Where did the first Christians become Christians?

Answer 1

Not from the time of Jesus, as many people think. Jesus was a religious and political leader of the Jewish people and came to speak to the Jews and surrounded himself with Jews.

Paul converted some of the earliest Christians in and around Greece, after his supposed religious conversion. Some of the other disciples started various sects made up of Jews who followed Jesus.

Christianity really grew in Rome , especially after the conversion of the Emperor Constantine. Though his conversion was probably for political purposes and the consolidation of power, Constantine and others really shaped the future of Christianity at Nicaea in 325.

According to The Bible:

People were first called Christians in Antioch:

Acts 11:26 And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.

Christianity is based on the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ so Christians did not exist before the death of Christ. People first became Christians in Jerusalem at Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Possibly you could call Jesus' followers before the coming of the Holy Spirit Christians but the Bible says Christians have the Holy Spirit indwelling them.

Ephesians 1:13 And you also became God's people when you heard the true message, the Good News that brought you salvation. You believed in Christ, and God put his stamp of ownership on you by giving you the Holy Spirit he had promised.

Follow what is written:

After all of these attempts to explain, you realize you had the answer all along, as the word Christian means "Christ man" or "Christos man", it was a name given the followers of Jesus the Christos or Christ. Christos or Christ meaning "the anointed one", (see Strong's Greek number 5547 and its base 5548 and 5530.

Jesus Christ was a sign foretold by the Prophet Isaiah (7:14) ... Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel (Strong's Hebrew word 6005.. God with us).

The name Jesus, is of Hebrew origin (See Strong's Hebrew word 3091 and Greek word 2424) its from two Hebrew words 3068 and 3467, Yahovah and yasha

Jesus would be anointed by the Holy Spirit during his baptism (Matthew 3:16), making him Jesus the Christos. Read John 1:25 where the Pharisees are questioning John (the baptist), son of the priest Zacharias (Luke 1). Understand that the Pharisees are looking for the "Anointed one" "Christ" and they think John may be the Christ or Christos.

Therefore Christians could not have existed before the coming of The Christos, Christ (the Anointed one). There were Hebrews (tribes of Israel) prior to Christ (often mistakenly identified as Jews), however the unlearned have no idea that Jews represent only one tribe of Israel (Judah). The actions of the Hebrews (Israelite's) would have been identical to those of the Christians as they are based upon the law of our Father given to Moses. Christ would extend that offering of salvation (of the soul) through him, to all mankind (not just the tribes of Israel).

Jesus the Christ would be born of the virgin Mary of the tribe of Levi of the house of Aaron (Luke 1-2), the Priest line; and his mother would marry Joseph of the tribe of Judah of the house of David, the king line (Matthew 1), Therefore Jesus the Christ would take on both titles King and High Priest of the tribes of Israel (King David and Aaron the High Priest in one Anointed person).

A Christian is one that believes Jesus is the Christ (the anointed one) as foretold by the prophet Isaiah (7:14). He offered himself as the one and only sacrifice for the sins of mankind (Hebrews 10:10, Colossians 2:14). He died and was observed after death (John 20-21), proving the spirit existed as explained by Paul (1st Corinthians 15). He set an example for all of us to live according to the law (10 commandments) of our Father. He gave us (those who believe in him) power in his name (Luke 10:19), to defeat the evil ones who deceive others.

See the book of acts and the later letters of the apostles, for the forming of the Christian faith, under the Apostles of Christ and the 7 churches (Revelation 1).

HISTORICAL ANSWER:

Philo of Alexandria wrote in about AD 10 that Christians were already scattered all over the Roman Empire. He called them "Therapeutae", but his description of them is unmistakable. We have the testimony of Eusebius, the author of Ecclesiastical History that these Therapeutae were in fact Christians. St Augustine, too, confirms that Christians existed before the first century.

Under the reign of Alexandra Salome, the last Queen of Judea (76 to 67 BC), the Jewish political party of Pharisees, who had been exiled under her husband, Alexander Jannaeus, returned to power and slaughtered thousands of their political enemies, including Saducees, Essenes and Levites. Many Saducees and Essenes fled from Jerusalem, and from Judea, into the more accepting areas of the Roman and Ptolemaic Empires. Many of these exiles were pietists and baptists and formed close-knit communities all across the Empire, and most especially in Egypt where Philo later encountered them and wrote about them. Some of the characteristics detailed by Philo include Sunday smeetings, baptism, common meals, and prayer and praise services.

The existence and doctrines of the Dead Sea Scrolls also bears this out, the Essenes who wrote those documents were hidden in the Dead Sea area from the political powers that were hunting them from Jerusalem.

It is likely that these people's hope for a savior ("Jesus" in Hebrew) was the beginning of the movement that later became called Christianity.