Where in the Bible were believers first called Christians?
The disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. Barnabas brought Saul there, and for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught much people. These believers, primarily Gentiles, received the name Christians in Antioch, not in Jerusalem. Scripture records this.
Les teaches that the disciples—these believers who were primarily now Gentiles—were called Christians first in Antioch. He contrasts that with Jerusalem, which had been holding forth for twelve years, yet the Bible never calls the Jewish believers there Christians. They were under the Judaistic umbrella and had only believed Jesus was Messiah of Israel. The Antioch believers, by contrast, believed that He had died for them, His blood had been shed for their sin, and that He had been raised from the dead. Antioch was being presented with Paul's Gospel, which was a secret held in the mind of God until it was revealed.