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Many modern scholars today teach us the following:
Jesus and all his followers were Jews who were faithful to Biblical Judaism and never intended to separate from or start a new religion; after their deaths the Gentile Christian church will condemn the Jewish Christians as heretics...in time fruit of the Jewish Church (Gentile Christianity) will destroy it's mother
We have a unique paradox in Biblical history; one which touches every follower of Jesus and "the Christ" yet today and which reaches to the very core of our own culture and time. It is impossible to understand Jesus, "the Christ", or his message until we come to a correct understanding of the events that fashioned such persecution of the Jews by the Gentile believers and which contributed to the alteration of the faith of Jesus as can be found to have existed in the earliest centuries following the destruction of the Temple in the first century of Second Temple Judaism. As stated in an earlier article the first and greatest division that faced the Jerusalem assembly was the Gentile problem in Asia, Minor and this, if you recall, concerned the relationship of the "non-Jewish" believers in the God of Israel through the ministry of Paul and their relationship toward Judaism; it shaped everything that was to follow. One of the greatest problems facing Christianity today is how to reconcile what it has become since these earliest centuries when it was not "antisemitic" in doctrine and practice. We today must consider God's intended vision for the Gentile nations of the world whereby they were to become part of the "Israel of God" in these earliest centuries and not part of a "replacement religion of Rome's later creation. The answers for such a problem come only when one personally acquaints himself with an unbiased presentation of the facts of the tragic events of this part of Biblical history and traces the repercussions of such events down through the corridors of history as well as our inherited religious texts given us by Christianity and ultimately seeing the shock waves from them that are present in our own religious belief systems and Christian cultures of today.
Today many scholars tell us the truth today about the early church and courageously break from "church traditions", "mind-control" and "indoctrination" to present the facts concerning these "events" and the corruption of the early faith given the "non-Jews" by God and sanctioned by the Jerusalem church in Acts 15. It is so simple today to find this information, but sadly few look or even know the need to see if "they be in the faith."
2 Cor 13:5 5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves....(KJV)
The word "the" is a key word in the above passage. It is a "definite" article meaning "unique, special, one of a kind" as opposed to many.You see there is "one faith" given to mankind by God in the beginning of time and this faith has been handed down through recorded history and traveled down through nations and we find it today represented the best in Biblical Judaism and within this we also find a place for the "non-Jew" having a relationship with God through the Covenant of Noah.
Sadly today, the Christian, instead of coming to a knowledge of his real Covenant with God is being indoctrinated and influenced by an antisemitic Roman Church tradition, as well as being hampered in coming to this knowledge by being unknowledgeable of the true origins of his Christian faith. Thus, we accept the "spin" of antisemitic Christian religious fathers and various other leaders who walked in their paths down through history and the real message of "the Christ" and this "Pattern of Worship" given the "non-Jew" is never heard, or at best, is overlooked for more "orthodox teachings" espoused by Orthodox Christianity which have taken it's place. Jewish Christianity consisted of those early Chrestians (followers of "the Christ", and no I did not misspell it for they were "Chrestians" before they were "Christians", who remained loyal to the Jewish law of Moses as they understood it. Messianic Judaism was not to replace Biblical Judaism with a new faith; it was the goal and zenith for which the prophets wrote and hoped. This simple statement is of profound importance, because the Jewish messianics, a sect within first century Judaism were eventually rejected both by orthodox Judaism and by orthodox Gentile Christianity later. We need to make a distinction here. Judaism prayed for and hoped for the fulfillment of the Prophets regarding the coming of their "human" Messiah who would judge the Gentiles that persecuted Israel but that does not negate the Spiritual fact that they all believed that "the Christ/also a Messiah" lived within them as well. We see this Divine Principle understood since Ancient Egypt in Paul's teaching of the "Indwelling Christ".
Col 1:27 27 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: (KJV)
This verse is again of unbelievable importance. The Jewish people, carrying the legacy of Egypt, understood the realm of the Spirit much better than unlearned Gentiles like Rome. The Jewish people understood that that this Creator God lived within this "temple made without hands", their bodies. Thus the need for ethical and moral conduct as taught by the Laws of Moses and the Laws of Noah found in the Torah given to all nations. This Covenant of Noah and the Laws of Noah were given to the Gentiles and the Covenant and Laws of Moses were given to the Jewish nation later as Moses elaborate and enlarged upon the Covenant of Noah. There is overlap of 66 laws of Noah which are the very foundation for the Laws of Moses which we find amplified upon by Moses later.
