Continuing our discussion about the Ebionites / Nazarenes, the people Paul considered the “saints in Jerusalem”; the original apostles who knew Jesus, his teachings and what he envisioned for the future.
The existence of this group is supported by Paul himself in his “Letters” and also by the “Acts of the Apostles” a New Testament book thought to be written by the same author who wrote the Gospel according to Luke.
We also have more on this group from non-biblical sources. These sources are Church authors such as Justin Martyr, Iranaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Origen, Epiphanius and Jerome who wrote in the fourth century.
These Christian writers, historians and apologists often quoted from the Gospel of the Nazareans and the Gospel according to the Hebrews and that is how we can reconstruct portions of these Gospels even though no original manuscripts survive. The common thread between these authors is a confirmation that the Ebionites opposed Paul as a false prophet.
To the Ebionites (apostles), Jesus was a human born of a human (no virgin birth and no divinity). They did believe that he was a prophet and the next messiah that would deliver Israel from its oppressors and bring peace and justice to the whole world. They were strict Jewish monotheists where only one god is possible and not three in one as the Catholic Church teaches (Trinity).
What happened to these original Christian Jews with the only direct link to the actual Jesus of Nazareth?
Well, they got the whammy from both sides. The Jewish community (Pharisees) gave them the benefit of a doubt at the outset. They waited to see if what they said was going to happen. In 135 C.E. the Jewish Pharisee rabbis declared the Ebionites heretics of the Jewish faith. Obviously Jesus did not appear as a messiah so he was a “failed messiah” just like so many before him. And as far as his prophetic powers, well he must have been delusional, like so many before him. The new Kingdom of Heaven did not materialize.
The Roman Catholics (Pauline Christians) also called them heretics because they stuck to their Judaism when Christians were now anti-Semites and they did not tow the orthodox Christian line of believing that Jesus was the son of god, a god himself and also part of a trinity; all one god.
Ironically, Paul was also preaching that the end was near and a new world order will be here soon but as life went on and his predictions were not coming true, he and his followers just altered their story somewhat while the poor Ebionites waited and waited till there was no one left to wait anymore.
My point - Jesus was a Jew, wanted to reform Judaism, believed he was the messiah and was crucified and buried. His followers kept the faith in his return for as long as they could and then vanished. But under no circumstances did he start a new religion, especially a religion that would despise and murder his own people.
The Roman Catholic Church cannot trace its roots to Jesus through Peter because Peter opposed Paul saying Paul knew nothing about the true teachings of Jesus since he never met him in the flesh and bases his ideas of Jesus on delusive visions.
So how has the Church kept the delusion(s) going? Well that is another story we will explore.
The existence of this group is supported by Paul himself in his “Letters” and also by the “Acts of the Apostles” a New Testament book thought to be written by the same author who wrote the Gospel according to Luke.
We also have more on this group from non-biblical sources. These sources are Church authors such as Justin Martyr, Iranaeus, Hippolytus, Tertullian, Origen, Epiphanius and Jerome who wrote in the fourth century.
These Christian writers, historians and apologists often quoted from the Gospel of the Nazareans and the Gospel according to the Hebrews and that is how we can reconstruct portions of these Gospels even though no original manuscripts survive. The common thread between these authors is a confirmation that the Ebionites opposed Paul as a false prophet.
To the Ebionites (apostles), Jesus was a human born of a human (no virgin birth and no divinity). They did believe that he was a prophet and the next messiah that would deliver Israel from its oppressors and bring peace and justice to the whole world. They were strict Jewish monotheists where only one god is possible and not three in one as the Catholic Church teaches (Trinity).
What happened to these original Christian Jews with the only direct link to the actual Jesus of Nazareth?
Well, they got the whammy from both sides. The Jewish community (Pharisees) gave them the benefit of a doubt at the outset. They waited to see if what they said was going to happen. In 135 C.E. the Jewish Pharisee rabbis declared the Ebionites heretics of the Jewish faith. Obviously Jesus did not appear as a messiah so he was a “failed messiah” just like so many before him. And as far as his prophetic powers, well he must have been delusional, like so many before him. The new Kingdom of Heaven did not materialize.
The Roman Catholics (Pauline Christians) also called them heretics because they stuck to their Judaism when Christians were now anti-Semites and they did not tow the orthodox Christian line of believing that Jesus was the son of god, a god himself and also part of a trinity; all one god.
Ironically, Paul was also preaching that the end was near and a new world order will be here soon but as life went on and his predictions were not coming true, he and his followers just altered their story somewhat while the poor Ebionites waited and waited till there was no one left to wait anymore.
My point - Jesus was a Jew, wanted to reform Judaism, believed he was the messiah and was crucified and buried. His followers kept the faith in his return for as long as they could and then vanished. But under no circumstances did he start a new religion, especially a religion that would despise and murder his own people.
The Roman Catholic Church cannot trace its roots to Jesus through Peter because Peter opposed Paul saying Paul knew nothing about the true teachings of Jesus since he never met him in the flesh and bases his ideas of Jesus on delusive visions.
So how has the Church kept the delusion(s) going? Well that is another story we will explore.
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