Christianity probably arose in the first half of the first century, but because there are no primary sources from that time that mention Jesus, Christ or Christianity, this cannot be verified. It was not until the second half of the first century that writings appeared mentioning Jesus, his actions and his disciples. These writings, which consist of 27 parts, together form the New Testament; the second part of the Christian Bible. Christians view the New Testament as a succession of the Old Testament (the first part of the Christian Bible) as it foretold and announced the coming of a Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Latin).
Contents
- The Origin of Christianity According to the New Testament
- Movements within Judaism in the first century
- Christianity splits off
- The developments of the Christian church in the first century
The Origin of Christianity According to the New Testament
According to the New Testament, Jesus of Nazareth is the son of God and the Messiah (Hebrew) or Christ (Latin) announced in the Old Testament. The New Testament focuses mainly on Jesus’ birth, baptism, death and resurrection and the ‘Great Commission’ that he gave his disciples.
The biography of Jesus Christ – according to the New Testament
The Jewish prophet, Jesus of Nazareth (c. 5 BC – c. 30 AD), traveled through Canaan during his lifetime to announce the coming of the Kingdom of God. During his travels, Jesus performed miracles by healing the sick and took on disciples who were taught by him. From these disciples, Jesus chose twelve apostles who became his chief followers and were chosen by him to spread the gospel. Around the year 28, Jesus preached in Galilee and Judea and visited the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. When he criticized the Temple’s religious leaders, he was arrested and convicted of ,incitement to insurrection., During the Jewish Passover festival, Jesus was put to death by crucifixion.
The Great Commission
The death of Jesus did not mean the end of His teaching for His apostles and a few days after Jesus’ death reports appeared about His ‘resurrection’. Jesus’ tomb was found empty and he appeared several times to his disciples and apostles in the days after his resurrection. During one of these apparitions, Jesus gave his disciples the ‘Great Commission’ (also called the missionary command); or Jesus’ instruction to his disciples to bring the Christian faith to the whole world. In the years that followed, Jesus’ disciples, led by the twelve apostles, undertook many missionary journeys to fulfill Jesus’ final assignment and managed to spread the Christian faith far beyond Jerusalem.
Movements within Judaism in the first century
Christianity is a religion that split from Judaism in the past. This split did not go without a hitch and started in the period after the death of Jesus Christ. Christianity was initially seen as a sect of Judaism, but it soon became apparent that the views of both parties on observance of Jewish law were miles apart.
The original community
In the first century, the Jewish ‘original community’ in Jerusalem was formed by two parties; the Jews and the Jewish Christians (Jews who had converted to Christianity). Gentile Christians (non-Jews who had converted to Christianity) were also seen as Jewish Christians as they had in common that they both believed that Jesus was the God sent the Messiah (called messianism). Only the way in which the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians (called Christians for short) expressed their faith was completely different.
Judaizers
A division soon occurred within the group of Jewish Christians. Some of them did not want to renounce Judaism and to clarify the covenant between Judaism and Christianity they referred to the twelve apostles of Jesus. According to them, these were equal to the twelve sons of the Jewish patriarch Jacob (also called Israel). This part of the Jewish Christians – called Judaizers – believed that the laws of the Torah should be strictly followed, including circumcision and the purity and dietary laws.
Hellenists
The other part of the Jewish Christians was Hellenized and believed that they did not have to strictly adhere to Jewish laws. They did not participate in temple services, did not observe the dietary laws and believed that pagan converts did not need to be circumcised; baptism was sufficient. According to the apostle (and convert) Paul, Gentiles were sanctified and purified by their faith in Jesus Christ and by receiving the Holy Spirit, not by being circumcised.
Christianity splits off
By the beginning of the first century, several conflicts had occurred between Jews and Jewish Christians, and as a result, many Jewish Christians had fled Jerusalem. In the second half of the first century, new Christian communities began to emerge in various places in the Roman Empire.
Run-up
When the apostles honored the new Christian communities with a visit, the contradictions between the Judaizers and Hellenists became increasingly painfully apparent. Particularly during communal meals. Half of the Jewish Christians adhered to the dietary laws and the other half did not. After emotions between both parties in Judea had become so heated, the Christian community there sent Apostle Paul and church leader Barnabas to Jerusalem to discuss the conflict with the other apostles and come up with a solution.
The (first) council in Jerusalem
The first official meeting between the apostles in Jerusalem was called the Council of Jerusalem and the apostles considered the question to what extent a (Jewish) Christian should adhere to the laws of the Torah. It was decided that Gentile Christians did not have to adhere to the laws of circumcision to become Christians. Faith in Jesus Christ, receiving the Holy Spirit and baptism were sufficient. Because of this decision, Christianity slowly began to break away from Judaism and increasingly followed its own course.
The developments of the Christian church in the first century
The ‘Great Commission’ that Jesus gave to his disciples marked the beginning of the early Christian church, but the disputes between the Hellenists and Judaizers caused a division within the young church. The Judaizers decided to follow the vision of Jesus’ brother James and the Hellenists joined the vision of the Apostle Paul.
Leadership of the young church
The leadership of the early Christian church was in the hands of Jesus’ brother, James the Just and the twelve apostles. The fact that they all believed that Jesus Christ was the messiah was fundamental to the early Christian church, but unfortunately each of them had a different opinion about how exactly this should be interpreted. While the Judaizers recognized James the Just as their leader, partly because he was highly regarded for his strict observance of the Torah, the Hellenists saw the apostle Paul as their leader, precisely because this strict observance of the Torah – and circumcision – was not found necessary.
Grow
After the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70, the (Jewish) Christians spread across large parts of the Roman Empire and founded new Christian communities in various places. Because it was impossible for the apostles to visit all communities personally, they began to divide the tasks.
The apostles could appoint an overseer (Greek: episcopos, the English word for bishop is derived from this) who was in charge of a number of Christian communities that were located close to each other. The overseer in turn had the right to appoint an ‘elder’ (Greek: presbyter, the Dutch word priest is derived from this) who was charged with the daily affairs of one Christian congregation. The eldest in turn appointed special servants (Greek: diakonos, the Dutch word deacon is derived from this) who were charged with caring for the widows or preparing the communal meal.
To use
In the books of Acts and Didache we find descriptions of how the early Christian communities lived and how Christian worship was organized. The Christians, like the Jews, formed large communities in which everything was shared in common. A Christian did not have his own belongings as he shared all his possessions with the community and all meals were also eaten communally. In addition, Christians in the first century had a worship service that is very similar to today’s Christian worship service (church service), namely a weekly meeting on Sunday and the celebration of the Eucharist.
Christian persecution
The vision and loose lifestyle of the Hellenists was probably the reason that the Roman king Herod Agrippa II (27-92) first started persecuting the (Jewish) Christians around the year 50. The persecution of the Jewish Christians presented a problem for the Jews in Jerusalem. If they supported their Jewish Christian brothers, they would be persecuted themselves. In the years 64 to 68, the Roman emperor Nero (37-68) conducted a true reign of terror against the Christians, after which Emperor Domitian (51-96) repeated it again between the years 81 to 96. review