Church after Crucifixion
fish at the time. (At the beginning of His mission,
Jesus had told several apostles he would make them
“fishers of men”.)

In this John passage, Jesus asks Peter 3 times
if Peter loves him (Peter had denied Jesus 3 times
while He was on trial). After each time Peter says yes,
Jesus commands him, “Feed my sheep.”

Acts of the Apostles begins with the story of
Jesus' ascension, 40 days after Easter:
He sat with them again,
“I’d told you how I would be killed by evil men.
The Prophets, Law, and Psalms spoke this of Me,
And to fulfill them was My destiny.”
He opened thus their minds to what the Scriptures
said,
How “on the third day He would rise up from the
dead,
That, in His name, repentance would be preached,
That sins be pardoned and all nations reached,
Spread from Jerusalem to the world’s ends.
You shall give witness to all this, My friends.
The gift the Father promised I will not deny.
Stay here until you’re clothed with power from on
high.
For John baptized with water, being near the sea,
But baptized with the Holy Spirit you shall be.”
Christ led to Bethany’s outskirts, His plan unknown,
“Is your intention now to bring back David’s
throne?”
“It’s not for you to know the time or season,
For God decides by His command and reason.
Yet from the Holy Spirit you’ll gain power:
You’ll spread My word worldwide when comes this
hour.”
Christ raised His hands, while blessing the eleven,
And He was raised, behind a cloud, to heaven.

Jesus had promised to send the Holy Spirit.
Despite having seen Jesus perform countless miracles,
and even witnessing Him after He rose from the dead,
the apostles were still terrified. If their leader had
been executed in such a painful and gruesome
manner, how could they feel safe? It seems highly
possible they will be next and Jesus promised no
better for those who follow Him. The story of
Pentecost and the earliest description of the Church
goes as follows:
1.
Pentecost

Women go to tomb, find it empty, and they are
told to give witness of this. (This is important because
women are not allowed to be legal witnesses in
Jewish society. God calls them to be witnessed but
men feel they must witness the empty tomb
themselves.)

On the road to Emmaus, two disciples met
Jesus, but did not recognize Him at first. Jesus
explained the Scriptures to them:
So slowly men believe what prophets said!
Must not the Christ die and rise from the dead,
Before He enters His eternal glory?”
Christ traced as far back as Moses’ story,
Through Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
And others, how they spoke of the Messiah...
He took the bread and over it a blessing said.
Then Jesus broke it and He gave to them the
bread.
In this one action opened were their eyes.
They now their risen Christ could recognize.
Though they were filled with such boundless
delight,
He instantly had vanished from their sight.

Even after many witnesses claiming to have
seen him, Thomas (forever known as Doubting
Thomas) said he would not believe till he felt Jesus'
wounds. Jesus then appeared to him to show him His
wounds.

A Matthew ends with Jesus delivering these
words to His apostles on a mountainside:
“On earth and heaven all authority
The Father has seen fit to give to Me.
Preach to all nations that all people hear it.
In My name, and the Father and the Spirit,
Shall you baptize people from every land
And teach them to heed all things I command.
Baptized believers will receive salvation,
While people who reject face condemnation.
Those who believe will do many a sign,
For poison shall to them be like fresh wine.
Unharmed they’ll pick up serpents and cast demons
out,
And in strange tongues they do not know My words
they’ll shout.
They’ll lay hands on the sick and they shall cure.
And I shall be with you forevermore.” F

