CHHI 520 - History of the Christian Church I

1. Describe Jesus' Life. Jesus had two natures, human and divine. He is eternal with His Father, and nothing in the world was made without Him. He sometimes appeared to Old Testament saints, like at the burning bush with Moses and with the three Hebrew children in the Chaldean furnace. He was born around 4 BC, at a time when the Romans had been using the AUC (anno urbis conditae) calendar. The AUC calendar commemorated the establishment of Rome, and according to it, Jesus was born in 708 AUC. In 44BC, the Romans had adopted the Julian calendar, and in the 6th century, the world started using the expression AD (ano domini - in the year of our Lord).

In the 16th century (1582), Pope Gregory XIII came up with the Gregorian calendar to replace the Julian calendar. It was discovered close to the 5th century that Jesus was probably born 4 years sooner than earlier scholars had believed. While George Washington was living, twelve days were removed from the calendar just to try to get the days of the earth back into synchronization.

After Jesus was dead, some false writings appeared claiming that He had caused some clay pigeons to fly and also that He had called lightning down on some playmates. But these instances are not true since His first miracle was turning water into wine. During His early years, Jesus did not exercise His divinity. We know this because Mary had forgotten about His ministry at the time that He had remained behind at the temple as a twelve year old. Also, the fact that John the Baptist had not known Him as God supports this idea, too.

2. Describe Jesus' Ministry? His ministry and existence are supported by the Gospels and secular records. Matthew wrote to the Jews. Mark wrote to the Romans, short and to the point. Luke wrote to the Greeks, and John wrote to everyone. Luke was a physician and interested in the physical aspects of His ministry. The Greeks would have focused on that as well. Among secular writers, Tacitus associated the name Christian with the man Christ. Pliny, as Governor of Rome, wrote about how to deal with Christians who were violating Roman law with their worship. Lucien, in 170 AD, wrote a satire to make fun of Christians.

Up until His death, Jesus had an active three year ministry. Beginning at the cross, His ministry became passive. He let evil people take Him and do with Him as they pleased.