Judaizers
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Judaizers is a term used by Pauline Christianity, particularly after the third century, to describe Jewish Christian groups like the Ebionites and Nazarenes who believed that followers of Jesus needed to keep the Law of Moses. These groups taught that gentile followers of Jesus needed to become Jewish proselytes and observe the various requirements of Judaism, most importantly circumcision, or at least that the Jewish followers of Jesus needed to do so with Noahide Law decreed for gentiles.
The issue was an early source of controversy between the Jerusalem church of James, Cephas and John; and Paul of Tarsus who called himself the Apostle to the Gentiles; and came to a head during the Council of Jerusalem. According to the account given in Acts 15, it was determined that gentile followers of Jesus did not have to be circumcised; rather, they were required to "abstain from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication."
Paul also addressed this question in his Epistle to Galatians in which he condemned those who insisted that Jewish law had to be followed as "false brothers" (Galatians 2:4)(disputed — see [[: talk:Judaizers#{{{1|Disputed}}}|talk page]]):
- But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. But because of false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us — we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you. Galatians 2:3-5(NRSV)
Also Paul stated "I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all." (Galatians 5:2) Epistle to Titus 1:11, often attributed to Paul, is, according to some Biblical scholars, also a condemnation of these practices.
The influence of the Judaizers in the church diminished significantly after the destruction of Jerusalem, when the Jewish-Christian community at Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans during the Great Jewish Revolt. However, Christian groups following Jewish practices did not vanish immediately; though most had been suppressed as heretical by the 5th century, in some (particularly Coptic) churches, Old Testament practices have survived to this day, including circumcision, and in the Ethiopian Orthodox church, dietary laws and Saturday Sabbath as well. [1]
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Origin of the word
Judaize, from the Koine Greek Ioudaizo (Ιουδαϊζω), means literally to live as a Jew.
It occurs once in the Septuagint, in Esther 8:16-17 written around 200 BC in Susa, Persia:
- "And the Jews had light and gladness, in every city and province wherever the ordinance was published: wherever the proclamation took place, the Jews had joy and gladness, feasting and mirth: and many of the Gentiles were circumcised, and became Jews, for fear of the Jews." -Brenton Translation [2]
It occurs once in the New Testament, in Paul's Letter to the Galatians 2:14 (part of the "Incident at Antioch") written around the year 50:
- "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?" -Young's Literal Translation [3]
It occurs once in Josephus' Jewish War 2.18.2, about the first Roman-Jewish War (66-73), written around the year 75:
- "when the Syrians thought they had ruined the Jews, they had the Judaizers in suspicion also" -Whiston Translation [4]
It occurs once in Plutarch on Cicero 7.6 written in 75:
- "When a man named Caecilius, one of the freed slaves, who was said to be given to Jewish practices, would have put by the Sicilians, and undertaken the prosecution of Verres himself, Cicero asked, "What has a Jew to do with swine?" verres being the Roman word for a boar." -Dryden Translation [5]
The Romans may have considered all Christians to be Judaizers. According to Suetonius, during the reign of Domitian (81-96):
- "Besides other taxes, that on the Jews [A tax of two drachmas a head, imposed by Titus in return for free permission to practice their religion; see Josephus, Bell. Jud. 7.6.6] was levied with the utmost rigor, and those were prosecuted who, without publicly acknowledging that faith, yet lived as Jews, as well as those who concealed their origin and did not pay the tribute levied upon their people [These may have been Christians, whom the Romans commonly assumed were Jews]. I recall being present in my youth when the person of a man ninety years old was examined before the procurator and a very crowded court, to see whether he was circumcised." -Suetonius on Domitian 12.2, Rolfe Translation [6]
It occurs once in the Apostolic Fathers collection, in Ignatius' Letter to the Magnesians 10:3 written around the year 100:
- "It is absurd to profess Christ Jesus, and to Judaize. For Christianity did not embrace Judaism, but Judaism Christianity, that so every tongue which believeth might be gathered together to God." -Roberts Translation [7]
It occurs once in the Acts of Pilate, chapter 2, roughly dated from 150 to 400:
- "And Pilate, summoning the Jews, says to them: You know that my wife is a worshipper of God, and prefers to adhere to the Jewish religion along with you. ... Annas and Caiaphas say to Pilate: All the multitude of us cry out that he [Jesus] was born of fornication, and are not believed; these [who disagree] are proselytes, and his disciples. And Pilate, calling Annas and Caiaphas, says to them: What are proselytes? They say to him: They are by birth children of the Greeks, and have now become Jews." -Roberts Translation [8]
The Synod of Elvira [9] of around 306 prohibited Christians from even associating with Jews, Pagans and Heretics.
The Council of Laodicea of around 365 decreed 59 laws, #29:
- "Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ." [10]
Judaizing Teachers
The Judaizing teachers were a group of Jewish Christians who taught that converts to Christianity must first be circumcised and thus must observe the Law of Moses. This group was very active in the church of the first century CE prior to the destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in the first Roman-Jewish war. These requirements made Christianity a much less appealing religious choice to many Gentiles.
Paul saw these teachers as being both dangerous to the spread of Christianity and propagators of grievous doctrinal error. Many of his letters included in the New Testament (the so-called Pauline epistles) contain considerable material disputing the view of this group and condemning its practitioners. In 2 Corinthians 11:5 and 12:11 he called his opponents super-apostles. Paul publicly condemned Peter for his seemingly ambivalent reaction to the Judaizers, embracing them publicly in places where their concepts were popular while holding the private opinion that the teachings were erroneous.
Judaizing teachers are even more strongly condemned in the Epistle of Barnabas. (Although it did not become part of the New Testament canon, it was widely circulated among Christians in the first two centuries.) Whereas Paul acknowledged that the Law of Moses and its observance had served a good purpose up until the time of Christ, the Epistle of Barnabas condemns most Jewish practices, claiming that Jews had grossly misunderstood and misapplied the Law of Moses.
The term Judaize is also employed as a condemnatory one in some English translations of the Qur'an as voicing Muhammad's displeasure with those who converted to Judaism instead of converting to Islam.
A minority opinion held by Messianic Judaism and other Christians is that the Judaizing teachers claimed that circumcision and full obedience to the Law of Moses were required for salvation [Acts 15:1], also known as Legalism. As the Apostles argued it was not necessary for salvation, Messianic and Nazarene Judaism generally believe that it would be eventually expected, if the converts intended to become Jews (Proselyte), as the gentiles joined first and then learned what would be expected of them at some point after studying the Law of Moses.
Later effects of Judaizer controversy
The letter to the Galatians strongly influenced Martin Luther at the time of the Protestant Reformation because of its exposition of Justification by Grace.