As Matthew's gospel ended with a commission When Pentecost came, they were all assembled
to spread the faith to all nations, in John's gospel, And winds from heaven blew that the house
Jesus tells them to lower their nets, at which point trembled.
they catch 153 fish. There were 153 known species of Then rested over them tongues as of fire,
To light them up and never to expire.
You men of Israel, hear what I say:
Then each of them was with the Holy Spirit filled
Jesus of Nazareth was sent our way
And spoke in foreign tongues just as the Spirit By God, with many wondrous works and signs,
willed.
That as you walk, a light among you shines.
Nearby lived righteous men from every nation
You saw all this, how they delivered Him to die.
Who came to hear this noise, this acclamation,
This was God’s plan, and thus did prophets
And, shockingly, they understood each word,
prophesy.
For in their native language it was heard.
You had Him killed by men outside the law.
They said, “In truth are Galileans here,
So God raised Him to life, from death’s cold claw.
Yet my own tongue is what has reached my ear.
For Hades could not hold Him by its power,
For we are Partheans, Arabs, and Elamites.
As David drew him, ‘I seek God each hour.
Asians, Medes, and Romans, both Jews and With Him at my right hand, I’ll stand unshaken,
proselytes,
That I will not in Hades be forsaken,
Judeans, Cappadocians, Pamphylians,
Nor shall He let His own suffer corruption
Mesopotamians, Libyans, Phrygians,
And so my heart rejoiced sans interruption,
Men from Pontus, Egypt, Cyrene, and Crete! My tongue delighted and I’ll rest secure.
And maybe more, should that be incomplete.
You taught me to the way of life procure.
3
Somehow we hear it, each in our own tongue,
With you I shall be filled with such elation.’
The marvels of our God, here loudly sung.”
We’ll all agree, and with no hesitation,
The people stood amazed at this event
That David’s dead and buried, for his tomb is here.
And asked each other what they thought it meant.
But prophets know God’s promises are most sincere
A few, however, ridiculed this sign,
And God had sworn that one from his seed grown
“These men have just been drinking too much wine.” Would be the one inheriting his throne.
He spoke not as a mirror gives reflection,
2.
Peter’s address to the crowd
But of the Christ and of His resurrection.
He is the one from Hades swept away,
Then Peter stood with them and with a voice most The one whose body suffered not decay.
loud,
God raised Him back to life, and all of this we saw.
Attested to the Spirit’s work before the crowd,
Then He was lifted by the giver of the Law
“You men who live here, though you hail from far To God’s right hand, and having gained the Spirit,
away,
Outpoured It here, that you now see and hear It.
Hear every word. Make no mistake on what I say.
Although in heaven David had not walked his feet,
We’ve had no drink, it being the third hour, He said, ‘The Lord declared to my Lord, “Take your
But acted as the Lord has given power.
seat,
For as the prophet foretold, ‘In the final days,
Prepared at My right hand, where you might rest
1
with ease,
I shall pour our My Spirit as the sun its rays,
4
On all humanity, and this the Lord declares.
Till I make you a footstool from your enemies.”’
For your children a prophet’s tongue shall then be By all of Israel this shall not be denied,
theirs.
This Lord God made is Jesus, whom you crucified.”
Your young men shall see visions while your old
1
dream dreams.
Your male and female slaves shall also feel My 2 Both references to the sun and light are additions.
1
Joel 3:1-5.
beams,
3
Psalms 16:8-11.
And from them most prophetic words you’ll know.
4
Great wonders in the heavens I will show
Psalms 110:1.
And signs on earth, signs greater than the flood.
The sun will turn to black, the moon to blood
3.
The First Conversions
When comes God’s day, a day both terrible and
great.
Now, hearing this, their hearts were cut right
Who calls on God’s name this day will see heaven’s through,
2
And they asked Peter, “What are we to do?”
gate.’
“Repent of all the sins you’ve now realized
And in the name of Jesus be baptized.
Then from your sinfulness you’ll gain reprieve.
You, too, will the Holy Spirit receive!
God’s promise is for you, your kids, those far away,
For He is calling all back to Himself today!”
He spoke much more, with great argumentation,
“Save yourselves from this sinful generation!”
They were baptized, accepting every word.
That very day three thousand joined their herd.
4.
The Early Christian Community
They held true to the teachings and the brotherhood,
To breaking bread as kin and praying for the good.
And the apostles left them filled with awe
When signs and miracles the faithful saw.
The brethren all sold everything that they possessed
And everything was doled out, more to those hardpressed,
For all they owned they shared communally.
And with one heart they went to Temple constantly.
They met in houses for the breaking of the bread,
Where food was freely shared and praises to God
said.
Then all admired how their company behaved
And daily did God add to those who would be saved.

Early Christianity, based in Jerusalem and
known as “The Way”, was seen as a continuation of
Judaism, with its members still going to
Temple/synagogues. They still kept the Sabbath on
Saturday as well as celebrating the Resurrection on
Sunday.

Earliest Church: conflict w/ Judaism,
persecution.

The Church began by doing great signs,
including some of the sick being cured by just being
in the shadow of Peter and John. Peter also cured a
paralyzed man and brought Tabitha back from the
dead.

Everything was shared between people in the
Early Church. The Greek Christians complained their
widows were not getting enough of the shared food.
So the apostles, who were mostly teachers, got seven
assistants for distributing food, who became known as
deacons. One of them was Stephen.

Stephen soon got into conflicts with the
Jewish leaders. He was killed as a result and, like
Jesus, forgave his persecutors. One of the people
present at his stoning was Saul/Paul.

Gentiles, or non-Jews, were attracted to the
new religion as well. Antioch was the first city in
which a Church included both Jews and Gentiles and
the first place in which the term “Christian” was used.
(Christos = Messiah)

Besides all the foreigners converted at the
Pentecost event, Philip converted an Ethiopian (they
become the 2nd country to have Christianity as its
official religion.)

Paul was knocked off his horse, had a vision
of Jesus, who asked him “Why are you persecuting
me?” and was converted to Christianity almost
immediately. Paul had been known as one of the most
ardent persecutors of the faith, but became one of its
best evangelizers.

One of the earliest debates: did Gentiles have
to become Jewish first (keep kosher, be circumcised,
etc.) as a condition for being Christian. The Council
of Jerusalem was a meeting of Apostles (including
Paul – who was not one of the Twelve) in which this
issue was debated. There it was decided they did not
need to become Jewish first. This was a forerunner of
future Church councils, the method by which the
Church solved internal debates.

Paul, having strongly argued in favor of
Gentiles not needing to become Jewish became
known as the Apostle to the Gentiles.
◦
Paul would start churches in several cities,
starting at the synagogues, but then preaching to
Gentiles as well. Paul started churches in Philippi,
Corinth, Ephesus, Galatia, and Thessolonica.
Although he wrote a letter to the church in Rome and
was martyred there, the church existed before he got
there.

After the destruction of the Temple in
Jerusalem, the Jewish leaders became stricter about
who was considered Jewish. Jewish Christians were
no longer allowed to worship at synagogues with their
fellow Jews. This was the final split between Judaism
and Christianity.

Paul's letters are the earliest writings of the
New Testament. He formed churches in different
cities and wrote to them, clarifying the faith,
encouraging their perserverance, chiding their
sinfulness, and praising them when good news of
them is heard. Since he was such a sinner himself, the
idea of a forgiving God, who loved us enough to die
for our sins and saves us from death, is central to
much of his writings.