http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Jewish_Christians
The term “Early Jewish Christians” is often used in discussing the Early History of Christianity, see also Early Christianity . Jesus , his Twelve Apostles , the Elders , his family , and essentially all of his early followers were Jewish or Jewish Proselyte s. Hence the 3,000 converts on Pentecost (Sivan 6), following the death and resurrection of Jesus (Nisan 14 or 15), described in Acts of the Apostles , were all Jews and Proselytes. Samaritans were not Jewish (Judean), but are still identified with the tribes of Israel and also numbered among the early followers, as is the Ethiopian eunuch . Traditionally the Roman Centurion Cornelius is considered the first Gentile convert, as recorded in , albeit he too is a “God-fearer” proselyte who participated in a Jewish synagogue. The major division prior to that time was between Hellenistic and non-Hellenistic Jews or Koine Greek and Aramaic speakers. The conversion and acceptance of the Gentile Cornelius can be described in terms of the Judaic teaching which describes strangers becoming part of the community . Acts does not use the term “Jewish Christians”, rather those led by James the Just, Simon Peter, and John the Apostle , the “Pillars of the Church”, were called followers of “The Way”. Later groups, or perhaps the same group by different names, were the Ebionites and Elkasites.
The “Christian” appellation was first applied to the followers after Paul of Tarsus started preaching at Antioch . Paul made explicit the division between those who were circumcised and those who were not circumcised in his Epistle to the Galatians 2:7-9:
This article outlines the history of Christianity and provides links to relevant topics….
The term Early Christians here refers to Christianity of the period before the First Council of Nicaea in 325….
Jesus,Some of the historians and Biblical scholars who place the birth and death of Jesus within this range include D….
The Twelve Apostles were men that according to the Synoptic Gospels and Christian tradition, were chosen from among the Disciple of Jesus for a mission….
A religious elder is valued for his or her wisdom, in part for their age, on the grounds that the older one is then the more one is likely to know….
The Desposyni was a sacred name reserved only for Jesus’ blood relatives. The closely related word meaning lord, master, or ship owner is commonly used of God, human slave-masters, and of Jesus in the reading Luke 13:25 found in Papyrus 75, in…
In Christianity, the disciples were the students of Jesus during his ministry. Though often restricted to the twelve apostles, the gospels refer to varying numbers of disciples….
Proselyte, from the Koine Greek p??s???t??/proselytos, is used in the Septuagint for stranger, i.e., a newcomer to Israel; a sojourner in the land, and in the New Testament for a Religious conversion#The convert.2Fproselyte to Judaism f…
Pentecost or Pentecost Sunday is a feast on the Christianity liturgical calendar that commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles and women followers of Jesus, fifty days after Easter, and ten days after Ascension Thur…
Sivan is the ninth month of the ecclesiastical year and the third month of the civil year on the Hebrew calendar….
The Death of Jesus and the Resurrection of Jesus are two events in the New Testament in which Jesus is crucified on one day , then resurrected on the third….
Nisan is the first month of the civil year and the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year on the Hebrew calendar….
The Acts of the Apostles is a book of the Bible, which now stands fifth in the New Testament….
A eunuch can be either a castrated man or, in ancient terms, any man who is impotent with women for a wide variety of reasons….
The Roman Empire was a phase of the ancient Rome civilization characterized by an autocratic form of government….
Cornelius was a Roman Empire Centurion who is considered by Christians to be the first Gentile to convert to the faith, as related in Acts of the Apostles, 10:1….
The word Gentile from the Latin gentilis, can either be a translation of the Hebrew goy/??? or of the Hebrew word nochri/????….
The Godfearers or Sebioi in Greek language are messianic Non-Jews who from the earliest of times have worshipped The Name of the Hebrew Elohim….
Hellenization is a term used to describe a cultural change in which something non-Greek becomes Greek. The process can either be voluntary, or applied with varying degrees of force….
