A Church of Converts: Widening the Circle of Jesus' Followers

Major concepts

A. The Original Circle: The church began with the twelve Apostles and other disciples who knew Jesus personally and eventually came to recognize him as the Messiah. At the Last Supper, in a ritual meal that was to be repeated in remembrance of him, Jesus showed the Apostles how they were to serve one another and share the word of God. Jesus' death on the cross crushed his followers, but the Resurrection and the gift of Jesus' Spirit at Pentecost turned them into courageous heralds of the Good News. Thus, Pentecost truly marked the beginning of what we now know as "the church."

B. The Circle Expands: At Pentecost, the Apostles experienced a new, deeper conversion to Jesus. They also proclaimed God's deeds convincingly and baptized many persons in Jesus' name. Jesus' original followers, and those baptized by the Apostles at Pentecost, did not consider themselves as converting from Judaism but simply as following Jesus' Way. However, because the Apostles and other disciples claimed that Jesus was the Messiah, they ran into trouble with the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem and experienced persecution.

C. Paul: Saul, whom we know as Paul, was a devout Pharisee who initially saw Jesus' followers as blasphemers. Saul persecuted the Christians in Jerusalem, committing many to prison. He then set out to arrest any Christians he found in Damascus. On the way there, however, a dramatic encounter with the Risen Jesus left Saul blind and unable to eat or drink. After being cured and experiencing conversion, Saul went into the desert to reflect on his experience. When he returned, Saul was even more zealous in spreading Jesus' message than he had once been in persecuting Jesus' followers.

D. Gentile Converts: Samaritans and Gentiles began accepting the Good News, but the Jewish followers of Jesus in the Jerusalem community objected to the baptizing of Gentiles because they did not follow the Jewish Law. Meanwhile, Paul began preaching to his fellow Jews and was persecuted. Paul and Barnabas later had success in ministering to the Jewish-Gentile community in Antioch, so they undertook a missionary journey to more unfamiliar territory. They were rejected by most Jews, sometimes violently. But many Gentiles accepted Jesus, and mixed communities of Jewish and Gentile Christians soon formed their own worship groups.

E. Crisis over the Jewish Law: On a visit to Antioch, a group of Jewish Christians from Jerusalem rekindled the long-standing controversy over whether all Christians should be required to observe the entire Jewish Law. To settle the question, the Antioch Christians sent Paul and Barnabas to talk to the leaders in Jerusalem. As a result, the Council of Jerusalem (which later came to be considered the first official gathering of church leaders to resolve questions about religious practice) decided that followers of Jesus did not have to observe the entire Jewish Law.