THE
EARLY FOLLOWERS OF JESUS CHRIST AND 1.1 The Word “Christians” Were Unknown To Jesus 1.2 Diversity In the Early Followers of Jesus 1.3 The Nazarenes Versus the Pauline Christianity 1.4 St. James, the Head of the Nazarenes 1.6 The Origin of the Word Nazarene 1.8 The Early Church, The Church of the Circumcision 1.9 Salvation Is Through Faith & By Obeying God’s Law 1.10 Obey the Scribes or Teachers of the Law 1.11 Jesus Instruct His Followers to Offer “the Gift that Moses Commanded” 1.13 Jesus: Those Who Do Not Follow The Law Are Hypocrites 1.14 St. James: Faith Without Good Works Is Useless And Cannot Save Anyone 1.16 Paul, The Real Founder of Christianity 1.18 Paul and His Pauline Churches Changed Jesus Into God 1.19 Paul’s Life: Examining His Contradictory Testimonies
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The Nazarene Community was known as those who are the keepers of Jesus Covenant, which is “the Torah or the Law of Moses”.[1] Modern Christian researchers stated that neither St. James nor the Nazarene hierarchy had any intentions of creating a new religion apart from Judaism. They in fact emerged as the custodians of the original teachings of Jesus Christ, a specifically Judaic message for Judaic adherents that rigorously follow the Law of Moses. As Jesus himself says: “Don’t misunderstood why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to fulfill them. I assure you, until the heaven and earth disappear, even the smallest detail of God’s law will remain until its purpose is achieved” (Matthew 5:17-18, NLT) [2] The Law of God was revealed to Prophet Moses (peace be upon him), and in later age, Jesus was sent to confirm, honor and to complete the Law, not to abolished it. Karen Armstrong, author of The New York Times Bestseller “A History Of God” who is an expert in the study of Judaism and Christianity, and now teaches at the Leo Baeck College for the study of Judaism and the Training of Rabbis and Teachers admits this by saying: “Certainly Jesus teaching was in accord with major tenets of the Pharisees (or teachers of the Law)…Like the Pharisees, Jesus was devoted to the Torah and was said to have preached a more stringent observance than many of his contemporaries.” [3] Further she says: “St Paul [4] believe that the powers of God should be made accessible to the goyim (non-Jews) and preached the Gospel in what is now Turkey, Macedonia and Greece. He was convinced that non-Jews could become members of the New Israel even though they did not observe the full Law of Moses. This offended the original group of disciples, who wanted to remain a more exclusively Jewish sect, and they broke with Paul after a passionate dispute.”[5] Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln, the co-authors of “The Messianic Legacy”, a book that shocked the whole Christendom states that: “Jesus himself, of course, had no intention of creating a new religion. Neither had James, and the Nazarean Party in Jerusalem. Like Jesus, they would have been horrified by the very idea, regarding it as the most appalling blasphemy. Like Jesus, they were, after all, devout Jews, working and preaching wholly within the context of established Judaic tradition. True, they were seeking certain renewed observances, certain reforms and certain political changes. They were also seeking to purge their religion of recently acquired alien elements and to restore it to what they deemed its original purity. But they would not have dreamed of creating a new system of belief which might become a rival of Judaism—and, worse still, its persecutor.” [6]
[1] Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls, 20, 41 [2] The New Testament in Question, 36 [3] A History Of God, 81(emphasis added) [4] The real founder of Christianity and Its Faith [5] A History Of God, 83 (emphasis are mine) [6] Baigent, M, Leigh, R. and Lincoln, H, The Messianic Legacy (Corgi Books, 1993), 137
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