Aquinas (I know he's not from the earlier centuries, but he's still revered among Reformed theologians for some reason), "one of the greatest Christian minds." Aquinas taught the Christ denying doctrine of Purgatory is the place where the fires of "hell" lick out and torture believers to make them pure, etc. How he could reverence such a man is troubling.
Those who listen to my podcast this season will know that I declare in the opening, "We believe in the Bible alone here, and we believe in Christ alone here, and we don't compromise on that no matter what some 'Early Church Father' said!"
Sin and error were rampant among believers in the first century. "The enemies of the cross of Christ" (Phil 3:18) were believers. The ones jealous of Paul who sought to make his chains harsher (Phil 1:15-16) were believers. The ones involved in sexual sins and other sins in 1 Corinthians were believers.
It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles... I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.
-1 Corinthians 5:1,9-11
Being among the few literate and mostly from the rich upper class does not make writers of the second or third centuries any more authoritative than I am. In fact, it probably means they were still influenced by the errors of the Asian church that had abandoned Paul. I think it's important to note again that Paul makes his revelation about the apostasy of the believers in Asia in his final epistle. What claimed to be authoritative after Paul should, therefore, be treated as the mere opinions of men.
While we're there, the Creed's opening lines are in error. So many of today's churches (of all stripes) claim these creeds. They don't seem to be protecting the true faith from error. If Paul's revelation hasn't prevented the vast majority of Christendom from denying Christ, creeds that open with an error are hardly to be expected to accomplish that end.
Men:
Scripture:
Men:
I believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.
-Nicene Creed
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.-Apostle's Creed
Scripture:
[The Son] Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.
Anti-Semitism was a foundational canker in the RCC, EOC, and in many of the Reformed traditions. Even today, the Catechism of the Catholic Church lists Islam as the "first" among the Abrahamic faiths (having spent centuries putting Jews in ghettos and making them wear yellow markers on their clothes as they were condemned to "eternal slavery" by Paul IV and his successors).
"The plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place amongst whom are the Muslims; these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day."
-Catechism of the Catholic Church (1994)
Luther was initially called to repent by the Pope after his debate with Eck in which he disagreed with the "Church Fathers" as upon whom the "church" is founded. They argued it was upon Peter and the Papacy, Luther stated it is upon Christ alone.
"For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ."
We must acknowledge firstly that all called companies today are founded on the perfect sacrificial work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone. But if we are to be faithful to the calling to which we have been called in this age, we must follow Paul and his revelation foe the current age revealed Post-Acts to Paul alone in the Book of Ephesians, as he follows Christ.
The believers of the Acts age were to follow Paul's teaching to that company in that age and we must follow Paul's teaching to our company in our age.
