| “I [Jesus] am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:6). |
| “If he [Saul of Tarsus] found any of this way … he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem” (Acts 9:2). |
| “And when Felix heard these things, having more perfect knowledge of that way, he deferred them” (Acts 24:22). |
| In the early years of Christianity, believers on the Lord Jesus did not at first identify themselves by the name “Christian.” In fact, it was actually worldly people who first used that phrase, for the Word of God tells us that “the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (Acts 11:26). People who were not saved wanted some kind of name by which to identify believers, so they called them “Christians,” because they followed the Lord Jesus Christ. |
| In the beginning, people simply referred to those who believed on the Lord Jesus as following “that way,” and referred to the truth that they believed as “the way.” As time went on, the name Christian became more common, and the expression “the way” was replaced by Christianity. |
| However, the term “that way” is not a bad one, for as we see in our first verse for today, the Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He was the way, and the only way, to approach God, and the only way to be saved. When Saul of Tarsus (who became the Apostle Paul later after he was saved) was going out to try and arrest Christians in the city of Damascus, he referred to them as being “of that way.” Even later on in the life of the Apostle Paul, when he had been preaching for many years, the Roman governor Felix still referred to what Paul believed as “that way.” Although they might not have had a specific name for those who believed, yet the truth of the gospel had spread rapidly, and the Roman government knew all about it. Poor Felix listened to the Apostle Paul many times, yet we have no record that he ever accepted Christ as his Savior. It seems that he was more interested in getting money from Paul, rather than hearing how he could have eternal riches. |
| Now everyone knows what the name “Christian” means, and what “Christianity” means. However, the name is not what is important; it is the truth of Christianity that is important, and to know the One who is “the way, the truth, and the life.” |
