I recently bought a copy of Cradle of Christianity, published by the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. It is an exhibition of artifacts from the time of Christ, in and around the time when the new religion of Christianity was dawning. In it, they discuss how early Christians who believed in Jewish rites and Law were called Judeo-Christians, members of the “church from the circumcision”, and those who had no connection with Judaism were called members of the “church from the Gentiles”.
Initially, the majority of the members of the new faith in Palestine were Judeo-Christians, who believed (in opposition to Paul) that affiliation with the Jewish religion and observance of the commandments were prerequisites for Christian faith….In hellenized cities, of course, uncircumcised Christians formed the majority. ~Cradle of Christianity p. 32
It occurred to me that if I am a Jewish-Christian, then my contemporary Christian brethren who do not believe in the Law, but only the concept of Jesus, should then be called Pagan-Christians, as their doctrine originally extends from the foundation of the Gentiles, who largely practiced pagan worship and were considered pagans. The term for bypassing the foundation of our religion is “antinomian”, meaning in the Greek, anti law [nomos]. The earliest leaders put forth antinomian law at the Jerusalem Council when they voted that gentile Christians did not need to adhere to the Mosaic Law, only the Noahide Law, which basically means instead of following all God’s commandments, they were allowed to bypass them and follow a watered-down version for the new religion of Christianity [see more about this in my pending post on antinomianism and legalism]. If you think about it, the Roman influence is strong in modern Christianity, and Roman ways were gentile, or pagan, ways. Much of how Christians express their Christianity is tied to pagan practices, even if the worshiper is unaware of this, down to the times of year and religious celebrations.
I think we should all just be called Christians, but for me being a Christian means adhering to God in all the ways he commands us in the Torah. This means loving Him and listening to His Living Word and Holy Spirit every day. It requires obeying His Law given to us by His Prophets. And it means having faith in Him and loving our neighbor as ourselves, as Jesus taught, and honoring Jesus’ role as the everlasting sacrificial lamb of God.
Being a Christian is not just about holding dear the concept of Jesus, no matter how much I aspire to be like Jesus on a daily basis. Being Christian is holding dear our Hebrew roots, no matter what our ethnicity is, because all who are born again unto God are His Children and His Chosen Ones. We cannot ignore our foundation and the patriarchs of our religion. We must pay them homage by daily meditation and recitation and prayer and obedience, to all God’s Laws, statutes, and commandments as He demanded from the very beginning.
~Song of Mary~ 