Lord Jesus Christ

 

Jesus Christ was one of the world's greatest religious leaders.  The Christian religion was founded on His life and teachings.  Most Christians believe that He is the Son of God who was sent to earth to save humanity. 

 

Even many people who are not Christians believe that Jesus was a great and wise teacher.  Muslims believe that Jesus was one of a succession of prophets who were sent by God to guide mankind. 

 

The personal name of Jesus Christ was Jesus.  The term Christ comes from the Greek word christos.  The Greek word is a translation of the Hebrew word messiah, meaning the anointed one. 

 

Records of the life of Jesus:  Four short books of the New Testament tell nearly all we know of the life of Jesus.  These books are the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.  The word gospel means good news.  Christian tradition attributes the gospels to men who followed Jesus during His life, or after His death.  Today, many scholars doubt that any of the writers of the gospels knew Jesus during His lifetime.  They also doubt that we know the actual names of the writers. 

 

Early life

 

Birth: Jesus was born during the lifetime of Herod the Great, who ruled Palestine. Herod died in 4 or 1 B.C., so Jesus must have been born no later than the year of Herod's death. No one knows what time of year Jesus was born. The day of His birth was first celebrated on December 25 in the early 300's.

 

The gospels of Matthew and Luke record that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a town in Judea. His mother was the Virgin Mary. Mary's husband was Joseph. He was brought up in Nazareth, a town in Galilee. In other details, the two accounts differ greatly.

 

According to Matthew, Mary was betrothed (engaged to be married) to Joseph. When Joseph discovered that Mary was pregnant, an angel appeared to him in a dream. The angel told him that the child was of the Holy Spirit. After Jesus was born, wise men travelled from the East to see the newborn Messiah. They first asked for Him at Herod's court in Jerusalem. Then they followed the light of a star to Bethlehem. They found Jesus and gave Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Herod had told them to return after they knew where the infant was. But they had been warned not to go to Herod, and so they took a different route home. Herod became angry. He feared this new "King of the Jews." He ordered the deaths of all boys in Bethlehem 2 years old and younger. An angel had appeared to Joseph in another dream and warned him about this decree. Joseph fled with Mary and Jesus to Egypt. After Herod died, they returned and settled in the town of Nazareth in Galilee.

 

According to Luke, Mary and Joseph originally lived in Nazareth. The angel Gabriel visited Mary and announced that her child would be the Son of God and the Messiah that was promised in the Hebrew Bible. This visit is known as the annunciation. Sometime before Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem to record their names in a census (count of the people). They found shelter in a stable. Jesus was born there and Mary made a cradle for Him in a manger. Shepherds near Bethlehem saw angels in the sky. The angels sang, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men" (Luke 2:14). Some translations of the Bible say "to men of good will." After Mary and Joseph had done everything commanded by Jewish law, they returned with Jesus to Nazareth.

 

Childhood: There is only one story in the Gospels about Jesus' childhood. Luke says that when Jesus was 12 years old, He went with Mary and Joseph to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. He sat among the scholars in the Temple and amazed them with His knowledge of religion. The only other remark in Luke about Jesus' childhood is that "the Child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon Him" (Luke 2:40). Jesus probably grew up in Nazareth and helped Joseph in his carpentry work.

 

Public life : Jesus' public life began after He was baptized by John the Baptist in Judea with water from the River Jordan. According to Luke, Jesus was baptized when He was about 30 years old. John the Baptist preached repentance and baptized those who accepted his message.

Other New Testament writings include the Epistles (letters) of Paul and the Acts of the Apostles.  They tell us about the early followers of Jesus after His death and include information about Jesus.  Non-Christian records of Jesus and the times in which He lived are found in the writings of Josephus, who wrote about A.D. 90; Pliny the Younger, who wrote about 112; Tacitus, who wrote about 115; and Suetonius, who wrote about 120.

Jesus Christ was born c. 6-4 BC, in Bethlehem and died c. AD 30, in Jerusalem, also called Jesus of Galilee or Jesus of Nazareth founder of Christianity, one of the world's largest religions, and the incarnation of God according to most Christians. His teachings and deeds are recorded in the New Testament, which is essentially a theological document that makes discovery of the “historical Jesus” difficult. The basic outlines of his career and message, however, can be characterized when considered in the context of 1st-century Judaism and, especially, Jewish eschatology.

Name and Title

Ancient Jews usually had only one name, and, when greater specificity was needed, it was customary to add the father's name or the place of origin. Thus, in his lifetime Jesus was called Jesus son of Joseph (Luke 4:22; John 1:45; 6:42), Jesus of Nazareth (Acts 10:38), or Jesus the Nazarene (Mark 1:24; Luke 24:19). After his death, he came to be called Jesus Christ. Christ was not originally a name but a title derived from the Greek word christos, which translates the Hebrew term meshiah (Messiah), meaning “the anointed one.” This title indicates that Jesus' followers believed him to be the anointed son of King David, whom some Jews expected to restore the fortunes of Israel. Passages such as Acts of the Apostles 2:36 show that some early Christian writers knew that the Christ was properly a title, but in many passages of the New Testament, including those in Paul's letters, the name and the title are combined and used together as Jesus' name: Jesus Christ or Christ Jesus (Romans 1:1; 3:24). Paul sometimes simply used Christ as Jesus' name (e.g., Romans 5:6).

Summary of Jesus' life

Although born in Bethlehem, according to Matthew and Luke, Jesus was a Galilean from Nazareth, a village near Sepphoris, one of the two major cities of Galilee (Tiberias was the other). He was born to Joseph and Mary shortly before the death of Herod the Great (Matthew 2; Luke 1:5) in 4 BC. According to Matthew and Luke, however, Joseph was only his father legally. They report that Mary was a virgin when Jesus was conceived and that she “was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 1:18; cf. Luke 1:35). Joseph is said to have been a carpenter (Matthew 13:55), that is, a craftsman who worked with his hands, and, according to Mark 6:3, Jesus also became a carpenter.

