Christianity Did Not Come From Judaism

 

“For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it.”

Galatians 1:13

Christianity did not come from Judaism.

Wait? What are you saying Matt? Are you denying that Christianity is connected to the faith of Moses, Elijah, David, Jeremiah and Malachi? Are you saying it is not descended from the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob? Are you saying that Christianity only came about of its own accord in the 1^st century? No, I am not. Let me explain.

The term Judaism, in biblical time frames, is a relatively recent term, as Encyclopedia Brittanica notes, “Judaism, as the Jewish religion came to be known in the 1st century CE, was based on ancient Israelite religion, shorn of many of its Canaanite characteristics but with the addition of important features from Babylonia and Persia.”[1] Notice what Brittanica states, “as the Jewish religion came to be known in the 1^st century CE…” Judaism is what the faith of the Jewish people came to be called in the first century. But it was not the faith of Moses, but “was based on ancient Israelite religion.” What else happened in the first century?

Christianity came out of faith of the Old Testament.

More biblical terms for the true faith of the Israelite people might be “the faith of Abraham”, “the faith of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”, “the faith of Moses”, or something along these lines. Jesus himself refers to the “Book of Moses” and simply calling the Israelite faith “the law” or “the Torah” would probably be the most biblical term for the religion of Israel. This is what Jesus himself says, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished” (Matt. 5:17-18). Jesus referred to the biblical faith of Israel as “The Law”, or “the Law and the Prophets”. “The Law” meant their way of life, God’s way. 

In fact, the term “the law” is used 265 times in the Bible, and the majority of those times, 142, are in the New Testament. Here are a few examples,

Matthew 22:36, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”

Luke 16:16, “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.”

John 1:17, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”

Romans 2:12, “For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.”

Romans 7:4, “Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.”

Galatians 3:17, “This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.”

Many other examples can be given. Romes (45) and Galatians (24) both have the most uses of the term “the law” in the New Testament, and in fact the whole Bible both these books use the term more than even any of the first five books of the Bible, the Torah, or Law. You could say that “the Law and the Prophets” is another valid title for the true faith of Israel. But “The Law” is no doubt simpler and used as shorthand for the faith of Israel, or Judah.

You might be wondering here if I am just splitting hairs. But I am not. As I have written elsewhere,

“The Rabbinical Judaism of Jesus’ day was not the faith of the Old Testament, it was a faith that nullified the Old Testament in favour of man-made traditions. This is the clear position of Jesus and the position of the Church. But I understand if you do not accept my accounting on this, even if I quote clear scriptures like Mark 7:1-13. So how about a prominent Jewish scholar, Peter Schafer?

Schafer writes in his work, Jesus in the Talmud,  

“This book is about the perception of Jesus of Nazareth, the founder of Christianity, in the Talmud, the foundation document of rabbinc Judaism in Late Antiquity. What do these two – Jesus and the Talmud - have in common? The obvious answer is not much. There is, on the one hand, the collection of writings called the New Testament, undisputedly our major source for Jesus’ life, teaching, and death, most of it written in the second half of the first century C.E. And there is “the” Talmud, on the other, the most influential literary product of rabbinic Judaism, developed over centuries in its two versions in Palestine and in Babylon (the first, the Palestinian or Jerusalem Talmud, was edited in fifth century Palestine, and the second, the Babylonian Talmud, reached its final form in the early seventeenth century in Babylonia). Both documents, the New Testament and the Talmud, could not be more different in form and content: the one, written in Greek, is concerned about the mission of this Jesus of Nazareth, who, regarded as the Messiah and the Son of God, was rejected in this claim by most of his fellow Jews, put to death by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, and resurrected on the third day after his crucifixion and taken up into heaven; the other, written mostly in Aramaic, is a huge collection of mainly legal discussions that deal with the intricacies of a daily life conducted according to the rabbinic interpretation of Jewish law.”[12] (emphasis mine).

Shafer argues very clearly here that the Talmud, not the Mosaic law, but again let me emphasize the Talmud is the “foundation document of rabbinic Judaism in Late Antiquity.” It bears no similarities with the teachings of Jesus or the New Testament. The Talmud consists “of mainly legal discussions that deal with the intricacies of a daily life conducted according to the rabbinic interpretation of Jewish law.” Schafer also notes that these two Talmuds, the Jerusalem and the Babylonian versions, developed over centuries. We see Jesus reflecting on an earlier stage of these teachings in Mark 7, and possible Matthew 5 as well.[13]”[2]

Judaism as a faith traces its lineage to the faith of the Pharisees who were opponents of Jesus and whom Jesus said were opponents of the “The Law”. For instance in Mark 7 we read this,

“7 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)[d]— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

Jesus explicitly says here and elsewhere that the Pharisees rejected the commandments of God and Moses’ teaching. Hence Judaism is the nullifying of the law whereas Christianity is the fulfilment of the law. Judaism is to the Old Testament faith, what Mormonism or Christian Science is to Christianity, it is a departure, a new religion. 

The New Testament does use the term “Judaism” to refer to he faith of the Jewish people in the New Testament era, but note how it uses it. In Galatians 1:13-14 Paul says, “For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it. And I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers.” Paul refers to Judaism as the former belief system that he repented of. Peter is likely referring to this same Pharisaical teaching when he says in 1 Peter, “18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold,…” (1 Peter 1:18). One other time in the ESV is the term Judaism used, “43 And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God” (Acts 13:43). And in this instance again it is the framed as something which people turned away from to follow the gospel. Saying Christianity came out of Judaism is simply not correct. Many Christians repented of Judaism to become Christians, but that is not the same thing.

Historically speaking, and theologically speaking, it is more correct to say that Judaism and Christianity both find their roots in the Old Testament faith. But Judaism is a religion based on the traditions of the elders which nullifies that faith. Whereas, Christianity is a religion based on the belief that Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament promise for the Messiah. Hence, to say that Christianity came out of Judaism is incorrect.

This is an easy mistake to make. We often think anachronistically. What Jewish people believe we have called Judaism for nearly two millennia now, so it is natural to confuse this with the faith of the Old Testament. However, this is not what the New Testament teaches. Yes, Jesus is a Jewish man of the tribe of Judah, a Judean of Judeans, descended through David according to the flesh and born of Mary, the God Man who sits enthroned in heaven, having defeated sin, death and the devil, and having fulfilled the law, the Son of God, God the Son.There can be no doubt that Christianity is connected to the ancient faith of Israel, and anyone who denies this is just wrong. Christianity is the fulfilment of the hope of Israel. But Judaism finds its origin in a rejection of the authority of the law of Moses. So to say Christianity came out of Judaism is simply incorrect.

We should train ourselves to think on these issues like the Bible does. When we do so this also helps clear up confusion about who the people of God are. As Jesus himself said,

“46 While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. 48 But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother” (Matt. 12:46-50).

Only those who do the will of the Father in heaven are God’s people, or God’s family. And the heavenly Father’s will is that we should listen to and believe in Jesus, ““This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Matt. 17:5). The Pharisees - generally speaking some repented of this - were the first and most prominent group to oppose Jesus. We are not in their tradition. And we should make sure that people understand that. Christianity is the fulfilment of the law, because Christ is the fulfilment of the law.

List of References.

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[1] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jesus/The-Jewish-religion-in-the-1st-century

[2] https://younggospelminister.blogspot.com/search?q=schafer