4/11/24 Word Count – 483 Reading Time – 2.25 minutes

 The Old Testament in the Bible gives a thorough account of the development of Judaism. Among the important beliefs of Judaism was the promise of a “savior” known as the Messiah, who would be sent from God to lead the Jewish Nation to freedom.  Jesus was a Jew and taught from the lessons of the Scriptures. Most of Jesus’s followers and all His disciples were Jews. After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the people spreading the news about Jesus and establishing the first Christian churches were Jews. The people who wrote the New Testament in the Bible were all Jews. The Old Testament is based on sacred Hebrew scripture. Its pretty clear to me that Christianity emerged from Judaism and shares many of the same traditions and beliefs. Except one. Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Jews don’t share that belief.

Originally, Christianity was contained within the well-established Hebrew religious organization. They shared temples, rituals, beliefs, culture and so on. Those within the Jewish faith who believed that Jesus was the Messiah began as a sect of Judaism. As the Apostles began spreading Christianity abroad Christian communities were created in various places and worship was isolated in homes rather than temples. 

Historians estimate that by the end of the first century A.D. there were around 7,000 Christians living within Christian communities. This represented approximately .01 percent of the 60 million citizens of the Roman Empire. As recently as 2021 the number of Christians worldwide is estimated by the PEW Research Center to be 2.38 billion, or nearly 30 percent of the world population.

Initially the doctrines, beliefs and traditions that defined Christianity and set it apart from other belief systems were established by the Apostles as they spread the story about the life of Jesus, His teachings, and the spiritual implications of His life. However, with the phenomenal growth of the Christianity and its spread throughout multiple languages, cultures, and ethnic groups it is not hard to imagine that maintaining the original tenets would be challenging. By the end of the 1^st century A.D. all the Apostles were dead and the responsibility for maintaining the religion had passed to others, With the growth in membership came the necessity to put safeguards in place that would serve to keep the original teachings and beliefs intact. Geographic, language and culture obstacles had to be addressed in order to unify the disparate Christian factions. As organizational needs grew the demand for more layers of responsibility and decision making grew as well. The further away from the original Apostles the responsibility for maintaining the original doctrine moved the more debate and study were required to determine the initial intent and application of Jesus’ teaching and life. This laid the foundation for what has grown into the splintering of denominations.

In part 3 of this topic we will look at some different denominations and how they differ.