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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1.8 The Early Church: The Church of the Circumcision
The early followers of Jesus called the Nazarene Community headed by St. James as “The Church of the Circumcision”, [1]for all the leaders of the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem until the destruction of the city by the Roman emperor Hadrian in 135 C.E were “Hebrews and followers of the Law.[2]. They did not consider themselves as separate from the rest of the Jews. They were circumcised, observed the Laws and prayed in the Synagogues.[3] Eusebius himself stated that: “Of the dates of the bishops of Jerusalem I have failed to find any written evidence—it is known that they were very short-lived—but I have received documentary proof of this, that up to Hadrian’s siege of the Jews (in Jerusalem--135 C.E) there had been a series of bishops there. All were said to have been Hebrews in origin [that is Jewish Christians], who had received the knowledge of Christ with all sincerity, with the result that those in a position to decide such matters judged them worthy of the Episcopal office. For at that time their whole church consisted of Hebrew believers who had continued from Apostolic times down to the later siege in which the Jews, after revolting a second time from the Romans, were overwhelmed in a full-scale war.”[4] When all the Jews in Jerusalem were expelled in 135 C.E[5] after they were defeated in their full-scale revolt against the Roman rule, the history of the Nazarene community and its leaders was not harmonious. After the revolt, The city of Jerusalem was inhabited by the Gentiles (non-Jews) and the leadership of the Jerusalem Church there passed to those who followed the tradition of Paul of Tarsus who sought to separate to an ever-greater degree from their Jewish origins. F. E. Peters, the author of “Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: The Classical Texts and Their Interpretation” describes this sad situation as follows: “In 150 the converted philosopher Justin[6] was still willing to maintain communion with them; By the time in the fourth century that Eusebius of Caesarea wrote his Church History, those Jewish Christian (the Nazarene Community) found or had placed themselves in a position that the rest of the Great Church regarded as purely and simply heretical.”[7] [1] The obligation of circumcision was everlasting and perpetual in the law of Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him), as can be understood from Genesis 17. This injunction remained as an obligation for the descendants of the Prophets Isaac and Ismail (peace be upon them) and continued to be so in the Law of Moses as well. Jesus himself was also circumcised as is clear from the Gospel of Luke: “Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus” (2:21, NLT). [2] The History of The Church, 107 (adapted in part) [3] Synagogue : Jewish house of worship; Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls, 20 [4] Judaism, Christianity And Islam: Volume One, 318 (emphasis are mine) [5] The Roman Emperor Hadrian decreed that all Jews be expelled by law from Judaea, and Jerusalem became essentially a Roman city. It was renamed Aelia Capitolina (The New Testament in Question, 15) [6] Justin of Caesarea (100-165 C.E), one of the Church Fathers. [7] Judaism, Christianity And Islam, Volume One, 287 |
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