I would say the Jews started Christianity by killing the Christ, or causing him to be crucified.
This was the will of God, so take no offense.
Paul ministered to the Greeks during the first century after the death of Christ.

No. Jesus started it by preaching directly to the people and attracting disciples who followed him. The disciples received his teachings and practiced them.

In Romans 16, the Apostle Paul writes: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” Romans 1:16, KJV.

Some translations have this as “to the Jew first, and also to the gentile.” This is understood as any non-Jew.

Paul ministered to the Greeks, but he wasn’t the starting point.

@filmfann Please don’t say the Jews killed Christ. That is the cause of much antisemitism in the world. Pontius Pilate (per Jeruba’s correction) ordered Christ crucified but this is slightly off-topic.

Not Pope Pius, Jan. Pontius Pilate, a Roman official. The Romans killed Jesus.

Christianity, of course, has no existence by that name in the Bible. But the teachings recorded in the New Testament of the Bible chronicle the beginnings of Christianity.

^^ Right. Thanks for correcting that.

On the topic at hand, I think that what the sign is saying is that the Greeks codified Christianity as a separate religion. I thought that the followers of Christ and he himself considered themselves Jews, although an upstart sect.

Could it be in that sense that these Greeks are claiming that they started Christianity?

Interesting thread. I always thought it was either Jesus, Paul, or the Romans. Depending how you look at it. I can see how the Greeks could take credit too.

When I was a teenager a Jewish man from Morocco told me, Jesus was just the story that caught on. Meaning many men were killed in the same way, many were crucified, and many people then told son of God type stories at that time. For some reason the Jesus story caught on and proliferated.

My aunt said Jesus was a nice Jewish boy, and others turned him into the son of God story. I assumed she meant Paul. People might have followed Jesus in his lifetime, but I always thought they were Jews who believed in what he had to say, but he was still saying it as a Jewish man.

So, if we buy into the idea that the people who first believed en masse that Jesus was God, maybe the credit does go to the Greeks?

I have no real opinion on the correct way to think about it.

I do think it’s odd to give the credit to the person or people who murdered Christ, but I’ve never understood the idea of dying for our sins. I’ve tried to understand, but I just can’t absorb or make sense of the idea.

I thought that emperor Constantine made Christianity official at 3 cent AD.

Since Christianity is, by definition, the following of the teachings of Jesus Christ, the apostles were the first Christians.

This gives a little overview of the history of Christianity:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity

N O !

Christianity was originally a slur on those Jews from the Nazarene Sect. But their “sect” was based on the teachings of Jesus. Jesus commanded that his disciples spread his teachings so I guess you could say Jesus started Christianity. The Greeks adopted it as did the Philippians, the Romans, Ephesians, Corinthians and many others. Greece was not even the first country to fully adopt Christianity – that fell to Armenia.

According to my pastor, the original Bible was written in Greek & transcribed into the various languages. I have NO reason to doubt him & NO desire to prove him wrong!!!

@LadyMarissa parts of it were written in Greek. Greek was the common language of the land at the time of the bible writings and Jesus teachings. Some books were not written in Greek, but it varies from book to book.

The Greeks were the ones that coined the word “Khristos” (anointed one) from “khriein” (anoint). That was translated from the Aramaic “Messiah”.

According to Google it was written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Koine Greek. Wikipedia

Depends how you define “start”. But as a religion separate to Judaism that was followed by gentiles…then yes, the Greeks have a very strong claim.

@Lightlyseared When Christianity began, the Disciples were ministering to both Jews and Gentiles, which included Greeks.

@fimfann you seem to have missed the first sentence of my response. The disciples were Jews and at that point Christianity was not a separate religion. And the Greeks were Jewish not gentiles. See Hellenistic Judaism.

Christianity was not a part of Greek culture. The Greeks were polytheists. Even if the Greeks were among the earliest converts, it is not right to say that they were responsible for Christianity. Christianity was an offshoot of Judaism.

I’m just curious, was the Greek festival at a church? Or, maybe put together by a church?

^^ Yes.

Oh. Well, that explains a lot.