 

Luke (2:41-52) states that as a child Jesus was precociously learned, but there is no other evidence of his childhood or early life. As a young adult, he went to be baptized by the prophet John the Baptist and shortly thereafter became an itinerant preacher and healer (Mark 1:2-28). In his mid-30s, Jesus had a short public career, lasting perhaps less than one year, during which he attracted considerable attention. Some time between AD 29 and 33-possibly AD 30-he went to observe Passover in Jerusalem, where his entrance, according to the Gospels, was triumphant and infused with eschatological significance. While there he was arrested, tried, and executed. His disciples became convinced that he still lived and had appeared to them. They converted others to belief in him, which eventually led to a new religion, Christianity.

Ministry: The mission of Jesus was to announce that the Kingdom of God was coming, and that it had begun to arrive even as He announced it. He did this both in words and in actions, by His miracles and His teaching. By the "Kingdom of God," Jesus meant a new state of affairs on earth, which God would bring about. In it all people would live as God's children.

 

After Jesus' baptism, He went to Galilee to begin to spread His message. According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the first part of Jesus' ministry was in Galilee and the area around it. He chose Capernaum, near the Sea of Galilee (Lake Gennesaret), as His headquarters. At the end of His ministry in Galilee, Jesus travelled to Jerusalem, where He died. According to John, however, Jesus travelled between Galilee and Judea several times.

 

Jesus attracted many disciples (close followers). He chose 12 disciples who assisted Him. They became known as the apostles.

 

The miracles: The Gospels tell of many miracles that Jesus performed. He did not work any miracles for His own benefit. His miracles showed that what He said about the Kingdom of God was true. In each miracle, the Kingdom of God broke into human life in a small way. The miracles brought relief from all kinds of sickness and suffering. This relief showed the meaning of the Kingdom of God.

 

According to the Gospel of John, Jesus' first miracle took place at a wedding feast at Cana. When His host ran short of wine, Jesus changed water into wine. According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus performed another early miracle at the Sea of Galilee. There, the apostle Peter caught so many fish that the weight of the fishing net almost sank the boat. Another time, Jesus divided five loaves of bread and two fishes among 5,000 people so that everyone would have food. He also once amazed His disciples by walking on water.

 

Jesus performed other miracles that healed sick people or relieved them from other kinds of suffering. He enabled lame people to walk and restored sight to the blind. The Gospel of John tells of Jesus' miracle that brought His friend Lazarus back to life after Lazarus had been dead and buried for four days. Jesus used His power to perform miracles in order to show the love and mercy of God.

 

His teaching: In addition to proclaiming the Kingdom of God by His miracles, Jesus also proclaimed it by His teaching. Jesus often used parables to explain the Kingdom of God. Parables are brief stories that teach lessons. One of Jesus' well-known parables, The Prodigal Son, is found in Luke 15:11-32. The parable describes a father's great joy at the return of his wayward son. Jesus used this story to teach God's love and forgiveness for sinners who repent.

 

Jesus also told His followers what kind of life they would have to live in the Kingdom of God. He taught people to love God and their neighbours. Jesus stressed that each person should treat others as he or she wished to be treated. He also instructed His listeners not to fight back if they were attacked. He commanded, "Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also" (Matt. 5:39).

 

The Passion : Jesus' proclamation of the Kingdom of God was good news for many people. But some, especially the leaders of the people, were unhappy with Him. They believed that Jesus changed accepted religious practices, such as the Sabbath laws. But most of all, the leaders feared that His popularity would encourage a rebellion against the Roman Empire. Then the Romans would destroy the Jewish nation.

 

Jesus probably knew that it was dangerous to carry out His ministry. But He considered His ministry to be His duty. He was determined to preach the good news of the Kingdom of God. Jesus felt that He had come to save other people by giving His own life. The Passion is a term used to indicate Jesus' suffering during the final days of His life. Christians remember these final days during Holy Week.

The Last Supper: Jesus arrived in Jerusalem for Passover week. He made a triumphal entry into the city. People cheered Him and covered His path with clothing and the branches of palm trees. They were grateful for His teaching and healing. Many of them believed that He would bring a better life to the Jewish nation. Jesus went into the Temple and drove out the men who were changing money and selling doves. He taught that the house of God must be for prayer, and not for making money.

 

During the next few days, Jesus spent part of His time teaching in Jerusalem. The rest of the time He spent in the nearby town of Bethany. He had a final meal with His disciples in Jerusalem. This meal is often called the Last Supper. During the meal, Jesus told His disciples that one of them would betray Him. According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, this supper was the Passover meal. As Jesus gave His disciples bread, He said, "This is my Body." As He gave them wine, He said, "This is my Blood" (Matthew 26:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, and Luke 22:19-20). The Christian ceremony of Communion is based on the Last Supper.

 

The trial: After the meal, Jesus and His disciples went to Gethsemane, a garden on the slope of the Mount of Olives, opposite the Temple. According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, Jesus prayed there in agony, knowing the things that were to happen to Him, but He submitted Himself to God's will. A band of armed men came to the garden to arrest Jesus. Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, pointed Him out to them. Thus, Judas was the one who betrayed Jesus. The Gospel of Matthew says that Judas later hanged himself.

 

The men took Jesus to the high priest's house. There the leaders of the people questioned Jesus. According to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they asked Him if He was the Messiah. When He did not deny it, they said that He had blasphemed (insulted God's name).

 

The Jewish leaders took Jesus before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. They said that Jesus claimed to be King of the Jews and charged Him with treason against Rome. According to the Gospel of Luke, Pilate found out that Jesus was a Galilean and sent Him to Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee. Herod mocked Jesus, dressed Him in a kingly robe, and sent Him back to Pilate.

 

It was the custom for the Roman governor to release one Jewish prisoner at the Passover season. Pilate took Jesus and a condemned criminal named Barabbas onto the steps of his palace and told the crowd to choose which one should go free. The crowd turned against Jesus and chose Barabbas. Pilate then sentenced Jesus to die on a cross. Crucifixion was a common Roman form of execution.

 

The Crucifixion: According to Matthew, Mark, and John, the Roman soldiers mocked Jesus for claiming to be King of the Jews. They dressed Him in a red robe, placed a crown of thorns on His head, and put a reed in His hand. Some of the men struck Him.

