Is it something we should shun - being called Christian? Something to be angry about or to feel insulted over? Not especially. But neither is it something to aspire to be known as.

Why?

We do not particularly mind if others call us Christian because we don’t much care what others call us…and because we know they usually mean well and know no better….But neither is it something we call ourselves necessarily nor to aspire to be known as, since the term Christian is insufficient to describe us, the result of ignorance and inaccurate terminology altogether, repeated too often over too much time.

In the manner of our Templar ancestors, when we speak of ourselves and those of old who crossed over from paganism to take their rightful place in Israel, we prefer to use the term Calvarian. (Occasionally we will suffer this Way to be known as Calvarian Christianity. Though it remains a colloquialism at best.)

The term Christ comes from “Christos” in Greek. Since Christos means “poured upon” or “rubbed into” it became mistakenly used as a translation of the Hebrew term Meshiach because on the surface they mean the same thing. But their full meaning is much more involved.

Anything poured upon is christos. A bowl of cereal with milk poured on it. A flower in a pot with water poured on it. Anything. Even rubbing lotion into skin or putting shampoo on one’s head makes someone “Christos”.

Christos was used pre-Christianity as a term for a wound when salve is applied or ointment is rubbed on. Of leather when grease is rubbed into it to treat it. Many things but never a religious designation till later years. And then most dominantly by a reversal. It’s misuse by Christians began to be misused by pagans to speak of their divinities.

Contrary to christos, Meshiach was a designation of a divinely chosen office. Initially signifying a person who has holy oil poured upon their head by a holy prophet to set that man apart for holy service to the Most High.

Eventually it simply referred to a chosen one, not necessarily needing the oil to be physically applied. There have been many a meshiach through the ages but only one HaMeshiach.
Calling Meshiach “Christ” is like calling a car a horse and buggy, just because they are both means of transportation. Or saying that the movie version of the book is the same thing. Or even worse yet calling a midden heap and a mound of cash the same thing because both are “piles” of something.

Christ as the term for our Messiah is a removal of the heritage attached to the term, the stripping away of all the Hebraic cultural ties and inherent significance. And it is the insertion of Greek cultural tradition and connectivity which does not rightly belong.

So since “Christ” is not an appropriate replacement term, nor a translation of Meshiach, why should we use it? Because others used it before us?

And why should we be known as Christians “little Christs” or “followers of Christ” when we know that “Christ” is not a proper translation of Meshiach, when we know that “Christ” does not contain the meaning, usage, or cultural application of Meshiach?

And why should we say we are pursuing and trying to be like this Greek Christ when we are infact not attempting to be Greek at all, and are trying very hard to rid our lives of all the foreign Greek tradition, Greek terminology and Greek thinking?

And if we move beyond all that, the fact is that “Christian” was never the original term for the followers of the Hebrew Messiah. By the Jews who did not follow Him, we were called Natzorim (Nazarenes). And by those who did follow Him initially, they were called HaDereck (The Way).

It was not until, those outside Judaism began to encounter Followers of The Way that they started to refer to us as “Christians”. Misusing the term and misapplying it as a pejorative. In time, those pagan Greeks came to believe in the one they had been wrongly calling “Christ”. And they came to believe themselves part of the people they had been calling all along “Christian” . They joined those people and in short order became the majority among them, as the originals were dying of old age, the next generation was being murdered en masse by Rome and discipleship takes years whereas conversion takes minutes.

And colloquialisms always win the day…Christian became the official uncontested designation, despite its absurdity as a name for anyone who holds themself to be a follower of The Way.

One of the many reasons we are inclined to embrace the term The Way, other than it being our original designation, is that it implies progress. We are heading somewhere. Moving from this place to another place. We are going down a Road or Path, and every day it brings us closer to Him and further away from ourselves.

We are moving every moment in The Way along The Way further away from where we were and who we were when we were there. And moving closer to where we want to be and who we want to be when we get there.

Every day is learning something new. Every day is being somewhere new. And yet no matter how far we’ve travelled nor how much time has passed since we first started walking this Way at Calvary, it ever remains the very same Road, the very same Way.

Question Everything
templecrier.com/calvarian

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