Who Is A Christian?
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A Christian is someone who declares Jesus as their Lord and Savior.
Christians believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of the promise made in the Jewish
scriptures.
Christians live in every part of the world
There are around 2 Billion Christians in the world.
Christianity is the world’s largest religion.
The Roman Catholic Church is the largest body of Christians on earth.
Over the last 2000 years the Christian community has evolved into many
different formal divisions.
The Life of Christ
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Jesus of Nazareth is the central figure of the
Christian faith.
The New Testament Gospels are our primary
source of information about the life and
message of Jesus. The “Who are you to say he
really existed? How do you really know?”
nonsense that is currently popular in our
society is ill-informed: no serious scholar
questions the fact of Jesus’ historical existence,
which is affirmed not only by the New
Testament, but by “extra-biblical” sources:
 Pliny the Younger, a Roman governor
 Tacitus, a Roman historian
 Suetonius, a Roman historian and lawyer
 Josephus, a Jewish historian
The word "Christ" comes from the Greek word meaning "Anointed One".
According to St. Luke and St. Matthew Jesus was the first-born son of the Virgin
Mary and a carpenter named Joseph.
Little is written of Jesus’ early life, but he is believed to have followed his father’s
trade of carpentry.
Jesus was born a Jew, and remained a practicing Jew his entire life.
At the time of Jesus’ birth Palestine, including Jerusalem was under the rule of a
procurator who reported to the Roman Emperor.
What do Christians believe about Jesus of Nazareth?
Regardless of their various differences, all orthodox Christians (from the Greek
meaning “right doctrine” or “right teaching”) believe:
• Jesus is the only begotten Son of God
• He was conceived by the Holy Spirit
• He was born of the Virgin Mary and became one of us (the Incarnation)
• He was a story teller and healer
• He was crucified, and rose from the dead on the third day
• His life, death, and resurrection have the power to free his followers from sin and
death
• He lives today
Christianity’s Core
Doctrines (teachings)
a. The Doctrine of the Trinity
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The center of Christian theology and practice
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States that God consists of three persons
God the Father
God the Son
God the Holy Spirit
The three persons of God are distinct from one
another, and yet have the same essence.
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The shamrock was used by St. Patrick to explain the
Trinity.
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We can also visualize the Trinity as the Sun shining through a
window. The sun represents God the Father, the rays represent God
the Son and the heat/warmth represents the Holy Spirit.
The concept is very difficult for the mind to comprehend
and is regarded as a mystery – NOT a “puzzle”, but a reality whose
depths can never be fully explored.
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God is neither male nor female, but the people of the ancient Jewish culture
used the male image to refer to God.
b. The Doctrine of the Incarnation
The Doctrine that states that Christ is fully divine and fully human.
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John’s Gospel identifies Christ as the Word (Logos in Greek), who
was with God from the beginning.
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(See John's Gospel, 1:1-18)
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Because God became human our salvation is possible.
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Jesus was actually human and did not just appear to be human.
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Jesus was human in all ways except sin.
Council of Nicea, 325 C.E.: Jesus and the Father are one “substance”
("homoousious")
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(See Paul’s letter to the Philippians 2:5-11)
Christian Life after Christ’s Death
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In the beginning years after Christ’s death, Christians were considered to be
another Jewish sect.
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Citizens of the Empire were forced to worship the living emperor as a god. The
Christians refused to worship him, or the Roman gods, and were a threat to
Roman order; they suffered periods of harsh persecution as a result.
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Many people began to say false things about the Christians and what they believed
about Jesus Christ. Outrageous rumors began to surface about what Christians
were doing when they met in their homes. The Romans accused the Christians of
three things:
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Worshiping an invisible god (Atheist)
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Incest (Calling each other brother and sister)
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Cannibalism
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In 64 C.E. the Roman Emperor Nero blamed a Great fire on the Christians.
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In 67 C.E. Christians were kicked out of the Jewish synagogues.
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Only in C.E. 313 with the victory of the Emperor Constantine, who attributed his
victory in battle to the Christian God, and the passing of the Edict of Milan, did
the persecutions begin to come to an end; in C.E. 380, Christianity became the
official religion of the Roman Empire.
The oldest known monogram of Jesus Christ
Formed from the Greek letters Chi (X) and Rho (P)
X and P are the first letters of the Greek word
"XPICTOC" (pronounced “Christos”), which means Christ.
ICTHUS is the Greek word for "FISH"
In Greek characters it looks like this
I ΧΘΥΣ
Each letter of the word І Χ Θ Υ Σ begins
a Greek word of the phrase:
Jesus Christ, God’s Son, Saviour
I ΧΘΥΣ