More than Christians: Practicing Gospel-Shaped Community with the Language of the Early Church

More than Christians jolted me with joy. Norman Hubbard eloquently reminds his readers that God’s Word is always true, our words have power, and the language of the Bible is beautiful. Now, maybe more than ever, Christian language needs to be infused with biblical wording that accurately reflects the heart of God for all people.

Norman Hubbard has been a like a brother to me for years, but it wasn’t until I read his brilliant book about gospel-shaped community and language that I understood why. Accessible, sharp, and biblically wise, this is New Testament theology at its best, the kind of work that illuminates your mind, reprioritizes your relationships, and engages you with Jesus and his gospel again as if for the first time.

In More than Christians: Practicing Gospel-Shaped Community with the Language of the Early Church, author Norman Hubbard guides readers in an accessible exploration of the labels New Testament writers used to describe Christ followers. In Hubbard’s hands common labels get explored, adjusted, and restored as he tells us who we are. More than Christians deserves to be savored, underlined, considered, weighed, and applied in community.

Have you ever read a work on something that you thought you had considered thoroughly only to feel like you hadn’t even started? Hubbard has created that experience here in More than Christians. I have taught lessons to my students about the revolutionary way the early Christians saw and referenced each other. However, this book challenged me to look again and consider whether there is more to this than I had realized. It challenged me to make practical changes and be more intentional with the words that I use to talk about fellow believers. It might just be that those changes are key to changing a Christian culture looking to find its way again.

A timeless gem especially relevant for us today. We desperately need to understand and reclaim the power of how early believers addressed one another. As Norman Hubbard beautifully writes, these words—brothers and sisters, beloved, saints, disciples, fellow workers, and Christians

— powerfully proclaim the gospel, our identity in Christ, and our relationship to one another. Jews and Gentiles now belong to the same family and call each other brothers and sisters. Former enemies are now beloved because we are first loved by God. When we surrender our lives to Christ, we become saints, disciples, and fellow workers in the Kingdom, striving toward a common goal. By using these names, we can shape how we see and treat one another, bringing reconciliation, purpose, and unity to our communities today.