Standard 6.68
Christianity in the Roman Empire
Christianity began in the eastern part of the Roman Empire. The central features of Christianity included: the belief in one god (monotheism), belief that Jesus was the Son of God, people could gain salvation (being saved) by accepting Jesus, and the belief that Jesus was resurrected (rose from the dead). Jesus grew up in Nazareth and traveled to preach his ideas to many people. When Jesus preached, he taught about God coming soon to rule the word. God, Jesus preached, created all people and loved them the way a father loves his children. Jesus encouraged people to turn away from their selfish ways and welcome the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus had apostles (Christian leaders) who traveled to spread his teaching and create churches. One of the important apostles was named Paul. At first Paul tried to stop the spreading of Christian ideas, as he was at one time a very loyal Roman. Paul was known for his persecution of Christians, before his experience with God.
Peter, one of the 12 disciples, knew Jesus while he was alive and followed him. After Jesus’ death, Peter spread the teaching of Jesus to all people that would listen. He helped set up a Christian church in Rome called St. Peter’s Basilica. When Peter was crucified in Rome, he requested to be crucified upside down, as he did not feel worthy to be crucified upright as Christ. Peter is buried in St. Peter’s Basilica located in the Vatican in Rome.
When Christianity was new, Christians were hunted as criminals in the Roman Empire. They refused to worship Roman gods and that was against the Roman law. Even though Christianity was against the law, its followers grew rapidly. While some Christians were rich, most of the converts in Rome were from the poorer section. Christians were always trying to convert people to their religion. There were two reasons for this.
First, Christians promised that if you lived your life right you went to heaven when you died. In the other Roman religion, only the gods could live in heaven; everyone else was banished to the underworld. Second, every Christian considered themselves equal to every other Christian. There was no nobility or higher caste. This sounded awfully good to the people who lived in the poor sections of Rome, in many cases good enough to take the risk.
Things changed for Christians in 313 CE, when Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and made Christianity legal. Under his leadership, Christians could no longer be arrested just for being Christian. After a fairly short period of time, Christianity became the dominate religion of Rome. After that, it became the law that you must be Christian to be a citizen of Rome. Once the Emperors adopted Christianity the religion grew and spread. The Roman road system allowed the early Christians to travel throughout the empire safely and quickly. On the road system, Christian ideas were easily shared with other groups of people.
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