{"id":7776,"date":"2016-05-05T17:27:16","date_gmt":"2016-05-05T22:27:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/christiancrier\/?p=7776"},"modified":"2016-05-05T17:27:16","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T22:27:16","slug":"who-founded-christianity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/christiancrier\/2016\/05\/05\/who-founded-christianity\/","title":{"rendered":"Who Founded Christianity?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Who founded Christianity?\u00a0 Some say it was Abraham while others say it was Jesus Christ?<\/p>\n

The Author and Founder of our Faith<\/span><\/h2>\n

The question about Who founded Christianity doesn\u2019t take a Bible scholar to find out. One simple reading of what\u2019s in the Bible allows anyone to see how God was progressively revealing Himself, generation after generation, book by book, until the full spectrum of God was revealed in Jesus Christ in the New Testament. There were many prophecies about Jesus Christ so it wasn\u2019t like being left with an enigma.\u00a0 Of course our finite human brains cannot possibly ever take in all of the infinite God, but we can know a great deal about God by reading about Jesus Christ and reading what He said.\u00a0 The author of Hebrews makes it clear that we should be \u201clooking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God\u201d (Heb 12:2) and so \u201cit was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering\u201d (Heb 2:10).\u00a0 So Jesus Christ is the Founder of our faith, He is the Perfecter our faith (2nd<\/sup> Cor 5:21), and He is the One and only way to saving faith (John 3:16).\u00a0 There is no other way to the Father and the kingdom of heaven than through Jesus Christ (John 6:44; Acts 4:12).<\/p>\n

The Way<\/span><\/h2>\n

In the beginning, long before they were ever called Christians, they were referred to as people of \u201cthe Way.\u201d\u00a0 That became synonymous with being a Christian or believer.\u00a0 This shouldn\u2019t surprise us because Jesus said \u201cI am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me\u201d (John 14:6), and as the Good Shepherd, He says \u201cI am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture\u201d (John 10:9).\u00a0 There is no other way and there is no other than Him.\u00a0 During a time of severe persecution, thanks in large part to Saul, who would soon become the Apostle Paul, he asked the high priest \u201cfor letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem\u201d (Acts 9:2).\u00a0 Notice that the \u201cWay\u201d is capitalized, just like Christianity or Christians are.\u00a0 Luke (the author of Acts) writes as if the \u201cWay\u201d is a proper noun and it is!\u00a0 The Way is a proper noun for the Church, and since He is the only way to God, it\u2019s no wonder it became known as \u201cthe\u201d Way.\u00a0 Not one way of many or the pluralistic view that there are many paths to God.\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus reminds His listeners (and us, if we have ears to hear) that we must \u201cEnter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many\u201d (Matt 7:13).\u00a0 Based upon the numbers of people, simply mathematics tell us that there are many taking the easy path that leads to destruction, and the path has to be wide enough to accommodate the masses that are going that way.\u00a0 A veritable sixty-lane highway!\u00a0 If only they realized that the broadest of paths is the one that leads to the worst of destructions (Rev 20:12-15).\u00a0 It\u2019s not so amazing that there is only one path but that there is any path at all!\u00a0 That\u2019s why Jesus warned His listeners and all of us today, \u201cthe gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few\u201d (Matt 7:14).\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 point is; few will find the \u201cWay\u201d but many will find destruction.<\/p>\n

\"Looking-to-Jesus-the\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Great Commission<\/span><\/h2>\n

When Jesus was about to ascend back to the right hand of the Father, He gave the disciples His final marching orders in an imperative command form in the Greek: \u201cGo therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age\u201d (Matt 28:19-20).\u00a0 The disciples must have felt like falling over!\u00a0 Go into \u201call the world!?\u201d\u00a0 How?\u00a0 Today, the apostle\u2019s doctrine or teaching (Acts 2:42) is found in the New Testament and is going into all the world and into all languages and tongues.\u00a0 Jesus, of course, was right.\u00a0 They did go into all the world, just not in the way that they had imagined.\u00a0 Jesus sent them by His Word, the Word of God, the Bible!<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Birth of the Church?<\/span><\/h2>\n

Was the Day of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit the birth of the church?\u00a0 It may not have been because Jesus talked about the church long before the cross.\u00a0 \u00a0In the context of church discipline, Jesus said \u201cIf your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother\u201d (Matt 18:15), however \u201cif he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. \u00a0If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector\u201d (Matt 18:16-17).\u00a0 Obviously this means that if someone is living in unrepentant, grievous sin like adultery, thievery, or malicious gossip, it needs to be put before the church as a whole, but only after the person\u2019s been spoken with privately.\u00a0 Then two or three try to speak with them, and then, and only then, is it brought before the church.\u00a0 Jesus speaks as if the church already exists, in the present tense, however it is certainly possible that He could be referring to the church that will be birthed on the coming Day of Pentecost, after Jesus crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/span><\/h2>\n

If people only realized that the vast majority of people are heading down a broad highway to destruction, they might stop, turn around (repent) and go the other way (toward God) and put their trust in Him.\u00a0 We know that it is only God the Holy Spirit Who can reveal a person\u2019s need for saving and show them their sinful status before a Holy God, but God may use us as a means to His end by telling them about Christ.\u00a0 God\u2019s will is that none perish but all would come to saving faith in Jesus Christ (2nd<\/sup> Pet 3:9).\u00a0 Is that our will too?\u00a0 Do our actions show it?\u00a0 I ask myself these same questions.\u00a0\u00a0 Lost sinners must see their sin and the dangerous position in which they living in without trusting in Christ, and be compelled to run to the cross for forgiveness and believing in the Son of God for eternal life (John 3:16).\u00a0 No one knows the moment of their death so make today your day of salvation (2nd<\/sup> Cor 6:2) because immediately after death, there will be a judgment (Heb 9:27). \u00a0\u00a0By all means, do not ever say to yourself, \u201cSoul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry\u201d\u2019 when God may say, \u201cFool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be\u201d (Luke 12:19-20)?<\/p>\n

Article by Jack Wellman\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren Church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer\u2019s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Who founded Christianity?\u00a0 Some say it was Abraham while others say it was Jesus Christ? The Author and Founder of our Faith The question about Who founded Christianity doesn\u2019t take a Bible scholar to find out. One simple reading of what\u2019s in the Bible allows anyone to see how God was progressively revealing Himself, generation […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1485,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13,1719,62,1249],"class_list":["post-7776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-answers","tag-faith","tag-founder","tag-jesus","tag-jesus-christ"],"yoast_head":"\nWho Founded Christianity?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Who founded Christianity?\u00a0 Some say it was Abraham while others say it was Jesus Christ? 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