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Vernon · May 4, 2005, 10:00 am

Paul,

When "the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch", Christianity was very, very small indeed! Paul, whose conversion on the Road to Damascus was so important for the expansion of the new religion beyond Palestine, was still alive during the period you describe in your post.

Christianity was not only small in numbers at that time, but it was so out of context with the prevailing and long-established religions of Judaism and pagan polytheism, for examples. As a result, there was social and religious pressure upon those who were willing to call themselves Christian. And that pressure was unpleasant to say the least and occasionally life-threatening.

Therefore, it seems to me that it was very likely that those, who called themselves Christian, were truly and genuinely "people of the Way of the Lord", people who believed in the "Testimony of Paul to be the Word of God".

If you were not saved in your soul, if you were not hoping in Jesus Christ for your salvation through his death on the cross, if you were not confident about the resurrection of your body from being dead, then the social and religious pressures on you would have been such, I suggest, to make you want to stay within pagan polytheism or Judaism or Greek philosophy.

At that stage of Christianity, it simply wasn't worthwhile changing sides from your hitherto known religion to something which was new and, well, a cult. The disapproval and rejection of family, friends and neighbours as well as employers, would have been horrendous. It would have been difficult to stand up for the new faith at that time, if you were going to be one of those to whom the Lord would later say, "I never knew you, depart from me!"

The problem for what is meant by Christian grew after the Pauline era as Christianity became more and more accepted and valued by the society of the Roman Empire.

For example, Christianity became increasingly well thought of because of the care and respect the church gave to women, to infant girls, to the deeply poor and to those who became suddently and dangerously ill because of the frequent and intermittent epidemics of those days.

It became increasingly recognised that Christians did not throw plague victims out of the house into the street to die and, then, themselves, flee into the countryside like the pagans. No, Christians nursed the sick, whether Christian or pagan and, with nursing care, such as replacing lost fluid, people survived.

Even the Emperor Julian, known as the Apostate for his personal paganism, rebuked the pagan priests for failing to do for pagans what the Christians did for their own people and for pagans as well.

This popularity of Christianity, arising from its unique civilisation, resulted in more and more people becoming Christian in centuries one, two and three until, in the fourth century AD, when Constantine became Emperor, the population of the Roman Empire was about 30% Christian.

Now, we have a problem defining what we mean by Christian!

When Christianity, because of its civilized behaviour towards other human beings in the world, became so popular that about one-third of the 60 million inhabitants of the Roman Empire were calling themselves Christian, you do have to allow for more than one definition of Christian

When Paul was alive, there was no need to have more than one definition because Christianity was unpopular and so small. However, when Constantine became Emperor, Christianity was not unpopular but highly popular; it was not small but huge!

If one believes that abouit 30% of 60,000,000 people in the Empire were "the people of the Way of the Lord", that they were all people who believed in the "Testimony of Paul to be the Word of God", then there is no problem. But you and I don't believe that! I know this because you quoted Christ's words at the Last Judgment.

Therefore, the expandingly popular Christianity needed more than the one category of Christian in it compared to those early days of Paul, the Apostle. People were joining the Christian church because it was humane and civilized, good to the poor and underprivileged, caring to women and girls, for examples.

And I have listed various possible definitions of Christian in my initial post to this thread, which you were kind enough, not only to read, but to reply to.

May 4, 2005, 10:00 am	#4 (permalink) (top)
Vernon Sedimentary Rock Posts: 9	Paul, When "the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch", Christianity was very, very small indeed! Paul, whose conversion on the Road to Damascus was so important for the expansion of the new religion beyond Palestine, was still alive during the period you describe in your post. Christianity was not only small in numbers at that time, but it was so out of context with the prevailing and long-established religions of Judaism and pagan polytheism, for examples. As a result, there was social and religious pressure upon those who were willing to call themselves Christian. And that pressure was unpleasant to say the least and occasionally life-threatening. Therefore, it seems to me that it was very likely that those, who called themselves Christian, were truly and genuinely "people of the Way of the Lord", people who believed in the "Testimony of Paul to be the Word of God". If you were not saved in your soul, if you were not hoping in Jesus Christ for your salvation through his death on the cross, if you were not confident about the resurrection of your body from being dead, then the social and religious pressures on you would have been such, I suggest, to make you want to stay within pagan polytheism or Judaism or Greek philosophy. At that stage of Christianity, it simply wasn't worthwhile changing sides from your hitherto known religion to something which was new and, well, a cult. The disapproval and rejection of family, friends and neighbours as well as employers, would have been horrendous. It would have been difficult to stand up for the new faith at that time, if you were going to be one of those to whom the Lord would later say, "I never knew you, depart from me!" The problem for what is meant by Christian grew after the Pauline era as Christianity became more and more accepted and valued by the society of the Roman Empire. For example, Christianity became increasingly well thought of because of the care and respect the church gave to women, to infant girls, to the deeply poor and to those who became suddently and dangerously ill because of the frequent and intermittent epidemics of those days. It became increasingly recognised that Christians did not throw plague victims out of the house into the street to die and, then, themselves, flee into the countryside like the pagans. No, Christians nursed the sick, whether Christian or pagan and, with nursing care, such as replacing lost fluid, people survived. Even the Emperor Julian, known as the Apostate for his personal paganism, rebuked the pagan priests for failing to do for pagans what the Christians did for their own people and for pagans as well. This popularity of Christianity, arising from its unique civilisation, resulted in more and more people becoming Christian in centuries one, two and three until, in the fourth century AD, when Constantine became Emperor, the population of the Roman Empire was about 30% Christian. Now, we have a problem defining what we mean by Christian! When Christianity, because of its civilized behaviour towards other human beings in the world, became so popular that about one-third of the 60 million inhabitants of the Roman Empire were calling themselves Christian, you do have to allow for more than one definition of Christian When Paul was alive, there was no need to have more than one definition because Christianity was unpopular and so small. However, when Constantine became Emperor, Christianity was not unpopular but highly popular; it was not small but huge! If one believes that abouit 30% of 60,000,000 people in the Empire were "the people of the Way of the Lord", that they were all people who believed in the "Testimony of Paul to be the Word of God", then there is no problem. But you and I don't believe that! I know this because you quoted Christ's words at the Last Judgment. Therefore, the expandingly popular Christianity needed more than the one category of Christian in it compared to those early days of Paul, the Apostle. People were joining the Christian church because it was humane and civilized, good to the poor and underprivileged, caring to women and girls, for examples. And I have listed various possible definitions of Christian in my initial post to this thread, which you were kind enough, not only to read, but to reply to.