Christianity (from the Ancient Greek: Χριστιανός Christianos and the Latin suffix -itas) is a monotheistic and Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings as well as the Old Testament. Most adherents of the Christian faith, known as Christians, believe that Jesus is the Son of God, fully divine and fully human and the savior of humanity prophesied in the Old Testament. Consequentially, Christians commonly refer to Jesus as Christ or Messiah.

The foundation of Christian theology is expressed in the early ecumenical creeds which contain claims predominantly accepted by followers of the Christian faith. These professions state that Jesus suffered, died, was buried, and was subsequently resurrected from the dead in order to grant eternal life to those who believe in him and trust him for the remission of their sins. They further maintain that Jesus bodily ascended into heaven where he rules and reigns with God the Father. Most denominations teach that Jesus will return to judge all humans, living and dead, and grant eternal life to his followers. He is considered the model of a virtuous life, and his ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning "Good News" (a loan translation of the Greek: εὐαγγέλιον euangélion).

Christianity began as a Jewish sect in the mid-1st century. Originating in the Levant region of the Middle East, it quickly spread to Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and Egypt. It grew in size and influence over a few centuries, and by the end of the 4th century had become the official state church of the Roman Empire, replacing other forms of religion practiced under Roman rule. During the Middle Ages, most of the remainder of Europe was Christianized, with Christians also being a sometimes large religious minority in the Middle East, North Africa, Ethiopia and parts of India. Following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization.

Worldwide, the three largest groups of Christianity are the Roman Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the various denominations of Protestantism. The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox patriarchates split from one another in the schism of the 11th century, and Protestantism came into existence during the Reformation of the 16th century, splitting from the Roman Catholic Church. As of the early 21st century, Christianity is the world's largest religion, with approximately 2.2 billion adherents.

Noun

Christianity (usually uncountable; plural Christianities)

1. An Abrahamic religion based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and various scholars who wrote the Christian Bible.
   • 2002, The Atlas of Great Jewish Communities: A Voyage Through History, page 27:

     As a result, Christianity developed as a separate religion from Judaism.

• religion, monotheism, Abrahamism

Honor your father and your mother; and, Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death.

• Jesus, Mark 7:9–10

• … whoever is not against us is for us.
  • Jesus, Mark 9:40

• The next day when they came out from Bethany, He was hungry. After seeing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, He went to find out if there was anything on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. He said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!"
  • Jesus, Mark 11:12–14

• Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well.
  • Jesus, Mark 16:16–18

• God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. … [T]he angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
  • Luke 1:26-36

• He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.
  • Jesus, Luke 11:23

• And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be repaid in full. But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.
  • Jesus on usury from the Sermon on the Mount, Luke 6:34–35

• The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
  • Jesus, Luke 12:46

• That servant who knows his master's will and does not get ready or does not do what his master wants will be beaten with many blows.
  • Jesus, Luke 12:47

• If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.
  • Jesus, Luke 14:26

• But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.
  • Jesus's Parable of the Ten Minas, Luke 19:27. This has often been quoted out of context, as if it were a command of Jesus, when it is in fact a command given by the protaganist of one of his parables. John Chrysostom, a Sainted Archbishop, one of the only Three Holy Hierarchs, and a Doctor of the Church later used this passage directly to condemn the Jews:
    • [T]he Jewish people were driven by their drunkenness and plumpness to the ultimate evil; they kicked about, they failed to accept the yoke of Christ, nor did they pull the plow of his teaching. Another prophet hinted at this when he said: "Israel is as obstinate as a stubborn heifer." … Although such beasts are unfit for work, they are fit for killing. And this is what happened to the Jews: while they were making themselves unfit for work, they grew fit for slaughter. This is why Christ said: "But as for these my enemies, who did not want me to be king over them, bring them here and slay them." (Luke 19:27)
      • John Chrysostom (349–ca. 407), Eight Homilies Against the Jews, Homily 1.

• For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
  • Jesus, John 3:16

• If I [Jesus] testify about myself, my testimony is not valid.
  • Jesus, John 5:31

• Even if I [Jesus] testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going.
  • Jesus, John 8:14

• Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
  • Jesus, John 6:54

• You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
  • Jesus, John 14:14

• After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
• On the first day of the week came Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher and saw the stone taken away from the sepulcher.
  • Matthew 28:1-2's account of the discovery of the tomb (two Mary's arrive at the tomb after sunrise, but before the stone had been removed) versus John 20:1's account (one Mary arrives at the tomb before sunrise, but after the stone had been removed).

• So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him.
• Jesus said unto her, "Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended to My Father …"
  • Matthew 28:8-9's account of the appearance of the resurrected Jesus (Jesus appears away from that tomb, and the Mary's touch his feet; see also Luke 24:13-15 in which Jesus appears on the road to Emmaus, seven miles from Jerusalem) versus John 20:17's account (Jesus appears at the tomb and tells Mary not to touch him).

• the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight.
  • Paul, 1 Corinthians 3:19

• We are fools for Christ …
  • Paul, 1 Corinthians 4:10

• Are you bound to a wife? Do not seek to be loosed. Are you loosed from a wife? Do not seek a wife.
  • Paul, 1 Corinthians 7:27

• [Y]e also have suffered like things of your own countrymen, even as they have of the Jews: Who both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men.
  • Paul, 1 Thessalonians 2:14-15

• In flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9)
  • Paul, 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9

• For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
  • Paul, 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12

• A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.
  • Paul, 1 Timothy 2:11-12

• For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.
  • Paul, Titus 1:10-11

• Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.
  • James, 1 James 4:4

• Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.
  • Peter, 1 Peter 2:13–14

• Household slaves, submit yourselves to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the cruel.
  • Peter, 1 Peter 2:18

• If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests on you.
  • Peter, 1 Peter 4:14

• Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.
  • Peter, 1 John 2:18

• I will kill her children with the plague.
  • Jesus, Revelation 2:23

• The victor and the one who keeps My works to the end: I will give him authority over the nations—

  and He will shepherd them with an iron scepter; He will shatter them like pottery— just as I have received [this] from My Father.

  • Jesus, Revelation 2:26–27

• … Worship God! For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. … Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written:

  KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

  Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, "Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great." And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Then the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which proceeded from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with their flesh.
  • Revelation 19:10–21 (NKJV).

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