 

The Gospel of John says that Jesus carried His own cross to the place of the Crucifixion. According to the other Gospels, the soldiers made a man named Simon of Cyrene carry the cross. They nailed Jesus to the cross outside the city, on a hill called Golgotha (Calvary). On the cross they wrote the charge against Jesus, "The King of the Jews." The soldiers set up His cross between the crosses of two thieves.

 

According to Luke, Jesus said as He hung on the cross, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). According to both Matthew and Mark, He cried out, "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34). After Jesus died, a disciple named Joseph of Arimathea took His body to a new tomb and sealed the tomb with a stone.

 

The Resurrection: Christians refer to Jesus' return to life as His Resurrection, and celebrate it on Easter Sunday. The Gospels tell how Mary Magdalene went to Jesus' tomb on Sunday morning. She found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty. The Gospels also record various appearances of Jesus after the discovery of the empty tomb. He appeared to Mary Magdalene (Matthew, John), to Simon Peter and to two disciples who saw Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke), and to the 11 faithful disciples who met Jesus in Jerusalem (Luke, John) and in Galilee (Matthew, John). According to the Acts of the Apostles, Jesus stayed on earth during the next 40 days and taught His disciples. Then He rose into heaven. This rising into heaven is often called The Ascension.

 

Christianity

The early Christians : The Resurrection of Jesus convinced His disciples that He was not only the one who announced the coming of the Kingdom of God, but also the Messiah, who would bring the Kingdom into being. They believed that through His death and Resurrection, Jesus began to free the human race from all suffering and evil. The disciples also believed that He would come again to complete the work He had begun.

 

The disciples quickly converted hundreds of people to the new faith. The missionary activity of the apostle Paul helped to spread Christianity throughout the eastern Mediterranean area within 30 years after the death of Jesus. The Christians suffered persecution by the Roman authorities, but the faith continued to spread. Finally, in 313, Emperor Constantine the Great gave the Christians freedom of worship.

 

During this time, the Christians tried to understand Jesus more fully. Eventually they came to see that He was not only the Messiah, but also the Son of God in a special sense not shared by anyone else. The Christians explained the relationship of Jesus to God by means of the doctrine of the Trinity. This doctrine states that in one God there are three Divine Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As the Son, Jesus is equal with the Father. The doctrine of the Trinity explained why Jesus had absolute authority for His teachings and absolute power to forgive sins and give eternal life.

Christianity is the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Most followers of Christianity, called Christians, are members of one of three major groups--Roman Catholic, Protestant, or Eastern Orthodox. These groups have different beliefs about Jesus and His teachings. But all Christians consider Jesus central to their religion. Most Christians believe that God sent Jesus into the world as the Savior. Christianity teaches that humanity can achieve salvation through Jesus.

 

 

 

Jesus lived in Palestine, a Middle Eastern land ruled by the Romans. The Romans crucified Jesus in about A.D. 30. Jesus' followers were convinced that He rose from the dead after three days, and they soon spread Christianity to major cities throughout the Roman Empire. Today, Christians make up the largest religious group in the world. Christianity has about 11/2 billion followers--about a quarter of the world's population. Christianity is the major religion in Europe, the Western Hemisphere, and Australia. Many Christians also live in Africa and Asia.

 

Christianity has had an enormous influence on Western civilization, especially on art, literature, and philosophy. Its teachings have had a lasting effect on the conduct of business, government, and social relations.

 

Beliefs: Christians believe that there is one God, and that He created the universe and continues to care for it. The belief in one God was first taught by the Jewish religion. Christianity teaches that God sent His Son Jesus into the world as His chosen servant, called the Messiah (Christos in Greek), to help people fulfill their religious duties. Christianity also teaches that after Jesus' earthly life, God's presence remained on earth in the form of the Holy Spirit, or Holy Ghost. The belief that in one God there are three People--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit--is known as the doctrine of the Trinity. Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches and many Protestant churches accept this doctrine as the central teaching of Christianity.

 

Some Christians regard Jesus as a great but human teacher. However, most Christians view Jesus as God incarnate--that is, a divine being who took on the human appearance and characteristics of a man. They believe that Jesus is the Saviour who died to save humanity from sin. According to this view, Jesus' death made salvation and eternal life possible for others.

 

Christians gather in churches because they believe that God intended them to form special groups for worship. They also meet in churches to encourage one another to lead upright lives according to God's moral law.

 

Two practices important to Christian worship usually take place in churches. They are (1) baptism and (2) the Eucharist, also called Holy Communion or the Lord's Supper. Baptism celebrates an individual's entrance into Christianity. The Eucharist represents the Last Supper, the final meal that Jesus shared with His disciples. Worshippers share bread and wine in the Eucharist as a sign of their unity with each other and with Jesus.

 

Christians see Jesus as continuous with the God of Judaism. A collection of Christian writings was added to the Jewish scriptures known as the Old Testament, or Hebrew Bible. The Christian writings, called the New Testament, record the life and teachings of Jesus. They also describe the development of the early church and explain what faith in Jesus means. The Christian Bible includes both the Old and New Testaments. Some Christian groups also accept as part of the Bible a collection of writings called the Apocrypha.

 

The origin of Christianity

 

Jesus' ministry: Christianity originated in the ministry of Jesus. During His lifetime, Jesus preached the gospel, meaning good news that God was coming to earth to be among His people in a special way. Jesus called this special way the Kingdom of God. He warned His listeners to repent their sinful ways to be ready for the approaching Kingdom of God. In urging repentance, Jesus gave His own interpretation of Jewish law to show how people could obey God and achieve righteousness.

 

Jesus' teaching brought Him great popularity. Reports spread that He performed such miracles as healing the sick and bringing the dead back to life. Jesus' popularity caused opposition from Jewish and Roman officials. The Romans charged Jesus with treason for calling Himself King of the Jews, and they crucified Him.

 

Resurrection and Pentecost: The followers of Jesus did not accept His death as His end. They were certain that Jesus came back from the dead and that He later rose to heaven. Many stories circulated about Jesus' appearance among His disciples after His death.

 

Reports of the Resurrection convinced many people that Jesus was the Son of God. Some followers began to call Jesus the Messiah, the Saviour of the Jewish people promised in the Old Testament. Followers of Jesus came to believe that they, too, could receive eternal life because of Jesus' Resurrection.

