📖 Biblical Definition
Antioch of Syria was the third-largest city in the Roman Empire and became the first great center of Gentile Christianity. It was in Antioch that the disciples were first called "Christians" (Acts 11:26) -- a name given by outsiders who recognized that these people belonged to Christ. The church at Antioch, under the teaching of Barnabas and Paul, became the launching pad for the Gentile mission. The Holy Spirit set apart Paul and Barnabas from the Antioch church for their first missionary journey (Acts 13:1-3). Antioch also became the site of the first major theological controversy: Peter's withdrawal from eating with Gentiles, which Paul publicly rebuked (Galatians 2:11-14). Antioch represents the transition from a Jewish sect to a world religion -- the place where the gospel broke free from ethnic boundaries and began its march to the ends of the earth.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
A celebrated city of Syria; the first great center of Gentile Christianity.
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AN'TIOCH, n. [Gr. Antiocheia.] A famous city of Syria on the Orontes, the capital of the Greek kings of Syria and afterward a seat of early Christianity. The disciples were first called Christians there.
📖 Key Scripture
• Acts 11:26 — "And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians."
• Acts 13:2-3 — "The Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.'"
• Galatians 2:11 — "But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Antioch is forgotten entirely or reduced to a footnote in church history without recognizing its paradigm-shifting role.
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Most Christians have no idea that Antioch, not Jerusalem, was the launching pad for world missions. The significance of being "first called Christians" there is lost -- it meant that the movement was now recognizable as something distinct, centered on Christ rather than on Jewish identity. The Galatians 2 confrontation between Paul and Peter is either ignored or sanitized, when it is actually one of the most important moments in church history: the gospel of grace for all nations was publicly defended against ethnic exclusivism within the church itself.
Usage
• "Antioch was where the church was first called Christian -- because the community was so centered on Christ that outsiders could not describe them any other way."
• "Paul rebuked Peter publicly at Antioch because the gospel was at stake -- ethnic favoritism in the church is not a secondary issue but a denial of the cross."