Dict: smith - CHRISTIAN

smith:

CHRISTIAN - C>@ - The disciples, we are told, kjv@Acts:11:26) were first called Christians at Antioch on the Orontes, somewhere about A.D. 43. They were known to each other as, and were among themselves called, brethren, kjv@Acts:15:1-23; kjv@1Corinthians:7:12) disciples , kjv@Acts:9:26 kjv@Acts:11:29) believers , kjv@Acts:5:14) saints , kjv@Romans:8:27 kjv@Romans:15:25) The name "Christian," which, in the only other cases where it appears in the New Testament, kjv@Acts:26:28; kjv@1Peter:4:16) is used contemptuously, could not have been applied by the early disciples to themselves, but was imposed upon them by the Gentile world. There is no reason to suppose that the name "Christian" of itself was intended as a term of scurrility or abuse, though it would naturally be used with contempt.