The history of Christianity in the first century: From Judea to Rome

In the first century AD, the region of modern-day Israel and Palestine was under Roman domination and was known as Judea.

It had been absorbed into the empire, first through client kings like Herod the Great and then direct governors, known as procurators, by around 6 AD.

While the Jewish people of Judea lived under Roman occupation, they retained their religion and customs.

However, the Jewish society at the time was quite diverse, with various conflicting religious groups, such Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Zealots, all who were fervent in their hope for a Messiah: a divinely anointed leader who would deliver Israel from Roman control. 

In the late 20s AD, a person known as Jesus of Nazareth appeared. He was a Jewish religious teacher who drew attention because he proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was near at hand.

He had gathered a small group of followers, known as disciples, and crowds of people in the area of Galilee were most attracted to his teachings.

They even claimed that he was able to heal sick people. Although, his message and popularity led to conflict with some Jewish religious leaders.

Sometime around the years 30–33 AD, during the time of the Passover festival in Jerusalem, Jesus was arrested and handed over to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.

Pilate saw Jesus as a potential political threat and he was charge with the crime of sedition, and he ordered Jesus to be killed by crucifixion. 

After Jesus’s death, his followers soon claimed that he had risen from the dead.

This was important to them, as they believed that it confirmed that Jesus was the promised Messiah and Son of God.

From a religious perspective, the resurrection became the central belief of the new faith.  

In the first few years after Jesus’s death, his disciples formed a community in Jerusalem, where they continued to worship at the Jewish Temple and follow many Jewish laws, while also gathering separately to remember Jesus’s teachings.

The Book of Acts in the New Testament describes how the disciples experienced a burst of growth during the feast of Pentecost, when they preached to crowds and gained new followers.

The early Jerusalem church was led by Jesus’s closest associates. This included the apostles Peter and John, as well as James the Just who was a brother of Jesus. 

At this stage, the followers of Jesus did not see themselves as founding a ‘new religion’ separate from Judaism.

Early believers worshiped together in their own private homes and called themselves an ‘ekklesia’ (the Greek for ‘assembly').

However, they had no formal church buildings. 

Like Jesus, the new sect soon faced opposition from some Jewish authorities. The apostles’ claim that Jesus was the Christ (the Greek word for ‘Messiah’) and had been raised from the dead was seen as deeply controversial.

The Sanhedrin, the Jewish council of leaders in Jerusalem, warned the apostles to stop teaching in Jesus’s name or be punished.

One of the first followers, Stephen, was accused of blasphemy against the Temple and was stoned to death around 34 AD.

He became the first Christian martyr: a person who dies as a result of their religious beliefs.

After Stephen’s execution, a broader crackdown on the group in Jerusalem began.

This pressure caused many of the disciples to scatter from Jerusalem and escape to other towns in nearby regions.

This helped spread the message of Jesus further afield. 

By the late 30s and early 40s AD, small groups of Christians had been established in Samaria to the north, in the city of Damascus in Syria, and especially in Antioch, which was the capital of the Roman province of Syria.

Antioch became one of the earliest centers of Christianity outside Judea and, it was here according to tradition, that the disciples of Jesus were first called ‘Christians’.

This was from the Greek word Christianoi, meaning ‘followers of Christ’. Also, it was in Antioch that the community included both Jews and Gentiles (non-Jews).

This was a key development that would prove crucial for Christianity’s further growth. 

One of the most significant figures in the spread of early Christianity was Paul of Tarsus.

He was originally named Saul and was one of the Jews who had initially persecuted Christians.

He was a Jewish scholar from the sect of the Pharisees. By his own account, he had a sudden dramatic conversion to Christianity around the year 33–36 AD, when he described seeing a vision of the risen Jesus.

Following this, he changed his name to Paul and became a fervent believer who was convinced that he was called to bring Jesus’s message to the Gentiles.

Importantly, Paul taught that Gentile converts did not need to fully adopt Jewish law, such as circumcision or kosher dietary rules, in order to join the Christian community. 