So let us not fail to make this distinction; one "Christ/Messiah" was a hoped for human being who would follow in the footsteps of the Jew's King David, a military conqueror, who was believed would come and save Israel from the Gentiles and their harsh treatment of Israel and the other "Christ/Messiah" was the "Divine Principle" residing in the flesh of mankind (the Soul within matter or the flesh of mankind). Now we have it so lets go on but not let us confuse this concept of "the Christ" any longer for it is not just "one" to the "exclusion of all".
The understanding of the Jews concerning their Jewish Messiah was not anything like that of later orthodox Gentile Christianity where this Jewish Messiah, as the Christ, is "reinterpreted" and seen more like a "literalized" sun-godman figure as found in other Gentile nations if taken "literally". Unknown to us at this point in our studies is that these other "sungods" and "sungodmen" were NOT taken literally by these other Gentile nations but were understood allegorically and were but symbolic understandings of the Descent of the Soul/God into matter (the flesh of mankind). Rome will later "literalize" this concept and in so doing alter the traditional understanding of the Jewish Messiah and teach it incorrectly to the other "non-Jewish" nations of the world. The expected human "anointed", like King David, who had a father and mother, will become a mixture of "human" and "Divine Principle"; first by the Essenes of Qumran in the Book of Enoch where they apply this to their Teacher of Righteousness and later this same idea is picked up by Rome where they "literalize" this Divine Principle residing in all mankind and limit it to one man who is made to be a "God-man" of a virgin birth. We know him as the Roman Jesus of their New Testament.
Before this synthesis will occur at the hands of Rome we find historically that the Messianics in Israel and "followers of the Christ within" possessed an understanding of the law of Moses that was the same as orthodox Judaism, but yet this view would later be rejected under the influence of Paul in some degree and later, picking up on this idea, we find that the later Pauline churches of Asia, Minor, and Rome will reject this Law of God totally. We discuss this Pauline rejection of the Law in the series of articles on the Antioch Incident later on this site. Rome will later add much to this Gnostic Paul and his "theology" and forge many letter in his name to make it appear that the authentic Paul is not Gnostic at all but his does not take away from the fact that this historical Paul was compromising several commandments in his attempt to"become all things to all men and thereby enlarge his Gentile Churches in Asia, Minor.
The Jewish Messianics believed that when the Messiah appeared that he would be the "true prophet" who would lead the people back to God's Eternal Law that commanded simple living and nonviolence. They saw in this "hoped for Messiah" their hopes for physical redemption and the fulfillment of the prophets. It was their hope that the Law would go forth from Zion with the Jewish Messiah at its head as the long awaited King of Israel. It was their hope that the enemies of Israel would be vanquished by the word of this anointed one of the Lord as taught in the Psalms of Solomon (no not the psalms you are familiar with but a separate Jewish books that was recognized by Jews as authoritative in the first century). The law, which was cherished by all God-fearing Jews, had been given to Moses; indeed, it had existed from the beginning of the world (in the rudimentary form of the Laws of Noah), and this Law was intended to be cherished and observed by both Jew and non-Jew alike because in the Commandments one finds the unique Covenant stipulations of his Covenant before God, whether Jew or "non-Jew". In sharp contrast with the gentile Christian movement, which emerged in the wake of Paul's teaching, and others who follow him in "Pauline fashion", like Ignatius, Justin and Irenaeus, Jewish Christianity strove to make the Jewish law stricter than the Jewish tradition seemed to teach ("you have heard it said but I say unto you...'much more'"). Such was the Christ's love for God and His Word. But this cannot be said for the later Gentile churches in the earliest centuries of Christianity which strove to find ways to lay aside the law for the laxity that was taught under the disguise of "grace." In other words, the non-Jews loved the large "gray areas" that came from the teaching of Paul at Antioch and others who negated the Law through their own personal "revelations" and their own personal "gospels" similar to Paul's (Paul is found saying in Rom 2:16 16:"In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to "my gospel" and again in 2 Tim 2:8 8: "Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel).
It is a little early in this article to address this concept but if your study continues you will reach a point in your understanding and knowledge where you will see beyond any doubt that the there are two entirely different "Gospels" that the New Testament gives the readers. It would be worth you time now to contrast the Gospel message of Jesus as against the Gospel message of Paul as presented in the Roman New Testament. Do it right now and then compare the conflicting and discordant Gospel messages of Jesus and Paul. "Not only that, but Jesus in the New Testament teaches a completely different way to inherit Eternal Life than does the Romanized Paul.
Every Christian needs to do these above studies and take them most seriously!
Answer for yourself: How can this be? Two different messages and gospels that conflict and contradict each others? Who should we believe, Paul or Jesus? Which view above, Paul's or Jesus', and whose "gospel" above is supported by the Hebrew Scriptures? Which "gospel" came first? Which view and whose "gospel" is supported after the Hebrew Scriptures are corrupted and forged by Rome during the earliest centuries following the time that Jesus was supposed to live? Well I have to let the reader figure that one out. I already have over the years of my study. If you want a hint or the answer then read the articles and email me and I will discuss this with you if you fail to see the implications of such study for your life.
