Last week, we looked at a few ways the world was changed by the arrival of Christ, His teachings, and the lives of His followers. We’ll look at a couple more today and see how the ministry of Jesus did not just change our lives spiritually but also the entire Western culture and worldview.
Respect for women
Galatians 3:28 (ESV) There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
Before the time of Christ, women were treated as little more than slaves. The man was the omnipotent ruler in charge of his wife. In Greek culture, a man of means had two women in his life: a wife with whom to have and raise a family, and a mistress for other pleasures. The wife was not allowed to speak to the husbands friends, attend social gatherings with him – including dinners in their own home – or even to be seen in public unattended by a male, usually a servant was assigned the task of watching her. The wife could not divorce her husband, but he could do so at any time.
The mistress, on the other hand, was the man’s companion at social and public gatherings, she was his companion and sexual partner.
This began to change at the coming of Christ. Men were told to love their wives sacrificially (Eph. 5:23). Women could be leaders in the church (2 John 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:11). There were women who prophesied (Acts. 21:9), it was women who first saw Jesus had risen and women who testified to others in the church about it. Men and women now were to hold equal standing (Gal. 3:28). This was all very strange and very threatening to the culture of the time. We can thank God, then, for the freedoms and dignity women in the West enjoy today.
Education
Acts 5:42 (ESV) And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.
In the first century world, education was only for the elite, the wealthy. Only they had the money and time for teachers and mentors. The church changed that. Church meetings included teaching sessions. Proselytes were taught the basics of the faith and were questioned about what they had learned before baptism. Many of the early creeds of the church were used for this very purpose.
Christianity is not a blind faith but a faith founded on fact. Those facts must be conveyed and explained to the followers of Christ so they can more effectively understand the faith and better share it with others. Our salvation is based on faith – which leaves out no one – but study is expected of the believer as well (2 Tim. 2:15).
The first public schools appear to have been created by Christians in Germany through the efforts of Martin Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, and Johannes Bugenhagen. These men felt education should be for everyone and would be beneficial to society to such an extent that the government must be persuaded to fund it. It was Christians who first began graded education, education for the blind and deaf, and it was Christians who established the first universities. While the Greeks first treasured the idea of higher education, it was the Christians who first combined campuses, faculties of scholars, and libraries for the sole purpose of education.
In 1780 Scottish printer, Robert Raikes saw the need to help the poor who had little or no education. He was especially concerned with the children. Since poor children of that time often worked twelve-hour days six days a week, he struck on the idea of a school on Sundays when the children were available. So, from 10:00 until noon each Sunday, Raikes began to teach these children the Bible. He soon realized the children could not read, though, so his first objective became teaching them to read and write.
Many pious clergy and laymen sought to end Raikes’ efforts and restore the “sanctity of Sunday,” but leaders including John Newton, John and Charles Wesley, and others persuaded them differently. Raikes’ Sunday school was a great success helping the people of his day out of poverty and ignorance in the name of Christ. The Sunday Schools we see in churches today are not the same as what Raikes began, but they are still a powerful educational arm of Christ’s church.
Next week we’ll look at Christianity’s influence on science, labor, and more.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 