Explain what Peter’s role in the early community and how he “taught with authority”
- He was the leader of the twelve before Christ was crucified
- He denied Christ three times and then Jesus proclaimed that he would be the rock of the Church
- He took control at Pentecost, calmed the crowd
- He baptized thousands in Jesus’s name and taught lessons
- He healed people in Jesus’s name
- He also explained during the council of Jerusalem why Christians did not have to follow dietary restrictions and that gentiles could become Christian without becoming Jewish
Explain who Stephen was and the factors that contributed to his martyrdom
-Stephen was a prominent apostle who preached a lot
-He was arrested by the Sanhedrin who told him to stop preaching the gospel
-Arrested after public debate about Christ
-He explained a lot of salvation history before proclaiming that they had murdered Jesus, the son of God
-Angered the Sanhedrin, stoned to death without a trial
Saul watched Stephen’s execution
What was the earliest name for the Christian movement?
The earliest name for the Christian movement was “The Way”.
Explain Paul’s conversion and and his unique role in the early community
- Paul was a devout Christian persecutor who wanted to destroy the church.
- He asked for permission from the Sanhedrin to go and arrest Christians in Damascus.
- It was while he was on the road to Damascus that he experienced Christ.
- While on his horse, he saw a flash of light, fell to the ground, and heard a voice.
- The voice said, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”.
- After this, he was blind for three days and in the meantime, God called Ananias to go and heal him.
- Ananias was confused about why God would ask him to do this since he was known widely as a persecutor but followed God’s instructions nonetheless.
- When Saul was healed, things like scales fell from his eyes and he was baptized in the name of Jesus.
- After his conversion, Saul went out and preached about Jesus and God and receives a name change to Paul.
Explain the vision that peter has before going to Cornelius’s house and the meaning of the vision
-Peter had a vision of a sheet with many legs full of animals falling from the sky.
-God told Paul to slaughter and eat the animals but he refused because they were unclean (Laws of Moses)
-This happened a total of three times and then the sheet returned to heaven.
-The meaning was that God made everything clean, Gentiles are accepted, and no more Laws of Moses
“What I make clean you don’t call profane”
Explain why the Council of Jerusalem and the outcomes
- The council of Jerusalem was called to decide whether gentiles would be allowed to convert to Christianity and follow Christ as a disciple
- Lots of gentiles (including the Ethiopian) had been baptized
- The final outcome was that gentiles could be baptized
- They do a bunch of things though: they didn’t worship idols, eat meat from sacrifices, have unlawful marriages
Explain Paul’s teaching of the law as a custodian
- For wealthy roman families, Custodians would be hired to teach their children
- Custodians would raise and teach the children properly, then move on once the children were full-grown
- Law of Moses= custodian
- The Law helps to raise good people, but is eventually outgrown and can be left behind
Explain why Paul was such a successful missionary and describe his missionary journeys
- Paul was a very successful missionary: he was able to travel a lot and was a remarkable preacher who was able to connect with his audiences
- He traveled on three missions and a journey to Rome
- His first journey began and ended in Antioch. He stayed in Anatolia
- Paul journeyed to Europe in his second missionary journey (bringing Christianity to Europe for the first time)
- His third journey mirrored his second a lot
- He traveled to Rome for his fourth journey. He stayed there until his death, under house arrest.
Describe the format of Paul’s letters and explain the teaching of “many parts one body”
Format
- Opening (sender, addressee)
- Thanksgiving
- Body (main message)
- Ethical instruction (the reason for writing, proper responses to the letter)
- Conclusion (greeting, doxology)
Many parts, one body
- Refers to temples to Asclepius
- People were baptized into 1 body
- Even though parts of the body are different and should -be treated as such, they are all important
- All parts of the church are equally valid
Explain what a catholic epistle is and who wrote them and why
- catholic= universal
- epistle= letter
- written by apostles
- give advice on how to live a Christian life; focus on charity
Explain our call to holiness and how this applies to the 21st Century
-“You, therefore, must be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect” (Mt 5:48).
Is perfection possible?
-Yes but not in this lifetime
-We should imitate Christ by loving, showing mercy, -forgive others and be as Christlike
How was the Holy Spirit experienced on Pentecost? Who received the Holy Spirit? What were they able to do after?
- A violent wind filled the house
- Tongues of fire rested on them
- They began to speak in foreign tongues and everyone understood them
- The Holy Spirit came upon everyone in the room
Why was Paul uniquely qualified to be the “Apostle to the Gentiles”? (2 reasons)
- He was a former Jew
- He was a Roman citizen
