Grapes from Wheat Seeds?

By Royce Frederick

If you plant wheat seeds, will they produce grapes? Wheat seeds contain the genetic information to produce only one kind of fruit. If only wheat seeds are planted, there is only one possible fruit — wheat. If you see some other kind of fruit, you know that some other kind of seed was planted.

In one of His parables, Jesus said, “The seed is the word of God” (Lk. 8:11). This seed contains the information that the followers of Christ were called “Christians.” “And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch” (Acts 11:26). King Agrippa told the apostle Paul, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian” (Acts 26:28). The apostle Peter wrote, “Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter” (1 Peter 4:16). The followers of Christ were also called by terms such as brethren, saints, members, and disciples. But “Christian” is the only name given to them.

If only the word of God is planted in a good and honest heart, what will it produce? There is only one possibility. That person will become a “Christian.”

If a person wears some other religious name, what kind of seed produced that name? There is only one possibility. It was produced by the word (teaching) of men.

Is “Christian” insufficient for the followers of Christ? Is there any name which is better than “Christian” for honoring Him who died for us?

Should people who believe in Christ wear different names? Wearing different religious names divides people into many groups calling themselves “this kind of Christian” and “that kind of Christian.” “Is Christ divided?” (1 Cor. 1:13). Did He give one section of His body one name, give another section a different name, and so on? Or did those different names come from men, not from Jesus? He prayed for all of His followers to be one — united (John 17:20-21). And the apostle Paul pleads with us, “... that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you...” (1Cor. 1:10). Are we truly speaking the same thing and truly united if we do not all hold to the same name — the name which He gave in His New Testament?

You can be just a “Christian”! No person has a monopoly on that name. No group has a copyright on it. You can use your own Bible to study in the book of Acts about how people obeyed the gospel in the first century. From Acts and other verses in the New Testament, we learn that a sinner must believe the gospel, repent of his sins, confess his faith in Christ, and be baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of sins. A sinner is saved by faith when he or she is baptized in water for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38-41; 8:12-13, 35-39; 10:47-48; 16:15, 30-34; 18:8; 19:5; 22:16; 9:18; Matt. 28:19; Mk. 16:16; Jn. 3:3-5; Rom. 1:16; 6:3-5, 17-18; 10:10; Gal. 3:26-27; Col. 2:12; 1 Peter 1:22; 3:21).

If you believe and obey only the word of God, you will then be a “Christian” only. You will be a member of the body of Christ, which is His church (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:22-23; 4:4-6). You will be a part of the church which began in Acts 2 on the day of Pentecost more than 1900 years ago. Then, to continue pleasing God, continue studying and obeying His written word, the Bible, rejecting all man-made religious teachings and practices (Matt. 15:9; 2 Jn. 9; Jude 3; Heb. 10:23-25; Rev. 2:10).

Wheat always produces wheat. The word of God, planted in good and honest hearts, always produces “Christians.” Why not obey the gospel of Christ today?