About 5 years ago I wrote the following:
“I didn’t like the idea of the Christian religion hijacking the label ‘Christian’ from those of us in the body of Christ, so I hung onto the title for a long time (it feels like I was one of the last to keep using it, although I’m sure there are a few more who still do). After some thought, however, I’ve decided that it’s finally time to give up the label of ‘Christian.’ There’s just too much negative baggage attached to it, and I’m not sure it can actually be redeemed, so I’ve decided to let the members of the Christian religion have their label.”
Most other members of the body of Christ have also rejected the label of “Christian” altogether, for similar reasons. However, while writing my last article, I remembered that “Christian” is just a word — as is “Christianity” — and I also remembered that a word means whatever the person speaking or writing said word intends for it to mean at the time they say or write it because, outside of legal trademarks, nobody owns any particular word, nor does anyone get to define a word’s only possible meaning for everyone at all times, because language evolves. And since the Bible never actually defines the label of “Christian” — a label that was quite possible originally a pejorative which was assigned to believers in Christ by unbelievers in Antioch in the first century, and, if so, the label was first defined by non-Christians — not to mention because there are so many extremely different groups of people out there already calling themselves Christians too, these labels can really by applied to anyone who falls into the category of people who simply believe that Jesus is the Christ, regardless of whether or not they happen to be a part of the Israel of God or the body of Christ or even the more general Christian religion, despite the protestations of the religious, “orthodox” Christians who disagree with this fact and who have tried to insist that only their definitions of these particular labels are legitimate (which means that “Concordant” believers and Roman Catholics and Seventh Day Adventists and Independent Fundamentalist Baptists and Pentecostals and Jehovah’s Witnesses and even Mormons are all Christians, at least based on my definition of the label), so I’ve decided to start calling myself a Christian again.
In fact, at least from a certain perspective, it could be said that those of us who are Biblical Unitarian Universalists (“Concordant” believers, in other words) are actually the “true Christians.” And we’d definitely be the only “Biblical Christians.” But anyone who disagrees is also free to define “Christian” however they want, because that’s just how language works. But this means that, yes, members of the body of Christ technically are indeed Christians, whether they like it or not, based on my definition of the word at least — just as they’re also Universalists (and Unitarians), whether they like it or not, as well (because, if you believe everyone will be saved, you’re a Universalist by definition regardless of what you believe the reason for everyone’s salvation is, and if you believe God is one being, you’re a Unitarian by definition as well — although they aren’t required to use any label for themselves that they don’t want to use either, of course.