Because early Christianity made its appeal to Gentiles as well as to those who had been Jews, the New Testament reflects something of the Gentiles' background, along with that of the Israelite people. Of course, to mention more than a few of the more important influences that have a direct bearing on the literature produced by the early Christians is impossible. However, three major influences on the Gentile version of Christianity are mystery cults, emperor worship, and Greek philosophy.
Mystery cults were secret organizations whose membership was restricted to people who made application for admittance and then passed through a probationary period during which their conduct was carefully observed by qualified officials. Unless they performed the necessary rites and met all of the specified tests, they were not allowed to become members. Many mystery cults existed throughout the Greco-Roman world during New Testament times, including the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Orphic Mysteries, the Attis-Adonis Mysteries, and the Isis-Osiris Mysteries.
The actual ceremonies that took place within any of these cults were supposed to be kept secret. However, certain general characteristics of the mystery religions are fairly well known. All of them were concerned primarily with the means of obtaining salvation. Life in this present world was so infected with evil that no permanent good could be achieved in it. Consequently, salvation meant leaving this world and entering into a new type of existence in a life that comes after physical death.
Each of the mystery cults had its own peculiar mythology describing in some detail the activities of the gods that were involved. Many of the myths appear to have originated in order to explain the change of seasons, which causes the death of vegetation in the fall of the year and its rebirth in the spring. As the mythology developed, the death and resurrection that occur in the vegetable kingdom came to be regarded as appropriate symbols for the lives of human beings. Because vegetation overcomes death through the power of the gods, humankind, through the aid of a supernatural power, might also triumph over death.