 

Jesus had chosen 12 men, known as the apostles, to preach the gospel after His death. About 50 days after the Crucifixion, the apostles and other followers of Jesus claimed that the Holy Spirit had entered them and given them the ability to speak foreign languages. This ability enabled them to spread Jesus' teachings to all lands. Christians date the beginning of the church to this event, which they celebrate as Pentecost.

 

The first Christians were Jews. Soon, many gentiles (non-Jews) converted to the new faith. Peter and the other apostles urged people to accept Jesus as the divine Christ who had conquered sin and death. Peter founded churches in Palestine and, according to Christian tradition, headed the church in Rome.

 

At first, there were many kinds of Christian leaders, both men and women. No central authority regulated their activities. But by A.D. 100, churches began to distinguish between religious leaders, called clergy, and the general membership. The most important leader in every large church was a bishop who supervised other clergy. Christians relied on bishops to interpret Christian teachings and ensure correct belief.

 

The spread of Christianity

 

The early church: At first, the Roman government considered Christianity a legal Jewish sect. But beginning in A.D. 64, and continuing for the next 250 years, various Roman emperors persecuted the Christians. Rather than weakening the young religion, persecution strengthened it. Persecution gave believers an opportunity to prove their faith by dying for it.

 

The Roman Emperor Constantine the Great gave Christians freedom of worship in 313. He called the first ecumenical (general) church council in 325 to make doctrine uniform throughout the empire. The council adopted a statement known as the Nicene Creed, which said that Jesus Christ was of the same substance as God. The council condemned Arianism, a belief that Jesus was not completely divine.

 

By 392, Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman Empire. The church then grew more involved in worldly affairs. In protest, some believers adopted a way of life known as monasticism. They withdrew from everyday life to concentrate on prayer and meditation. During the 500's, Saint Benedict of Nursia established monasteries where monks and nuns lived in separate communities. He also set down rules for the monastic way of life. For 500 years, most monastics in Europe belonged to the Benedictine religious order. The Benedictines helped spread Christianity throughout western Europe.

 

In 395, the Roman Empire was split into the West and East Roman empires. In 476, the last West Roman emperor fell from power. German chieftains carved up the West Roman Empire. The East Roman Empire survived as the Byzantine Empire until 1453, when Turks captured its capital, Constantinople (now Istanbul). Christianity also had a Western and an Eastern church. The centre of the Western church was in Rome and the centre of the Eastern Church was in Constantinople. The most powerful church leaders were the bishop of Rome, called the pope, in the West and the patriarch of Constantinople in the East.

 

The Middle Ages began after the fall of the West Roman Empire and continued for about 1,000 years. During the Middle Ages, Christianity replaced the Roman Empire as the unifying force in western Europe.

 

After the fall of the West Roman Empire, the pope had more authority than any other person in Europe. The most influential early pope was Gregory the Great, whose reign began in 590. Gregory sent missionaries to convert the people of England. He also established rules of conduct for the clergy.

 

The pope exercised political as well as spiritual authority. In 800, Pope Leo III crowned the Frankish ruler Charlemagne emperor of the Romans. Charlemagne had united much of western Europe. He wanted to restore the stability of Roman rule in an empire built on the Christian faith. Charlemagne's empire declined after his death in 814. But Leo III had established the pope's right to make an emperor's authority lawful.

 

After Charlemagne, disputes arose over the distribution of power between the church and the state. Many kings and nobles insisted on the right to appoint church officials. The desire for an independent clergy led Pope Nicholas II to establish the Sacred College of Cardinals in 1059. The college assumed responsibility for electing a pope. In 1075, Pope Gregory VII announced that the pope would appoint clergy free from outside interference. He also outlawed simony, the practice of buying and selling church posts.

 

Medieval religious scholars called scholastics expanded Christian doctrine into a complete body of thought that included science and philosophy. The scholastics wished to reach a better understanding of Christian faith through reason. Saint Anselm, an early scholastic, attempted to prove God's existence through logic. In the 1200's, Saint Thomas Aquinas produced the most important scholastic work, the Summa Theologica. In it, he brought Christian doctrine into harmony with the teachings of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle.

 

Monasteries were centers of learning throughout the Middle Ages. In the 1200's, members of new religious orders, called friars, began to work among the people. Franciscan friars followed the selfless example of Saint Francis of Assisi, who founded their order in 1209. Franciscans were noted for their loving service to others. The Dominican order, founded in 1216 by Saint Dominic, became noted for its scholarship.

 

During the Middle Ages, Christian armies tried to recapture Palestine, which had been conquered by Muslim Turks. These military expeditions, known as Crusades, began just before 1100 and ended in the late 1200's. The crusaders failed to hold the Holy Land. But contact with the East influenced European culture.

 

The division of the church

 

The split between East and West: The two centers of Christianity--Rome and Constantinople--drifted further apart during the early Middle Ages. Eastern Christians enjoyed political stability, and they tolerated a wide range of religious discussion. Western believers supported many different kingdoms, but they insisted on complete agreement over doctrine. Disagreements over the pope's authority in the East produced a schism (split) in 1054 between the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Roman Catholic Church. The schism still exists today.

 

Decline of papal authority: In 1309, a French pope moved the papacy (office of the pope) from Rome to Avignon in what is now France. The papacy remained in Avignon until 1377. French kings and nobles exerted influence on the papacy and greatly reduced its prestige. This decline in the institution of the papacy made many members of the clergy impatient for reform.

 

In 1378, a disagreement among the cardinals resulted in the election of two rival popes. For a time, three men opposed one another as the rightful pope. Finally in 1417, the Council of Constance elected a pope who was accepted by all the rival groups.

 

 

The Reformation: The desire to reform Christianity grew stronger during the 1500's. In 1517, a movement called the Reformation began when Martin Luther, a German monk, criticized certain church practices. The Reformation divided Western Christianity into the Roman Catholic Church and Protestantism.

