Antioch was the first multicultural church in history. Nazarenes facing persecution in Jerusalem following the stoning of St Stephen fled all over the place and some ended up in Antioch. The Antioch Nazarenes shared Jesus with their Roman neighbours, and ended up forming a joint community of Jews and Gentiles. Christ, the Greek name of Messiah was first used for the purpose of communicating Jesus to the Romans, but there was no relevant meaning associated with that imagery of oil dripping off one's head, so they used Lord instead, which put Jesus in the direct tension with the status of Caesar and gods like Zeus.[^1] This would be the church that started Paul's journey as the epistle producing machine we know of today. Paul, being knowledgable in both Jewish and Roman traditions was seen as the perfect fit to produce the cultural translation necessary for this new church. One of the main concerns of this new multicultural church is whether the Gentiles had to follow the law and be circumcised, to which Paul was adamant that they did not have to.[^2] James the Just in Jerusalem agrees. This establishes a precedence for Jewish-Gentile engagements moving forward – that they are to be tolerant of Gentile culture and be open for cultural dialogue as equals. It is a shame that this was not the approach that became the norm for sharing Christ to gentile cultures. [^1]: [[Bradley Melle]], The Body of Christ Keeps the Score, Session 1 [^2]: [[N. T. Wright]], The Biography of Paul