The first Christian communities were led by the apostles headed by Peter.
Many followers of Jesus escaped to other towns in Palestine or cities even further away, when Stephen became the first martyr and was persecuted in Jerusalem. The further away they travelled from Jerusalem, more and more of Jesus’ followers came into close contact with Gentiles, people who were not Jews.
A crisis occurred amongst the early Christians when Peter baptised some Gentiles. These people were thought to be unclean because they did not follow the strict Jewish laws about diet, and they did not follow the custom of circumcision which was a sign of the Jews’ covenant with Te Atua. Because of these differences, most of Jesus’ followers were confused and detested the fact that peter, their leader, was baptising people who weren’t Jewish.
This conflict didn’t happen in all cities, however. In Antioch, the Jews and Gentiles lived in peace and harmony in the 3rd largest city in the Roman Empire. Members of both of these groups came to share a common belief in Jesus and requested to be baptised.
The issue of allowing Gentiles to become Christians was widely debated. Christians from Jerusalem agreed that Gentiles could become Christians – only if they kept the Jewish food laws and the males were circumcised. The community in Antioch weren’t happy with this compromise. They felt that they lived as model Christians – they even collected money to help starving and persecuted Christians in Jerusalem - and didn’t feel the need to follow Jewish customs.
A crisis occurred amongst the early Christians when Peter baptised some Gentiles. These people were thought to be unclean because they did not follow the strict Jewish laws about diet, and they did not follow the custom of circumcision which was a sign of the Jews’ covenant with Te Atua. Because of these differences, most of Jesus’ followers were confused and detested the fact that peter, their leader, was baptising people who weren’t Jewish.
This conflict didn’t happen in all cities, however. In Antioch, the Jews and Gentiles lived in peace and harmony in the 3rd largest city in the Roman Empire. Members of both of these groups came to share a common belief in Jesus and requested to be baptised.
The issue of allowing Gentiles to become Christians was widely debated. Christians from Jerusalem agreed that Gentiles could become Christians – only if they kept the Jewish food laws and the males were circumcised. The community in Antioch weren’t happy with this compromise. They felt that they lived as model Christians – they even collected money to help starving and persecuted Christians in Jerusalem - and didn’t feel the need to follow Jewish customs.
Around 49AD this issue was brought up in a council meeting, which was held as an attempt to settle the disagreements. It was finally decided that Christians did not have to keep the Jewish law and circumcision was not required of them. It was decided that belief in Jesus Christ – and nothing else – was what made a Christian.
The council that made this decision assured to announce their decision in a letter, which also states that the Spirit was working among them: “The Holy Spirit and we have agreed not to put any burden on you besides these necessary rules: eat no food offered to idols; eat no blood; eat no animal that has been strangled; and keep yourselves from sexual immorality. You will do well if you take care not to do these things. – Acts of the Apostles 15:28:29.”
As a result of this decision, the number of Gentiles soon outnumbered the number of Jews in Christian communities.