Then, between the 40s and 60s AD, Paul undertook several missionary journeys across the Eastern Mediterranean region of the Roman Empire.

He visited regions of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), Cyprus, Greece, and eventually the city of Rome itself.

Along the way he gathered groups of believers in many cities and established churches for them.

By the early 50s AD, for example, Paul had established Christians in cities like Philippi and Thessalonica in Macedonia in northern Greece.

In Greece proper, he debated philosophers in Athens and founded a thriving community in Corinth.

It was from Corinth in around AD 56–57 that Paul wrote a famous letter to Christians in Rome.

It records that a Christian community was already present in the capital city of the empire even before Paul visited that city.

Some of these Roman believers may have been Jewish pilgrims or traders who brought the faith back from Judea, or possibly Roman soldiers who had encountered Christianity in the eastern provinces and carried it home. 

There were other apostles and missionaries that spread out from Judea during this period.

Christian tradition says the Apostle Thomas carried the faith eastward to Mesopotamia or even as far as India.

Christianity reached Egypt, perhaps with Mark the Evangelist, who is traditionally credited with founding the church in Alexandria in the 40s AD.

Another tradition holds that the Apostle Peter eventually went to Rome as well, where he became an important leader of the church there. 

As the Christian mission expanded, particularly among Gentiles, a crucial question arose: Did non-Jewish converts need to follow all of the Jewish laws?

The original disciples of Jesus in Jerusalem were ethnically Jewish and continued to observe the Torah, so when Gentiles started joining the movement in significant numbers, this became a pressing question.

Some Judean Christians that were often called ‘Judaizers’ by historians argued that Gentile believers should undergo circumcision and keep kosher laws.

Paul and others, however, contended that this was not necessary, since they taught that faith in Christ was sufficient for Gentiles.

To resolve this dispute, the apostles and elders convened a meeting known as the Council of Jerusalem around AD 49 or 50. 

At it, leaders like Peter, Paul, and James discussed the status of Gentile converts.

The council reached a landmark decision: Gentile Christians would not be required to fully observe the Mosaic Law.

This was a turning point in Christian history, as it opened the door for a much broader Gentile inclusion and helped Christianity develop its own identity distinct from Judaism.

Over the next decades, the Gentile proportion of the Church grew rapidly.  

At this time, the Christian church did not have a formal hierarchy like the one that would see in later centuries.

The apostles were looked to as authoritative teachers, and they appointed presbyters and deacons in the local communities to help lead.

By the late first century, the term ‘bishop’ (from Greek episkopos) was used for someone who had pastoral oversight of a community.

One early text, the Letter of 1 Clement (written around 96 AD from Rome), suggests an established practice of having leaders succeed the apostles in guiding the churches. 

Christians met regularly, often on Sunday, to commemorate Jesus’s resurrection, in homes for prayer, singing hymns, reading letters or teachings, and sharing a common meal. This meal included the ‘Lord’s Supper’, otherwise known as the Eucharist.

Socially, Christianity attracted individuals from various strata of society. Many early converts were from the lower classes, including slaves and women, who found the Christian message appealing because it taught the spiritual equality and dignity of all people.

A famous line from Paul’s letter to the Galatians, likely written in the late 40s AD, declares that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus”.

This ethos made the new faith attractive to those marginalized or seeking hope in a stratified society.

That said, there were also wealthier and more prominent people who joined. For example, some city officials, Roman soldiers, and businessmen appear in the New Testament accounts as converts.

The Christian groups often formed a kind of extended family across social boundaries, sharing resources and caring for the poor among them. 

Communication between the scattered Christian communities was maintained through traveling teachers and letters.

Paul’s epistles are a prime example: he wrote to churches in different cities to instruct them and address problems.

These letters were copied and shared among churches, which created a body of emerging Christian literature.

By the late first century, besides Paul’s writings, other texts were written and circulated, including Gospels that narrated Jesus’s life and teachings.

Of these, Mark’s Gospel is generally thought to be written around AD 65–70, Matthew and Luke in the subsequent years, and John’s Gospel perhaps in the 90s.

