Chapter 8 Lesson 1
The First Christians
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Guiding Questions
1. What was Rome’s policy towards different
Religions?
2. Why did the Jews of Judea revolt in 66 AD?
What was the outcome?
3. Who was Jesus Christ and what message did
he spread to his followers?
Religious Toleration
• Generally, Rome tolerated the varied religions
in the Empire.
• People allowed to worship other gods. As long
as citizens showed loyalty by
• 1. honoring Roman gods
• 2. acknowledging the power of the emperor
• Most people at the time were polytheistic,
and content to worship the Roman gods along
with their own.
• By 63 BC, Romans
conquered Judea,
where most Jews of
the time lived.
Divisions in Judea
• Jews = monotheistic
• To avoid violating Jewish beliefs, the Romans
excused Jews from worshiping Roman gods.
• some Jews rejected Roman traditions and
called for strict obedience to Jewish laws and
traditions.
• These strict followers of Judaism were called
Zealots.
Zealots
• Most Jews were reluctantly willing to live
under Roman rule.
• Others, called Zealots, were not.
• They encouraged Jews to revolt against Rome
and reestablish an independent state.
• Some Jews believed a messiah, or anointed
king sent by God, would soon appear and lead
the Jewish people to freedom.
Jewish Revolt
• In 66 AD, discontent flared into rebellion.
• Roman forces under command of emperor
Titus
• Romans crushed the rebels, captured
Jerusalem, and destroyed the Jewish temple
(built 957 BC).
Destruction of the Temple
Remains of the Temple
Section of Arch of Titus
Masada
• Survivors escaped to Masada, an ancient
fortress in the south of Israel, overlooking the
Dead Sea.
• the First Jewish–Roman War ended in the
mass suicide of the 960 Jewish zealots and
their families hiding there.
Masada
Jewish Revolt
• When revolts broke out in the next century,
Roman armies destroyed Jerusalem.
• Thousands of Jews were killed in the fighting
and many others were enslaved and
transported to various parts of the empire.
Roman Destruction of Jerusalem
Bellringer
• What was Rome’s policy towards different
religions in the empire?
• Was this an effective policy?
• Can you provide an example of a religious
group that did not follow this policy? What
happened to them?
Rise of Christianity
• A few decades before the revolt, a Jewish
teacher named Jesus traveled and preached
throughout Judea and Galilee.
• Was also said that Jesus performed miracles
(cures, exorcisms, resurrection of the dead
and control over nature)
• Jesus’s teachings began as a new movement
within Judaism.
Teachings of Jesus
• Jesus called for the transformation of the
inner person:
• “So in everything, do to others what you
would have them do to you, for this sums up
the Law and the Prophets”
• Jesus said “Love the Lord your God with all
your heart and with all your soul and with all
your mind and with all your strength.
Teachings
• Jesus shared these ethical concepts with other
Jewish teachers, but he gave them an
especially eloquent expression.
• These concepts – humility, charity, and love
towards others – later shaped the value
system of western civilization.
• Jesus’s preaching stirred controversy
• Some people saw him as a revolutionary who
might lead a revolt against Rome
• His opponents finally turned him over to
Roman authorities
• The procurator Pontius Pilate ordered Jesus’s
crucifixion.
• Occurred approximately 30-36 AD
Followers
• After the death of Jesus, his followers
proclaimed that he had risen from the dead
and had appeared to them.
• They believed Jesus to be the Messiah, the
long expected deliverer who would save Israel
from its foes and bring in an age of peace and
prosperity.
Christianity Spreads
• Prominent apostles (leaders) arose in early
Christianity.
• Peter, a Jewish fisherman who followed Jesus,
became the leader of the apostles.
• Paul was another major apostle.
• Paul spread the word of Christ to non Jews.
• Paul founded Christian communities in Asia
minor and along the shores of the Aegean.
The 12 Apostles
Paul’s message
• The center of Paul’s message was that Jesus
was the Savior, the Son of God, who had
come to earth to save humanity
• Paul taught that Jesus’s death made up for the
sins of all humans.
• By accepting Jesus as Christ (from Christos,
the Greek term for Messiah) and Savior,
people could be saved from sin and reconciled
to God.
Teachings
• The teachings of early Christianity were passed
on orally through preaching
• Paul and other followers of Jesus wrote letters
outlining Christian beliefs for communities
around the eastern Mediterranean
• Between 40 AD and 100 AD, these accounts
became the basis of the written Gospels
• The Gospels: record of Jesus’ life and teachings,
form the core of the New Testament, the second
part of the Christian Bible.
• By 100 AD, Christian churches had been
established in many major cities of the
empire.
• Most early Christians came from the Jews and
Greek speaking populations of the east.
• In the 2nd and 3rd centuries, an increasing
number of followers were Latin speaking.
Roman Persecution
• Many Romans came to view Christians as harmful
to the Roman state.
• Christians refused to worship Roman gods and
emperors
• Romans saw this refusal as treason, punishable
by death.
• Christians believed there was only one god. To
them the worship of many gods endangered their
own salvation.
• The exemption given to Jews to practice
monotheism was not extended to Christians.
Persecution
• Persecution of Christians by Romans didn’t
stop its growth
• It served to strengthen Christianity by forcing
it to become more organized.
• Fear of persecution meant that only the most
committed would follow the faith.
Why was Christianity able to gain so
many followers?
• 1. The Christian message:
• Had a lot to offer the Roman world.
• Roman based religion was impersonal and
existed for the good of Rome.
• Christianity was personal and offered
salvation and eternal life to individuals.
• Christianity gave life a meaning and purpose
beyond the state and material things.
• 2. Christiantiy