Acts 11:26

Barnabas had earlier sponsored Saul in Jerusalem (Acts 9:27). Now Barnabas brought Saul to Antioch, a distance of about 90 miles, where they ministered together for a year teaching and leading the church. This was probably in A.D. 43, ten years after the death and resurrection of Jesus and the day of Pentecost.

Luke noted another advance for the church in that observers called the believers "Christians" (lit. those belonging to Christ’s party, i.e., Christ followers) first in Antioch. In other words, people now distinguished the Christians as a group from religious Jews as well as from pagan Gentiles (cf. 1 Corinthians 10:32). [Note: See Stephen J. Strauss, "The Significance of Acts 11:26 for the Church at Antioch and Today," Bibliotheca Sacra 168:671 (July-September 2011):283-300.] There are only three occurrences of the name "Christian" in the New Testament, and in each case Christians did not use it of themselves (cf. Acts 26:28; 1 Peter 4:16). Similarly biblical references indicate that the name "Jew" is one that people other than the Israelites used to describe them.

"Note the three elements in the name [Christian]. (i) It contains Jewish thought, as the equivalent of Messiah, the Anointed. (ii) It shows the Greek language in the substantive-’Christ.’ (iii) It also includes the Latin language in the adjectival ending ’ians’ (Latin, iani). This universality is a reminder of the language of the title on the Cross." [Note: Thomas, p. 47.]

For Gentiles, however, the title "Christ" became a personal name for Jesus.

"They [those who used this name for believers in Jesus] . . . voiced an insight that the Christians themselves only saw clearly later on: Christianity is no mere variant of Judaism." [Note: Longenecker, p. 402.]