 

Luther disagreed with church teaching about the role of human effort in salvation. Appealing to the theology of Saint Paul, Luther emphasized solely God's role in salvation. Luther's position contrasted with Roman Catholic views that humanity must freely cooperate with God's grace. According to Luther, the Bible alone and not traditional church doctrine should guide Christians. The Lutheran movement based on his teachings spread rapidly through northern Germany and the Scandinavian countries during the 1520's.

 

The teachings of John Calvin, a French Protestant thinker, greatly influenced the Reformation in Switzerland, England, Scotland, France, and the Netherlands. Calvin agreed with Luther about salvation through faith. But Calvin was more interested in how Christianity could reform society. Calvin urged Christians to live in communities according to the divine law expressed in the Bible.

 

In England, King Henry VIII influenced Parliament to break with the Roman Catholic Church and establish the Church of England after he had declared his independence from the pope in 1534. But Calvinists in England wanted further reform. Their disputes with the Church of England led to the formation of the Presbyterian and Congregationalist churches in the 1600's.

 

Some smaller, more radical religious groups claimed that the Lutherans and Calvinists had not gone far enough in reforming Christianity. Some of these groups, including the Baptists, Quakers, and Mennonites, developed their own forms of worship.

 

The Counter Reformation: Some Christians wanted to reform the Roman Catholic Church without leaving it. To renew Catholic worship, the pope and other Catholic bishops called the Council of Trent, which met at various times from 1545 to 1563. Many of the decrees that were issued by the council deliberately opposed Protestant viewpoints. For this reason, the movement for reform within the church has been called the Counter Reformation. It is also known as the Catholic Reformation. The council emphasized church tradition as having equal authority with the Bible. The bishops at the council also stressed the role of human effort in achieving salvation.

 

A leading force in the Counter Reformation was the Society of Jesus, or Jesuit order, founded by Saint Ignatius Loyola in 1534. The Jesuits quickly restored religious zeal among believers in southern Europe. Jesuit missionaries helped spread Roman Catholicism to many peoples throughout the world.

 

The 1700's and 1800's: The spread of Protestantism contributed to a series of religious wars between Catholics and Protestants that ended in 1648. Christianity faced many challenges in the periods that followed, even though conflicts among Christians lessened.

 

Rationalism and pietism were two viewpoints that reduced religious controversy during the 1700's. Rationalism was the belief in an orderly universe that could be explained by human reason, especially by scientific principles. Rationalist thinkers urged religious people of all beliefs to agree on certain basic ideas. These ideas included the existence of a purposeful God or maker of the world, the existence of the soul, and the certainty of rewards and punishment in a life after death. Rationalists thought that disputes over belief involved matters of opinion rather than reasoned truths. But they came into conflict with many Christians because they rejected the Bible and church tradition as sources of truth.

 

Pietism avoided controversy in another way. Rather than appealing to reason, pietism emphasized the strong emotional power of personal religious experience. The pietists believed such experience was more important than intellectual formulas. They considered a private relationship with God more important than doctrinal precision or correct forms of worship. The most important figure in the pietist movement was John Wesley, an English clergyman. Wesley's followers, called Methodists, separated from the Church of England in the late 1700's.

 

The rise of nationalism during the 1800's weakened the influence of Christianity, especially the Roman Catholic Church. After the French Revolution began in 1789, the forces of nationalism and democracy swept across Europe. New governments tended to separate the powers of church and state. Nationalist movements questioned the supreme authority of the pope.

 

In the mid-1800's, Pope Pius IX took steps to uphold the authority of the Roman Catholic Church. The Syllabus of Errors issued by Pius in 1864 condemned republican government, rationalism, and other ideas that threatened the power and authority of the church. In 1869, Pius assembled Vatican Council I. It produced the most controversial act of his reign--the declaration of papal infallibility. According to this declaration, the pope cannot be in error when he speaks as head of the church on matters of faith or morals.

 

Science also challenged Christian belief. The evolutionary theory of biological development proposed by the English naturalist Charles Darwin conflicted with the Biblical version of creation.

 

Christianity today

 

Science and technology have changed the modern world and have created some new problems while solving old ones. Many people question whether religion can meet human needs in today's world of technology. In response, many Christians try to deal with basic issues of human welfare, and Christian leaders speak out on such issues as world peace and human rights. Some Christians seek a more emotional form of religious worship and turn to charismatic Christianity and other movements that stress a personal response to Jesus.

 

A search for unity, known as the ecumenical movement, has become a major concern of Christians during the 1900's. Protestants began meeting to explore closer cooperation in 1910. Protestant leaders formed the World Council of Churches in 1948. This organization works to reduce differences on doctrine and to promote Christian unity. Today, it also represents Eastern Orthodox Churches. The Roman Catholic Church expressed its support for the ecumenical movement at Vatican Council II, which met from 1962 to 1965.

Palestine at the time of Jesus

The political situation

Palestine in Jesus' day was part of the Roman Empire, which controlled its various territories in a number of ways. In the East (eastern Asia Minor, Syria, Palestine, and Egypt), territories were governed either by kings who were “friends and allies” of Rome (often called “client” kings or, more disparagingly, “puppet” kings) or by governors supported by a Roman army. When Jesus was born, all of Jewish Palestine, as well as some of the neighbouring Gentile areas, was ruled by Rome's able “friend and ally” Herod the Great. For Rome, Palestine was important not in itself but because it lay between Syria and Egypt, two of Rome's most valuable possessions. Rome had legions in both countries but not in Palestine. Roman imperial policy required that Palestine be loyal and peaceful, so that it did not undermine Rome's larger interests. This end was achieved for a long time by permitting Herod to remain king of Judaea (37-4 BC) and allowing him a free hand in governing his kingdom, as long as the requirements of stability and loyalty were met.

