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His followers believed God's spirit was incarnated (embodied) in Jesus and that after his crucifixion, he rose from the dead. [2] [11] The Christian church established incarnation and resurrection as its first doctrines, [12] with baptism and the celebration of the Eucharist meal (Jesus's Last Supper) as its two primary rituals. [13] [14]
Early Christians gathered in small private homes, [2] known as house churches, but a city's whole Christian community would also be called a "church"—the Greek noun ἐκκλησία (ekklesia) literally means "assembly", "gathering", or "congregation" [3] [4] but is translated as "church" in most English translations of the New Testament.
Coming from a Jewish background, early Christians believed in angels (derived from the Greek word for "messengers"). [142] Specifically, early Christians wrote in the New Testament books that angels "heralded Jesus' birth, Resurrection, and Ascension; ministered to Him while He was on Earth; and sing the praises of God through all eternity."
While all Christians believed that Jesus was indeed the Unigenite Son of God, [6] "the divinity of Christ was a theologically charged topic for the Early Church." [ 7 ] Debate on this subject occurred during the first four centuries of Christianity, involving Jewish Christians , Gnostics , followers of Arius of Alexandria, and adherents of Pope ...
The Early Church of Jerusalem is considered to be the first community of early Christianity.It was formed in Jerusalem after the crucifixion of Jesus.It proclaimed to Jews and non-Jews the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins and Jesus' commandments to prepare for his return and the associated end of the world.
Origen believed that, eventually, the whole world would be converted to Christianity, [160] "since the world is continually gaining possession of more souls". [161] He believed that the Kingdom of Heaven was not yet come, [162] but that it was the duty of every Christian to make the eschatological reality of the kingdom present in their lives ...
Based on their spiritual experiences and tested against the testimony of scripture, George Fox and early Quakers believed that transformation by the Holy Spirit was a normal experience within the early church, where individuals and communities were led by the living presence of Christ dwelling within them. George Fox wrote:
The lines of evidence used to establish Jesus' historical existence include the New Testament documents, theoretical source documents that may lie behind the New Testament, statements from the early Church Fathers, brief references in histories produced decades or centuries later by pagan and Jewish sources, gnostic documents, and early ...