How did Paul's work spread christianity?

Answer 1

Paul helped to spread Christianity in two ways:

1. Active missionary work, in travelling to new lands and preaching to the people about Jesus.
2. Creating a new paradigm for the acceptance of non-Jews into the Christian community.

Paul was active in the Roman provinces of Arabia and Syria before he was sent out by the Christians in Antioch in Syria to places further afield. His first recorded missionary journey was to Cyprus and southern Galatia in Anatolia (modern Turkey). A reaction amongst some Jewish Christians in the homelands occurred in response to his mission in southern Galatia, with two questions coming into sharp focus.

1. Would the non-Jewish Christians be required to come under the full ambit of the Jewish law? This question had already been settled by Peter and James before Paul's first missionary journey, but the whole community had not yet come on board.
2. How could Jewish and non-Jewish Christians be able to share in meals together if one group followed the Jewish law, but the other group did not follow these laws?

These two questions were resolved at the Council of Jerusalem. Firstly, there was an endorsement of the earlier decision that non-Jews would not be required to follow the Jewish law. Secondly, the question over food was resolved in a compromise that saw non-Jewish Christians being requested to follow some limited rules on food.

After this council, Paul continued his missionary work, going on the Greece, and then later carrying out more extensive work in Anatolia (modern Turkey), and eventually going to Rome (in chains).