When Herod died shortly after Jesus' birth, his kingdom was divided into five parts. Most of the Gentile areas were separated from the Jewish areas, which were split between two of Herod's sons, Herod Archelaus, who received Judaea and Idumaea (as well as Samaria, which was non-Jewish), and Herod Antipas, who received Galilee and Peraea. (In the New Testament, Antipas is somewhat confusingly called Herod, as in Luke 23:6-12; apparently the sons of Herod took his name, just as the successors of Julius Caesar were commonly called Caesar.) Both sons were given lesser titles than king: Archelaus was ethnarch; Antipas was tetrarch. The non-Jewish areas (except Samaria) were assigned to a third son, Philip, to Herod's sister Salome, or to the province of Syria. The emperor Augustus deposed the unsatisfactory Archelaus in AD 6, however, and transformed Judaea, Idumaea, and Samaria from a client kingdom into an “imperial province.” Accordingly, he sent a prefect to govern this province. This minor Roman aristocrat (later called a procurator) was supported by a small Roman army of approximately 3,000 men. The soldiers, however, came not from Italy but from nearby Gentile cities, especially Caesarea and Sebaste; presumably the officers were from Italy. During Jesus' public career, the Roman prefect was Pontius Pilate (ruled AD 26-36).

Although nominally in charge of Judaea, Samaria, and Idumaea, the prefect did not govern his area directly; instead, he relied on local leaders. The prefect and his small army lived in the predominantly Gentile city Caesarea, on the Mediterranean coast, about two days' march from Jerusalem. They came to Jerusalem only to ensure peace during the pilgrimage festivals-Passover, Weeks (Shabuoth), and Booths (Sukkoth)-when large crowds and patriotic themes sometimes combined to spark unrest or uprisings. On a day-to-day basis Jerusalem was governed by the high priest. Assisted by a council, he had the difficult task of mediating between the remote Roman prefect and the local populace, which was hostile toward pagans and wanted to be free of foreign interference. His political responsibility was to maintain order and to see that tribute was paid. Caiaphas, the high priest during Jesus' adulthood, held the office from about AD 18 to 36, longer than anyone else during the Roman period, indicating that he was a successful and reliable diplomat. Since he and Pilate were in power together for 10 years, they must have collaborated successfully.

Thus, at the time of Jesus' public career, Galilee was governed by the tetrarch Antipas, who was sovereign within his own domain, provided that he remained loyal to Rome and maintained peace and stability within his borders. Judaea (including Jerusalem) was nominally governed by Pilate, but the actual daily rule of Jerusalem was in the hands of Caiaphas and his council.

Relations between Jewish areas and nearby Gentile areas

Galilee and Judaea, the principal Jewish areas of Palestine, were surrounded by Gentile territories (i.e., Caesarea, Dora, and Ptolemais on the Mediterranean coast; Caesarea Philippi north of Galilee; Hippus and Gadara east of Galilee). There also were two inland Gentile cities on the west side of the Jordan River near Galilee (Scythopolis and Sebaste). The proximity of Gentile and Jewish areas meant that there was some interchange between them, including trade, which explains why Antipas had telxnAs (often translated “tax collectors” but more accurately rendered “customs officers”) in the villages on his side of the Sea of Galilee. There also was some exchange of populations: some Jews lived in Gentile cities, such as Scythopolis, and some Gentiles lived in at least one of the Jewish cities, Tiberias. Jewish merchants and traders could probably speak some Greek, but the primary language of Palestinian Jews was Aramaic (a Semitic language closely related to Hebrew). On the other hand, the Jews resisted paganism and excluded temples for the worship of the gods of Greece and Rome from their cities, along with the Greek educational institutions the ephebeia and gymnasion, gladiatorial contests, and other buildings or institutions typical of Gentile areas. Because Jewish-Gentile relations in the land that the Jews considered their own were often uneasy, Jewish areas were usually governed separately from Gentile areas. The reign of Herod the Great was the exception to this rule, but even he treated the Jewish and the Gentile parts of his kingdom differently, fostering Greco-Roman culture in Gentile sectors but introducing only very minor aspects of it in Jewish areas.

In the 1st century, Rome showed no interest in making the Jews in Palestine and other parts of the empire conform to common Greco-Roman culture. A series of decrees by Julius Caesar, Augustus, the Roman Senate, and various city councils permitted Jews to keep their own customs, even when they were antithetical to Greco-Roman culture. For example, in respect for Jewish observance of the Sabbath, Rome exempted Jews from conscription in Rome's armies. Neither did Rome colonize Jewish Palestine. Augustus established colonies elsewhere (in southern France, Spain, North Africa, and Asia Minor), but prior to the First Jewish Revolt (AD 66-74) Rome established no coloniesin Jewish Palestine. Few individual Gentiles from abroad would have been attracted to live in Jewish cities, where they would have been cut off from their customary worship and cultural activities. The Gentiles who lived in Tiberias and other Jewish cities were probably natives of nearby Gentile cities, and many were Syrians, who could probably speak both Aramaic and Greek.

Economic conditions

Most people in the ancient world produced food, clothing, or both and could afford few luxuries. Most Palestinian Jewish farmers and herdsmen, however, earned enough to support their families, pay their taxes, offer sacrifices during one or more annual festivals, and let their land lie fallow in the sabbatical years, when cultivation was prohibited. Galilee in particular was relatively prosperous, since the land and climate permitted abundant harvests and supported many sheep. Although it is doubtful that Galilee was as affluent in the 1st century as it was during the late Roman and Byzantine periods, archaeological remains from the 3rd, 4th, and 5th centuries nevertheless confirm the plausibility of 1st-century references to the region's prosperity. There were, of course, landless people, but the Herodian dynasty was careful to organize large public works projects that employed thousands of men. Desperate poverty was present, too, but never reached a socially dangerous level. At the other end of the economic spectrum, few if any Palestinian Jews had the vast fortunes that successful merchants in port cities could accumulate; however, there were Jewish aristocrats with large estates and grand houses, and the merchants who served the Temple (supplying, for example, incense and fabric) could become very prosperous. The gap between rich and poor in Palestine was obvious and distressing to the poor, but compared with that of the rest of the world it was not especially wide.

The Jewish religion in the 1st century

Judaism, as the Jewish religion came to be known in the 1st century AD, was based on ancient Israelite religion, shorn of many of its Canaanite characteristics but with the addition of important features from Babylonia and Persia. The Jews differed from other people in the ancient world because they believed thatthere was only one God. Like other people, they worshiped their God with animal sacrifices offered at a temple; unlike others, theyhad only one temple, which was in Jerusalem. The sanctuary of the Jewish temple had two rooms, as did many of the other temples in the ancient world, but the second room of the Jewish temple was empty. There was no idol representing of the God of Israel. The Jews also believed that they had been specially chosen by the one God of the universe to serve him and obey his laws. Although set apart from other people, they believed God called on them to be a “light to the Gentiles” and lead them to accept the God of Israel as the only God.

