Christianity: for the Majority or the Minority?

Because Jesus’ teachings appealed to the poor oppressed people of the ancient world it easily evolved to appeal mainstream society, despite the fact that Christianity started as a small sect of Judaism. In the time of the Roman Empire, the majority of people were poor and oppressed by the Romans. Therefore, because Jesus’ said “blessed are you who are poor…who are hungry now,” his ideals appealed to the majority of people in the Roman Empire (Luke 6:20-21.) When Paul allowed gentiles to convert to Christianity without upholding the Law and traditional practices of the Jews, many people converted to what became “Christianity”, because they agreed with Jesus’ social teachings and attitude of favor in heaven for following those teachings, even in oppression and poverty.
Although most of the people who converted to Christianity initially were poor and probably oppressed, as Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire, it became a religion of the elite classes along with the lower ones. Christianity was able to translate so well into the lives of people of all social classes because of the morality of Jesus’ teachings. The Gospels speak of equality for all “Children of God.” The moral foundations of Christianity seem so universal that they can apply to a vast number of people despite social class. It think that the appeal of Jesus’ teachings to the poor and oppressed (a majority back then) caused it to sustain itself early on, but the strong moral foundation of Christianity helped it achieve popularity throughout social classes.