How did Christianity arise out of the Jewish tradition in Judea?

Answer 1

Through out the Old Testament God promised a coming Messiah, not only to Israel but to the whole of mankind. Finally when the Messiah (Jesus Christ) came into the world, born as a human being to Mary at Bethlehem, Israel did not believe that He was in fact the Messiah and had Him crucified on that cross out side the walls of Jerusalem.

In Jeremiah 31:31-34, God tells about the "New Covenant" He is going to give to Israel, but that covenant has not been given as of yet to Israel.

When Israel disowned Jesus Christ as their Messiah, God set them aside and instead turned to the Gentile. Once a person accepts Jesus Christ as their Messiah (Savior) they are in all intents and purposes given that "New Covenant". We at this time are still in the "times of the Gentiles", but when Jesus returns at the Second Coming, the "times of the Gentiles" will end and God will again bring Israel into prominence and they, the remnant, will receive the "New Covenant" through belief in Jesus Christ.

Although God intended all of mankind to come into this "New Covenant" through Israel, He had to turn to the rest of mankind, by setting Israel aside, and give His redemption to the Gentiles. Christianity (Christ) is the continuation of what Israel was supposed to follow but didn't, but they will at the Second Coming of Christ when they will turn to Him as Savior.

Answer 2

The early Christians were all Jews. Jesus was a Jew. The religion of the Jews is called Judaism. Today there are different forms of Judaism. In the first century there were also different forms of Judaism. Jesus Christ, and the apostles and bible writers, often drew attention to the Hebrew Scriptures (e.g. the laws, history, teachings, prophecies etc) when developing the teachings and doctrines that are recorded in the New Testament, which forms the basis for Christianity. For more information, see 'Related Links' below the following advertsiements.

Answer 3

It did not grow from a sect of Judaism,, Jesus was born a Jew and He was also the Son of the Most High God,

He it was who started the religion of the new testament and He said, 'This is my church and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it' - This is wrong whoever wrote it. I am not quite sure what the exact answer is yet, but I know it is wrong.

Answer 4

Christians wanted to pursue a number of objectives that even early Messianic Jews wanted to reject. As a result of being unable to categorize their beliefs as Jewish, the Christians left the Jewish faith.

Below are a number of Issues that came between proto-Christians and Jews. The List is not meant to be exhaustive.

The Trinity: Jews believe in One God who has no equal and no division. The Trinity implies that God has certain attributes and certain qualities.

Divinity of Christ: Jews believe that the Messiah must be 100% Human and 0% God. God will NOT manifest as flesh in Judaism.

Authority of Peter's Church: Jews believe that the Word of Lord can only come from Jerusalem and any Church built by Men is heresy.

Rejection of Personal Restrictions: Jews do not believe that they are allowed to forgo the rules of Kashrut (what can and cannot be eaten), Shatnez (prohibition on mixing of fibers), Shabbat (taking one day of the week to do no work), and Tzedaka (righteous donations). The Jew believes that he is still required to do these particular behaviors which the Christian believes are no longer necessary.

Universal Conversion: Jews believe in a religion united by the idea of kinsmanship. Jews believe themselves to be one nation or one really large extended family. As such they keep their religion to themselves and do not believe that everyone should be exposed to it or converted to it.

Answer 5

Another perspective:

Christianity didn't arise out of Judaism.

Jesus warned His disciples against mixing the old and the new.

Mat 9:17 "Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."

However, this is what has happened among many "Christians." Judaism has been patched up and adapted among various churches and the old garment is labelled "Christianity." The result is a confusing mixture, which is neither Judaism nor Christianity but a ritualistic substitution of dead works for a trust in the living God. The new wine of free salvation has been poured into the old wineskins of legalism.

Also ,the teaching of the apostles makes it clear that Christianity is not an extension of Judaism:

Heb 10:19 "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,

Heb 10:20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh."

Answer 6

Based on Paul's epistles, it seems more likely that Christianity did arise in Judea, but the gospels say it arose in Galilee, where Jesus preached.

If we accept the gospels to be almost literally true, there is no more to be said. Jesus preached throughout Galilee, was crucified in Judea and sent his apostles around the world to spread his message. This view is increasingly under doubt.

Some scholars say that there seems to have been two different traditions at the beginning of Christianity, which Burton L. Mack (Who Wrote the New Testament) calls the Christ cult and the Jesus movement. Early material from the Christ cult is available to us from the letters of Paul, even though the letters are clearly Paul's own compositions. Paul incorporated in his letters, not only the ideas he had got from these Christians, but also fragments from their literary production. In Mack's view, the 'Q' document, an important source of sayings material attributed to Jesus, and the Gospel of Thomas are productions of the Jesus movement. Mack sees the Christ cult as a movement away from the Jesus movement, developing the notion of Jesus as divine and focussing on his crucifixion and resurrection. It was to take many decades, but the two movements would once again merge, into a single new religion.

Paul is often seen as the single most important person in the spread of early Christianity. In fact, there is a good argument for saying that a far more influential person was the anonymous author of Mark's Gospel. This was the first New Testament gospel to be written and it has been established that it was the principal source, directly (Matthew and Luke) or indirectly (John) for the other gospels. This alone makes Mark's Gospel the most important book in the entire Bible.