An important part of Jewish Scripture was the Torah, or Pentateuch, comprising five books (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) that were believed to have been given to Moses by God. For Jews and their spiritual descendants, these books contain God's law, which covers many aspects of ordinary life: it requires that males be circumcised; regulates diet; mandates days of rest for humans and animals alike (Sabbaths and festival days); requires pilgrimage and sacrifice; stipulates recompense and atonement following transgression; and specifies impurities and required purification before entry to the Temple. Moreover, it provides both rules and principles for the treatment of other people: for example, calling for the use of honest weights and measures in trade and for “love” (that is, upright treatment) of both fellow Jews and foreigners (Leviticus 19). The laws governing worship (sacrifice, purification, admission to the Temple, and the like) were similar to the religious laws of other people in the ancient world. Judaism was different because in most other cultures divine law covered only such topics, but in Judaism it regulated not only worship but also daily life and made every aspect of life a matter of divine concern.

Since both faith and practice were based firmly on the five books of Moses modified slightly over time, Jews shared them all over the world, from Mesopotamia to Italy and beyond. The common features of Jewish faith and practice are reflected in the decrees from various parts of the ancient world that allowed Jews to preserve their own traditions, including monotheism, rest and assembly on the Sabbath, support of the Temple, and dietary laws. There were, naturally, variations on each main theme. In Jewish Palestine, for example, there were three small but important religious parties that differed from each other in several ways: the Pharisees (numbering about 6,000 at the time of Herod), Essenes (about 4,000), and Sadducees (“a few men,” according to Flavius Josephus, in The Antiquities of the Jews 18.17). A largely lay group that had the reputation of being the most precise interpreters of the law, the Pharisees believed in the resurrection of the dead. They also relied on the non-biblical “traditions of the fathers,” some of which made the law stricter, while others relaxed it. The Essenes were a more radical sect, with extremely strict rules. One branch of the group lived at Qumran on the shores of the Dead Sea and produced the Dead Sea Scrolls. At some point in their history the Essenes were probably a priestly sect (the Zadokite priests are major figures in some of the documents from Qumran); however, the composition of their membership at the time of Jesus is unclear. Many aristocratic priests, as well as some prominent laymen, were Sadducees. They rejected the Pharisaic “traditions of the fathers” and maintained some old-fashioned theological opinions; most famously, they denied resurrection, which had recently entered Jewish thought from Persia and which was accepted by most Jews in the 1st century.

Most Jews based their faith and practice on the five books of Moses (slightly modified by the passage of time) and rejected the extreme positions of the three parties. The Pharisees were respected for their piety and learning, and they may have exercised substantial influence on belief and practice. The Essenes were a fringe group, and those who lived at Qumran had dropped out of mainstream Judaism. Their interpretation of the Bible led them to reject the priests and the Temple as they existed in Jerusalem, and they looked forward to the time when they could seize control of the Holy City. To the degree that any of these parties had power, however, it belonged to the Sadducees. More precisely, the aristocratic priests and a few prominent laymen had power and authority in Jerusalem; of the aristocrats who belonged to one of the parties, most were Sadducees. According to the Acts of the Apostles (5:17), those who were around the high priest Caiaphas were Sadducees, which recalls the evidence of the Jewish priestly aristocrat, historian, and Pharisee Josephus.

While the vast majority of Jews did not belong to a party, the study of these parties reveals the substantial variety within the general framework of Judaism. Another indicator of this variety was the diversity of Jewish leaders; among them were charismatic healers and miracle workers, such as Honi the Circle Drawer and Hanina ben Dosa; hermitlike sages, such as Bannus; eschatological prophets, such as John the Baptist; would-be messianic prophets, such as Theudas and the Egyptian; and apocalyptic visionaries, represented by the pseudepigraphal First Book of Enoch.

Most Jews had some form of future hope; in general, they expected God to intervene in history and to restore Israel to a state of peace, freedom, and prosperity. Not all Jews expected God to send a son of David as Messiah to overthrow the Romans, though some did. The Qumran sect believed that there would be a great war against Rome, that the sect would emerge victorious, and that the main blows would be struck by the angel Michael and finally by God himself. Notably, a Messiah plays no role in this war of liberation. Some Jews were ready at any moment to take up arms against Rome, thinking that if they started the fight God would intervene on their side. Others were quietists, hoping for divine deliverance without having a more specific vision of the future but entirely unwilling to fight. Whatever their specific expectations, very few Palestinian Jews were completely satisfied with the governments of Antipas, Pilate, and Caiaphas. As God's chosen people, the Jews felt they should be free both of foreign domination and of ambitious worldly leaders.

In the final analysis, variety and commonality are equally important to the understanding of Palestinian Judaism in Jesus' day. Jews agreed on many basic aspects of their religion and way of life, and they agreed that they did not want to surrender their covenant with God to accept the lure of pagan culture; but, when it came to details, they could disagree with one another violently. Since God cared about every aspect of life, competing groups and leaders often saw themselves as representing the side of God against his adversaries.

