Christ Over All — What’s in a Name?
By TRENT HUNTER Why the name Christ Over All? The answer to that question begins with a prayer we find in the Bible, a prayer for a certain powerless and unimpressive church. When Christians walked down the street in those days, they did so on Roman roads. Rome’s roads made way for the gospel, but those roads also reminded Christians of the vast domain of the state who built them. Christians lived in the shadow of pagan culture-making institutions. Down the street from the church at Ephesus, the Temple of Diana offered sexual immorality as a religious rite. When they went to work each morning, Christians entered an economy hostile to their most precious beliefs. When taken seriously, their new Christian faith undermined the bottom line of the ancient world built as it was on idolatry and superstitions. These churches did not have impressive buildings. They did not have the respect of their communities. The temptation to syncretism or accommodation was real. As a people gathered ...