Although it has served me well in the past, I’m starting to hate the word Christian. I’m enough of a linguist to know that language changes over time–words change their meanings, vocabulary becomes outdated, and even grammar structures change. I think that is what has happened with the word Christian.
A string of sounds–what we call a word–is just an arbitrary string of sounds until a community agrees on what the meaning of those particular sounds is. When someone says the word house, we all have an idea in our heads of what that means. Interestingly, we don’t all have exactly the same idea. In fact, we might have quite different ideas, but we can communicate something meaningful between us because my idea of the meaning of house overlaps enough with your meaning of the word. We agree on a basic core of meaning, even if the outer edges of meaning are different for me than they are for you.
The same is true for the word Christian. There is a basic core of meaning something like ‘having to do with Christ or the religion he started’ that almost all people can agree on. But when it comes to the rest of the meaning of the word, that’s a different story!
A quick lesson on the history and etymology of the word. First there was a Hebrew word moshiach (מָשִׁיחַ) which meant ‘anointed one, usually a priest or king’. Moshiach is translated into Greek as christos (Χριστος). (Jesus claimed to be the anointed one, so that’s where we get Jesus Christ.) Then the Latin suffix -ianos was added to mean ‘related to, belong to’ which turns the noun into an adjective (which itself can be used as a noun). BTW, we do this all the time with other words, eg., Canada –> Canadian.
The first meaning of the word Christian was to refer to Jesus’ specific followers who lived in Antioch (Acts 11:26). A lot has changed since then. Now we have meanings that range on the one hand from ‘kind‘, all the way to the meaning ‘Western‘. We have people who say you are a Christian if your parents were Christian or if you try to treat people fairly. Many people think American equals Christian. Then we have a really nice definition that tells us you’re a Christian if you say you are. Can’t go wrong there, huh?
So what’s the problem? The problem is I want to call myself a Christian, but I don’t want a Muslim to think I espouse everything in Western culture; I don’t want a politician to think I’m part of a certain voting block; I don’t want the man on one street to just think I’m just a nice guy and the man on the next street to think I’m a wacko. I don’t want the person I’m sitting next to in church think that he’s a Christian just because he’s sitting there with me. I don’t want my children to think they’re Christians just because I am.
I’m beginning to wonder if we should consider some of the other terms used in scripture to call ourselves: followers of the way, disciples, brethren, the faithful, elect, saints, believers.
Or maybe Christ follower would work:
Christ follower
The Apostle Peter might have been thinking about the meaning of Christian too when he wrote this (1 Peter 4:16):
However, if you suffer because you are a Christian, don’t be ashamed of it, but thank God that you bear Christ’s name.
That video is great!
The word Christian is so broad and has so many meanings that other terms have cropped up. The term born again Christian is used in some evangelical groups in America. Even that term is pretty broad, but I’m leery of applying it to myself because it has connotations of political and social viewpoints which I don’t always share.
However, if you suffer because you are a Christian, don’t be ashamed of it, but thank God that you bear Christ’s name.
Thus, Peter might say that worrying about the term “Christian” isn’t useful or necessary, as no matter what, you will suffer because of whatever term you use and should expect some to think negatively toward you.
The popularity of words come and go… to be a Christian in the early church meant to be despised by the Roman society and government. Then it became popular to be a “Christian” and has yoyoed back and forth ever since.
Why worry about semantics? Just live as a Christian SHOULD live and those who actually know you will know what a Christian is all about.
You know, I would be interested in a discussion/article regarding how a Christian should live regarding suffering, as it pertains to the American culture of lawsuits, fighting for one’s “rights,” etc. I am uncomfortable with how whiny some Christians have become (since we are called to rejoice in suffering), yet at the same time, the Apostle Paul did fight for his rights as a Roman citizen.
Jew, the original draft of my article also talked about born again, fundamentalist, and evangelical, all words that have been through the same process as the word Christian.
