Christianity has a history of more than two thousand years, and it is a faith based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ the most popular faith in the world, the followers of this religion can be found all over the world. Christians believe in the existence of one God who sent his only son, Jesus Christ, to save mankind from iniquity and hell.
Christianity is the world’s monotheistic Abrahamic religion. It emerged in the first century A.D. in Palestine among the Jews. The name “Christianity” comes from the Greek word “christos,” which means “anointed one. Jesus, who lived in the first century A.D., is called Christ. Followers of His teachings are called Christians. Christianity has had such an impact on world history that a new world era began to be counted from the birth of its Founder. Christianity is currently the largest religion in the world, with about 2.1 billion followers.
Christianity is a religion of Revelation, that is, it is based on the appearance of God to man. This Epiphany took place in the incarnation of God in the form of a man. God became man Jesus Christ. The Word of God was eventually recorded in part in the New Testament Scriptures.
Christianity emerged in Palestine, then part of the Roman Empire, in the first century A.D. among the Jews. The Jews were the only monotheistic religion in the Mediterranean. By the time Christianity emerged, many non-Jews were converting to Judaism, they were called proselytes. In the Roman Empire, Jews were allowed to practice their national religion, Judaism had a special status. The rest of the people practiced the state religion, paganism, which was syncretic in nature. Each region had its own peculiarities. In Ephesus, for example, the goddess Artemis was especially revered. Paganism in the Roman Empire was united by the fact that it was necessary to venerate the king as a god, only for the Jews an exception was made. By the time Jesus was born, the Jews were desperately waiting for the Messiah (Christ), hoping that he would free the Jewish people from Roman rule. It was in this environment that the founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, was born.
Modern scholarship already has enough evidence to consider Jesus Christ a historical person. There are more written accounts of Jesus than, for example, of Socrates. The main revelations about the life of Jesus Christ are to be found in the New Testament. According to the Gospels, He was born miraculously of the virgin Mary in Bethlehem. In Nazareth, the Virgin Mary was illuminated by the Holy Spirit and conceived. When the time came for her to give birth, she was in Bethlehem for the census that was taking place at that time. Because of these details, scholars can establish the exact date of Jesus’ birth more or less accurately, supposing it to be about five years B.C. Jesus was born in a stable, for Mary and her betrothed husband, Joseph, had no other place to sleep. After the baby was born, the family fled to Egypt and lived there until Herod died, who wanted to kill the baby. Why did King Herod want to kill him? The point is that by the time Jesus was born, there was a bright star in the sky known as the Star of Bethlehem. Seeing this star, the Egyptian sages followed it, suggesting the birth of a great man, a king. So, following the star, they came to Herod, telling him of the birth of a new king. This was the impetus for the murder of all the babies under two years old in and around Bethlehem. But by this time, by revelation from God, the Holy Family had fled to Egypt.
Very little is known about the early years of Jesus’ life: only that he taught the wise men in the temple in Jerusalem at the age of 12, and they marveled at his words. He was a carpenter and was in the service of his parents.
Jesus Christ went out to preach at the age of 30. With the Jews you could only start teaching at the age of 30. The public ministry of Jesus lasted three years, during which He preached the will of God, testified of God, healed, raised the dead, explained the Old Testament Scriptures, and prophesied. He chose twelve apostolic disciples who were always with him on his journey. Only some of his disciples had witnessed his Transfiguration.
Many people followed Jesus, but not everyone accepted Him. So only a few of the Jewish leaders believed that Jesus Christ was the Messiah they had been waiting for. However, the Jewish leaders got Jesus crucified. On the third day after His crucifixion, Jesus Christ was resurrected in a new body. For 40 days He appeared to His disciples, instructing them in the correct understanding of the Scriptures. And on the 40th day He ascended, promising that He would return at the end of time.
After the event of the Descent of the Holy Spirit upon the apostles, which occurred on the 50th day after Christ’s resurrection, the apostles began to preach Christ, His resurrection, and all that He had taught them.