Koine Greek refers to the forms of the Greek language used in post-classical antiquity . Other names are Alexandrian, Hellenistic, Common, or New Testament Greek….
Saint James the Just, also called James Adelphos, James of Jerusalem, or the Brother of the Lord and sometimes identified with James the Lesser, was an important figure in History of Christianity#The Earliest Church….
John the Apostle , also known as John the Revelator, was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus….
The Ebionites were an early sect of mostly Jewish followers of Jesus, which flourished in the early centuries of the Common Era, one of several ancient “Jewish Christian” groups that existed during the Roman and Byzantine periods in the Levant….
A Christian is a follower of Jesus, referred to as Christ. Christians believe Jesus to be the Son of God, who lived a life befitting that of the creator of the universe, free of sin, who at the end of his earthly life was Crucifixion, and then…
Paul of Tarsus, also known as Paul the Apostle or Saint Paul , is widely considered to be central to the early development and spread of Christianity, particularly westward from Jerusalem….
Circumcision, when practiced as a rite, has its foundations in the Bible, in the Abrahamic covenant, such as , and is therefore practiced by Jews and Muslims and some Christians, those who constitute the Abrahamic religions….
The Epistle to Galatians is a book of the New Testament. It is a letter from Paul of Tarsus to a number of early Christian communities in the Roman province of Galatia in central Anatolia….
- “On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me in sending me to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas
Aramaic of Jesus
Most scholars believe that Jesus probably primarily spoke Aramaic language with some Hebrew language and at least a limited grasp of Koine Greek….
and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas
BarnabasSee separate entry for Barnabas or the Sydney Anglican church, St. Barnabas, Broadway.Saint Barnabas was an early Christian mentioned in the New Testament….
and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.” (NRSV)
These terms (circumcised/uncircumcised) are generally interpreted to mean Jews and Greeks , who were predominant; however they are an oversimplification as 1st century Iudaea Province also had some Jews who no longer circumcised (sometimes called Hellenized Jews), and some Greeks (called Proselytes or Judaizers ) and others such as Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Arabs who did. See also Abrahamic religion .
Jesus is frequently called the “Nazarene” (; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; . Named after him, the followers of Paul are the Nazarenes (, Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah 9:1).
The Council of Jerusalem , according to , determined that circumcision was not required of Gentile converts, only avoidance of “pollution of idols , fornication , things strangled, and blood” (KJV, Acts 15:20). The basis for these prohibitions is unclear, Acts 15:21 states only: “For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day”, the implication being that they are based on the Law of Moses. Many, beginning with Augustine of Hippo consider them to be based on the Noahide Laws , while some modern scholars reject the connection to Noahide Law and instead see as the basis. Also unclear is whether this meant that this Law in some way applied to them or merely that the requirements were imposed to facilitate common participation in the Christian community by Gentiles who would be in constant relation with the Jewish Christians who would be constantly reminded of their obligation to follow the Law. See also Biblical law in Christianity and Expounding of the Law .
The early Jewish Christians included those who believed non-Jews must become Jews and adopt Jewish customs . They were derogatively called Judaizers, and even Paul used this term against Jesus’s student Peter in public according to Young’s Literal Translation of : However, Barnabas, Paul’s partner up till then, sided with Peter (, ). Catholic Encyclopedia: Judaizers: The Incident at Antioch claims: “St. Paul’s account of the incident leaves no doubt that St. Peter saw the justice of the rebuke.” however, L. Michael White’s From Jesus to Christianity claims: “The blowup with Peter was a total failure of political bravado, and Paul soon left Antioch as persona non grata, never again to return.” See also Pauline Christianity . Scholar James D. G. Dunn, who coined the phrase New Perspective on Paul , has proposed that Peter was the bridge-man (i.e. the pontifex maximus) between the two other “prominent leading figures” of early Christianity: Paul and James the Just.