Modern scholars often say that Jewish Christianity is the blind spot in virtually all accounts of the New Testament Jesus. Everyone agrees that, according to the New Testament, this Jesus was a Jew and that his initial followers were Jews. Yet of the thousands of books written about this Jesus, almost none acknowledge the central importance of Jewish Christianity; at least not until the end of the 1800's and continuing to the beginning of the present century. That central importance of Jewish Christianity for the "non-Jew" was true up until the latter part of the last century when Jewish, as well as European scholars began to reevaluate this "Jewish Jesus" and his message and contrast the reputed Historical Jesus with the Christ of Faith. There are many who are eager to focus specifically on the Jewishness of Jesus and the historical Jesus until they get deeply into such study. I remember wanting to quit several times as a Christian Pastor but I deep-down knew that truth is paramount with God so I kept at it. If one attempts an unbiased study in these areas and comes to the point of examining those of his followers who, like their teacher, were also Jewish, then they see for themselves that actually nothing really changed within this community of the closest followers of "the Christ" in Judaism, either for the Jew or the "non-Jew" until the 3rd and early fourth century when Rome would effectively destroy the faith of the Jewish "followers of 'the Christ'" by declaring them official heretics and destroying the First New Testament of Marcion and replacing it with one of their own making. Understand that this movement as followers of "the Christ", told through the "Jesus Story" were both Jews and "non-Jews" and they both attended synagogue together, celebrated and observed the Biblical Festivals and Feasts together, both fasted together, and both followed the same "Pattern of Worship" together. The only difference in the early centuries is that the "non-Jews" were responsible for only 66 Laws in the Covenant of Noah and the Jew was responsible for the whole of the Laws of Moses totaling 613 Laws. Of course matters of interpretation will differ from different Schools of Pharisees and we will get to that eventually but you get the point. Rome will begin to bring to an end this unity of faith between Jew and "non-Jew" effectively with their Second New Testament and this is the one we have today which is so terribly corrupted which we will likewise see shortly as our studies increase. The power of Rome would propagate a Gentile understanding and not a Jewish understanding of the Messiah (see Constantine's Easter letter if you have any doubts) and in so doing rise again this middle wall of partition between "Jew" and "non-Jew" which had fallen after the destruction of the Temple in 70 C.E. as seen in the accounts of Jews and "non-Jews" fellowshipping together in Asia, Minor, following this time period. Even the book of Acts substantiates this when you examine it in the Greek. The "Olive Tree" had come together in fulfillment of prophecy; that is until Constantine and his hatred of the Jews burst upon the scene and coupled with fear of damnation, the power of the sword, and indoctrination through forged texts Rome will effectively separate the two branches of the Olive Tree of God once again.
The "Jewishness" of these early followers of "the Christ", both Jew and "non-Jew", does not refer to their ethnic group or nationality, but rather to their beliefs and their "religious belief system". Important to note is that Paul was a convert to Judaism (H. Maccoby, The Mythmaker, Paul And The Invention Of Christianity) and only later converted to Judaism; first a Sadducee, and after rejection by the Chief Priest he turned to the Pharisees, again only to be rejected by them for his prior cruelty to them as an agent of the Temple police who routed them out and killed them (the Messianic believing strict branch of the Pharisees called Nazarenes/Essenes). Paul also preached freedom from the law regarding dietary laws contained in the Laws of Noah as seen in the "Antioch Incident" and therefore explicitly rejects some Jewish beliefs held in common in both the Laws of Noah and the Laws of Moses. This is a problem we will address momentarily in detail. Paul, and some of the other Jews who became followers of the Jesus movement (Christians), renounced the law of Moses and, therefore, were no longer part of normative Judaism. The churches of Paul today (vast majority of Christianity as it exists today) lay outside the true faith of this reputed Jesus and will continue to do so unless they encounter the truth about this man of Galilee and the truth about their own religious history and how a lawless faith like Christianity actually was created.
Without understanding Jewish Messianic Judaism or "intended Christianity", we cannot understand correctly this New Testament Jesus let alone the earliest church nor the corruption of it due to the forged texts in New Testament. Lacking this knowledge we are doomed to misinterpret most of what we read in the New Testament and our worship of God and our conduct before Him will be in error...much of which is defined as sin in the Torah.
Thus there exists the great need to study and come to the truth about the religious documents we cherish which we inherited from Rome in order that we discern truth from fiction when reading them in order that our religious beliefs be founded upon the truth and facts available to us which can be validated and in so doing ensure that our worship of God not be in vain.