Christian language

For our discussions about our faith, we use some words not in general use (like “sanctification”) and invest some words with specialised meanings (like “justification”). In this, we are following the example of the Biblical writers who coined new words and added freight to others, and are no different from many other sub-groups in having some in-house language.

Where it becomes a problem is when we persist in using our jargon and redefinitions beyond our sub-group, and particularly when we adopt a condescending attitude to “outsiders” who don’t use words in the “proper” way. “Church” is people, not building, right? The problem is that in the wider linguistic community of which we are a subset, one of the meanings of church is a building, and it seems counterproductive not to recognise this.

The word I really want to blog about is “Christian”. Our sub-culture wants to be more or less restrictive in its application of the term. I was once told that there were only two or three Christians in a congregation I was about to pastor. This narrower definition of Christian is at odds with what our language community generally understands by the term.

More than this, it is not even one that we can find Biblical warrant for. The word “Christian” (at least in those versions which transliterate the Greek Christianos) is found only three times in the New Testament (Acts 11:26, Acts 26:28 and 1 Pet 4:16). Modelled on the pattern we see, e.g., in “Herodian”, it is used, as we see from the Acts 11:26 reference, to apply to the “disciples” (followers and learners) of the one acknowledged as the “Christ”. To understand who are included in the category of “disciples”, we could turn to Matt 28:19-20 where discipleship begins with the expression of commitment in baptism and continues with instruction in obedience to Christ’s commandments. That, I take it, was true of all of the members of the congregation I pastored. While I and all Christians have a lot more discipleship ahead of us — a lot more working through the implications of our commitment, a lot more learning, a lot more growing in obedience — I don’t believe that we can meaningfully or helpfully deny the term to any who so wish to acknowledge and be identified with the name of Christ.