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Christianity

Is Christianity the religion of Jesus or the religion about the Christ?

• St. Paul vs. the Jerusalem church (for Jews or Gentiles?)

• Church vs. state (the Roman Empire and persecution) (external conflict)

• Orthodoxy vs. Heresy (Gnostics) (internal conflict)

• East vs. West (Constantinople vs. Rome)

Paul vs. the Jerusalem church: The first century

• Christianity started out as a sect within first century Judaism:

• Jesus was Jewish, so were his disciples and followers

• most Jews in Jesus day loved Jesus, only the minority leadership (Pharisees and Priests) had problems with him (those that turned away from him did so only after he died without fulfilling their messianic expectations)

• Jesus’ followers and disciples continued to see themselves as Jewish (they were observing the Jewish Pentecost [Shavuot] when the Holy Spirit come to them [Acts 2:1-4])
  (is this when it became a new religion?)

• Jesus’ brother James and some of the other disciples were head of the new movement in Jerusalem

• Paul:

• These early Christians were not received well by their fellow Jews, including one by the name of Saul who actively persecuted the Christians

• However, one day while on his way to destroy the church in Damascus, Saul had a mystical encounter with the risen Christ and was immediately converted to Christian faith (Acts 9:1-9)

• From then on, rather than persecuting the Christians, Saul (thenceforth known by the Roman version of his name: Paul) began preaching the Gospel - the good news about the risen Christ - especially to the Gentiles. (Acts 9:19-22)

• Paul did more to spread Christianity in the first century and make it a universal religion (beyond Jewish circles) than anyone else. He was well traveled from Palestine to Rome and Greece and back again several times by both land and sea. He visited local Christian congregations, sent letters by messenger when he could not be there to give direction when some issue, question or problem arose. These letters ("epistles") were the earliest Christian writings and make up the core of the New Testament.

• But Paul and the church in Jerusalem were in disagreement over who could become a Christian. Did one have to be or become a Jew before one could be Christian? Paul said "no" and did not require that Gentiles be converted (and circumcised) to the Jewish faith. He argued his case before the leaders of the Jerusalem church (Acts 15:1-35) and convinced them of the universality of the "Good News"

Paul’s Good News: "So, what was the Good News that Paul preached? Was it the same Good News that Jesus preached?"

• Jesus preached the Good News about the Kingdom of God; Paul preached the Good News about the resurrected Christ (Paul had never met the historical Jesus, only the resurrected Christ)

• Jesus went around telling people they were already forgiven by God (not that he, Jesus, forgave them); Paul taught that Jesus Christ was Lord and Savior who died for their sins so that, by proxy, as a sacrifice, they would be forgiven and accepted by God.

• For Jesus, that people discover the Kingdom of God within themselves was the central issue in his teaching; for Paul it was the person of Jesus, not his life and teaching but his death and resurrection that was of primary significance. Those who followed Jesus before he died were drawn to him because of his life and teaching, not because they saw him as their salvation in the way Paul saw him (remember, Paul only knew the resurrected Christ)

in summary:

• Paul did, however, stress Love, in agreement with Jesus, as the essence of Christian faith and practice (1 Cor. 13) (the King James version of the Bible uses the word "charity" in place of "love")

Was it with Paul that Christianity broke from its Jewish roots?

Summary essay & timeline: A brief review of the early history of Christianity