“When was Christianity founded?” You Ask?

Exactly when was Christianity founded?
That is a question that many are asking on the net today.

The Wrong Answer

Many think that Christianity was founded when the famous Roman Emperor Constantine actually started the Roman Catholic “Church”.

That is not the case.

Still others believe that Christianity was founded by the Apostle Peter because Jesus said to him in Matthew 16:18, “…Thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

These also believe that Peter was the first pope. But, these conclusions are not accurate either. The reason is that when Jesus refers to Peter as a “stone” in other passages of scripture, the actual word is Kephas (sorry, no Greek characters available), which means a little stone or a pebble.

This may signify Peter’s “smaller” role in the first century Church than the Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, when Jesus said, “…upon this rock will I build my church”, He was speaking of Himself, not Peter. The word “rock” used there is a different Greek word altogether, petra, that literally means a large immovable rock like a cliff or rock ledge. The metaphor there is that Jesus Christ is the immovable rock foundation that the true church is built upon and that is why “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”.

In many other places in the Bible, Jesus is described as this kind of immovable rock that stands firm in the face of all adversity.
When Was Christianity Founded?:

The Right Answer

So when was Christianity really founded?

The answer is not as simple as it seems. In other words, I cannot give you an exact date, although I can tell you that the church, which is the body of believers that have repented of their sins and placed all of their faith in Jesus Christ through His death, burial, and resurrection for their soul’s salvation, began being formed when the very first Apostle of Jesus placed his trust fully in Jesus Christ to save him.

And believers have been grafted into the true church of the living God ever since by repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and Him alone, for eternal salvation.