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Use a minimum of 3 relevant sources, provide response "Discuss what the early Church believed about Jesus and how this belief is reflected in the New Testament.
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Running head: THE EARLY CHURCH
What The Early Church Believed About Jesus
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation
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THE EARLY CHURCH
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What the Early Church Believed About Jesus
The early church consisted of the apostles and the early believers in the Christian
faith. Christianity today has over 2.1million followers as a religion, but that is not how it
looked from the beginning. Christianity began in Antioch a town in Israel where the early
believers are believed to have first received the name Christians. It is believed that this name
was given to them because of their character. The people of Antioch looked at the early
believers and related their character to that of Christ, meaning they believed in his teachings
and his way of life. Jesus had an impression on his followers that when he ascended, the
group continued in his teachings despite the persecution that they faced from the Romans.
Jesus finished his mission and ascended to heaven between 30-33 A.D. John who was the last
of the apostles died in the year 95 A.D. this is to give us a perspective of where we are on the
timeline. However, what exactly did the early church believe in? What did they believe about
Jesus and how did they reflect this through their early writings including the New Testament?
What Did the Church Believe?
The early church was built upon faith in Jesus the Christ. They believed in him as
God and in as a man. They believed in the Holy Spirit and the Holy Trinity.
The Trinity
Ignatius of Antioch, in an epistle to the Magnesians chapter thirteen, affirms to the
belief in the Holy Trinity. He encourages his fellow Christians to be established in the
doctrine of Jesus and that taught by the apostles. He wanted all things to be well with them
both in their spirits and in their bodies as they bond in the Spirit, the Son and the Father. He
asks them to imitate the kind of submission and harmony demonstrated in the God-head.
Essentially, the encouragement of Ignatius to the Magnesians was for then to embrace unity
of the Holy Trinity. He acknowledges the fact that Christ was one with the father and the
apostles were in Christ through the Holy Spirit. The holy trinity expresses God as the Father,
THE EARLY CHURCH
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the Son, and the Spirit. This acknowledges Jesus as one with God. They did not dispute Jesus
being God.
Some early writings claim that the early Christians did not believe in the deity of
Jesus. In as much as Jesus was in the flesh, he made claims and performed works that proved
Him to be God. In the book of John chapters fourteen and fifteen, Jesus addresses His
apostles in his last address before the crucifixion, and he encourages them not to be
discouraged. In His address, he promises them a helper who is the Holy Spirit. The apostles,
therefore, had an idea of who Jesus was because he told them that he and the father were one.
Later on, as John, one of the apostles, write an account of the Gospel of Jesus, he begins with
affirmations that in the beginning, Jesus already existed and He was a co-creator. John proves
that the apostles believed in Jesus as God. Since Ignatius admonished fellow believers to hold
on to the doctrine of the apostles, this means the early Christians believed that Jesus was God.
Eventually, the Holy Spirit who was promised came, and the account is recorded in the book
of Acts chapter 2. Peter, an apostle, explained to the crowd that was gathering what was
happening. The holy spirit had descended and settled upon the apostles. He came with a sign,
a loud sound like a great wind and he settled on then with what was termed as tongues of fire.
The crowd witnessed the proceedings of this day, and the record of Acts chapter two shows
that there wer...