Why use the term ‘Christian?’
Our Bible translates the Greek word Christon (Christ) as Anointed One. However, we leave Christian unchanged. Why is this?
In the translator note for Anointed, we pointed out that Christon means Anointed or Chosen One, and using the Anglicized corruption of the Greek word Christon doesn’t really convey the proper meaning to most Bible readers today. This is why, rather than speaking of Jesus as the Christ, we have chosen to speak of him as the Anointed One, which is what the word ‘Christ’ really meant to 1st-century Christians.
However, this isn’t the case with the word Christian (which literally means Follower of the Anointed One), because there is no common misunderstanding over that term.
If we put it as ‘Anointed One-ians,’ or anything similar, it would only be confusing. The word Christian has been the name applied to Jesus’ followers for 2,000 years, and causes no misunderstanding (unlike the word Christ, which many think was his name).
The purpose of using new, neutral terms, is not to have consistency, but rather, it’s to help readers understand the true meanings of the Bible’s words.