Marcion in the 2nd century, called the “most dangerous” heretic , rejected the Twelve Apostles, and interpreted a Jesus who rejected the Law of Moses using 10 Pauline Epistles and the Gospel of Luke . For example, his version of Luke 23:2 (*): “We found this fellow [Jesus] perverting the nation and destroying the law and the prophets”. Irenaeus in turn rejected Marcion and praised the Twelve Apostles in his Against Heresies 3.12.12: http://www.ccel.org/fathers2/ANF-01/anf01-60.htm#P7525_2024213
The Greeks are an ethnic group mostly found in the southern Balkan peninsula of southeastern Europe and are primarily associated with the Greek language….
Iudaea was a Roman province that extended over Judaea.During the 1st century BCE Judea lost its autonomy to the Roman Empire by becoming first a Client state, then a province of the empire….
Judaizers is a pejorative term used in the Bible in the Epistles of St. Paul, and particularly after the third century, to describe Jewish Christian groups like the Ebionites and Nazarenes who believed that followers of Jesus needed to keep the…
In the study of comparative religion, an Abrahamic religion or Judeo-Abrahamic Faith is any religion deriving from a common ancient Semitic tradition and traced by their adherents to Abraham…
“Council of Jerusalem” is a name applied in retrospect to a meeting described in Acts of the Apostles chapter 15….
Idolatry is a major sin in the Abrahamic religions regarding image. In Judaism and Christianity it is defined as worship of an = Etymology …
Fornication is a term which refers to any Human sexual behavior between unmarried partners. Sex between unmarried persons is distinguished from adultery by use of the term ‘simple fornication’; whereas relations in which at least one of the par…
Shabbat , is the weekly day of rest in Judaism. It is observed, from before sundown on Friday until after nightfall on Saturday, by many Jewish people with varying degrees of involvement in Judaism….
The Seven Noahide Laws , also called the Brit Noah mitzvot and Halakha that are morally binding on non-Jews according to Judaism….
Biblical law, commonly called Mosaic Law or Divine Law, refers to the statements or principles of law and ethics contained in the Five Books of Moses , the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, which is incorporated into the Christian Bible, wh…
The Expounding of the Law, sometimes called the Expounding of the Law#Antithesis of the Law, is a less well known but highly structured part of the Sermon on the Mount, following both the famed Beatitudes and the metaphors of salt and light….
Halakha is the collective corpus of Judaism religious law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law as well as customs and traditions….
Young’s Literal Translation is a translation of the Bible into English language. The translation was made by Robert Young, compiler of Young’s Analytical Concordance to the Bible and Concise Critical Comments on the New Testament, a…
Pauline Christianity is a common form of Christianity based on the teachings of Paul of Tarsus, who declared himself the “Apostle to the Gentiles”, and its development in his circle and among his followers….
The New Perspective on Paul is the name given to a significant shift in how some New Testament scholars interpret the writings of Paul of Tarsus, particularly in regard to Judaism and the common Protestant understanding of Justification by Fait…
Heresy, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a “theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary, to the catholic or Orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church, or, by extension, to that of …
Jesus,Some of the historians and Biblical scholars who place the birth and death of Jesus within this range include D….
The Pauline epistles are the thirteen or fourteen letters in the New Testament of the Christian Bible traditionally believed to have been written by Paul of Tarsus….
The Gospel of Luke is the third and longest of the four Biblical canonical Gospels of the New Testament, which tell the story of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection….
Irenaeus was bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, which is now Lyon, France.His writings were formative in the early development of Christianity theology, and he is recognized as a saint by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Churc…
On the Detection and Overthrow of the So-Called Gnosis , commonly called Against Heresies , is a five-volume work written by St….
- “…being brought over to the doctrine of Simon Magus
Simon Magus
Simon Magus, also known as Simon the Sorcerer and Simon of Gitta, is the name used by the ancient Christian Orthodoxy to refer to a person identified as a Samaritan Gnosticism….
