Christian

dd-1 at juno.com dd-1 at juno.com
Mon May 24 09:08:29 EDT 1999


Ben,  Denny Diehl here

> IMHO the term CRISTIANOI was meant as a derisory term

Several have said this, but I, for one, don't think that is a
necessary conclusion from the language.  It is stated:

	"CRHMATISAI TE PRWTWS EN ANTIOCEIAi TOUS
	MAQHTAS CRISTIANOUS" -Ac 11:26

CRHMATISAI is middle/passive which could give rise to either
"They were called" or "They called themselves" could it not?
Also, I don't see anything historically that would give any 
indication that it began as a derisive term.  Tacitus tells us:

	"Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened
	the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a
	class hated for their abominations, called Christians
	by the populace." -Ann xv.44

But this is quite late, and I wouldn't think this would give us any
indication as to the origination of the term "Christian".
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