History of the Early Christian Church

History of early Christianity is the development of the early Christian church from its roots in the Jewish community of Roman Palestine to the conversion of Constantine I and the convocation of the First Council of Nicaea. Christianity begins with Jesus Christ. The effects of his life, the response to his teachings, the experience of his death, and the belief in his resurrection were the origins of the Christian community.

Origins and Formation

Jesus was a Jew, as were all the apostles. Thus the earliest Christianity is in fact a movement within Judaism; the very acknowledgment of Jesus as “the Christ” professes that he is the fulfillment of the promises originally made to the Hebrew patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. When the Apostle Peter is represented in the New Testament as confessing that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” he speaks for the Christianity of all ages. And it is in response to this confession that Jesus is described as announcing the foundation of the Christian church: “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.”

The Symbolic Birth and Spread of the Church

The symbolic birth of the Christian church is marked on Pentecost, a festival that celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit to the disciples and the beginning of the church’s mission. According to Acts 2, this event occurred 50 days after the Ascension of Jesus. The church spread with astonishing rapidity. Already in the Acts of the Apostles its movement from one headquarters to another can be traced: Jerusalem, Damascus, and Antioch; the missions of St. Paul to Asia Minor (Tarsus, Iconium, Ephesus).

The Christian gospel encountered opposition within Judaism, just as Jesus had, and soon it turned toward the gentile world. Ideologically, this required Christian thought to define the gospel as both the correction and the fulfillment of the prevailing Greek and Roman philosophy of the day.

Institutional Development and Legacy

The members of the early Christian church believed their mission to be nearer its end than its beginning, however. In daily expectation of the imminent Second Coming of Christ, the faithful prepared themselves for his kingdom and, by urgently preaching his gospel, sought to bring others into the redeemed community. In the event, longer perspectives of a “time of the church” opened up. Christians faced the problems of living among a pagan majority, the missionary challenge proved to be far greater than could have been foreseen, and with it came the task of building a Christian social life. Consequently, it became necessary to determine a new canon of authoritative scriptures (the writings of the apostles and their circle), on this basis to draw out the theological implications of the gospel, and to adopt such institutional forms as would preserve and propagate the inner life in Christ.

Key Development Data

The following highlights represent the geographical and institutional progression of the early church based on historical records:

Origins: Jewish community of Roman Palestine
Symbolic Start: Pentecost (50 days after Ascension)
Early Headquarters: Jerusalem, Damascus, and Antioch
Missionary Reach: Asia Minor (Tarsus, Iconium, Ephesus)
Final Milestone: Conversion of Constantine I and the First Council of Nicaea