Acts 11:26
And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
WILLIAM FENNER (1560-1640): One said, “the greatest part of Christianity is to desire to be a Christian.” And another said, “The total sum of a man’s religion in this life consists in the true desire of saving grace.”
JOSEPH ALLEINE (1634-1668): Christianity is more than a name.
PHILIP MAURO (1859-1952): We would say that Christianity is not a “religion.” The world regards it as such, and classifies it as one of “the great religions of the world.” But Jesus Christ did not come into the world to found a system of religion―anything but that. There are many statements in the New Testament of the objects for which He did come forth from God; but founding a “religion” is not one of them. He came “to save sinners,” “to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself,” to “destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil,” to “redeem us from all iniquity that He might purify unto Himself a people for His own possession,” to declare the Father’s Name unto His brethren, to “save His people from their sins,” to fulfill “the law and the prophets,” to “destroy the works of the devil;” and to accomplish yet other results of the highest importance to God and men; but not to introduce another system of religion into the world.
WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): Christianity is “all the fullness of God.”
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES (1899-1981): This is Christianity. Paul has put it once and for ever in II Corinthians 4:6: For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That is Christianity. That is the whole meaning of everything that is recorded in the New Testament. That is the whole meaning of the incarnation, and everything that has followed it. It is God revealing His glory in the face of Jesus Christ…It is the realization of this, and the experience of this, that really makes us Christian.
J. C. RYLE (1816-1900): True saving Christianity is not the mere believing a certain set of opinions, and holding a certain set of notions. Its essence is knowing, trusting and loving a certain living Person who died for us, even Christ the Lord.
JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): The resurrection of Christ being, as a fact, the great pillar upon which the weight and importance of Christianity rests.
JOHN FLAVEL (1630-1691): Blessed be God it is so. For if it were not, then were the “gospel in vain,” seeing it hangs the whole weight of our faith, hope, and salvation, upon Christ as risen from the dead. If this were not so, then would the holy and divinely inspired apostles be found false witnesses, I Corinthians 15:15. For they all, with one mouth, constantly, and to the death affirmed it. If Christ be not risen, then are believers yet in their sins, I Corinthians 15:17. For our justification is truly ascribed to the resurrection of Christ, Romans 4:25.
J. C. PHILPOT (1802-1869): The resurrection of Jesus Christ was God’s grand attestation to the truth of His divine mission and Sonship, for by it He was “declared to be the son of God with power, ” Romans 1:4.
J. C. RYLE: The secret of a vigorous, powerful, everyday Christianity―is to be ever “looking unto Jesus!” In the phrase “looking unto Jesus,” (Hebrews 12:2) it is useful and interesting to remember that the Greek word which we render “looking” means “looking off,” looking away from other objects to one, only one, and looking on that one with a steady, fixed, intent gaze. And the object we are to look at is a PERSON―not a doctrine, not an abstract theological dogma―but a living Person, Jesus the Son of God! The New Testament Christian was a man who trusted, and loved a living Divine Person. Of head knowledge, and accurate theological definitions, perhaps he had but little store. Very likely he would have failed a basic exam at one of our theological schools. But one thing he did know―he knew, believed, loved, and would have died for, a living Saviour, a real personal Friend in heaven―even Jesus, the crucified and risen Son of God.
MARTYN LLOYD-JONES: The Christian faith is ultimately not only a matter of understanding or of intellect, it is a condition of heart.
