Brief History of Christianity,

the Life of Jesus Christ,

the Apostolic Era
and
Protestant Reformation
CHRISTIANITY
It is the religion instituted in Palestine based
on the person and teachings of JESUS
CHRIST and the fellowship of his immediate
followers.
It is rank as the leading religion of
mankind and one of Asia’s greatest
contributions to civilization.
The essence and identity of Christianity
o At its most basic, Christianity is the faith tradition
that focuses on the figure of Jesus Christ.

o In this context, faith refers both to the believers’

act of trust and to the content of their faith.
oAs a tradition, Christianity is more
than a system of religious belief.
oIt also has generated a culture, a
set of ideas and ways of life,
practices, and artifacts that have
been handed down from generation
to generation since Jesus first
became the object of faith.
oChristianity is thus both a living
tradition of faith and the culture
that the faith leaves behind.
oThe agent of Christianity is the
church, the community of people
who make up the body of
believers.
oChristianity contains certain
influences from Judaism.
o The Old Testament, for instance was
a Jewish Holy scriptures and it had
become part of the Christian Bible.
oThe Jews believe that God would
someday send a Messiah to redeem
humanity.

oChristians believe that Jesus Christ was

the prophesied Messiah and Savior sent
by God to all people.
Jesus and His Ministry

oChristianity is founded on the

worship of Jesus Christ (Jesus
the Messiah) as son of God, the
unique self-revelation of God to
the human race.
o Almost all we know about Jesus comes
from the four accounts of his life (Gospels).

o Born just before the death of Herod the

Great, king of Judea, in 4 BCE,
o Jesus lived for a little over thirty years,
scarcely travelling outside Palestine
throughout his life.
oThe Jews were a subject people,
living either under local princes
appointed by the Roman
Emperor or under the direct rule
of Rome itself.
o Jewish are divided into group or factions.
PHARISEES, SCRIBES, SADDUCEES,
ESSENES, ZEALOTS.

o A priestly art, the Sadducees, accepted the

Roman rule, to which they owe their
influence
o The Pharisees, who later became the
dominant party, were mostly less
concerned with politics, and
concentrated on the study and
application of the Old Testament Law.
o Some stricter Jews, Essenes, opted
out of Jewish society and set up
isolated communities- such as
Qumran- where they could devote
themselves to preserving their
religious purity. But there were many
Jews who resented Roman rule.
o The Jews had longed hope for ‘the
Day of the Lord’, when God would act
to save his people.
o There were several hopes of a
‘messiah’, a saviour, whom God
would send, and such hopes ran high
at the time of Jesus.
o Some saw the messiah in more
spiritual terms, as a priestly or
prophetic figure, but in popular
expectation, he was to be a political
liberator.
oJesus was born at Bethlehem in
Judea, but was brought up in
Galilee and most of his public
ministry was in that region.
Healing, Teaching and Preaching Ministries

• The Gospels summarize Jesus’ activity

as healing, teaching and preaching.

• Jesus and his closest followers

(disciples/ apostles) deliberately
adopted a wandering and dependent
style of life.
• They had no permanent homes, but
moved around as a group, accepting
gifts and hospitality when offered.

• Jesus spoke frequently of the danger of

becoming preoccupied with
possessions, and called his followers
instead to an almost reckless generosity.
As a Preacher
• He drew large crowds, who followed
him constantly.
• He taught with a vivid simplicity and
an authority which contrasted
sharply with other Jewish religious
teachers.
As a Healer,
 He was clearly well known as a healer
from the beginning of his public ministry.

