Jesus was executed by the Roman authorities in the city of Jerusalem around AD 30 on a trumped-up charge of sedition. Not a promising start for a new religion! But within three days the rumour was spreading around the city that he was alive, that he had been raised from the dead. Some of his closest followers claimed that they had actually seen him, and seven weeks later his resurrection was being boldly proclaimed in public in the city where he had been executed. The effects were startling; thousands of Jews and Jewish converts, who had returned from other parts of the Roman Empire to live in or visit Jerusalem, came to believe that Jesus was alive, and that his death on a cross was, in fact, part of God’s plan to save humanity. During the following weeks and months many others joined them.
This marked the birth of the Christian church, as recorded in the book of Acts.
THE BIRTH OF THE CHURCH
During the days immediately following the resurrection, Jesus’ followers claimed to have met him. After these encounters with the risen Jesus, no one could convince them that they were following mere pious hopes. They were not deluded: they had really seen their master and he was alive for ever!
They said Jesus explained to them things they had never understood before; for example, that it had been necessary for him to suffer and die before entering into his rightful glory. Now – in the light of his resurrection and the explanations he gave – the cross of Jesus took on an eternal dimension of significance for them, despite the wickedness of the people responsible for his death.
But belief in Jesus’ resurrection did more than simply rebuild the faith of his disciples and cast new light on the meaning of his death. The apostles also said that he commissioned them to take into all parts of the world the good news of what God had done by sending him to rescue the human race. But they would not be alone in this task: Jesus promised them God’s Holy Spirit to empower them (Matthew 28, Luke 24, and Acts 1).
Some writers have suggested that a better name for the ‘Acts of the Apostles’ would be ‘Acts of the Holy Spirit’. The book tells of the coming of the promised Holy Spirit, and how the earliest Christians witnessed to their Lord in various parts of the Roman Empire.
The account in Acts gives just part of the picture. It tells of only a few important churches and individuals – particularly Peter (the key figure in chapters 1–12) and Paul (who comes to the fore in chapters 13–28). But Acts gives a clear insight into the patterns of growth of early Christianity and – together with the New Testament letters – provides most of what is known about the spread of the gospel in the first century.
Above all, Acts stresses that the Holy Spirit’s power enabled the disciples to witness effectively in their world. A tiny band of discouraged and disillusioned men and women was suddenly transformed into a bold company of enthusiastic evangelists. Their work began in Jerusalem, but quickly spread to other centers. Thirty years later, the new faith had reached most parts of the eastern section of the Roman Empire, and probably even beyond, as well as westwards to Rome itself.
Overview of the 1:50 scale model of Jerusalem, based on research by the Jewish archaeologist Michael Avi-Yonah, now housed at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. Top left, dominating the city, is Herod’s Temple, with the four defensive towers of the Roman Antonia Fortress adjoining.
The Roman Empire in AD 14.
THE JERUSALEM CHRISTIANS
In spite of Jesus’ commission to preach the good news in all the world, most of his followers in Jerusalem at first restricted themselves to evangelizing fellow Jews. This was not quite so limited as might appear, since thousands of Jews regularly flocked to Jerusalem for their most important religious festivals, and many actually settled permanently in Jerusalem – though doubtless maintaining links with their home countries. Paul’s travelling companion, Barnabas, provides one example (see Acts 11). It was probably largely through the witness of these unknown Jewish converts from the earliest days that the Christian faith spread throughout the Empire and beyond in the first few decades, though Acts reveals little about this.
But among the Jerusalem Christians there were a few who were more forward-looking. They grasped the full meaning of Jesus’ final command to his disciples and tried to reach beyond the orthodox Jews. One disciple, named Stephen, saw more clearly than others that the faith was for all people, and that a break with Judaism was inevitable. He belonged to a group of Jews called ‘Hellenists’, who spoke Greek and adopted a freer life-style than the more conservative Jews. Stephen came into conflict with some of the Jewish leaders as a result of his bold preaching. This led to his quick trial and summary execution, and a general outburst of persecution against the Jerusalem Christians, and particularly the Hellenists (Acts 6, 7).
PERSECUTION AND EXPANSION
Many Christians were forced to flee from Jerusalem because of this persecution, but they spread the good news about Jesus wherever they went – throughout the province of Judea and into Samaria. Philip, another Hellenist, led the way by evangelizing extensively among the despised Samaritans, who were half-caste and unorthodox Jews (Acts 8). This resulted in mass conversions.
Other Christians travelled to the coast of Palestine, to the island of Cyprus, and to Antioch in Syria, the third city of the Empire, preaching the message of Jesus with great success. It was in the metropolis of Antioch that the revolutionary step of evangelizing non-Jews was first taken by some of these nameless refugees from Jerusalem. This move was only reluctantly accepted by the Christians back in Jerusalem. It was in Antioch, too, that the followers of Jesus were first called ‘Christians’ (Acts 11:19–30).
During these early years, Peter evangelized among his fellow-Jews, but only within his own country. On one occasion he was rather reluctantly forced to preach the good news directly to Gentiles (Acts 10); but it took him at least ten years to decide that the gospel was for all people. It was left to a one-time opponent of Christianity to become the champion of Gentile evangelism and to pave the way for the integration of Jews and Gentiles into a common community.
| PETER Peter came from Bethsaida, on Lake Galilee, and his fisherman father John originally named him Simon. He was living in Capernaum, with his wife, brother, and mother-in-law, when first introduced to Jesus by his brother Andrew. He quickly became the leader of Jesus’ twelve close followers, was often their spokesman, and was the first to declare publicly that Jesus was the Messiah, at Caesarea Philippi. Jesus gave him the nickname ‘Peter’ (Cephas in Aramaic) meaning ‘rock’. Rash and hot-blooded, Peter said that he was ready to die with Jesus, then three times denied knowing him on the night of Jesus’ arrest. But Peter was one of the first to meet the risen Jesus, who specifically restored him to his position as leader. After Jesus ascended, Peter took the initiative in the appointment of a successor to Judas among the Twelve, and was the chief preacher when the Holy Spirit came, on the Day of Pentecost. Peter and John took the lead in the early days of the church, disciplining Ananias and Sapphira after they deceived the believers, healing and preaching, and taking a special interest in the mission to Samaria. Peter’s mission Later, Peter had a vision which launched the mission to take the gospel to the Gentiles. Although he was wary of this new venture, and later wavered under the criticism of strict Jewish Christians at Antioch, Peter welcomed Paul’s work among the Gentiles, and gave it his full support at the Council of Jerusalem, which welcomed Gentile converts without imposing on them all the rigours of the Jewish law. Peter was imprisoned by King Herod Agrippa I (r. AD 41–44), but miraculously escaped the night before he was due to be executed. Peter’s later career is obscure. He may have worked in Asia Minor, perhaps visited Corinth, but ultimately settled in Rome, where he described himself as a ‘fellow elder’, which may mean that he was one of the church leaders, but not the sole leader. Two New Testament letters bear his name, and he was probably the main source for Mark’s Gospel. Peter is believed to have been martyred at Rome during Nero’s persecution of Christians, around AD 64. Although he did not found the church at Rome, Peter’s martyrdom in Rome gave it great prestige. Paul’s association with the church added to this, and the Church of... |
