Module 1 - THE AGE OF JESUS AND THE APOSTLES (6 BC - 70 AD).pptx

Module 1 - THE AGE OF JESUS AND THE APOSTLES (6 BC - 70 AD)

1. THE AGE OF JESUS AND THE APOSTLES 6 BC - 70 AD MODULE 1

2. INTRODUCTION Christianity's roots go back into Jewish history long before the birth of Jesus Christ. It was Jesus of Nazareth, however, who attacked established Judaism and brought a renewal movement into history early in the first century. After Jesus’ crucifixion in Jerusalem under Pontius Pilate, a Roman official, Jesus’ teachings spread throughout the Mediterranean area. An apostle named Paul was especially influential. He stressed God’s gift of salvation for all and led in Christianity’s emergence from Palestinian Judaism to a position as a universal religion.

3. TIMELINE

4. CHAPTER 1 THE JESUS MOVEMENT

5. JESUS MOVEMENT Crucifixion was a barbarous death, reserved for rebels, pirates, and slaves. Jewish law cursed “everyone who hangs on a tree,” and Roman statesman Cicero warned, “Let the very name of the cross be far, not only from the body of a Roman citizen, but even from his thoughts, his eyes, his ears.” Part of the victim’s punishment was to be whipped and then to carry the heavy crossbeam to the place of his death. When the cross was raised, a notice was pinned to it giving the culprit’s name and crime. In Jesus’ case, the Latin INRI: Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum (Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews). Pontius Pilate, Jesus’ Roman judge, apparently intended it as a final thrust of malice aimed at the Jews, but, as in the cross itself, Jesus’ followers found a special meaning in the message.

6. Palestine in Jesus' Day During the days of Jesus, Palestine was full of people with conflicting loyalties. It was a crossroads of cultures and peoples. Its two million or more people—ruled by Rome—were divided by region, religion, and politics. Three Major Culture: The Jews The Romans The Greeks (Hellenistic & Hebraic)

7. Palestine in Jesus' Day Centuries earlier the prophets of Israel had promised a day when the Lord would deliver his people from their pagan rulers and establish his kingdom over the whole earth. On that day, they said, he would send an anointed ruler—a messiah—to bring an end to the corrupt world of the present and replace it with an eternal paradise. Out of this distaste for life under the Romans, several factions arose among the Jews, each interpreting the crisis in a different way. The Jesus movement was one of them. One group, the Pharisees, emphasized those Jewish traditions and practices that set them apart from pagan culture. Their name means “separated ones,” and they prided themselves on their strict observance of every detail of the Jewish law and their extreme intolerance of people they considered ritually unclean. This piety and patriotism won respect among the people. At the time of Jesus, these men controlled the high Jewish council, or Sanhedrin , but they had less influence among the common people.

8. Palestine in Jesus' Day Another party, the Zealots, was bent on armed resistance to all Romans in the fatherland. They looked back two centuries to the glorious days of the Maccabees, when religious zeal combined with a ready sword to overthrow the pagan Greek overlords. Thus the hills of Galilee often concealed a number of guerrilla bands ready to ignite a revolt or destroy some symbol of Roman authority in Palestine . Jesus had to call for the loyalty of his followers without confusing the purpose of his mission with the objectives of these other parties among the Jews. It was a tough assignment.

9. EVENTS JESUS CHRIST Jesus’ Birth Jesus’ Baptism from the Prophet named John (John 1-2) Ministry of Jesus Teaching (the Law, the Kingdom, Gospel of Grace) Miracles ( Healing, Feeding, Raising Dead, Removing Spirits) Trial and Death Resurrection Message

10. CHAPTER 2 THE GOSPEL TO THE GENTILES

11. Gospel to the Gentiles The Sanhedrin had an uprising on their hands and they knew it. They had barely escaped a riot by bringing Stephen, the agitator, before them. But what to do with him—that was the question . Since Jesus’ trial, the Jewish council had had little rest. No one knew how to stop the spread of the Nazarene movement. Time and again the council had commanded them to stop their incessant jabbering about Jesus, but each time the Nazarenes grew bolder, even accusing the council of killing the Messiah . Stephen, however, was a special case. He dared to renounce the law of Moses and attack the temple of God, openly and repeatedly. The angry men felt that Stephen had to be silenced. But how ? All eyes were upon Stephen as he began his defense. He spoke of Jewish history, but he argued that worship of God might be done apart from the temple. He traced the ways of God with his people from Abraham to Moses and showed that Moses prophesied the coming of Messiah, saying, “God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people” (Acts 7:37).

12. EVENTS Resurrection of Christ Commissioning of the Disciples (Matt 28:18-20) Pentecost Preaching of the Gospel in Jerusalem Persecution of Saul (Paul of Tarsus) Death of Stephen Conversion of Paul Preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles

13. Factors that influences the early Church Jewish Culture Dispersion Strict Monotheism Role of Synagogue Greek Culture Philosophy (through Alexander the Great and Philosophers) Language Roman Culture Law-government Geographical Influences

14. Paul’s Journey

15. Paul’s Journey

16. Paul’s Journey

17. QUESTIONS: Read Galatians 4:4. What does the bible mean when it says Christ came “when the time had fully come.” Compare this with Ephesians 1:10