Who is the Holy Spirit?

In trinitarian Christianity the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity — God present and active on earth, and God's power given to believers.

• Jesus promises the Spirit before his ascension (Luke 24:50–53; Acts 1:8).
• The Spirit is not an impersonal force in Christian belief — the Apostles' Creed places belief in the Holy Spirit alongside belief in the Father and the Son.

What is Pentecost?

Pentecost — the birth of the Church

Pentecost celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the twelve apostles (Acts 2:1–4). The syllabus names the three signs in the story:

• a rush of wind;
• tongues of fire resting on each of them;
• speaking in tongues — so that pilgrims from many nations each heard the message in their own language.

Customs today: wearing red (for the fire of the Spirit) and, in Orthodox churches, Kneeling Prayers services. Pentecost is often called the birthday of the Church.

Signs at Pentecost

Fruits and gifts of the Spirit

The 0490 syllabus distinguishes two things Christians say the Spirit produces.

• The fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23) — the character the Spirit grows in a believer: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
• The gifts of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12) — abilities given for the good of the Church: wisdom, healing, prophecy, speaking in tongues and others.

Misconception to avoid: fruit is about who you become; gifts are about what you can do for others. Do not mix the two lists.

Fruit, gift, or Pentecost?

Tap a card, then tap the group it belongs to.

The apostles and the first believers

After Pentecost the apostles preached publicly in Jerusalem, and a community formed around them.

• Peter emerges as a leader and spokesman.
• The first believers shared their possessions, met to break bread and pray, and grew rapidly.
• Saul of Tarsus, a persecutor of Christians, is converted (Acts 9) and becomes Paul, the great missionary to the non-Jewish world.

Fruit or gift?

Beyond Judaism — and the cost

The most difficult question the early Church faced was whether non-Jews (Gentiles) had to keep the Jewish law to be Christians. At the council in Jerusalem (Acts 15) the decision was that they did not — a turning point that let Christianity spread across the Roman world.

Spread came at a price: the early Church suffered persecution, and Christians honour those who died for their faith as martyrs.

Paul

Rome as a place of pilgrimage

The 0490 syllabus names Rome as a Christian place of pilgrimage. Its importance rests on the early Church:

• It is venerated as the burial place of St Peter, over which St Peter's Basilica stands.
• It is the residence of the Pope, whom Roman Catholics regard as Peter's successor.
• Pilgrims attend papal audiences and appearances in St Peter's Square.

Other Christians honour Peter without accepting the papacy — a difference worth naming in an evaluation answer.

Key terms of the early Church

Tap a term on the left, then its meaning on the right.

The Church is people, not just a building

The syllabus is explicit (C1.1): the church is 'the people/community as well as the building'. The early Church had no church buildings at all — believers met in homes.

That is why Christians can speak of 'the Church' worldwide, and why the Greek word behind it, ekklesia, means an assembly of people called together.

Rome

Leadership then and now

Different Christian communities trace their leadership back to the early Church in different ways:

• Catholic and Orthodox churches have bishops and priests, understood as continuing the apostles' ministry; Catholics also have the Pope.
• Many Protestant churches have ministers or pastors, chosen by the congregation.
• Some denominations — such as the Quakers — have no ordained clergy at all, believing that the Spirit can speak through any member.

The Church

What the early Church means today

Typical 0490 evaluation prompts on this topic ask whether the early Church is a model for the Church now. Points on both sides:

• Yes — its simplicity, sharing of possessions and courage under persecution challenge comfortable modern churches.
• No — a small first-century community cannot simply be copied by a global institution with hospitals, schools and charities to run.
• Christians also disagree about the gifts: Pentecostal and charismatic Christians expect tongues and healing today; others believe those signs belonged to the Church's founding moment.

The big ideas to know

You have covered the early-Church material behind Cambridge 0490 topics C2.3, C3.2 and C4.5. Press Finish to see your score.