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Miraculous Conversions in the Book of Acts

This new box in my New Testament Introduction deals with one of the fascinating and best documented phenomena from early Christianity -- that the earliest followers of Jesus were believed to be able to do great miracles, leading to the conversion of outsiders to the new faith.  This notion is recorded already in our earliest sources.  Here is what I say about it from the book of Acts, our first account of the spread of Christianity. ************************************************************************ Another Glimpse Into the Past Box. 17.6  Miraculous Conversions in Acts We have seen that the earliest Christians spread their faith by telling tales of the great miracles done by both Jesus and his apostles (see Box xxx). We find such miracle stories in our earliest account of the first conversions to the Christian faith, in the book of Acts.  The first episode occurs already in chapter 2, where the Holy Spirit comes upon the apostles on the Day of Pentecost, less than two months after Jesus’ death. When the Jewish crowds hear the Spirit-filled apostles preach in [...]

Jews and Gentiles in Paul’s Churches

Another one of the new boxes in my textbook on the New Testament   ********************************************************* Another Glimpse into the Past Box 21.2.  Jews and Gentiles in Paul’s Churches The earliest Christians, immediately after Jesus’ resurrection, were obviously Jews: eleven of the apostles (minus Judas Iscariot) and a handful of women, including Mary Magdalene.  Once these followers came to believe, they converted others they came into contact with – all of them, at first, Jews.  But the Jewish Christian church was never a huge success.  Later sources occasionally mention smallish Jewish groups of Christians, but apart from the church in Jerusalem, these never played a huge role in the ongoing life of the church in the early centuries.  Jewish Christianity was almost always on the margins. It was probably heading to the margins by ... To see the rest of this post you'll need to belong to the blog.  It takes little effort and not much money to join.  And you'll be so loaded up with important knowledge you won't know what to do with yourself.  [...]

2020-04-03T00:53:20-04:00November 2nd, 2018|Paul and His Letters|
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