, they have apostatized in their opinions from Him who is God, and imagined that they have themselves discovered more than the apostles, by finding out another god; and [maintained] that the apostles preached the Gospel still somewhat under the influence of Jewish opinions, but that they themselves are purer [in doctrine], and more intelligent, than the apostles.”
According to Eusebius’ History of the Church 4.5.3-4: the first 15 Bishops of Jerusalem were “of the circumcision”. The Romans destroyed the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem in year 135 during the Bar Kokhba Revolt. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean an end to Jewish Christianity, any more than Valerian’s Massacre of 258, (when he killed all Christian bishops, presbyters, and deacons, including Pope Sixtus II and Antipope Novatian and Cyprian of Carthage), meant an end to Roman Christianity.
The Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem is the head bishop of the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, ranking fourth of nine patriarchs in the Eastern Orthodox Church….
For Christianity, Jerusalem’s place in the life of Jesus gives it great importance, in addition to its place in the Old Testament, the Hebrew Bible, as described in the above article….
Publius Licinius Valerianus , known in English language as Valerian, was Roman Emperor from 253 to 260….
Pope Sixtus II was pope from August 30, 257 to August 6, 258, following Pope Stephen I as bishop of Rome in 257….
Novatian was a scholar and antipope who held the title between 251 and 258.He was a noted theology and writer – the first Roman theologian who used the Latin language -, at a time when there was much debate about how to deal with Christians wh…
Circumcision controversy
A common interpretation of the circumcision controversy of the New Testament was that it was over the issue of whether Gentiles could enter the Church directly or ought to first convert to Judaism . However, the Halakha of Rabbinic Judaism was still under development at this time, as the Jewish Encyclopedia article on Jesus notes: “Jesus, however, does not appear to have taken into account the fact that the Halakha was at this period just becoming crystallized, and that much variation existed as to its definite form; the disputes of the Bet Hillel and Bet Shammai were occurring about the time of his maturity.” This controversy was fought largely between opposing groups of Christians who were themselves ethnically Jewish. According to this interpretation, those who felt that conversion to Judaism was a prerequisite for Church membership were eventually condemned by Paul as “Judaizing teachers “.
The source of this interpretation is unknown; however, it appears related to Supersessionism or Hyperdispensationalism (see also New Perspective on Paul ). In addition, modern Christians, such as Ethiopian Orthodox and Coptic Orthodox still practice circumcision while not considering it a part of conversion to Judaism, nor do they consider themselves to be Jews or Jewish Christians. In 1st century Pharisaic Judaism there was controversy over the significance of circumcision, for example between Hillel the Elder and Shammai (see also Circumcision in the Bible #In rabbinic literature ). Roman Catholicism condemned circumcision for its members in 1442, at the Council of Florence (*).
The New Testament , sometimes called the Greek Testament or Greek Scriptures, and sometimes also New Covenant which is the literal translation of the Greek language, is the name given to the final portion of the Bible, the…
Conversion to Judaism is the religious conversion of a previously gentile person to the Judaism religion….
Halakha is the collective corpus of Judaism religious law, including biblical law and later talmudic and rabbinic law as well as customs and traditions….
Rabbinic Judaism or Rabbinism was the continuation of the Pharisees after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70….
The Jewish Encyclopedia was an encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls….
Hillel was a famous Jewish religious leader who lived in Jerusalem during the time of Herod the Great; he is one of the most important figures in Jewish history, associated with the Mishnah and the Talmud….
Shammai was a Jewish scholar of the 1st century, and an important figure in Judaism’s core work of rabbinic literature, the Mishnah….
Judaizers is a pejorative term used in the Bible in the Epistles of St. Paul, and particularly after the third century, to describe Jewish Christian groups like the Ebionites and Nazarenes who believed that followers of Jesus needed to keep the…
Supersessionism is the traditional Christian belief that Christianity is the fulfillment of the Old Testament, and therefore that Jews who deny that Jesus is the Messiah fall short of their calling as Tetragrammaton chosen people….
