Birth of Gentiles

[Acts 11:1] And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.
So extraordinary an occurrence as that at Caesarea, the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Gentiles, and their reception into the Messianic church, would excite attention, and be likely to produce much sensibility in regard to the conduct of Peter and those with him. It was so contrary to all the ideas of the Jews that it is not to be wondered at that it led to contention.
The Jews that were of the circumcision disputed, or reproved Peter; charged him with being in fault. This is one of the circumstances which show conclusively that the apostles and early believers did not regard Peter as having any particular superiority over the Messianic church. If Peter had been regarded as having the authority which the Roman Catholics claim for him, they would have submitted at once to what he had thought proper to do. But the primitive Believers had no such idea of his authority. This claim for Peter is not only opposed to this place, but to every part of the New Testament. In most cases prejudice will thus be disarmed, and opposition will die away, as was the case in regard to the admission of the Gentiles to the Messianic church.
Notice Peter was the one G-d first sent to the Gentiles to open up salvation to them. He had indicated His will; He had showed His intention to save the Gentiles; and the prejudices of Peter were all overcome. One of the best means of destroying prejudice and false opinions is a powerful revival of religion. More flawed doctrines and unholy feelings are overcome in such scenes, than in all the angry controversies, and bigoted and fierce contentions, that have ever taken place. If men wish to root error out of the church, they should strive by all means to promote everywhere revivals of pure and undefiled religion. The Holy Spirit more easily and effectually silences false doctrine, and destroys heresy, than all the denunciations of fierce theologians; all the alarms of professed zeal for truth; and all the anathemas which professed orthodoxy and love for the purity of the church ever uttered from the icebergs on which such champions usually seek their repose and their home.
The great truth is in this manner established, that the doors of the Messianic church are opened to the entire Gentile world--a great and glorious truth, that was worthy of this remarkable interposition. It at once changed the views of the apostles and of the early Believers; gave them new, large, and liberal conceptions of the gospel; broke down all their long-cherished prejudices; taught them to look upon all men as their brethren; and impressed their hearts with the truth, never after to be gotten rid of, that the Messianic church was founded for the wide world, and opened the same glorious pathway to life wherever man might be found, whether with the narrow prejudice of the Jew, or amidst the degradations of the pagan world. To this truth we owe our hopes; for this, we should thank the G-d of heaven; and impressed with it, we should seek to invite the entire world to partake with us of the rich provisions of the gospel of the blessed
G-d.
V. 26 And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.
With the church - The Greek will bear this construction; but there is no instance in the New Testament where the word church refers to the edifice in which a congregation worships. It evidently here means that Barnabas and, Saul convened with the Believers assembly at proper times, through the space of a year, for the purposes of public worship.
And the disciples were called Christians – Here starts the separation of the ‘one new man’. G-d never meant the Believers to have two separate groups for the Jews were to be teachers onto the Gentiles.
As this became the distinguishing name of the followers of Christ, it was worthy of record. The name was evidently given because they were the followers of Christ. But by whom, or with what views it was given, is not certainly known. Whether it was given by their enemies in derision, as the names Puritan, Quaker, Methodist, etc., have been; or whether the disciples assumed it themselves; has been a matter of debate. That it was given in derision is not probable. For in the name Christian there was nothing dishonorable, the gentiles took on the Greek meaning instead of the Hebrew. The cause of reproach with the disciples was that they regarded Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah; and hence, when they wished to speak of them with contempt, they would speak of them as Galilaeans, 2:7 or as Nazarenes, 24:6 "And a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes." The Gentiles would probably use this name to distinguish them from their Jewish brothers; it is certainly possible that the name was given by Barnabas and Paul. It soon became a name of reproach; and has usually been in all ages since, by the Jews, by the wicked, the gay, the licentious, and the ungodly.
Messianic at once to a Jew is the name of his great Redeemer; the idea of our intimate relation to Him; and the thought that we receive Him as our chosen Leader, the source of our blessings, the author of our salvation, the fountain of our joys. It is the distinguishing name of all the redeemed. Messianic from the word Messiah is at once suggests their character, their feelings, their doctrines, their hopes, their joys.
This binds them all together--a name which rises above every other appellation; which unites in one the inhabitants of distant nations and tribes of men; which connects the extremes of society, and places them, in most important respects, on a common level; and which is a bond to unite in one family all those who love the L-rd Y’Shua, though dwelling in different climes, speaking different languages, engaged in different pursuits in life, and occupying distant graves at death. He who lives according to the import of this name is the most blessed and eminent of mortals.
Christianity is the Greek word taken from the Greek word Christ. The name change for the Gentiles was the first start of many changes to come.