Test and Notes

Today we took a test and I did not know that we were going to be having one, but I looked over the notes and the powerpoint last mintue and it actally helped me a lot because it was easier to remember real quickly then having to go over and over it for a whole weekend. Our new assignment is to read LO2 on Christianity in the Era of Roman peace. So far in the first paragraph or second it pretty much says that in the time of A.D. 70 Jesus lived and taught his ministry. Most likely the gospel writers retold stories about Jesus that they found in earilr documents, or had come down to them by word of mouth. They never put down any specific details about Jesus life and he had some brief years when he was wandering preaching in Judaea. They needed to put down some details to show Jesus in two roles: as teacher explaining Gods purposes and as Messiah sent by God.
The Teacher Role: The teachings about this time showed that Jesus had much more in common with the actual teachers of the time. Jesus would follow the law like the rest of the people, but like Pharisees too, he appealed to a long-standing Jewish tradition of warning that true righteousness meant more than just obeying the strict ritual commands of the Law. Jesus taught that even the most faithful righteousness according to the Law fell far short of what was necessary to please God. Exactly because of this Jesus made a point of associating with people whom sticklers for the Law thought of as a highly displeasing to God- "prostitution and tax collectors, and sinners." For Jesus biggest difference with the Pharisees  as the gospel describes it, was that, like the radical Jewish groups, he proclaimed that the "Kingdom of God has come near"- in fact that with himself it had already arrived.
The Messiah Role: Jesus had not come to deliver just the Jews, but to fulfill the traditional prophecy that the whole human race will turn to the one God. He will redeem his people, Jew and Gentile, not as a warrior king but as a victim by offering himself for one of the traditional purposes of sacrifice  to reconcile sinful humans with the divine power that they displeased. In the gospels he seems to be saying that he is both human and divine, that he and God are somehow different but yet the same. For the followers the age of the Messiah had already begun when the Gentiles would finally turn to the God of Israel  and they saw themselves as the Messiahs apostles sent out by him to fulfill his command "Go into all the world and proclaim the good news to the whole creation."

Within the earliest churches there was no real structure of authority and power. Alongside these "house churches" leaders however there was room for many other who claimed special "gifts" from the Holy Spirit such was prophets who gave guidance directly from God and deacons from the Greek servants who organized festivities and helped the poor and sick. After Paul died and was probably beheaded for being a Jewish troublemaker his vision of "all in one of Christ Jesus" started to fade away. For Christians the human race was now divided into three groups: The Jews, Gods former chosen people, The Gentiles, a word that christian still often used to describe worshipers of the Gods and Goddesses and themselves who were Gentiles no longer but Gods new chosen people.