With Peter as the first martyr, which means "bearing witness" in regards to Jesus' resurrection, the evangelism of Paul begins in Acts. He has a notable difference from Peter in that he relies heavily on Levitical code. He aims to open the mind of the Jews to incorporate thr Gentiles in the church. Paul was once himself a Pharisee and very learned in the Old Testament, until his conversion on the Damascus road. He determines an expansive view of the Bible and contributes to the ecumenical council that determines that Gentiles don't need to do all the steps of a Jew in order to become a Christian. In a Thessalonian synagogue, Paul preached about the messianic promise of the Old Testament and proved that the Messiah “had to suffer and rise from the dead," i. e. Jesus (17:2-3). Hostile Jews accused him of preaching Jesus as a king, and Paul went to his next town where he would write his Letter to the Thessalonians. Luke as well is emphasizing that Christianity is thoroughly rooted in the Old Testament. This is something his Gentile readers would need to know before converting and knowing with codes to obey. It is also something Roman officials would need to know when they were asked to judge whether it was legal to preach the gospel. Since Judaism was legal, Luke records the judgment of Gallio, a Roman proconsul, that Christianity was a branch within Judaism and therefore outside the jurisdiction of Roman courts (18:14-15). From Athens to Corinth, Ephesus to Miletus, and his final journey to Jerusalem to face his end, Paul spreads the good news of the Old and New Testament. Before the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, Paul summarized his conflict with the Jewish leaders: his “hope in the resurrection of the dead” (23:6). That is a crucial element of the gospel that there will be a resurrection, and the resurrected Jesus is the way in which people can be given eternal life in that resurrection. He preached repentance and good deeds, stressing that his message was in complete conformity to the Old Testament, which predicted the suffering and resurrection of the Christ, and the preaching to Gentiles (26:22-23). It is a message of salvation given not only to Jews who accept it, but also to Gentiles who listen (28:29). Together Peter's, Paul's, and other disciples' evangelist efforts mentioned in Acts opened Christianity beyond the confines of the synagogue and its laws, defined the "kingdom" delivered through God, and showcased the grace and mercy Christian's should extend to each other around the world.
Social World I (Nicomachean Ethics 8)
In Aristotle's famous chapter on friendship, he logically defines what kinds of friendships there are and what comprises of them. With these descriptions he begins to fulfill the question of why we really need friendships, not necessarily to survive but to live well. Taking every movie about a person stranded on a deserted island as examples, even if you fulfill all your bare necessities, there are still needs to find a companion. These come in three kinds: pleasure (physically drawn to each other), utility (benefit each other), and virtue (admire and/or motivate each other). While the first two are temporary because needs and pleasures change, the last is much more meaningful and long-lasting. It is complete, modeling either a friendship of equality with similar virtues or of mentoring with an inferior learning virtues. When I imagine the requirements of friendship, I think of intimacy, affection, and endurance. When Aristotle thinks of friendship, he states it is comprised of time spent together, correction and advisement, and consistency because they are not base respect to themselves and others. Due to this specific criteria, one can only have a small number of very good friendships. The degrees of friendship from strangers to acquaintances, from friends to best friends, is hard to define. Even strangers in the Christian tradition are supposed to be treated as if they are family. If we are by nature social animals, a variety of relationships are needed and, therefore, need to be understood. Aristotle's definition can be put simply as to love and be loved and to be a friend for the friend's sake. According to him, this can be done in three ways: wishing good for the sake of the other, reciprocity, and being purposeful or conscientious with that friendship. As Christians, we are charged to be friends to all, loving even our enemies. Therefore, we must adopt these codes of friendships as life virtues, acting intentionally and graciously to all we meet as a reflection of God's love for us.
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