Unity Church of Tucson

by Mary Ellen Swartz

Initially a sect of Judaism, Christianity first organized itself in Jerusalem. However, although Jewish Christianity was dominant at first, within 20 years it had moved out into the Gentile (non-Jewish) world.” (Encyclopedia of New Religions)

The Early Christians were not one group with one set of beliefs but several groups with many different beliefs. “We know of Christian groups taking stands on Judaism that were at polar ends of the spectrum, some groups insisting that the Jewish Law was to be followed for salvation and others insisting that the Jewish Law could not be followed if one wanted salvation. All of these groups claimed to be representing the view of Jesus himself.” (Lost Christianities)

One example is the Ebionites. What is known about the Ebionite movement is that it was an early Jewish Christian sect. There are some who would distinguish them from the other Jewish Christian groups. There are others who say the term Ebionite was the common term used before the term “Christian” was popularized and is not used for a single group but rather for any group who was adhering to Jesus’ teachings as well as Jewish Law. Some link their origin with the time of the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and would say that prior to that they were a part of the Jerusalem church led by Peter and Jesus’ brother James. Others would say they were always faithful to the authentic teachings of Jesus but that it was the Paulinists or the followers of the Apostle Paul who were responsible for marginalizing them. One thing most agree upon is that the Ebionites did not accept any of the writings of Paul and for them Paul was the heretic who led many people astray from the true teachings of Jesus.

Much of what has been written about the Ebionites is found in the writings of the Catholic Church Fathers. In those writings the Ebionites are described as heretical Judaizers, in other words, though they accepted the teachings of Jesus, they continued to follow Mosaic Law. They believed that Jesus was a Jewish Messiah who was sent to the Jewish people in fulfillment of the Jewish Scriptures. They believed Jesus was the son of God, not because of his divine nature or virgin birth, but because he was a human being like they were, only he was one who kept God’s law perfectly. One Church Father criticized the Ebionites, saying that they departed from some traditional Jewish principles and that they practiced excessive ritual bathing as well as having accepted an angelology which had the Christ as a great archangel which was incarnated in Jesus.

Some scholars say that the Ebionites survived much longer than the Roman Catholic Church writings would indicate and to support this view they include some 11thcentury references to surviving Ebionite communities in northwestern Arabia as well as those of a 12th century Muslim historian who wrote about Jewish Christians living in Medina and Hejaz. Some have even gone so far as to suggest that the Islamic view of Jesus might be due to the influence of the Ebionites on the early Muslims.

According to some, the mainstream Jewish view of the Ebionites is that they were Jewish heretics because they refused to see Jesus as a failed Messiah claimant and also they wanted to include their gospel into the Hebrew Bible. (To be continued.)