The Early Church in the Bible Explained

The early church in the Bible is the story of what happened after Jesus rose from the dead: a small group of frightened followers in one room in Jerusalem became a movement that reached across the Roman world. Most of that story is told in one book, the Acts of the Apostles. The letters that fill the rest of the second part of the Christian Bible were written to the communities that grew out of it. If you read Acts first and the letters second, they stop being a pile of separate books and begin to work like one story with its mail attached.

This guide walks through that story in order. It assumes no background. Every name and place is explained the first time it appears, and where Christian traditions read something differently, there is a short note. By the end you should be able to say where each letter was sent, who wrote it and what problem it answered.

From Jerusalem to Rome in one map

Start with the map, because Acts is built on one. Just before he leaves his followers, Jesus tells them they will be his witnesses in Jerusalem, then in all Judea and Samaria, and then to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). The book follows exactly that path.

Jerusalem. The first chapters stay in the capital, where the church begins.
Judea and Samaria. Persecution scatters believers, and they take the message to the countryside and to the Samaritans, a neighbouring people the Jews of that time kept apart from.
The wider world. The message reaches Gentiles, which means people who are not Jewish, first in the coast city of Caesarea and then in cities of present-day Turkey and Greece.
Rome. The book ends with Paul in Rome, the capital of the empire, still teaching.

The writer is Luke, the same man who wrote the Gospel that carries his name. Acts is the second volume. It is written in a plain, orderly way, for readers who want to know what really happened. That is why this track in the course is led by Luke, and why it is the best place for a beginner to start on the church.

A word on the word "church." It does not mean a building in these books. It is a Greek word that means an assembly, a gathering of people. In Acts the church is the people who follow Jesus, meeting in homes, in the temple courts and by the river.

Pentecost and the first community

Acts opens with the risen Jesus appearing to his disciples over forty days, then returning to heaven. The eleven remaining apostles, plus the women and the family of Jesus, gather in an upper room in Jerusalem to pray. The group has a gap. Judas has died, so they need a twelfth apostle. After prayer, they choose Matthias (Acts 1:12-26). The number twelve matters because it echoes the twelve tribes of Israel. It signals that something is being renewed, not replaced.

Then comes Pentecost, a Jewish festival held fifty days after Passover, when pilgrims fill Jerusalem. A sound like a strong wind fills the house, and something like flames rests on each person. They begin to speak in other languages, and visitors from many countries hear their own languages. This is a reversal of the tower of Babel, where languages were scattered. Here the languages are used to bring people together.

Peter stands up and explains to the crowd what is happening. He says Jesus, whom they saw crucified, has been raised and made Lord, and he calls on them to repent, which means to turn around, and to be baptized. Baptism is a washing with water that marks a new start. About three thousand people join that day (Acts 2:14-41).

Luke then draws a picture of the community. They learn from the apostles, share meals, pray and share what they have so that no one is in need. This picture is not a rule for every church in every era, and traditions differ on how closely to copy it. But it shows what they cared about: teaching, fellowship, bread and prayer.

The first miracle of the church is a healing. Peter and John go up to the temple at the hour of prayer, and a man who could not walk, who sat every day at the gate called Beautiful, asks them for money. Peter says he has no silver or gold, but gives what he has, and the man stands and walks (Acts 3:1-16). Peter and John are arrested and brought before the council, the same group that tried Jesus. They speak plainly and refuse to stop teaching. When they are released, the whole community prays for courage, and the place where they meet is shaken (Acts 4:1-31). These five scenes are the ones the track "The Church Is Born" follows.

Stephen, Philip, Saul and Cornelius

Four people mark the next steps.

Stephen. As the community grows, it needs help with daily care for the poor, so seven men are chosen to serve. Stephen is one of them. He is a gifted speaker, and his teaching makes enemies. He is arrested and speaks to the council, tracing the whole story of Israel and charging the leaders with resisting God. They drag him out of the city and stone him. He is the first follower of Jesus killed for his faith, and his last words echo those of Jesus on the cross: he asks that the sin not be held against his killers. Present at the stoning is a young man named Saul.

Philip. After Stephen's death, a wave of persecution scatters believers from Jerusalem. Philip, another of the seven, goes to Samaria and teaches there. Then, on a desert road, he meets an official from Ethiopia, reading the prophet Isaiah in his chariot. Philip explains the passage, and the official asks to be baptized on the spot. The message crosses another boundary.

Saul. Saul is a strict Jewish teacher who is set on stopping the new movement. On the road to Damascus, a light and a voice stop him, and he is left blind for three days. He becomes a follower of Jesus and later is known as Paul. The details are in what happened on the road to Damascus. It is one of the great turning points of the book.

Cornelius. Cornelius is a Roman army officer in Caesarea, a Gentile who prays to the God of Israel. An angel tells him to send for Peter. At the same time Peter has a vision in which he is told to eat foods that Jewish law counted unclean, and he understands that God does not show favourites. When Peter arrives, he speaks, and the Spirit comes on Cornelius and his household. Peter has them baptized. Back in Jerusalem, some object, but after hearing him, the church agrees that Gentiles are welcome. A later meeting in Jerusalem confirms that Gentiles do not have to follow the whole Jewish law to join (Acts 15).

Paul's journeys and the letters they produced

Most of the rest of Acts follows Paul. He makes three long journeys by land and sea, often with companions such as Barnabas, Silas, Timothy and Luke. His pattern is to go to a city, speak first in the synagogue, the Jewish meeting place, and then to everyone else, and to form a small community. Then he moves on. Where trouble arises, he writes.

