Where and when were believers first called Christians?
Scripture records that believers were first called Christians at Antioch, as stated in Acts chapter 11. This occurred when the gospel began going out to Jew and Gentile, especially when Gentiles believed by faith in the gospel of the grace of God, not among the Jewish believers at Jerusalem in previous years.
Les explains that the body of Christ came on the scene in the New Testament sometime after Pentecost, though he notes many disagree. He is convinced the body of Christ did not necessarily begin at Pentecost because Pentecost was strictly a Jewish holiday with a Jewish message. But when the gospel begins to go out to Jew and Gentile, especially at the church at Antioch, Acts chapter 11 says they at Antioch, when they became believers, were first called Christians. That is where they began to be called Christians, not the Jewish believers at Jerusalem in those previous years, but when Gentiles started coming in by faith in the gospel of the grace of God, they were now called Christians. So Les feels the body of Christ began when Paul begins to preach this message of Christ's death, burial, and resurrection, and by faith, and faith alone, without the law. As men and women began to believe that, the Holy Spirit baptized or placed them into the body of Christ.