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107-543: Jewish Christians drifted apart from mainstream Judaism. Their form of Judaism eventually became a minority strand within Judaism, and it had almost disappeared by the fifth century. Jewish–Christian gospels are lost except for fragments, so there is a considerable amount of uncertainty about the scriptures which were used by this group of Christians. While previous scholarship viewed the First Jewish–Roman War and

214-654: A Second Temple period messianic Jewish religious movement . In Jewish eschatology, the term Messiah refers specifically to a future Jewish king from the Davidic line , who is expected to save the Jewish nation and will be anointed with holy anointing oil and rule the Jewish people during the Messianic Age . The Messiah is often referred to as King Messiah. In a generalized sense, messiah has "the connotation of

321-477: A concept of multiple messiahs. The two most relevant are the Messiah ben Joseph and the traditional Messiah ben David. Some scholars have argued that the idea of two messiahs, one suffering and the second fulfilling the traditional messianic role, was normative to ancient Judaism, predating Jesus. Jesus would have been viewed by many as one or both. Jewish messianism has its root in the apocalyptic literature of

428-520: A long discussion of the events leading to the coming of the Messiah. The Talmud tells many stories about the Messiah, some of which represent famous Talmudic rabbis as receiving personal visitations from Elijah the Prophet and the Messiah. There are innumerable references to the Messiah in Midrashic literature, where they often stretch the meaning of biblical verses. One such reference is found in

535-432: A matter of "inference" both a bodily resurrection and later bodily appearances of Jesus are far better explanations for the empty tomb and the 'meetings' and the rise of Christianity than are any other theories. Rejecting the visionary theories, Wright notes that visions of the dead were always associated with spirits and ghosts, and never with bodily resurrection. Thus, Wright argues, a mere vision of Jesus would never lead to

642-560: A messianic Jewish sect. Most of Jesus's teachings were intelligible and acceptable in terms of Second Temple Judaism; what set the followers of Jesus apart from other Jews was their faith in Jesus as the resurrected messiah. While ancient Judaism acknowledged multiple messiahs, the two most relevant being ben Joseph and ben David, Christianity acknowledges only one ultimate Messiah. According to Larry Hurtado, "the christology and devotional stance that Paul affirmed (and shared with others in

749-400: A military leader as a Messiah, such as Bar Kokhba . Psalm 2 was another source of Jewish messianism, which was prompted by Pompey 's conquest of Jerusalem in 63 BCE . Early Christians cited this chapter to claim that Jesus was the messiah and the son of god and negate Caesar 's claim to the latter. According to Christian denominations, the bodily resurrection of Jesus after his death

856-544: A minority of commentators, the Christian vision of Jesus' death for the redemption of mankind was only possible in a Hellenised milieu. During the early first century AD, there were many competing Jewish sects in the Holy Land and those that became Rabbinic Judaism and Proto-orthodox Christianity were but two of these. There were Pharisees , Sadducees , and Zealots , but also other less influential sects, including

963-485: A new Jewish sect , one that attracted both Jewish and gentile converts . The self-perception, beliefs, customs, and traditions of the Jewish followers of Jesus, Jesus's disciples and first followers, were grounded in first-century Judaism. According to New Testament scholar Bart D. Ehrman , a number of early Christianities existed in the first century AD, from which developed various Christian traditions and denominations, including proto-orthodoxy , Marcionites, Gnostics and

1070-545: A new age of peace and rejoicing." He is described as an angelic being, who "was chosen and hidden with God before the world was created, and will remain in His presence forevermore." He is the embodiment of justice and wisdom, seated on a throne in Heaven, who will be revealed to the world at the end of times, when he will judge all beings. Some scholars contend that Enoch was influential in molding New Testament doctrines about

1177-439: A savior or redeemer who would appear at the end of days and usher in the kingdom of God, the restoration of Israel, or whatever dispensation was considered to be the ideal state of the world." Messianism "denotes a movement, or a system of beliefs and ideas, centered on the expectation of the advent of a messiah." Orthodox views hold that the Messiah will be descended from the Davidic line through his father, and will gather

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1284-633: Is anachronistic because messianism developed later than these texts. According to James C. VanderKam, there are no Jewish texts before the 2nd century BCE that mention a messianic leader, though some terms point in this direction. Some terms, such as the servant songs in the Book of Isaiah , were later interpreted as such. According to Werblowsky] the brutal regime of the Hellenistic Seleucid emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes (r. 175–163 BCE) led to renewed messianic expectations reflected in

