History of Christianity. Religion & Theology Essay.

History of Christianity
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History of Christianity
The history of Christianity dates back to the life and times of Jesus Christ on earth. He is the founder of Christianity and over the centuries various churches have been established. Christianity is based on the teachings of Jesus Christ during this three-and-a-half-year ministry where he provided his follower's extensive spiritual instruction. Jesus' ministry was focused on preaching about God’s Kingdom and his followers were urged to pray that it will be executed on heaven and earth in the famous Lord’s Prayer. Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God and he was sent to die for humans to save them from the consequences of Adam and Eve’s sin. Jesus was a perfect man who has provided Christians the chance to have their sins forgiven and form a close bond with God. Jesus is the means through which Christians can approach God through prayer. The Jewish were the first Christians and much of the earliest activities of Christianity are contained in the Gospel accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts of Apostles in the New Testament. These Bible books provide a clear way of life for true Christians in the church (Johnson, 2012). This paper describes the key features of the early church and discusses the impact of ancient writings such as ‘Didache’ on the modern church.
Key features of the early church
After Jesus’ death, Christ’s followers were expected to follow through his ministry. However, followers of the early church faced intense persecution from the dominant Roman Empire. The Romans were involved in worshipping pagan gods and so were hostile to the emerging Christian religion. The persecutions were driven by cruel and tyrannical Emperors such as Nero who was at the forefront of humiliating Christians. The refusal of Christians to acknowledge Roman gods made locals pressure the authorities to persecute them. They believed that by not honoring their gods, misfortune would befall the locals. One of the persecutors named Saul later became the apostle Paul and was instrumental in the establishment of churches throughout the Roman Empire. He embarked on extensive missionary work to draw more followers into the early church. His preaching campaign focused on the significance of Jesus' death and resurrection. In his letters, he encouraged people from all nations to join the church whether Jewish or Gentiles (Dreyer, 2012). Paul’s widespread preaching campaign was crucial for the success of the early church. Over the centuries, it grew to become a dominant religion within the Roman Empire.
The early church was led by the apostles’ teachings. Jesus disciples such as James, John, and Peter had spent significant time with him by working hand in hand with Jesus in the ministry. This experience made them more conversant to many scriptural truths, they got to learn many effective ways of teaching the followers. So, after Jesus' death and resurrection, the apostles were in a great position to instruct new followers of Christ. They were able to explain to the flock the relevance of Jesus' death and they could also reveal how Biblical prophecies had been fulfilled through Jesus. So this devotion to apostolic teachings marks a key feature of the early church (Graves, 2017). The work of the apostles was vital in spreading the message of Christianity and helped in the foundation of more churches in the early centuries.
The Lord’s Supper was a core feature of the early church. Jesus had urged his disciples to remember his death during the Lord’s Supper. So, the early church was committed to honoring this provision by celebrating Jesus' death by using wine and bread. The wine symbolized his blood through which humans were saved while the bread symbolized his perfect body which was offered as a ransom sacrifice (Graves, 2017). The early church considered this memorial a sacred event in the annual calendar and the Jewish made sure they observed it in line with Jesus' instructions.
The early church was built on forgiveness and reconciliation. During the origins of the church, there was intense persecution from the Roman Empire. Christians were attacked, killed, or jailed. This is evident from the account of the martyr Stephen who due to his Christian faith was stoned to death by persecutors. Saul was also involved in the rampant persecution of Christians. However, despite the suffering and humiliation from the Roman authorities, the followers of the early church held firm their faith. They were not involved in retaliatory attacks meant to repay those who had wronged them. Instead, they kept following Jesus' spirit of forgiveness and reconciliation and invited many persecutors to change their ways and follow Christ. Even when Peter and other apostles were told to stop preaching they refused to heed this command (Hall, 2011). They said they won’t abandon preaching due to persecution. It showed the strong faith they had in Jesus' message.
The early church promoted good moral values. During this early age, the pagan customs of th...