 The gospels record his curing many

different types of illnesses and
deformities, usually by a simple word and
a touch, sometimes by a word alone.
 There is no elaborate ritual, nor any
search for patients; rather a power
which responded to physical need as
he met it.
 He is also recorded as an exorcist,
driving out demons by a word of
command.
 Most of Jesus’ recorded miracles are
healings, but a number of incidents
are recorded where he displayed a
supernatural control over nature.
 Again these were in response to
actual needs, not mere arbitrary
displays of power, as when he
multiplied a little food to feed hungry
crowd, or calmed a dangerous storm
on the lake by a command.
As a Teacher
 Like many other religious teachers Jesus
quickly gathered a group of committed
followers, known as his ‘Disciples’.
 He demanded of them an absolute
commitment to the ideals he preached,
and to himself personally, and a total
dependence to God to supply all their
needs.
 They acted as his spokesperson,
going out on preaching and healing
mission of their own.
 An inner group of twelve disciples were
his constant companions.

 An increasing amount of time was

spent in teaching his disciples privately,
preparing them to continue his mission.
 He told them that he would soon be killed, and
expected them to be the focus of the new
community created by his work.

 Jesus taught them to see themselves as distinct

from other people, and to make it their aim to win
others to be his disciples.
 WHAT JESUS TAUGHT?
 The Gospels sum up Jesus’ preaching
and teaching in Galilee in the challenge:
 The time has come;
 The kingdom of God is near.
 Repent and
 Believe the good news!”
I. THE TIME HAS COME:
The Old Testament pointed forward to
God’s great work of judgment and
salvation, when all Israel’s hopes and
the promises of God would be fulfilled.
Jesus’ saw his mission as this time of
fulfillment.
II. THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NEAR:
• The kingdom of God/ the reign of God
is central in Jesus’ teaching.
• It means that God is in control. That his
will is done, So he called the people to
enter God’s kingdom, to accept his
sovereignty and to live as his subjects.
III. REPENT:
• Jesus’ call was issued primarily to his
own people, Israel.
• He called them to return to their true
loyalty to God.
• He warned them of God’s judgment if
they refused.  
IV. BELIEVE THE GOOD NEWS:

• Now was the time for deliverance.

• Jesus preached this not in a political
sense, but in terms of the restoration of a
true relationship with God.
• Those who repented would find
forgiveness and a new life.
Jesus’ Mission
1.Jesus came to reveal God, who is
beyond human comprehension.
• In John’s gospel, Jesus says, “The Father and I are
one” (Jn. 10:30), and “Whoever has seen me has
seen the Father” (14:9). The writer of the letter to the
Hebrews says Jesus is “the exact imprint of God’s
very being” (Heb. 1.3).
• So Jesus came to reveal God; he came as “the
image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15); he came as
the human face of God; he came to speak for God
(Heb. 1:2).
2. Jesus came to redeem humankind
• through his faithful life and saving death, which
was prophesied by Isaiah, who said “the
righteous one, my servant” would bear “the sin
of many and be made an intercession for the
transgressors” (Isaiah 53: 11-12).
• Jesus said that the words of Isaiah would be
fulfilled in him (Luke 22:37), the ‘suffering
servant’ who came to die for- to atone for- our
transgressions against God’s commandments
to love him and to love one another.
Judas’ betrayal of Jesus to the ruling
authorities, which led to his crucifixion,
set in motion God’s plan of Salvation.

