The Spread of the Church

1
The Spread of the Church

• The Day of Pentecost

2
The Moving of the Holy Spirit

• While the apostles and disciples are meeting the
  Holy Spirit descends on the crowd and 3,000 souls
  are added to the church.

3
The Apostle Peter

• The people are persuaded by the kerygma given by
  the Apostle Peter and are they are welcomed into
  the Church.

4
The Expansion

• The fear of the Way

5
Jews

• Because of the number of people who were joining
  this new movement of blasphemers many Jews
  sought to crush this rebellion.

6
The Apostle Paul

• Persecutor turned Persecuted

7
Apostle to the Gentiles
8
Saul of Tarsus

• Saul was a devout Jew who wanted nothing better
  than to see the blasphemers persecuted.
  
• He sought permission to hunt and kill these
  blasphemers.
  
• He was even present at the death of Stephen, a
  powerful advocate of the Way.

9
Conversion

• This devout Jew has a conversion experience and
  becomes a blasphemer himself and joins the
  Christians.
  
• His name changes from Saul to Paul.
• His forever changes the Christian church through
  his letters, his visits, his influence and most
  of all through his ideas.

10
The Make Up of the Church

• New verses Old
• Conflicts arise

11
The Church

• The Church is composed of gatherings at various
  locales throughout Palestine.
  
• Each gathering has a different sort of make-up.
• Most of these gatherings are comprised of Jews.
• However, some of them include a very strong
  mixture of Jews and Gentiles.
  

12
Conflict

• Many Jewish believers maintained that the
  Gentiles need to convert to Judaism first before
  they can become Christians.
  
• They are called Judaizers.
• They are among the most vocal critics of Paul.

13
The Sect

• Judaism was protected by Rome.
• Although Christianity was considered by some to
  be a sect within Judaism, the Jews insisted
  that it was not and therefore, told the Romans.
  

14

• The Christians do not worship the same gods as
  others of the Roman empire.
  
• The Christians were also accused of setting the
  fire that destroyed parts of Rome.

15
Martyrs

• As a result of the persecution many were
  imprisoned and killed.
  
• Those who were killed became martyrs.
• As Tertullian noted
• The blood of martyrs is the seed of the
  Church.
  
• Many Christians looked forward to the day when
  God would vindicate them and punish their enemies.

16
The New Testament

• The Development of the Christian Canon

17
A New Era

• Christianity becomes a valid religion

18
The Emperor Who Changed Christianity

• Constantine was emperor of Rome from 312 CE to
  337 CE. Up until the time of the conversion of
  the Emperor Constantine Christianity was a
  persecuted religion.

• http//www.metmuseum.org/toah/ho/05/eust/ho_26.229
  .htm

19
Emperor Constantine

• Constantine converted Christianity in 318 BCE
  when he allegedly saw the sign chi-rho during a
  battle which he took to mean that God gave him
  the victory.
• Christianitys status changed from being
  persecuted to being accepted.

• This signed formed by the first two letters of
  the Greek word Christos was a secret signed
  developed by Christians in the first century.

20
The Council of Nicea

• A number of issues arose during the time of
  Constantine.
  
• To deal with these issues the Emperor convened a
  council.
  
• The first council was convened at the city of
  Nicea in 325 CE.
  
• Christians worked out what constituted a valid
  interpretation of the Jesus.

21
Heresies

• Those who differed were called heretics.
• Among them was a powerful man named Arius.
• He contended that Jesus was made by God.

22
Ecumenical

• This ecumenical council affirmed the idea that
  Jesus was not made but was begotten.
  
• The Son was the same essence as God.

23
Other Heresies

• The were other heresies
• Adoptionists
• Jesus was human but was adopted by God at his
  baptism.
  
• Monophysites
• Jesus was essentially divine and not human.

24
Sources

• Slide 2 http//feastofsaints.com/elgrecopentecos
  t2.jpg
  
• Slide 8 http//www.ccel.org/bible/phillips/CNM15
  -Saul.gif
  
• Slide 9 http//www.resourcesforlife.com/webresou
  rces/images/bible/paul.jpg
  
• Slide 11 http//www.salaam.co.uk/themeofthemonth
  /may02/images/churchsepulchre1.gif
  
• Slide 15 http//www.bible-history.com/past/image
  s/The_Christian_Martyrs_Last_Prayer_by_leon_gerome
  .jpg
  
• Slide 21 http//theology.freeyellow.com/arius.gi
  f