Paul's letters are real letters, written to particular people at particular moments. That is the key to reading them. Each one answers questions that the readers asked or problems that Paul heard about. Here is a quick map of the best known.

Romans. To the believers in Rome, a church Paul had not yet visited. It is his longest and most careful explanation of the faith.
1 and 2 Corinthians. To a lively and divided church in Corinth, a busy port city. They cover splits in the group, questions about marriage and food, order in worship, and the resurrection. Chapter 13 of the first letter is famous for its description of love, and it is read at many weddings. It was written to a quarrelling church, as Love is patient: what 1 Corinthians 13 means explains.
Galatians. To churches in central Turkey, where some teachers insisted that Gentile believers must follow the Jewish law. Paul argues strongly that faith in Christ is enough. In chapter 5, he lists the fruit of the Spirit, which is covered in the fruit of the Spirit explained.
Ephesians. To the church in Ephesus, or perhaps to several churches. It ends with a picture of a soldier's equipment, explained piece by piece in the armor of God in Ephesians 6.
Philippians, Colossians and Philemon. Letters written from prison, full of joy, of correction and of a personal appeal on behalf of a runaway slave.
1 and 2 Thessalonians. To a young church with questions about believers who had died and about the return of Jesus.
1 and 2 Timothy and Titus. Letters to younger leaders about teaching and about how to care for a church.

When you read one of these letters, do three things. Read the whole letter in one sitting, as its first readers did when it was read aloud. Ask what problem it is answering. Then read the single verse you were looking for. Most misreadings come from lifting a verse out and skipping these steps.

Peter, James and John write to the churches

Other letters were written by leaders from the first group of apostles and the family of Jesus.

James was a leader of the church in Jerusalem and a brother of Jesus. His letter is short and practical, much like the wisdom books of the Old Testament. It speaks about speech, money, favouritism and patience. Its best known line says that faith without works is dead, which people sometimes set against Paul's writing about faith. Read both in context in faith without works is dead: what James means. Many readers find the two writers answer different questions and agree more than they seem to.
1 and 2 Peter were written by the apostle Peter to believers who were facing hostility. The first letter encourages them to hold on and to live honourably among neighbours who do not share their faith. The second warns against false teachers.
1, 2 and 3 John come from the apostle John, in the same warm, simple language as his Gospel. They speak of love, truth and staying faithful to what the church had heard from the start.
Jude is a short letter, also on false teaching.
Hebrews is an unsigned writing, which explains how Jesus fulfils the worship of the temple and the law. It is addressed to Jewish believers who were tempted to go back to their old ways.

Revelation, read as its first hearers heard it

The last book of the Bible is the one most often misread. Revelation is written by a man named John, who says he was on the island of Patmos. It begins with seven short letters to seven churches in what is now western Turkey. These are real churches, with real strengths and problems, such as comfort that made them sleepy or a hard time that made them afraid.

The rest of the book is a series of visions full of symbols: beasts, a dragon, seals, trumpets, bowls, a woman and a city. The book is a type of writing called apocalyptic, which means it uncovers what is hidden by using pictures. Its first hearers lived under an empire that demanded loyalty and sometimes punished those who refused. They would have understood many of the pictures as a way to speak about that power without naming it. The message they were meant to hear is clear: Jesus is the one who wins in the end, evil will be judged, and faithful people should hold on.

Christians read Revelation in different ways. Some read it as a plan of events still to come. Some read it as a picture of the church's struggle in every age. Some read it mainly about the first readers' own time. A good start for a beginner is to read the letters to the seven churches in chapters 2 and 3, and the last two chapters, in which God makes everything whole. These show the book's heart without requiring a theory.

Common mistakes readers make

Reading letters like essays. They are mail, sent to one place for one reason. Find the reason first.
Skipping Acts. Acts is the key that lets the letters make sense. It tells you who Paul was and where each church came from.
Treating the first community as a perfect church. Acts is honest about arguments, fear and failure. Read the story of Ananias and Sapphira and the quarrel over food for widows.
Putting Paul against Jesus. Paul explains and spreads what Jesus began. He writes to different readers, and he does not replace the Gospels.
Reading Revelation like a news report. It is a book of pictures. Read it first as a message to the seven churches.
Forgetting the Gentile question. Much of the book is about whether and how people from all nations belong. It was the central question of the first generation.

Questions people ask

Who wrote the book of Acts?

The book does not name its author, but the early church said it was Luke, the physician and companion of Paul, who also wrote the Gospel of Luke. Both books are addressed to someone named Theophilus.

Did the early church have the Bible we have now?

No. The first believers used the Jewish Scriptures, which Christians call the Old Testament. The Gospels and letters were written over time and were gathered over the following generations.

Why did Saul become Paul?

Saul was his Hebrew name, and Paul was his Roman name. Acts begins to call him Paul as his work among the Gentiles grows, but he had both names from the beginning.

Which of Paul's letters should I read first?

Try Philippians. It is short, warm and clear. Then read Galatians, and Romans after that.

Why was the early church persecuted?

The reasons were mixed. Some Jewish leaders saw the new teaching as a threat to the faith. Some Roman and city authorities saw people who refused to worship the gods of the state as disloyal or as a danger to order.

Learn this in five minutes

The track "The Church Is Born" follows Luke through the opening chapters of Acts: the choice of Matthias, the tongues of fire at Pentecost, Peter's speech to the crowd, the healing at the Beautiful Gate and the boldness of the apostles before the council. Each lesson takes five minutes and gives you the passage, its setting and what it meant to its first readers.