1391-516: Is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. According to Dunn, the background of this hymn has been strongly debated. Some see it as influenced by a Greek worldview while others have argued for Jewish influences. According to Dunn, the hymn contains a contrast with the sins of Adam and his disobedience. Dunn further notes that the hymn may be seen as a three-stage Christology, starting with "an earlier stage of mythic pre-history or pre-existence," but regards

1498-537: Is commonly traced to Jewish beliefs, a view against which Stanley E. Porter objected. According to Porter, Jewish and subsequent Christian thought were influenced by Greek thoughts, where "assumptions regarding resurrection" can be found, which were probably adopted by Paul. According to Ehrman, most of the alleged parallels between Jesus and the pagan savior-gods only exist in the modern imagination, and there are no "accounts of others who were born to virgin mothers and who died as an atonement for sin and then were raised from

1605-414: Is expected to be anointed with holy anointing oil and rule the Jewish people during the Messianic Age and world to come . The Messiah is often referred to as "King Messiah" ( Hebrew : מלך משיח , romanized :  melekh mashiach , Jewish Babylonian Aramaic : מַלכָא (הוּא) מְשִיחָא , romanized:  malkā (hu) mšiḥā ). Jewish messianism gave birth to Christianity , which started as

1712-731: Is known from fragments preserved chiefly by Clement, Origen and Jerome, and shows a high regard for James, the brother of Jesus and head of the Jewish Christian church in Jerusalem. The Gospel of the Nazarenes (a modern scholarly name) has been deduced from references in Jerome and Origen. It seems to have much in common with the canonical Gospel of Matthew , and would have been written in Palestinian Aramaic in

1819-867: Is narrated by the twelve apostles . It began with the Baptism of Jesus (presumably because the Ebionites denied the Virgin Birth ) and included a narrative of the Last Supper . It is thought to have been a gospel harmony based on the Synoptic Gospels composed in Greek in the first half of the 2nd century, and it possibly originated in the Transjordan region (the home of the Ebionites). It

1926-400: Is nevertheless not derived from pagan sources, and Hengel rejects the idea of influence from "Hellenistic mystery cults or a Gnostic redeemer myth". According to Margaret Baker, Christian trinitarian theology derived from pre-Christian Palestinian beliefs about angels. These beliefs revolved around the idea that there was a High God and several Sons of God , one of which was Yahweh . Yahweh

2033-617: Is not the Messiah for them. Traditional views of Jesus have been mostly negative (see Toledot Yeshu , an account that portrays Jesus as an impostor), although in the Middle Ages, Judah Halevi and Maimonides viewed Jesus as an important preparatory figure for a future universal ethical monotheism of the Messianic Age. Some modern Jewish thinkers, starting in the 18th century with the Orthodox Jacob Emden and

2140-461: Is not the Messiah, as is claimed by Christians . Maimonides, citing a reference in the Talmud ( Sanhedrin 91b), says: "There is no difference between this world and the days of the Messiah, excepting only the subjugation of kingdoms." Following the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492, many Spanish rabbis such as Abraham ben Eliezer Halevi believed that the year 1524 would be the beginning of

2247-633: Is probably the same as the lost Gospel of the Twelve , or Gospel of the Apostles, referred to by Origen and Jerome, respectively. The Gospel of the Hebrews presented traditions of Christ's pre-existence, coming into the world, baptism and temptation, with some of his sayings. It was probably composed in Greek in the first half of the 2nd century and used among Greek-speaking Jewish Christians in Egypt. It

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2354-426: Is the first to do so. After that time, only some apocalypses and some texts which are not apocalypses but do contain apocalyptic or eschatological teachings refer to a messianic leader. According to VanderKam, the lack of messianic allusions may be explained by the fact that Judea was governed for centuries by foreign powers, often without great problems or a negative stance by Jews toward these gentile powers. In

2461-596: Is the pivotal event of Jesus' life and death, as described in the gospels and the epistles. According to the gospels, Jesus preached for a period of one to three years in the early 1st century. His ministry of teaching, healing the sick and disabled and performing various miracles , culminated in his crucifixion at the hands of the Roman authorities in Jerusalem. After his death, he appeared to his followers, resurrected from death. After forty days he ascended to Heaven, but his followers believed he would soon return to usher in

