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Early Christians: Apostles, Martyrs, and Others

WHY WERE THE APOSTLES IMPORTANT?

  • Sending out of the 70 (72) disciples in Luke 10
  • the Twelve
  • a post-resurrectional title
  • “my witnesses” (Acts 1: 8), “to become a witness with us of his resurrection” (Acts 1: 21-22)
  • reverence for the Twelve: Revelation 21: 14
  • other apostles?: Andronicus and Junias…or Junia…or Julia? (Romans 16: 7)
  • Paul, 1 Corinthians 4: 9-13
  • apostolic succession: Clement of Rome, Tertullian (ca. 155-230)

    WHY WERE THE MARTYRS IMPORTANT?

  • Tertullian: “In the blood of the martyrs lies the seed of the Church.”
  • martus = witness
  • “when was shed the blood of your witness Stephen” (Acts 22: 20)
  • persecutions: Nero (64), Lyon and Vienne in Gaul (177), Marcus Aurelius (161-180), Decius (249-251), Valerian (253-260), Diocletian (284-305)
  • cult of martyrs: Polycarp of Smyrna (d. ca. 155), Acts of Martrys, intercessory power, Eucharist, catacombs

    WHAT CAN WE SAY ABOUT OTHER EARLY CHRISTIAN BELIEVERS?

  • the holy ones (hagioi) and the community (ekklesia)
  • "Christians" in Antioch (Acts 11: 19-26)
  • movement out of the synagogue
  • baptism and Eucharist (1 Cor. 11: 23-26)
  • divisions and sexual immorality in the Christian community in Corinth
  • Christians in Thessalonica: Paul's visit (Acts 17) and 1 Thessalonians (50 or 51 CE); characteristics of the Thessalonians; eschatology; Paul's final exhortation

    NB Key terms are underlined.