Spread Of Christianity

Christianity first originated in Rome. It was started by the Jewish prophet, Jesus, and with the help of Paul, a later follower of the new faith, Christianity began to spread throughout the world. Christianity was influenced by the Jewish faith and has many similar practices.
Christianity, a religion based off of Judaism, believed in Jesus, the son of God, who came to purify the sins of the world and is the Messiah who will help redeem all life on earth and bring them to Heaven. When the Virgin Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel, she was told she would have a son that was holy with God, and that His birth would help free humanity of its sins. The religion borrows from many “Jewish beliefs and how the Roman rule, at the time, was oppressing
the Jews.” (AllAboutReligion). Christianity also emphasizes “moral virtues like caring, forgiveness, worship of God, and reverence of everything holy, along with establishing ways of speaking to God and doing ceremonies and practices that respect and praise him.” (Graham, William pg. 162). Jesus and his apostles taught and preached at sermons where He would spread His message and plan for all, Jesus also preached about “making a ‘new covenant’ with God that would restore fellowship and forgiveness with God.” (AllAboutReligions). Jesus also told his apostles how to spread His word. Jesus showed and displayed miracles no mortal man could do and would show the power and love of God and have conversations and spend time with the shunned and the sick. As Jesus and his apostles spread their message, Jesus gained more followers especially among the poor and sick. With more people following Jesus’ thinking, Jewish officials became “concerned about unrest among the Jews; that Jesus was a dangerous agitator.” (History-World). With the disciples realizing that the Messiah was not “immediately returning to earth” they began to “fan out around the Eastern Mediterranean to spread the new Christian message.” (History-World). Thus, Christianity began to have followers all around the world as a major world religion. The Jewish faith had an enormous influence on the start of Christianity.
Originally Christianity was considered to be a Jewish sect (jewishvirtuallibrary). Therefore, many of the people who converted to Christianity had originally been Jewish. Jesus, a prophet who Christians believe to be the Messiah, was a Jew who “observed the Jewish faith and was well acquainted with the Jewish Law.” (AllAboutReligion). This had a very large impact on the beliefs of Christianity. Christianity developed out of the Jewish monotheistic tradition, and from that Christianity gets its belief in the same single, all powerful God. The Old Testament, the first part of Christianity’s holy text, the Bible, is the same as Judaism’s sacred text the Torah, with a few add ons. (pbs). Christians also got the practice of church rituals, the reading of the Scripture and preaching, from the Jewish synagogue. A few of the early Christian prayers are Jewish originals or adaptations, “Our Father who art in Heaven” from the Our Father comes from a Jewish prayer. The central part of Christianity, the Liturgy of the Eucharist, comes from when Jesus and his apostles celebrated the Passover, a Jewish tradition. Christianity and Judaism are closely related, and stem from the same beliefs, but are fundamentally different in important aspects. Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God and the Messiah, but the Jews do not believe that he was the Messiah. Christianity, in part, was formed as a way to fix the
problems that were arising in the Jewish religion and “the early stages of religion focused on cleansing the Jewish religion of stiff rituals and haughty leaders.” Without the influences from the Jewish faith, Christianity would not be the religion it is today. Saint Paul the Apostle was a great influence for the birth of Christianity.
He was originally Saul of Tarsus (which is in present day Turkey). He was an apostle and is sometimes called Saint Paul. He was one of the earliest people to develop and spread Christianity. He grew up as a Jew receiving Jewish education and was a Pharisee (a strict adherent to Jewish law) at first and he held Roman citizenship and had great hellenistic education which made him “raised in two worlds: in a proud Jewish family that maintained its Jewish heritage and the Hellenistic world of the Greek city”(“Saint Paul”).Before he started to spread Christianity, he used to persecute Christians until one day, while traveling to Damascus in 35 CE, he converted to the new faith. This was also when he changed his name from Saul to Paul. He traveled throughout the Hellenistic lands and founded churches teaching Christianity. However his problem was the Christian relationship with Judaism, and since Christianity was similar to Judaism and emerged from them, then Christianity must adhere to Jewish law and the only followers must be converts among Jews. However some Hellenist Jews saw Christianity as a new and universal religion. Paul decided to support this Hellenist thinking and many of the gentiles (non-jews) converted. He believed that Jesus’s followers were to spread the gospel of salvation and be evangelists (messengers). Salvation was a gift of God’s grace and faith in Jesus Christ was needed
and salvation could not just be earned by doing good things. Saint Paul was very important in the birth of Christianity because he promoted the faith past the confines of Judaism so that gentiles converted and the religion became universal. Some Christians even believe that he was the first interpreter of Jesus’s teachings. In the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Lutheran, and Anglican churches he is known as a Saint. Most Christians today have accepted his teachings as the heart of Christian Doctrine. He was a model of a faithful follower because he risked imprisonment and execution for remaining faithful to Jesus Christ, who was crucified later by the Romans for saying that he was the son of God. Paul took Christianity and transformed it into the universal religion it is today. So basically, Paul was the main apostle to spread Christianity as a universal faith open to everyone, including non-jewish people, which did not seem right since it emerged from Judaism and “without Saint Paul it might have remained a small, heretical cult within Judaism”(Graham pg.162). All in all, Saint Paul was key to the spread and birth of Christianity as a universal religion.
Christianity was based off of the teachings of Jewish prophet, Jesus. Jesus’ teachings revolved around a powerful and caring God. Jesus taught that “he was the son of God who came to redeem humanity and bring immortality to those who followed his teachings.” (Graham 162). Many people followed him, especially the poor. The poor favored Jesus because his teachings accepted everyone and you did not have to be wealthy to follow him. He preached in Jerusalem and taught followers not to sin and to love everyone. Many Roman rulers despised Jesus and his followers because they were expected to worship Roman emperors as gods. Jesus was arrested by Romans, after his betrayal by disciple Judas. Jesus was condemned to death by crucifixion. Gospels teach that days after Jesus’ death, he returned to earth and taught his disciples to continue his preaching.
In conclusion, Christianity is widely practiced today, but began thousands of years ago in Rome. Jesus of Nazareth claimed to be the son of God and was the founder of Christianity. Paul of Tarsus was an apostle who taught Christianity and converted many people in Rome. He established that the faith was universal and could be practiced by anyone. It emerged from Judaism and many practices came from the Jewish faith.