2568-653: The Book of Daniel . His rule was ended by the Maccabean Revolt (167–160 BCE), and the installment of the Hasmonean dynasty (167–37 BCE). The Maccabees ruled Judea semi-independently from the Seleucid Empire from 167–110 BCE, entirely independently from 110–63 BCE, and as a Roman client state from 63–37 BCE, when Herod the Great came to power. The belief in a messianic leader further developed with

2675-550: The Central Conference of American Rabbis , the official body of American Reform rabbis, authored "A Statement of Principles for Reform Judaism", meant to describe and define the spiritual state of modern Reform Judaism. Karaite Judaism holds to Elijah Bashyazi and Caleb Afendopolo 's 10 principles of Karaite belief, with the tenth one being about the Messiah: God does not despise those living in exile; on

2782-672: The Christ , the son of man , the messianic kingdom , Christian demonology , the universal resurrection , and Christian eschatology . VanderKam further notes that a variety of titles are being used for the Messiah(s) in the Dead Sea Scrolls : Messianic allusions to some figures include to Menahem ben Hezekiah who traditionally was born on the same day that the Second Temple was destroyed. Christianity started as

2889-530: The Cynic philosopher, the Jewish Messiah, and the prophet of social change, but there are overlapping attributes among the various portraits, and scholars who differ on some attributes may agree on others. For instance, both EP Sanders and Maurice Casey agree that Jesus was also a charismatic healer in addition to an apocalyptic prophet. Most historians agree that Jesus or his followers established

2996-566: The Essenes . The first century BC and first century AD saw a growing number of charismatic religious leaders contributing to what would become the Mishnah of Rabbinic Judaism ; the ministry of Jesus would lead to the emergence of the first Jewish Christian community. The gospels contain strong condemnations of the Pharisees, though there is a clear influence of Hillel 's interpretation of

3103-588: The Hebrew Bible a messiah is a king or High Priest of Israel traditionally anointed with holy anointing oil . However, messiahs were not exclusively Jewish, as the Hebrew Bible refers to Cyrus the Great , an Achaemenid emperor , as a messiah for his decree to rebuild the Jerusalem Temple . In Jewish eschatology, the Messiah is a future Jewish king from the Davidic line , who

3210-515: The Kingdom of God and fulfill the rest of Messianic prophecy such as the resurrection of the dead and the Last Judgment . Proponents of higher criticism claim that regardless of how one interprets the mission of Jesus , he must be understood in context as a 1st-century Middle Eastern Jew. There is widespread disagreement among scholars on the details of the life of Jesus mentioned in

3317-474: The Midrash HaGadol (on Genesis 36:39) where Abba bar Kahana says: "What is meant by, 'In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as an ensign for the peoples, of him shall the nations inquire, and his rest shall be glorious' (Isaiah 11:10) ? It means that when the banner of the anointed king shall be lifted-up, all the masts of ships belonging to the nations of the world shall be broken, while all

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3424-595: The New Testament church and the second and following centuries . Christianity arose as a Pharisaic movement within the syncretistic Hellenistic world of the first century AD, which was dominated by Roman law and Greek culture. Hellenistic culture had a profound impact on the customs and practices of Jews, both in the Land of Israel and in the Diaspora . The inroads into Judaism gave rise to Hellenistic Judaism in

3531-463: The Promised Land : I believe with full faith in the coming of the Messiah. And even though he tarries, with all that, I await his arrival with every day. Hasidic Jews tend to have a particularly strong and passionate belief in the immediacy of the Messiah's coming, and in the ability of their actions to hasten his arrival. Because of the supposed piety, wisdom, and leadership abilities of

3638-659: The Second Temple period , hopes for a better future are described in the Jewish scriptures. After the return from the Babylonian exile, the Persian king Cyrus the Great was called "messiah" in Isaiah, due to his role in the return of the Jewish exiles. Some messianic ideas developed during the later Second Temple period, ranging from this-worldly, political expectations to apocalyptic expectations of an end time in which

3745-459: The Torah and observance of Jewish holy days . According to Larry Hurtado , "the christology and devotional stance that Paul affirmed (and shared with others in the early Jesus-movement) was… a distinctive expression within a variegated body of Jewish messianic hopes." According to Dunn, Paul presents, in his epistles , a Hellenised Christianity. According to Ehrman, "Paul's message, in a nutshell,

