' . . . The saints and faithful brethren in
Christ.'--COL. i. 2.
'The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch,' says the Acts
of the Apostles. It was a name given by outsiders, and like most of the
instances where a sect, or school, or party is labelled with the name of
its founder, it was given in scorn. It hit and yet missed its mark. The
early believers were Christians, that is, Christ's men, but they were
not merely a group of followers of a man, like many other groups of whom
the Empire at that time was full. So they never used that name
themselves. It occurs twice only in Scripture, once when King Agrippa
was immensely amused at the audacity of Paul in thinking that he would
easily make 'a Christian' of him; and once when Peter speaks of
'suffering as a Christian,' where he is evidently quoting, as it were,
the indictment on which the early believers were tried and punished.
What did they call themselves then?
I have chosen this text not for the purpose of speaking about it only,
but because it gathers together in brief compass the three principal
designations by which the early believers knew themselves.
'Saints'--that tells their relation to God, as well as their character,
for it means 'consecrated,' set apart for Him, and therefore pure;
'faithful'--that means 'full of faith' and is substantially equivalent
to the usual 'believers,' which defines their relation to Jesus Christ
as the Revealer of God; 'brethren'--that defines their relation and
sentiment towards their fellows. These terms go a great deal deeper than
the nickname which the wits of Antioch invented. The members of the
Church were not content with the vague 'Christian,' but they called
themselves 'saints,' 'believers,' 'brethren.' One designation does not
appear here, which we must take into account for completeness: the
earliest of all--disciples. Now, I purpose to bring together these four
names, by which the early believers thought and spoke of themselves, in
order to point the lessons as to our position and our duty, which are
wrapped up in them. And I may just say that, perhaps, it is no sign of
advance that the Church, as years rolled on, accepted the world's name
for itself, and that people found it easier to call themselves
'Christians'--which did not mean very much--than to call themselves
'saints' or 'believers.'
Now then, to begin with,