Christians

==Early usage==
[[File:Antioch Saint Pierre Church Front.JPG|thumb|upright=0.9|right|The [[Church of Saint Peter]] near [[Antioch]] (modern-day [[Antakya]]), the city where the [[Disciple (Christianity)|disciples]] were called "Christians"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://biblehub.com/acts/11-26.htm|title=Acts 11:26 and when he found him, he brought him back to Antioch. So for a full year they met together with the church and taught large numbers of people. The disciples were first called Christians at Antioch.|website=biblehub.com}}</ref>]]
The first recorded use of the term (or its [[cognate]]s in other languages) is in the [[New Testament]], in [[Acts 11]] after Barnabas brought Saul (Paul) to [[Early centers of Christianity#Antioch|Antioch]] where they taught the [[Disciple (Christianity)|disciples]] for about a year, the text says that "the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch" ([[Acts 11:26]]). The second mention of the term follows in [[Acts 26]], where [[Herod Agrippa II]] replied to [[Paul the Apostle]], "Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." ([[Acts 26:28]]). The third and final New Testament reference to the term is in [[1 Peter 4]], which exhorts believers: "Yet if ''[any man suffer]'' as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf." ([[1 Peter 4:16]]).

Kenneth Samuel Wuest holds that all three original New Testament verses' usages reflect a derisive element in the term ''Christian'' to refer to followers of Christ who did not acknowledge the emperor of Rome.<ref>[[#Wuest-1973]] p. 19. "The word is used three times in the New Testament, and each time as a term of reproach or derision. Here in Antioch, the name ''Christianos'' was coined to distinguish the worshippers of the Christ from the ''Kaisarianos'', the worshippers of Caesar."</ref> The city of Antioch, where someone gave them the name ''Christians'', had a reputation for coming up with such nicknames.<ref>[[#Wuest-1973]] p. 19. "The city of Antioch in Syria had a reputation for coining nicknames."</ref> However Peter's apparent endorsement of the term led to its being preferred over "Nazarenes" and the term ''Christianoi'' from [[1 Peter]] becomes the standard term in the [[Early Church Fathers]] from [[Ignatius of Antioch|Ignatius]] and [[Polycarp]] onwards.<ref>Christine Trevett '' Christian Women and the Time of the Apostolic Fathers'' 2006 {{"'}}Christians' (christianoi) was a term first coined in Syrian Antioch ([[Acts 11:26]]) and which appeared next in Christian sources in Ignatius, Eph 11.2; Rom 3.2; Pol 7.3. Cf. too Did 12.4; MPol 3.1; 10.1; 12.1–2; EpDiog 1.1; 4.6; 5.1;"</ref>

The earliest occurrences of the term in non-Christian literature include [[Josephus on Jesus|Josephus]], referring to "the tribe of Christians, so named from him;"<ref>{{cite web |author=Josephus |author-link=Josephus |url=http://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/ant-18.htm |title=Antiquities of the Jews&nbsp;— XVIII, 3:3 |translator= William Whiston |website=Christian Classics Ethereal Library |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230404155532/https://www.ccel.org/j/josephus/works/ant-18.htm |archive-date= Apr 4, 2023 }}</ref> [[Pliny the Younger]] in [[Epistulae (Pliny)|correspondence with Trajan]]; and [[Tacitus on Christ|Tacitus]], writing near the end of the 1st century. In the ''[[Annals (Tacitus)|Annals]]'' he relates that "by vulgar appellation [they were] commonly called Christians"<ref>{{cite book |last1=Tacitus |first1=Cornelius |last2=Murphy |first2=Arthur |title=The works of Cornelius Tacitus: with an essay on his life and genius, notes, supplements, &c |page=287 |year=1836 |publisher=Thomas Wardle |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E0vy1dAhgj0C}}</ref> and identifies Christians as [[Nero]]'s scapegoats for the [[Great Fire of Rome]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Book of the Acts |author=Bruce, Frederick Fyvie |author-link=F. F. Bruce |year=1988 |publisher=Eerdmans |page=228 |isbn=0-8028-2505-2}}</ref>

===Nazarenes===
Another [[List of Christian synonyms|term for Christians]] which appears in the New Testament is "[[Nazarene (title)|Nazarenes]]". [[Jesus]] is named as a Nazarene in [[Matthew 2:23]], while [[Paul the Apostle|Paul]] is said to be Nazarene in [[Acts 24:5]]. The latter verse makes it clear that Nazarene also referred to the name of a sect or heresy, as well as the town called Nazareth.{{citation needed|date=October 2019}}

The term Nazarene was also used by the Jewish lawyer [[Tertullus]] (''Against Marcion'' 4:8) which records that "the Jews call us Nazarenes." While around 331 AD [[Eusebius]] records that Christ was called a Nazoraean from the name [[Nazareth]], and that in earlier centuries "Christians" were once called "Nazarenes".<ref>''Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies'': Volume 65, Issue 1 University of London. School of Oriental and African Studies – 2002 "around 331, Eusebius says of the place name [[Nazareth]] that 'from this name the Christ was called a Nazoraean, and in ancient times we, who are now called Christians, were once called [[Nazarene (title)|Nazarenes]]';6 thus he attributes this designation"</ref> The Hebrew equivalent of "Nazarenes", ''Notzrim'', occurs in the [[Babylonian Talmud]], and is still the modern Israeli Hebrew term for Christian.