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Christianity Comes to Life

     Thus the Torah prohibits participation in the Christian religion. So who created the Christian religion and when and why did they do it? In order to answer this question we must return to the issue of the original Gentile Christians of Antioch. As early as the first century, many of the gentile assemblies were already having problems with the anti-nomian ( no Torah) heresy. Now the first Gentile Assembly was at Antioch in Syria (Acts 11:19-26) it was here that Gentile Messianic Believers were first called “Christians”. After the assembly was established, Bar Nabba (Barnabas) was sent from Jerusalem to the assembly. Bar Nabba seems to have felt that he needed help because he went to Tarsus to get Paul and bring him back to Antioch with him. Antioch became the initial center of the Gentile Messianic movement and became a sort of “home base” from which Paul launched his voyages to take the message to the nations (Acts 14:21-28). Early on there was a debate raised at Antioch over whether or not a gentile had to become circumcised to be saved, (Acts 15:1) which escalated to an issue brought before the Beit-Din in Jerusalem (Acts 15) and the sending of a letter to Antioch setting basic essential standards for gentiles “just coming to the faith”. The Beit-Din knew they would learn the rest of Torah as they attended the synagogue.

      To try to require of them to know everything right away would have been way beyond these new converts capabilities. Now even in his own era Paul’s teachings were being twisted and misinterpreted. Kefa (Peter) writes of Paul that in his letters he speaks of things “in which are some things hard to understand, which those who are untaught and unstable twist to their own destruction” (2Pt. 3:15-16). Paul himself speaks of “slanderous reports” that “some affirm that we say,” that we may “do evil” and “sin” because “we are not under Torah but under grace”. (Rom. 3:8; 6:1-2, 15). When he returned to Jerusalem in Acts 21 he was informed that the Jews of Jerusalem had been “informed about” him that he was teaching “the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses” and that “they ought not to circumcise their children nor to walk according to the customs.” (Acts 21:20-21). No doubt these slanderous reports, mis-information and twistings of Paul’s teachings were coming largely out of Antioch, his home base. From the very beginning there were unstable individuals at Antioch twisting Paul’s teaching into anti-nomianism (anti-Torah),. Paul also said to the Ephesians on his last visit to them: I know that after I am gone fierce wolves will enter in among you without mercy upon the flock. And also from among you there will rise up men speaking perverse things, so that they might turn away the talmidim to follow after them. (Acts 20:29-30) Paul seems to indicate that after his death leaders would begin to rise up in his stead that would draw people to follow themselves and draw them away from Torah. Perhaps some of the very men who had twisted Paul’s teaching into anti-nomianism would one day become the leadership.

       In fact Paul died in 66 C.E. and the first overseer (Bishop) of Antioch to take office after his death was Ignatius in 98 C.E. Ignatius fulfilled Paul’s words precisely. Upon taking the office of Bishop over Antioch, Ignatius sent out a series of epistles to other assemblies. His letters to the Ephesians, Magnesians, Trallianns, Romans, Philadelphians and Smyrnaeans as well as a personal letter to Polycarp overseer of Smyrnaea have survived to us. In these letters Ignatius asserts the absolute authority of the office of “bishop” (his own office) over the assembly. Ignatius writes: …being subject to your bishop… …run together according to the will of God. Yeshua… is sent by the will of the Father; As the bishops… are by the will of Yeshua the Christ. (Eph. 1:9, 11) …your bishop…I think you happy who are so joined to him, as the church is to Yeshua and Yeshua is to the Father… Let us take heed therefore, that we not set ourselves against the bishop, that we may be subject to God…. We ought to look upon the bishop, even as we would upon the Lord himself. (Eph. 2:1-4) …obey your bishop… (Mag. 1:7) Your bishop presiding in the place of God… …be you united to your bishop… (Mag. 2:5, 7) …he… that does anything without the bishop… is not pure in his conscience… (Tral. 2:5) …Do nothing without the bishop. (Phil. 2:14) See that you all follow your bishop, As Yeshua, the Father… (Smy. 3:1) By exalting the power of the office of bishop (overseer) and demanding the absolute authority of the bishop over the local assembly, Ignatius was actually making a power grab by thus taking absolute authority over the assembly at Antioch and encouraging other Gentile overseers to follow suite.

       In the past such disputes were resolved by the Nazarene Sanhedrin of the Nazarene assembly in Jerusalem. Moreover Ignatius drew men away from Torah, not only at Antioch but at other Gentile assemblies to which he wrote: Be not deceived with strange doctrines; nor with old fables which are unprofitable. For if we still continue to live according to the Jewish Law, we do confess ourselves not to have received grace… But if any one shall preach the Jewish law unto you, hearken not unto him… (Phil. 2:6) Most importantly Ignatius knew that this official move to make local Gentile bishops the final authority of each Gentile Christian Assembly and to renounce the Torah effectively, created a new “Christian religion” which he termed “Christianity” which was separate from Judaism as a “new” and “different religion”. let us learn to live according to the rules of Christianity, for whosoever is called by any other name besides this, he is not of God…. It is absurd to name Yeshua the Christ, and to Judaize. For the Christian religion did not embrace the Jewish. But the Jewish the Christian… (Mag. 3:1, 8, 11) Now Paul’s prophecy was being fulfilled. Gentile leaders were causing men to follow after themselves and drawing people away from Torah, and it was springing forth from the first Gentile assembly. The result was the birth of a ‘new Gentile religion’ that had effectively rebelled against Torah based Judaism, a religion known as “CHRISTIANITY”.