Moreover, other apostolic letters, like those of Peter, John, James, Jude, were being read in the churches. 

In its first few decades, Christianity was mostly viewed by Roman authorities as a sect within Judaism.

This meant that it benefited from Rome’s relative tolerance of Judaism, including the exemption from the requirement to worship Roman gods or the emperor.

However, as Gentiles joined and the Christian message moved further away from Jewish law, the Romans began to notice differences.

Tensions sometimes arose in cities where Christian preaching led to civic disturbances.

For instance, around 49 AD, Emperor Claudius expelled Jews from Rome because of conflicts “at the instigation of Chrestus (Christ)” according to Suetonius.  

For the most part, in the mid-first century, Roman officials didn’t distinguish Christians from Jews.

However, a dramatic change in the imperial stance came in the 60s AD, during the reign of Emperor Nero.

In July 64 AD, the Great Fire of Rome broke out. It burnt much of the city. Ancient historians report that rumors spread blaming Nero himself for the fire.

In order to deflect these accusations, Nero looked for a scapegoat. He targeted the Christians in Rome and ordered mass arrests and executions of them.

Some were torn apart by dogs, others were crucified, and, most infamously, some were burned alive as human torches to illuminate Nero’s gardens at night.

This is commonly regarded as the first major Roman persecution of Christians, though it was limited to the city of Rome. It was vicious but not empire wide. 

By tradition, both Peter and Paul were among those martyred in Rome during this period (mid-60s AD).

Early Christian writers record that Peter was crucified upside down, and Paul, being a Roman citizen, was beheaded.

After their deaths, leadership of the Roman church fell to others. An early source lists Linus as succeeding Peter as the bishop of the Roman Christians around 67 AD. 

By the late first century, Roman attitudes were starting to shift as Christianity became more clearly separate from Judaism.

The Emperor Domitian (who reigned 81–96 AD) enforced the collection of the Fiscus Iudaicus, a Jewish Tax, and, according to later sources, he may have extended it even to those who “lived like Jews” – possibly including Christian converts from Judaism.

Some members of the imperial household or aristocracy who inclined towards Christianity were allegedly executed or exiled under Domitian’s rule.

It’s in Domitian’s time that many scholars place the writing of the Book of Revelation, as it was likely composed around 95 AD, and it may allude to Domitian’s actions.

According to Christian tradition, the Apostle John was living in Ephesus in this era and was exiled to the island of Patmos, where he wrote Revelation.

While the extent of Domitian’s persecution is debated, it’s clear that by the 90s AD Christians were on the radar of Roman authorities as a distinct group seen as potentially subversive. 

Then, in 98 AD, the new Emperor Nerva officially exempted Christians from the Jewish Tax, which effectively recognized that Christians were not Jews.

This had a mixed impact: on one hand, it acknowledged Christianity as its own entity; on the other hand, it removed the shield of being treated as a Jewish sect.

Now, Christians couldn’t hide under the umbrella of Judaism. As a result, in the decades to follow, Christians could be persecuted simply for being Christians.

This was because refusing to worship the Roman gods or the emperor was illegal for anyone not grandfathered in under Jewish exemption. 

By the year 100 AD, the Christian church was still relatively small in number: perhaps on the order of a few thousand adherents spread across the empire.

It is estimated that over 40 Christian communities had been established across major regions of the Roman Empire, including Greece, Syria, Armenia, and North Africa.

There were even early believers reported in Ethiopia. 

By this point, the important figures of the first generation were passing away. The apostles and those who had seen Jesus were gone.

John is often thought to be the last surviving apostle and is traditionally believed to have lived into the 90s AD and to have died in Ephesus around the turn of the century.

A new generation of leaders sometimes called the ‘Apostolic Fathers’ (men like Clement of Rome, Ignatius of Antioch, and Polycarp of Smyrna) were providing guidance and writings to the churches around the 90s-100s AD.  

What began with a few disciples in Judea, centered on the teachings, death, and reported resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth, had now become a far-flung fellowship spread across the Roman Empire, carrying a message that would, in time, transform the ancient world.