For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. Ephesians 3:14,15
As the morning light began to appear in the east, Jacob’s wrestling opponent reached down and touched the hollow of Jacob’s thigh. Instantly, Jacob recognized that his thigh was out of joint. No human touch could do that! So Jacob seized his opponent tightly, and refused to let go, recognizing that this was a heavenly person. When he demanded that this person give him a blessing, he was granted a new name: Israel. This was a great name, a name so great that it was applied to the nation that rose from Jacob’s descendents, a name so great that it endures today and will endure for at least another thousand years. Down through the millenia and centuries, the whole family of God’s earthly people have been named after one man. Just as down through the millenia and centuries, the whole family of God’s heavenly people have been named after one Man.
Paul reminds the Christians in Ephesus in today’s text that they and all the other Christians – both living and in the Glory – are named after the Lord Jesus Christ. Even before the term ‘Christians’ was first coined in Antioch (Acts 11:26), the followers of the Lord Jesus were identified as belonging to Him. He was the central purpose for the gatherings of the Christians in those early days, beginning at Pentecost; He was the central theme of the Gospel that the early evangelists proclaimed throughout the known world in those days; He was the primary target of all of the enemies of Christianity at that time. And nothing has changed in all the centuries ever since. We are known as Christ’s and bear His Name. And will as long as we live and forever when we depart for Heaven.
So why do so many Christians want to take another name to represent their Christianity? Matthew 18:20 informs us that we have the presence of the Lord Jesus when we are gathered in His Name. And nowhere in the Scriptures do we have any authority for claiming His presence when we are gathered in any other name. And yet, all around us are companies of believers, or at least those who claim to be believers, who identify themselves by a religious denomination. If they are not believers but are merely religious, it doesn’t really matter. But if they are truly part of the family through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, do they not think that their Lord and Saviour would be offended that they would be satisfied with a lesser name?
We are named after the head of our family, the Lord Jesus Christ. Are we recognized by that Name? -Jim MacIntosh