The Disciples Are First Called Christians at Antioch
Acts 11:26
26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote:
“Christians is an obvious name for the followers of Christ, for those who believe He is the Son of God and that salvation of all degrees comes because of Him and His atoning sacrifice. Since there have been followers of Christ in successive gospel dispensations from Adam to the present, these all would have been known as Christians or some equivalent, synonymous term. By saying the Saints were called Christians first in Antioch means that for the first time in the meridian dispensation there was a sufficient Church membership so that nonmembers recognized the Saints as a separate and distinct organization, one severed and apart from the Jewish synagogue and community.”
(Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3 vols. [1965–73], 2:112.)
