The development of Christianity in the first century did not occur in a vacuum, but was shaped by previously existing political, religious, and social conditions found in every city throughout the Roman Empire. To demonstrate the importance of these influences on Christianity’s development, I have conducted a comparative study of the political, religious, and social backgrounds and the first century Christian communities found in three different cities: Antioch, Corinth, and Ephesus. By placing three distinct spaces side by side, I will show that each environment produced a Christianity that differed in some ways from other “Christianities” found in the other two cities.