Historical Background
Early Christian BeliefsAfter Jesus’ ascension to heaven forty days following his resurrection, his disciples were wondering what to do next. According to the Book of Acts, the Spirit of God came upon them in the form of fire and gave them the courage to spread their belief of Jesus as the Messiah. The first preaching of the Christian message is called the Birthday of the Church.
The early Christian group that remained in Jerusalem was led my James, who was called the Just because of his careful observance of Jewish practice. The Jewish-Christian Church led by Jesus’ relatives was a strong influence for the first forty years. Its members kept the Jewish holy days, prayed in the Temple, and conducted their services in Aramaic. However, the Christian-Jewish church was weakened after the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. and seems to have disappeared over the next hundred years. The non-Jewish, Greek speaking branch of early Christianity began to spread throughout the Roman Empire, and this was led by Paul and others like him. Molly, Michael. (2010). Experiencing the World’s Religions (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Pg.343-346 |
Paul & Pauline ChristianityChristianity among the non-Jews grew because of the missionary Paul. His preaching in Greek, his energetic traveling, and his powerful letters spread his form of belief in Jesus far beyond the limits of Israel.
In the beginning Paul opposed the new “Jesus movement however after several years of study in seclusion, he became convinced that Jesus’ life and death were the major events of a divine plan and that Jesus was a cosmic figure who entered the world in order to renew it. Paul had discovered his life’s mission, which was to spread belief in Christ around the Mediterranean, particularly among non-Jews, whom he found more receptive to his message. Paul would go to the local synagogue and use Jewish scriptures to explain his own belief that Jesus was the Messiah whom Jews had long been awaiting. He was unsuccessful with most Jews who saw him as a traitor, especially when he mentioned it wasn’t necessary to impose Jewish laws about diet and circumcision on non-Jewish converts to Christianity. This would become an intense debate in early Christianity. Christianity began spreading and was soon attracting followers that did not come from a Jewish background. Questions about practice led early Christianity to differentiate itself from Judaism, in order to define itself on its terms. Ultimately, some elements of Judaism were retained and others were abandoned. Paul preached that it was no longer by the keeping of Jewish laws that a person comes into right relationship with God, but rather by accepting Jesus, who shows us God’s love and who was punished for our wrongdoing. Paul saw Jesus not only as a teacher, prophet and Messiah, but also as a manifestation of divinity. Jesus’ death was an atonement for human sin (wrongdoing), and the result is that punishment of death is no longer for all people who have the Spirit of God within them. |