Sources for the life of Jesus

The only substantial sources for the life and message of Jesus are the Gospels of the New Testament, the earliest of which was Mark (written AD 60-80), followed by Matthew, Luke, and John (AD 75-90). Some additional evidence can be found in the letters of Paul, which were written beginning in AD 50 and are the earliest surviving Christian texts. There are, however, other sources that may have further information. Non-canonical sources, especially the apocryphal gospels, contain many sayings attributed to Jesus, as well as stories about him that are occasionally held to be “authentic.” Among these apocrypha, the Gospel of Thomas (written in the mid-2nd century AD) has attracted much attention. A “sayings” gospel (114 sayings attributed to Jesus, without narrative), it is grounded in Gnosticism, the philosophical and religious movement of the 2nd century AD that stressed the redemptive power of esoteric knowledge acquired by divine revelation. For Thomas, salvation consists of self-knowledge, and baptism results in restoration to the primordial state-man and woman in one person, like Adam before the creation of Eve (saying 23). Spiritual reversion to this state meant that nakedness need not result in shame; one passage (saying 37) allows us to suspect that the early Christian followers of the Gospel of Thomas took off their garments and trampled on them as part of their baptismal initiation. There are a few connections between this worldview and that of Paul and the Gospel According to John, but the overall theology of the Gospel of Thomas is so far removed from the teaching of Jesus as found in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke-in which Jewish eschatology is central-that it is not considered a major source for the study of Jesus. It is, of course, possible or even likely that individual sayings in Thomas or other apocryphal gospels originated with Jesus, but it is unlikely that non-canonical sources can contribute much to the portrait of the historical Jesus. As in the case of the Gospel of Thomas, the traditions found in other apocryphal gospels are often completely unlike the evidence of the canonical gospels and are embedded in documents that are generally believed to be unreliable.

There are a few references to Jesus in 1st-century Roman and Jewish sources. Documents indicate that within a few years of Jesus' death, Romans were aware that someone named Chrestus (a slight misspelling of Christus) had been responsible for disturbances in the Jewish community in Rome (Suetonius, The Life of the Deified Claudius 25.4). Twenty years later, according to Tacitus, Christians in Rome were prominent enough to be persecuted by Nero, and it was known that they were devoted to Christus, whom Pilate had executed (Annals 15.44). This knowledge of Jesus, however, was dependent on familiarity with early Christianity and does not provide independent evidence about Jesus. Josephus wrote a paragraph about Jesus (The Antiquities of the Jews 18.63ff.), as he did about Theudas, the Egyptian, and other charismatic leaders (History of the Jewish War 2.258-263; The Antiquities of the Jews 20.97-99, 167-172), but Christian scribes have heavily revised it, and Josephus's original remarks cannot be discerned.

The letters of Paul contain reliable but meager evidence. Their main theme, that Jesus was crucified and raised from the dead, is especially prominent in 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul evokes an early tradition about Jesus' death and subsequent appearances to his followers. All first-generation Christians accepted the Crucifixion and Resurrection. Paul also quotes a few of Jesus' sayings: the prohibition of divorce and remarriage (1 Corinthians 7:10-11), the words over the bread and cup at Jesus' last supper (1 Corinthians 11:23-25), and a prediction of the imminent arrival of the Saviour from heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17).

Fuller information about Jesus is found in the Gospels of the New Testament, though these are not of equal value in reconstructing his life and teaching. The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke agree so closely with one another that they can be studied together in parallel columns in a work called a synopsis and are hence called the Synoptic Gospels. John, however, is so different that it cannot be reconciled with the Synoptics except in very general ways (e.g., Jesus lived in Palestine, taught, healed, was crucified and raised). In the Synoptics, Jesus' public career appears to have lasted less than one year, since only one Passover is mentioned; in John, three Passovers occur, implying a ministry of more than two years. In all four Gospels, Jesus performs miracles, especially healings, but, while exorcisms are prevalent in the Synoptics, there are none in John. The greatest differences, though, appear in the methods and content of Jesus' teaching. In the Synoptic Gospels, he speaks about the kingdom of God in short aphorisms and parables, making use of similes and figures of speech, many drawn from agricultural and village life. He seldom refers to himself, and, when asked for a “sign” to prove his authority, he refuses (Mark 8:11-12). In John, on the other hand, Jesus employs long metaphorical discourses, in which he himself is the main subject. His miracles are described as “signs” that support the authenticity of his claims.

Scholars have unanimously chosen the Synoptic Gospels' version of Jesus' teaching. The verdict on the miracles is the same, though less firmly held: in all probability Jesus was known as an exorcist, which resulted in the charge that he cast out demons by the prince of demons (Mark 3:22-27). The choice between the narrative outline of the Synoptics and that of John is less clear. Besides presenting a longer ministry than do the other Gospels, John also describes several trips to Jerusalem. Only one is mentioned in the Synoptics. Both outlines are plausible, but a ministry of more than two years leaves more questions unanswered than does one of a few months. It is generally accepted that Jesus and his disciples were itinerant; that they traveled around Galilee and its immediate environs; and that Jesus taught and healed in various towns and villages, as well as in the countryside and on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. But where did they spend their winters? Who supported them? None of the Gospels explains how they lived (though Luke 8:1-3 alludes to some female supporters), but the omission is even more glaring in John, where the longer ministry presumes the need for winter quarters, though none are mentioned. This and other considerations are not decisive, but the brief career of the Synoptic Gospels is slightly to be preferred.

The Synoptic Gospels, then, are the primary sources for knowledge of the historical Jesus. They are not, however, the equivalent of an academic biography of a recent historical figure; instead, the Synoptic Gospels are theological documents that provide information the authors regarded as necessary for the religious development of the Christian communities in which they worked. The details of Jesus' daily life are almost entirely lacking, as are such important features as his education, travel, and other developmental experiences. The characters on the whole are “flat”: emotions, motives, and personalities are seldom mentioned. There are, nevertheless, a few exceptions that show how little is actually known. Peter wavers (Matthew 14:28-31; Mark 14:66-72); James and John ask for preferential treatment in the coming kingdom (Mark 10:35-40); and Pilate anguishes over the decision to execute Jesus (Matthew 27:15-23; Luke 23:2-25). On the other hand, the Pharisees and scribes periodically challenge Jesus and then disappear, with little indication of what, from their point of view, they hoped to accomplish. Even Jesus is a rather flat character in the Gospels. He is sometimes angry and sometimes compassionate (Mark 3:5; 6:34, respectively), but one can say little more. This is a frustrating aspect of the Gospels. The situation is different with regard to Paul, whose letters are extant and self-revelatory. The force of his personality is in the letters, but the force of Jesus' personality must be found somewhere behind the Gospels.

The Gospels comprise brief, self-contained passages, or pericopAs (from the Greek word meaning “cut around”), relating to Jesus. Further study reveals that the authors of the Synoptic Gospels moved these pericopes around, altering their contexts to suit their own editorial policies-for example, by arrangi