Jesus’ death was not a meaningless

tragedy; it was the capstone in God’s
plan to redeem humankind.
 The Apostles of Jesus
• The word apostle means “one
who is sent”.
• In the New Testament, the apostles were
sent out by Jesus to preach the gospel.
• They were people who had not only learned
from Jesus but who had seen Jesus’ life
and work and knew what it meant.
• The message was important to them
because they felt it had changed their lives.
 Andrew- the first called disciple (John’s gospel)
 Simon (Peter) - the brother of Andrew.
 James- Son of Zebedee.
 John- Brother of James.
 Philip
 Bartholomew- also called Nathanael
 Matthew- also called Levi, the tax collector
 Thomas- commonly called “the doubting Thomas”
 James son of Alpheus
 Thaddaeus
 Simon the Zealot
 Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus.
 Matthias replaces him.
The Apostolic Era
• The Apostolic era opened with the
first Pentecost, following Jesus’
death and resurrection, when the
Spirit came upon Peter and the
disciples in Jerusalem (Acts 2).
• This is the period of the formation of the
church by the apostles and their successors;
the collection of Christian writings and
agreement on the books to be included in the
New Testament canon;
the conversion of Emperor Constantine (312)
and the establishment of Christianity as the
religion of the Roman Empire;
the Council of Nicea (325) and Constantinople
(381), which formulated the basic beliefs of
Christianity.
 The Apostolic Fathers
At the beginning of the second
century, the leadership of the Church
passed to the apostolic fathers, so
called because it was believed that
at least some, like Polycarp and
Clement, had known the Apostles.
They carried on the apostolic mission,
established church government and
administrative procedures,
wrote catechisms (instructions) for new
believers,
developed the church’s worship and liturgy,
and
wrote polemical treaties against pagan
intellectuals and Jews who were attacking
the church.
The following are important Church
fathers:
Ignatius of Antioch (c.35- 107), who
was martyred in the Colosseum in
Rome, argued for both the deity
and humanity of Jesus.
 Clement of Rome (100) set forth the
concept of ‘apostolic succession.

 Justin the Martyr (c. 100- 165), so

called because he was beheaded in
Rome for his faith, sought to
reconcile faith and reason and wrote
apologias (defenses) of Christianity.
 Irenaeus (c. 130- 200), the bishop of
Lyons, France, wrote against those who
argued that salvation comes through
special or secret knowledge, thus only to a
select few.

 Tertullian of Carthage (c150- 212), the first

north African father, helped develop and
formulate the concept of the Trinity.
 Origen of Alexandria (c.185- 254), the
greatest scholar of the early church,
established the intellectual respectability
of Christianity.
 Cyprian (c. 200- 258), the bishop of
Carthage, maintained that there was no
salvation outside the Church.
THE PROTESTANT REFORMATION
 The effort to reform the church; this was the
second great schism in the church.
 It split the Western Church into North
(Germany, Scandinavia, and Switzerland) and
South (Italy, France and Spain), with
Protestants in the majority in the Germanic
north and Catholics in the Latin South.
1. The papal system, which concentrated
absolute power in the Vatican and the
Roman Curia (“Court”), the bureaus and
agencies used by the pope to administer
the church.
2. The worldliness, immorality and corruption
of many clergy, some of whom used their
positions as avenues for personal gain.
There was also widespread selling of
bishopric and other clergy positions, called
simony, after Simon the sorcerer (Acts 8.
18-19), and rampant nepotism (Sixtus IV,
who was pope from 1471 to 1484, made
seven of his nephews cardinals).
3. The addition of sacraments beyond the two
clearly instituted by Jesus in the Gospels
(Baptism and Holy Communion), and the
church’s teachings that observance of the
sacraments were necessary for salvation,
which obscured and weakened the belief in
justification by faith alone.
4. The church sale of indulgences as
written pardons to remit one’s sins, and
also the sins of loved ones in purgatory
(the place where souls are purged of
unforgiven venial sins so that they may
enter heaven.
5. The church’s apprehension and trial of
persons suspected of heresy, which
began in the thirteenth century and
continued for several centuries
thereafter.
The two giant figures of the Reformation
were:

