Paul Of Tarsus

11 Pages 2794 Words

. However, by joining the Roman Legion, they could advance to the equestrian order (The Roman Empire).
Judaism was a religion that has one god. Romans didn’t like the Jews because they worshiped their God instead of the many Roman gods. Their religion was monotheism, the worshiping of one god. They lived by their bible the Torah. It’s the first five books of the Old Testament. There were two major groups of Jews that lived in this time: the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees read and followed the Torah, believed in the temple, priests, and sacrifices. They didn’t have idols, and they wanted to cooperate with the Romans. The Pharisees were stricter when it came to the study of the Torah. They believed that in order to be a good Jew, one had to follow all 613 commandments. They favored new religion that didn’t require worship to the temples, priests, and sacrifices. They believed in keeping the Sabbath and staying away from Gentiles (non-Jews).
“Just west of Mesopotamia, in the tiny, unstable kingdoms of Israel and Judah, the Hebrew prophets rose, giving to the bizarre monotheism of their singular people an ethical foundation so profound that the Jews could never entirely forsake” (Cahill, 13). Jesus of Nazareth was a Jewish teacher “a prophet in whom Christians have traditionally seen as the Messiah (a messenger believed by the Jews that would deliver them from exile and bring them a heaven on earth) and whom they have characterized as the Son of God and as Word or Wisdom of God incarnate” (Jesus). This man claimed many things including that he was the Son of God and the only way to God. “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). He claimed to be able to give everlasting life, “For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:40). He also spoke of an unearthly Heaven, wh...