Whats the difference between Jews and Christians?
As best we can determine, the Jesus Movement began as a sect within Judaism and spread throughout the Mediterranean region largely by being passed from one Jewish community to another. Jesus, of course, was a Jew, as were his original disciples. He apparently saw his ministry as leading his people to higher ground, as it were, not launching a competing movement. His followers believed Jesus to be the Messiah promised by the Hebrew Scriptures. The Jewish religious establishment was at least somewhat threatened by Jesus’ teaching, although the extent of their opposition might have been overstated by early Christian writers such as the authors of Matthew and John. As the Jesus Movement spread and came into contact with other influences, such as Greek philosophy and Roman cultural centers outside Judea and Syria, the movement felt a growing need to differentiate itself from other religions and philosophies. They did so in the time-honored practice of declaring their views true and other vi
