The four factors that affected Christianity were the Jerusalem Council, the apostle Paul, the disciples, and Jewish tradition. Many factors helped Christianity quickly spread and gain strong support to stand up against its opposition. Yet, many people tried to stop the rise of Christianity. They believed that they should worship the emperor and gods, such as Jupiter, and Venus. But even with all of this pressure and persecution they defied all odds and spread Christianity all over the world.
The first factor that affected Christianity was the Jerusalem Council. It was a council of Christians held at Jerusalem in AD 49. The first decision they made was that Christianity would be preached to gentiles, non-Jews. This decision helped Christianity spread rapidly, because the council also said that the gentiles did not have to conform to Jewish law, such as the Jewish dietary restraints. The missionary work of Paul also supported this decision.
Stained glass at St John the Baptist's Anglican Ch...
Paul Walker
Paul StangDuring this time the growing support reached many Mediterranean areas.
St. Paul was a Hellenized Jew from Tarsus. He was the second most important figure in Christianity, right after Jesus. He did a lot of missionary work to spread Christianity to many gentiles, and Jews. He put views of Jesus' message into Greek, and then slowly into Greek philosophy. He preached his message through distinction between the Greek ideas of soul and body, the link between the visible material world, and the invisible spiritual world. He seized the opportunity of a world without war and used the time to launch Christianity on its way. The last thing we hear of Paul is that he was put on trial for sedition and profanation of the temple. Historians believe that he was martyred, killed for his beliefs, in AD 67.
Christianity had many followers, or disciples that...