Jewish Christians (sometimes called also
"Hebrew Christians" or
"Christian Jews") is a term which can have two meanings, a historical one and a contemporary one. The historical term refers to early Christians of or attracted to
Jewish culture. This concept deals with the relation between the traditional
ethnic religious beliefs and practices of
Judaism (including Jewish
proselytes) and the then-emergent
universal religious concepts of
Hellenistic Judaism and then
Christianity. The contemporary concept simply refers to individuals of certain
Jewish ancestry or heritage, who is an adherent of some form of Christianity and not Judaism. This includes
"converts" from Judaism to Christianity and
ethnic Jews who for one reason or another had not been indoctrinated into Judaism.
Jesus, his
Twelve Apostles, the
Elders, his
family, and essentially all of his early
followers were
Jewish or Jewish
Proselytes.
The term "
Early Jewish Christians" is often used in discussing the
Early History of Christianity, see also
Early Christianity and
History of early Christianity. 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 2, 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 (
Acts 8)
[2]. Traditionally the
Roman Centurion Cornelius is considered the first
Gentile convert, as recorded in
Acts 10, 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 (
Acts 6) and
Aramaic (
Acts 1:19) 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 (
Isaiah 56:3-7). 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 (
Acts 11:25-26). Paul made explicit in
Galatians 1:7 that he did not discuss with the "Pillars of the Church" after he had received his revelation to be an apostle (
1:15-16), that he saw no one except Cephas (Peter) and James, when he was in Jerusalem three years after the revelation (
1:18-24) and implies he did not explain his gospel to them until 14 years later (
2:1-2) in a subsequent trip to Jerusalem The division between those who followed Mosaic law and were
circumcised and those who were not circumcised was highlighted in his
Epistle to the Galatians 2:7-9:
"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 and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to
Barnabas 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 respectively, who were predominant in the region; however this is 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 and
Circumcision controversy in early Christianity#Jewish background.
Jesus is frequently called the "Nazarene" (
Matthew 2:23;
Mark 10:47;
14:67;
16:6;
Luke 24:19;
John 18:5;
18:7;
19:19;
Acts 2:22;
3:6;
4:10;
6:14;
22:8. Named after him, the followers of Paul are the
Nazarenes (
Acts 24:5, Jerome,
Commentary on Isaiah 9:1). The
Council of Jerusalem, according to
Acts 15, 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[6] consider them to be based on the
Noahide Laws, while some modern scholars reject the connection to
Noahide Law (
Genesis 9) and instead see
Lev 17-18 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
Gal 2:14:
| “ | But when I saw that they are not walking uprightly to the truth of the good news, I said to Peter before all, `If thou, being a Jew, in the manner of the nations dost live, and not in the manner of the Jews, how the nations dost thou compel to Judaize? | ” |
However, Barnabas, Paul's partner up till then, sided with Peter (
Gal 2:13,
Acts 15:39-40).
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 Christianityclaims: "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: "...being brought over to the doctrine of
Simon Magus, 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.