- Lesson 2, continued:
- Individuals
- Saints (Ephesians 1:1) – set apart from the world to the service of Christ.
- Disciples (Acts 11:26) – learners of Christ
- Christians (Acts 11:26; I Peter 4:6) – belonging to Christ
- Citizens (Ephesians 2:19) – subjects of the King
- Brethren (Galatians 6:1) – relationship to one another
- The saved relationship is spoken of as the bride of Christ, thus is must be identified by His name (Ephesians 5:22-25, 28):
- To wear the name of another will bring His disfavor.
- The Bible does not speak of hyphenated Christians.
- The Bible says nothing about Baptist-Christians or Catholic-Christians. We are to simply be Christians.
- His name is above every name (Philippians 2:6-11)
- Why would anyone want to be identified by an inferior name?
- Let us always give preeminence to Christ by identifying ourselves by His great name. Colossians 1:18
- Psalms 89:20, 27 – “Firstborn” refers to preeminence.
- Martin Luther made an appeal to his followers to not call themselves “Lutherans” because they were not baptized in the name of Luther and Luther was not crucified for them. What a noble and scriptural appeal! I Corinthians 1:13
- Christians belong to Christ because He purchased them with His own blood and they were baptized in His name; thus, they are identified by the name of Him to whom they belong.
- Individuals
JJ
July 15, 2015
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