The expression “name calling” conjures up memories of actions on an elementary school playground, where children were at times cruel with their words. But there is another kind of name calling that is not at all cruel. In fact, it is divine!
When one explores the Bible to find unique examples of name calling, that is, when God named or renamed someone, I immediately think of Abram and Sarai. In chapter seventeen of Genesis, Abram is nighty-nine. The Lord appeared to him and said,
“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:1-8 ESV).
The name Abram means “exalted father,” so it was appropriate that, in keeping with His covenant promises, God renamed him Abraham, meaning “father of a multitude.” Then God told Abraham,
“As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall become nations; kings of peoples shall come from her” (17:15-16). Abraham and Sarah’s new names signified they were under a new covenant with the Lord.
There are others who received new names from the Lord, but probably the most important is the name God gave all the obedient followers of Christ. Isaiah prophesied about this a thousand years before it happened. “The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give” (Isaiah 62:2).
Luke wrote about the early church, “So Barnabas went to Tarsus to look for Saul, and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians” (Acts 11:25-26). The word “called” here, in the original Greek language, means “divinely called.” It was not a nickname or a name of derision or used in a mocking, sarcastic way, as some may suggest! It was the name God chose for His people, just as surely as He chose Abraham and Sarah’s. The name you and I wear is the name given to us by God Almighty! It signifies that we are in a new covenant relationship with Him which is the perfect law of liberty (James 1:25) under the banner of Jesus Christ, our Savior and King. May we always glorify Him as we wear the special name Christian!
Today’s Verse: “And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be a Christian?” (Acts 26:28), and “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name” (1 Peter 4:16).
by Teresa Hampton