Jesus’ teachings in Gospel of Luke, when directly interpreted, is definitely for the oppressed people in Rome. As in the gospel of Luke, Jesus says, “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now..who weep now….But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you will be hungry. Woe to you who are laughing now, for you will mourn and weep”(Luke 6:22-24). Simply, being rich and famous is bad but the poor ones will have hope and positive future. Indeed, such claims were convincible to the oppressed class. In addition, at his time (around 4-30 CE) his teachings were considered radical because they definitely targeted at (against) the ruling, rich class of the Rome who were corrupted and not merciful to poor Jewish. (By the way, here I’m not taking into account his view of Jewish Laws) Therefore, it was obvious that Roman dominant class was not suitable to its principle.
However, after it became more widespread to Gentiles through Paul’s help, I think Christianity could become a major religion because of its appeal to the poor people, the actual majority. Even though the principles themselves wouldn’t directly fit the dominant insiders, since it denounces them, they could at least take advantage of its suitability to the majority poor people that they govern. I think Christianity must have been very useful for the governing power to rule or control the majority who think they are oppressed—philosophically most people think they are oppressed and poor. Furthermore, since the meaning of the teachings in the Bible –whether it’s Christian or not—always depends on the interpreter, so the later dominant-insiders could also twist its meaning to support their governing/rich position.
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I agree with you're point that Christianity was more suitable for the poor. I also like that in your essay you discussed the distinctions between the rich and poor in ancient Rome. I have a hard time understanding why rich Romans would convert to christianity but your point about being able to twist the words of the bible is interesting.
I definitely agree that the switch came with Paul's successful advertisemet of Christianity to gentiles. It's interesting how people can make the Bible "work for them" no matter who they are. Originally only poor, fringe Jews followed the teachings of Jesus, but now people of all classes call themselves Christians. Some of the richest people in the world are Christians, and unlike ancient Jewish leaders, they are unthreatened by Jesus's promise "woe to you who are rich." It's acceptable in our society to pick and chose which parts of scripture to believe, and which to ignore completely.
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