Hey Pastor John,
In 1 Peter 4:16 it says,
Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.”
What is the correct word that should have been translated here? Would it be something like believer or follower?
Thanks 🙂
M.
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Hi M.
The word, “christian” is correctly translated in that verse. Peter was saying that if sinners called anyone a “christian”, they should not be depressed, but be thankful instead that they were counted worthy to suffer for Jesus’ name sake. What this verse shows us is that, in Peter’s time, the word “christian” was a slanderous term, one that God’s people did not call themselves but one that unbelievers used to discredit them. This is what the book of Acts says, actually. In chapter 11, we are told that believers were first called christians in the city of Antioch. It is important to note that God’s children were called christians; they did not call themselves that, nor did God ever give His children that title.
As we know, at a later time, the false teachers who arose after the apostles left the scene began to use that title for themselves and their followers, and then they added the term “Christianity” to describe their new religion. There is no indication, however, that faithful children of God ever approved of that religion. On the contrary, beginning in the Emperor Constantine’s time, that new religion used its newly won political connection with the Roman Empire to persecute faithful saints, even to the death, and to establish itself as the sole representative of Christ on earth.
And so, here we are today. And Christians are still the greatest persecutors of faithful children of God.
Pastor John