Darius, I agree completely with your main idea, but it is just silly to say “why worry about semantics?” What we mean by what we say is very important in everyday life, not just in the realm of religion. (This is the linguist in me talking.) Yes, my life is what tells the real story, but on the other hand, how do I communicate that life to anyone online except by my words? Most people reading this don’t know me IRL.
True enough… I just worry that when followers of Christ get upset that others don’t like them because of the word “Christian,” they are forgetting that we are called to be hated by the world. I’m not saying that you’re saying this, but just that it should be thrown out there.
You know, I would be interested in a discussion/article regarding how a Christian should live regarding suffering, as it pertains to the American culture of lawsuits, fighting for one’s “rights,” etc.
Sounds like a good article for you to write.
Yeah, I knew someone would say that. I’ll have to do more thinking about it, I’m not quite sure where to start.
I was going to volunteer the Hungry Sasquatch to write it.
I’ve actually got pretty well defined ideas on when a believer should exercise and ignore their rights as well. Remember that while Paul did at time choose to exercise his rights, he far more often did not. Much of what was done to Paul throughout his ministry was unjust and in the case of a Roman citizen, illegal. Almost exclusively, Paul only used his legal rights to prevent the use of legal force to slow the spread of the gospel. Legal rights should only be exercised when doing so furthers the cause of Christ, and should NEVER be exercised (by a believer) when Christ’s work would be slowed by doing so. I could write a longer article on the subject, but it would mostly be an expansion on this theme (with example, citations, and unnecessary verbosity).
Regarding the term “Christian”, so long as “Christ” still is the term used in English to refer to our savior, I won’t feel comfortable refusing the term. I will deny being “religious” (defined by most to be a set of rituals, sacred symbols, and special items), but I will never deny being “Christian”. (Though I may start self-defining as a follower of Christ, which might be more clear to some listeners.)
Thainamu, thanks for the article. I too have pondered this question. I use the word “Christian” to define my identity, but because of the misuse of the word, it is difficult to communicate what I mean by it. I never have and never will define myself by a denominational or otherwise theological school of thought; I just follow Jesus. He is the Way and the Great Shepherd.
Now this is somewhat unrelated, but has anyone else seen John Hagee’s commercial for his new book “In Defense of Israel”? He seems to be making the case that Christ never claimed to be the Messiah, and therefore the Jews who rejected him as Messiah cannot be held liable for no believing in Him. You can see the clip on Youtube. He even makes the claim that his book will “shape Christian theology.” Part of me wants to reserve comment on this until I’ve had a chance to skim the book, but it sounds quite heretical on the surface. Any thoughts? Comments?
I think semantics are very important and that is exactly what led me to this site. Unfortunately not many people take the time to look at the meanings of the words they use, or misuse as the case may be. I view Christian as you mentioned in this article — one that follows Christ. Is that a hard concept? I am tired of schools that call themselves Christian and “non-denominational” only to have a few exceptions under the small print. I was recently on an adoption site. The organization was a “Born-Again Christian” group and were “non-denominational” — at the bottom of the site they wrote you would be accepted as a potential adoptive parent if you were a “Biblical Christian.” What the heck? Biblical Christian — how does that differ from Christian? Do I need to have the Bible on display? Quote it whenever I use the word ‘Christian’. It seems so ironic to me that some that call themselves such and such Christians spend time throwing rocks at those they decide are not Christian. But then, even Christ faced that.
Senya, thanks for stopping by and commenting. The truth is that language is somewhat fluid and the meanings of words change over time and sadly, there isn’t much we can do about it. If I call myself a “Christian,” but the hearer understands that word to mean something different than I intended it to mean, then we’re kind of stuck in a moment of miscommunication.
Another example is when people lightly say, “Oh, God, I can’t believe….” To me, that is clearly breaking one of the “big 10,” but I know other believers who might not agree with my analysis of the semantics of that phrase.
Then there’s also the situation where the English words ‘Christ’ and ‘God’ are translated into another language–that isn’t as easy as it sounds either, due to semantics, among other things.