Hyper-dispensationalism, as opposed to traditional Dispensationalism, views the start of the Christian church as beginning with the ministry of the Paul_of_Tarsus after the early part of the book of Acts….
The New Perspective on Paul is the name given to a significant shift in how some New Testament scholars interpret the writings of Paul of Tarsus, particularly in regard to Judaism and the common Protestant understanding of Justification by Fait…
The Pharisees were, depending on the time, a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought among Jews that flourished during the Second Temple Era….
Hillel was a famous Jewish religious leader who lived in Jerusalem during the time of Herod the Great; he is one of the most important figures in Jewish history, associated with the Mishnah and the Talmud….
Shammai was a Jewish scholar of the 1st century, and an important figure in Judaism’s core work of rabbinic literature, the Mishnah….
Circumcision, when practiced as a rite, has its foundations in the Bible, in the Abrahamic covenant, such as , and is therefore practiced by Jews and Muslims and some Christians, those who constitute the Abrahamic religions….
The Council of Florence, was a council of bishops and other ecclesiastics of the Catholic Church which began at Basel, Switzerland, in 1431, was transferred to Ferrara in 1438 and later transferred to Florence in 1439….
Surviving communities whose origins reflect both Judaism and early Christianity
The Nasrani or Syrian Malabar Nasrani community in Kerala , India is conscious of their Jewish origins. However, they have lost many of their Jewish traditions due to western influences. The Nasrani are also known as Syrian Christians or St. Thomas Christians. This is because they follow the traditions of Syriac Christianity and claim descent from the early converts by St. Thomas the Apostle. Today, they belong to various denominations of Christianity but they have kept their unique identity within each of these denominations. (Refer to St. Thomas Christians).
Two of the existing communities that still maintain their Jewish traditions are the Knananites and the Fallasha. The Knanaya , who are an endogamous sub-ethnic group among the Syrian Malabar Nasrani are the descendants of early Jewish Christian settlers who arrived in Kerala in A.D 345. Although affiliated with a variety of Roman Catholic and Oriental Orthodox denominations, they have remained a cohesive community, shunning intermarriage with outsiders (but not with fellow-Knanaya of other denominations). The Fallasha of Ethiopia likewise reflect a Hebrew tradition that was outside the influence of much of the conflicts and conquests of the Hebrews of Israel and Judea.
Nasrani is an Arabic word meaning Christian.Nasrani is generally understood to originally mean Nazarene, but in some areas of the Arab world, tradition holds that it derives from nasr , and means “people of victory” in refere…
The Syrian Malabar Nasrani people are an ethnic community in Kerala, South India. It is a term which refers those who became Christians in the Malabar coast in the earliest days of Christianity, including the natives and the Jewish diaspora in …
Kerala is a States and territories of India on the tropical Malabar of southwestern India. To its east and northeast, Kerala borders Tamil Nadu and Karnataka; to its west and south lie the Indian Ocean islands of Lakshadweep and the Maldives, r…
India , officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries by area country by geographical area, the List of countries by population country, and the largest liberal democracy in the world….
Nasrani is an Arabic word meaning Christian.Nasrani is generally understood to originally mean Nazarene, but in some areas of the Arab world, tradition holds that it derives from nasr , and means “people of victory” in refere…
Syriac Christianity is a culturally and linguistically distinctive community within Eastern Christianity….
Knanaya Christians are Jewish Christians from Kerala, India.Menachery G. 1973, 1998; Vellian Jacob 2001; Weil,S….
The Syrian Malabar Nasrani people are an ethnic community in Kerala, South India. It is a term which refers those who became Christians in the Malabar coast in the earliest days of Christianity, including the natives and the Jewish diaspora in …
The Beta Israel, known by outsiders by the term Falasha , a term that they consider to be pejorative, are Jews of Ethiopian origin….