Mark's Gospel was written around 70 CE, after Paul's epistles, and there is evidence of some reliance on the epistles for passages in the gospel. With the discovery of a framework parallel structure to Mark, we can now see the extent to which Mark's Gospel was a literary creation, rather than a literal history of Jesus:

A . John explains the coming of Jesus (Mark 1:1-8)

B .The baptism of Jesus (1:9)

C . The voice of God from heaven, "Thou art my beloved son" (1:11)

D . The forty days in the wilderness as an allusion to Elijah and Moses (1:13)

E . The people were astonished at what Jesus taught (1:22)

F . Jesus casts out an unclean spirit (1:23-26)

G . Pharisees took counsel with the Herodians how they might destroy Jesus (3:6)

H . Demons, whenever they see Jesus, fall down and say that he is the Son of God.

-- Jesus commands that they tell no one of this (3:11-12)

I .. Jesus calls the 12 disciples (3:13-19)

J .. Jesus rejects his own family: he has a new family, his followers (3:31-35)

K . Jesus rebukes the wind (4:36-41)

L . The demoniac, wearing no clothes (5:15), cries out that Jesus not torment him and Jesus sends out the demons (5:1-20)

M . Jesus comes into his own country (6:1)
-- Where he was brought up

N . The people misunderstand Jesus and he can do no mighty work (6:2-6)

O . Jesus sends out the disciples and curses those who will not receive them (6:7-11)
-- in sending the disciples with authority and expecting all to receive them, Jesus is asserting his own authority

P . Herod thinks that Jesus is John the Baptist risen from the dead (6:14)

Q . Herodias and her daughter conspire to kill John the Baptist (6:16-29)

R . Feeding the thousands, and related miracles and discourses (6:33-8:21)

S . Who do people say that I am (8:27)

T . Peter affirms faith in Jesus as the Christ (8:29)

U . Whosoever shall be ashamed of me: of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed (8:38)

V . The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and scribes (8:31a)

W . Be killed and after three days rise again (8:31b)

X . Prophecy of second coming (9:1)- Jesus tells the disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God coming with power.

B' .The Transfiguration of Jesus (9:2-3)

C' .The voice of God from heaven, "This is my beloved son" (9:7)

D' . Jesus talks to Elijah and Moses then to the disciples about Elijah (9:4-13)

E' .A great multitude was amazed at Jesus (9:15)

F' .Jesus cast out a dumb spirit (9:17-27)

G' .They shall kill the Son of man and he shall rise on the third day (9:31)

H' .Jesus clarifies his divine status, saying that he is not God: "Why call me good? There is none good but God" (10:18)

I' . Peter says the disciples have left all and followed Jesus (10:28)

J' . Those who have left their family for Jesus have a new family: all Jesus' followers (10:29-30)

K'. Jesus rebukes the 'sons of thunder', James and John (10:35-45 - cf 3:17)

L' .Blind Bartimaeus cries out for mercy and casts off his clothes, then Jesus heals him (10:46-52)

M' .Jesus comes into Jerusalem (11:1-10)
-- Where he will die

N' .Jesus misunderstands the fig tree that can provide no fruit (11:13-14)

O' .Jesus casts out them that sold and bought in the Temple and curses them for making the Temple a den of thieves (11:15-17)
-- Jesus is asserting his authority

P' .Jesus asks whether the baptism of John is from heaven or of men, and the priests, scribes and elders can not answer (11:30-33)

Q' .Parable of husbandmen who conspire to kill the vineyard owner's son (12:1-9)

X' .Prophecy of second coming (chapter 13)

-- on clouds of glory, within the lifetimes of some of those to whom he was speaking

R' .The Last Supper (14:17-25)

S' .Art thou the Christ, Son of God (14:61)

T' .Peter denies Jesus three times (14:66-72a)

U' .And when he thought thereon, Peter wept (14:72b)

V' .The chief priests, elders and scribes delivered Jesus to Pontius Pilate (15:1)

-- Delivering Jesus is a similar concept to rejecting him.
-- Both parts of the pair involve chief priests, elders and scribes

W' .Jesus dies and on the third day rises again (15:37, 16:6)

A' .The young man explains the departure of Jesus(16:6-8)

With its carefully matching pairs, this is just too artificial to be a true account in its entirety, but it does shed light on the evolution of early Christianity.

Answer 7

In the view of scholars such as John Dominic Crossan (as expressed in The Birth of Christianity), it is not really accurate to say that Christianity broke away from Judaism. It is more accurate to say that, out of that matrix of biblical Judaism and that maelstrom of late Second-Temple Judaism, two great traditions eventually emerged: Christianity and rabbinic Judaism. Each claimed exclusive continuity with the past, but each was as great a leap and as valid a development from that common ancestry as was the other. Rabbinic Judaism was more successful in attracting Jewish followers, but Christianity succeeded by pursuing gentile converts.

It seems that at one stage there were two very early and separate traditions - a sayings tradition that knew nothing of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, and a 'death and destiny' tradition that knew of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus but nothing of his teachings. Burton L. Mack (Who Wrote the New Testament) calls these the Jesus Movement and the Christ Cult, respectively. It was the merging of these traditions that eventually led to what we now know as Christianity.

Answer 8

The earliest followers of the Christ were Jews. That is the only connection between Judaism and Christianity.