Jesus Of Nazareth: The Establishment Of Christianity

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The establishment of Christianity began in Palestine by followers of Jesus of Nazareth (Bryan, 2007, p. 38). Jesus professed to be the Son of God, the promised Messiah who would establish the kingdom of God and remove all wickedness. His work and the results of his ministry were opposed by the Jewish clergy whom he exposed as false teachers (King James Version, Matthew 23). The Jewish religious leaders charged Jesus with crimes against Rome, the ruling power over Palestine, and Pontius Pilate acting as governor pronounced the death sentence in 36 C.E. Jesus followers used the scriptures to preach about his death, resurrection and future kingdom and began a campaign to spread the faith. That faith was called “the Way” by early Christians who …show more content…

Saul, according to Awwad (2011) “was a fanatic Pharisaic Jew in his zeal for the Torah and the traditions of the fathers” (p. 6). Saul’s persecution of Christians was the result of this zeal for traditions and the law colliding with the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Saul’s reasoning was based on the law declaring anyone hung on a tree is cursed by God; therefore, Jesus must be cursed and could not have been raised to life by the God who cursed him (Awwad, 2011, p.7). As Saul set out on the road to Damascus to persecute more Christians, Jesus appeared to Saul. He revealed himself so the persecution would stop and truth about the Christ would be preached (Awwad, 2011, p. 10). Jesus then changed Saul’s name to Paul and appointed him to be an apostle to the gentiles to spread the news about …show more content…

When that occurred is debatable, but it fits in with the change from councils of elders to a bishop. More change came when Emperor “Constantine…turned the history of the world into a new course and made Christianity…the religion of the State” (Herbermann and Grupp, 1908, n.p.). The empire of Rome was made up of a majority of pagan religions while only a small portion of the population were Christian. To unite the different beliefs, the emperor “yielded to the delusion…they could unite all their subjects in the adoration of the one sun-god who combined in himself the Father-God of the Christians” (Herbermann and Grupp, 1908, n.p.). In 313 A.D. Constantine issued a decree of tolerance to grant everyone the freedom to exercise their religion of choice because it would be advantageous for the security of the empire. Constantine adopted the sign of the cross to represent Christianity and showed equal favor to both pagans and Christians (Herbermann and Grupp, 1908,

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