1. Martin Luther, generally regarded as

the father of Reformation.
2. John Calvin,
Martin Luther, generally regarded as the father of
Reformation.
• A German theologian, ordained priest and monk, a
religious reformer who initiated the protestant reformation.
• He did not start out to create a new form of Christianity,
only to reform the catholic tradition, but events took on a
life of their own and give birth to protestant Christianity.
• His doctrine, “Justification by faith” asserts that humans
are saved by faith as a gift rather through works of
obedience of the law.
John Calvin, who systematized Reformation Theology.
• A French Theologian, who spent his life transforming
Geneva into a model for Protestant civilization.
• He established a new creed with a strict code of belief
and behavior. In his work ethics, he demanded that
one live simply and work hard, and save to give all for
the glory of God.
• This ethic helped to fuel the emergence of capitalism
in Europe by encouraging hard work needed to
prosper and savings needed for investments.
 Calvin thought the virtues of faith
above good works, universal
priesthood in which Christians
could practice their religion
without the daily guidance of a
priest.
 In the heart of Calvin’s theology was the
belief in the transcendent majesty and
absolute sovereignty of God.
 The knowledge of God was the ultimate
aims of life.
 Calvin understands the Bible as the only
authority for our knowledge of God, which
reveals all that should and can be known
about Him.
THREE MAIN BRANCHES OF CHRISTIANITY

1.Eastern Orthodox Church

2.Roman Catholic Church
3.Protestants
 Christianity spread quickly throughout the Roman
Empire after Constantine the Great (306 – 307 A.D)
embrace it as the state religion, eventually to the
rest of Europe, and finally to every corner of the
world.
 Present day Christianity was divided into three
main branches: Eastern Orthodox Church,
Roman Catholics, and Protestants.

 There are also many Christian groups who do

not fall within any of these three branches.
1. Eastern Orthodox Church
• In 1054, when the Roman Empire was divided into
two part: East and West, the Christian Church
officially split into two.
• This is called the Great Schism. The church in the
west became known as Roman Catholic Church,
while in the East is the Eastern Orthodox Church.
• The historic Eastern Orthodox Church accepts the
Old and New Testament as God’s inspired revelation
and their church tradition as equally authoritative.
• The Eastern Orthodox Churches are in
communion with the Ecumenical Patriarch of
Constantinople (Istanbul).
• Today, the Orthodox churches are largely
national, each associated with a particular
territory. Orthodoxy are common in Russia,
Greece, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, and
Cyprus.
• The name “Orthodox” means “right in opinion
and belief.” Eastern Orthodox emphasizes their
strong and living links with the worship and
teaching of the first century of Christianity.
2. Roman Catholic Church
• The Western church which owed its allegiance
to Rome and that it was catholic, from the Greek
word “katholikos”, meaning ‘general’ or
‘universal.’
• The historic Roman Catholic Church accepts the
Old and New Testament as the inspired word of
God. They also consider church tradition just
as authoritative as the Scriptures.
• The Roman Catholic Church
emphasizes the importance of
discipline and the authority of its
church leaders in deciding what
they should believe and how they
should behave.
• The Pope, the Bishop of Rome, traces
his lineage to Peter as the first Pope,
has supreme authority in the church
as the representative of Christ.

• Roman Catholicism was originally

predominant practiced in Spain,
France, Austria and Poland.
3. Protestants
• The protestant movement began as a call to
reform the western Christian church in the 16th
century resulting in the Protestant reformation.

• The aim of original reformers was to restore the

Christian faith as it has been from the beginning.
The protestant reformation divided Western
Christianity into Roman Catholic Church and the
protestant Churches.  
The four main protestant traditions
that emerged from the reformation were
the Lutherans (known in Continental
Europe as Evangelicals), the Calvinists
(Reformed), the Anabaptists and the
Anglicans.
• Despite of the considerable differences
among them in doctrines and practices,
they agreed in rejecting the authority
of the pope and emphasizing instead
of the authority of the Bible and
importance of individual faith and
trust in Christ by every Christian.
The main Protestant groups today
are: Lutheran, Baptist,
Presbyterian, Anglican/Episcopal
and Methodist churches.
Most Protestants hold that
Scripture alone is the final authority
on all matters of faith and practice.
Other Protestant groups are so-called Pentecostal
or ‘Born Again’ churches.
• These churches are in all parts of the world and are
growing in numbers very rapidly.
• They emphasize the authority of the Spirit of God
and claims that God guides and leads them directly
in every new circumstance.
• They do not think that tradition or established
authority are important, but keep looking for fresh
evidence of God’s power and new spontaneous
leadership.