Did Christianity start out unified?

Many have assumed (including myself) that Christianity wasn't always as divided as it is today with all the different denominations and such. This is not true. From the very start people believed very different things about Jesus.

There were 3 different groups prior to the Proto-Orthodox Christians (essentially the forerunner to the Christianity that we know today).

>>>Jewish-Christians (Ebionites)

--Palestine

--Believed Jesus to be totally human, NOT divine

--Jesus was "adopted" at his baptism, but not God, not born of a virgin

--It is necessary to 1st become Jewish before following Jesus and to still follow the law. Paul's teaching were considered to be heresy.

--There is ONE God.

--Recognized the book of Matthew (except for the 1st 2 ch's)

>>>Marcionite Christians

--Mediterranean, in Asia Minor, now Turkey

--Believed Jesus to be totally divine, NOT human

--Jews was never born, only seemed to be human

--The Jewish law was not necessary

--There are 2 Gods - the one in the Old Testament and the New Test.

--Recognized a shortened version of Luke, & 10 of Paul's letters

>>>Gnostic Christians

--Mediterranean: Egypt, Syria, Asia Minor, Rome & Gaul

--Believed in the existence of several gods

--Different thoughts on the humanity/divinity of Jesus

--Many saw Yahweh as evil, as was the world he created.

--Believed there to be secret knowledge for the chosen/the elect which could be discovered through the careful reading of apostles' writings

--recognized Gospel of John, Mary, Philip, Judas, Truth, which are not in the NT canon we have today.

The individuals in each of these groups considered themselves true Christians. The proto-Orthodox Christians began in the same way as the Jewish-Christians, Marcionites, and gnostics, but their beliefs stuck and became the basis for the Christianity of today. In agreement with the Jewish-Christians this group recognized the humanity of Jesus and believed there to be ONE God, however, this group also recognized the divinity of Jesus. So, Proto-Orthodox Chrisitans believed Jesus was both divine & human and that there is one God. This group rejected the Gospel of Peter, Philip and Thomas.

The conflicts between these early Christian groups and the dominance of the proto-orthodox group led into the development of the Bible that we have today. How the Bible was put together is a whole different topic in itself - for another day - but I guess I'll just say that it is important to understand that it was not a one time event in which a council of elders/church leaders decided which books were acceptable and which were not - it was a process and took hundreds of years until the canon we have today was decided on.