In a matter of months after the founding of the church, the information about the gospel of Christ, and its impact on the conduct of the adherents of the gospel required the general population to find a way to identify the persons following this new way of life. We are not sure if the word coinage was suggested from the believers, or conjured by the public so to identify still another society among a variety of societies that made up the several orientations (contexts) of all persons in a community. The implication, I believe, is that the name came from the general public, and, at first was simply a label to be attached to an amazing group of people who held a faith in one called Christ, from God, who provided redemption and hope in an environment that offered little hope, if any, to ordinary citizens, perhaps with persons who had no recognized citizenship at all. Christianity gave a new meaning to mankind – crossing national borders.
At the beginning the definition was rather clear. Here were persons who called themselves followers of Jesus Christ. They wanted to prove that his redemption was from sin and loss, to righteousness and faith in a hope of immortality. It was a message to all without regard to status in the world. Proof of the genuineness of their faith was in their energetic effort to reach out to others not only in witness of their faith, but the proof of it in their sense of loving service to all persons, born of the idea that all persons were invited to the table of faith in Christ. Meaning was rather clear, but would quickly gain unwanted baggage from Christians, primarily from those persons who did not want to be identified as unworthy of God until contrition, faith and a changed life would make them acceptable with God. The change seemed too radical. It would soon be interpreted as dangerous to the state, so to be put down by the authorities, many of whom assumed the contexts of the gods, even purloining the psychology of Gods with the people, especially for power persons. So it has been that the word god has had its glorious and infamous meanings.
In the turn to a new millennium to 2000 A.D., some leaders and writers felt that some new words were needed to express context for Christians. This was felt in the first century, and in other centuries. In the English speaking world there was an effort to differentiate Christians so, for a time, the word fundamental identified those Christians who firmly advanced the biblical faith in both Scripture and the redemptive process in Christ. In a rather short period of time, this fell into some disfavor because of what was interpreted as harsh and critical spirit from fundamentalists. In my lifetime, the word evangelical was adopted to accomplish the ideal of fundamental advocates. At this writing the word evangelical is now receiving some of the vituperation that fell on the fundamental term. Some fundamental/evangelical adherents are now being pushed to find some other term, or terms, that will identify their position in an objective way. One of the words emerging with a few writers has been the term Christianly.
Christianly appears most often to mean a way of life interpreted from the Judeo-Christian Scripture – not always consciously. If persons are Christians, as Francis Schaeffer argued: How should we then live? It may be that he inspired someone to coin the word: Christianly. We now have it, and I pray that it (or one like it) may take hold to express, without a great deal of baggage the idea that Christianity is partly defined in Scripture as a general application of righteousness without the provision of spiritual redemption. The term is not sectarian, is not separated from the conduct, even the attitudes, of christianly (secular/biblical) contexts – a kind of faith. Perhaps the term has within it, if it holds to righteous identity, the hope of building greater unity with church people and politics who take as vital, the personal story of the good life. It belongs to the individual who, in the love and human/spiritual life, finds ways of fitting into the context of the community of which he or she is a part. That context permits others to believe and be whatever they want to be, but also provides a witness to individuals and society about what God wants them to believe and be. In sum, that affects the society in better understanding the faith context. The main point for Christians in the societies of the world is to permit the right of freedom to believe, practice and espouse their faith. Christians of Scripture must repeatedly witness the unique redemptive point. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020