Contemporary Jewish Christians
There are at least two varieties of syncretism s between Judaism and Christianity: syncretisms that emphasize Christianity (Jewish Christians) and syncretisms focusing on Judaism (Messianic Jews). “Jewish Christians” is sometimes used as a contemporary term in respect of persons who are ethnically Jewish but who have become part of a “mainstream” Christian group which is not predominantly based on an appeal to Jewish ethnicity or the Law of Moses. This term is used as a contrast to Messianic Jews, many of whom are ethnic Jews who have converted to a religion in which Christian belief (usually evangelical ) is generally grafted onto Jewish ritual which would, to outsiders at least, typically resemble Judaism more than Christianity.
The term could thus be used, for example, of Arnold Fruchtenbaum , the founder of Ariel Ministries. Another group which could be described as Jewish Christians is “Jews for Jesus “.
Syncretism is the attempt to reconcile disparate, even opposing, beliefs and to meld practices of various schools of thought….
The word evangelicalism usually refers to a tendency in diverse branches of conservative Christianity….
Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum is the Jewish founder and director of Ariel Ministries, an organization which prioritizes evangelization and discipleship of Jewish people in the effort to bring them to the knowledge and understanding that Jesus is the J…
Jews for Jesus is a Christian Evangelism organization based in San Francisco, California, whose goal is to religious conversion Jews that Jesus is the Messiah and God….
Modern Jewish Christians and Messianic Jews
There are important similarities and differences between “Jewish Christians” (or “Hebrew Christians”) and “Messianic Jews “. Jewish Christians identify themselves primarily as Christian s. They are (mostly) members of Protestant and Catholic congregations, (usually) are not so strict about observing Kashrut (Jewish dietary laws) or the Sabbath, and are (generally) assimilated culturally into the Christian mainstream, although they retain a strong sense of their Jewish identity which they, like Messianic Jews, strongly desire to pass on to their children. In Israel, there is a growing population of Orthodox Christians who are of Jewish descent and conduct their worship mostly in Hebrew (the most prominent language in Israel, as well as the official language). Messianic Jews consider their primary identity to be “Jewish” and belief in Jesus to be the logical conclusion of their “Jewishness”. They try to structure their worship according to Jewish norms, they circumcise their sons and (mostly) abstain from non-kosher foods, and (often) observe the Sabbath. Many (but by no means all) do not use the label “Christian” to describe themselves. The boundary between the two movements is blurred, but the differences between the two movements are such that it may not be fair to treat them as one (cf. Baptist s and Methodists , for example).
There are a few organizations which have been established to support Jews who wish to become Christian, most notably Jews for Jesus .
Additionally, there are a few organizations to support Messianic Jews who wish to remain faithful to Torah , most notably the UMJC and MRC.
Messianic Judaism is a religion acknowledging the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth that claims at least 47,000 followers and 280 congregations worldwide as of 2006….
A Christian is a follower of Jesus, referred to as Christ. Christians believe Jesus to be the Son of God, who lived a life befitting that of the creator of the universe, free of sin, who at the end of his earthly life was Crucifixion, and then…
Catholic – derived, through Latin, from the Greek language adjective , meaning “general”, “universal” – when used as a specifically Christian religious term, can have a number of meanings:…
Messianic Judaism is a religion acknowledging the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth that claims at least 47,000 followers and 280 congregations worldwide as of 2006….
Jesus,Some of the historians and Biblical scholars who place the birth and death of Jesus within this range include D….
A Baptist is a member of a Baptist church or a person who believes in the practice of baptism by immersion into water….
Methodism or the Methodist movement is a group of historically related religious denominations of Protestant Christianity….
Jews for Jesus is a Christian Evangelism organization based in San Francisco, California, whose goal is to religious conversion Jews that Jesus is the Messiah and God….
Torah is a Hebrew language word meaning “teaching,” “instruction,” or “law”. It is the central and most important document of Judaism revered by Jews through the ages….
Jewish and Christian Holy Alliance 