3852-509: The Torah in the Gospel sayings. Belief in the resurrection of the dead in the messianic age was a core Pharisaic doctrine. Most of Jesus's teachings were intelligible and acceptable in terms of Second Temple Judaism; what set Christians apart from Jews was their faith in Christ as the resurrected messiah. While Christianity acknowledges only one ultimate Messiah, Judaism can be said to hold to

3959-711: The Yeshivas Chofetz Chaim (RSA) in New York and that of the Rabbinical Council of America . Emet Ve-Emunah , the Conservative movement's statement of principles, states the following: Since no one can say for certain what will happen "in the days to come" each of us is free to fashion personal speculative visions ... Though some of us accept these speculations as literally true, many of us understand them as elaborate metaphors ... For

4066-564: The apocalyptic literature of the 2nd century BC to 1st century BC, promising a future "anointed" leader or messiah to restore the Israelite " Kingdom of God ", in place of the foreign rulers of the time. This corresponded with the Maccabean Revolt directed against the Seleucid Empire . Following the fall of the Hasmonean kingdom, it was directed against the Roman administration of Judea Province , which, according to Josephus , began with

4173-466: The confession of Jesus as Christ with continued observance of the Torah and adherence to Jewish traditions such as Sabbath observance , Jewish calendar , Jewish laws and customs , circumcision , kosher diet and synagogue attendance, and by a direct genetic relationship to the earliest followers of Jesus. The Jerusalem Church was an early Christian community located in Jerusalem, of which James

4280-546: The destruction of the Second Temple in AD 70 as the main events, more recent scholarship tends to argue that the Bar Kochba Revolt was the main factor in the separation. The split was a long-term process, in which the boundaries were not clear-cut. Early Jewish Christians (i.e. the Jewish followers of Jesus) referred to themselves as followers of "The Way" ( ἡ ὁδός : hė hodós ), probably coming from John 14:6 , "I am

4387-414: The empty tomb and burial of Jesus along with the resurrection itself. While Conservative Christian scholars argue in favor of a real, concrete, material resurrection of a transformed body, secular and Liberal Christian scholars typically argue in favor of more naturalistic explanations, such as the vision theory . Other scholars such as Craig L. Blomberg argue that there are sufficient arguments for

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4494-441: The resurrection of Jesus plays a central role, may have disappeared, like the movements following other charismatic Jewish figures of the 1st century. The Book of Enoch (1 Enoch, 3rd-1st c. BCE) is a Second Temple Jewish apocalyptic religious work, ascribed by tradition to Enoch , the great-grandfather of Noah . Enoch contains a prophetic exposition of the thousand-year reign of the Messiah . The older sections (mainly in

4601-532: The strictness of adherence to the Jewish Law, the more conservative view of James the Just became more widely accepted than the more liberal position of Peter, who soon lost influence. According to Dunn, this was not an "usurpation of power," but a consequence of Peter's involvement in missionary activities. According to Eusebius ' Church History 4.5.3–4: the first 15 Christian Bishops of Jerusalem were "of

4708-538: The (living) 'King Messiah' and 'Moses of the generation', awaiting his second coming. The "Chabad-Messianic question", regarding a dead Messiah, got oppositional addresses from a halachic perspective by many prominent Orthodox authorities, including leaders from the Ashkenazi non-Hasidic Lithuanian ( Litvak ) institutions, Ponevezh yeshiva in Bnei Brak , Israel , and got vehement opposition, notably that of

4815-462: The 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE, promising a future "anointed" leader or Messiah to resurrect the Israelite " Kingdom of God ", in place of the foreign rulers of the time. According to Shaye J.D. Cohen , the fact that Jesus did not establish an independent Israel, combined with his death at the hands of the Romans, caused many Jews to reject him as the Messiah. Jews at that time were expecting

4922-545: The Book of the Watchers) of the text are estimated to date from about 300 BCE, while the latest part (Book of Parables) probably to the 1st century BCE. Enoch is the first text to contain the idea of a preexistent heavenly Messiah, called the "Son of Man". 1 Enoch, and also 4 Ezra, transform the expectation of a kingly Messiah of Daniel 7 into "an exalted, heavenly messiah whose role would be to execute judgment and to inaugurate

5029-597: The Hasidic Masters, members of Hasidic communities are sometimes inclined to regard their dynastic rebbes as potential candidates for Messiah. Many Jews (see the Bartenura's explanation on Megillat Rut , and the Halakhic responsa of The Ch'sam Sofer on Choshen Mishpat [vol. 6], Chapter 98 where this view is explicit), especially Hasidim, adhere to the belief that there is a person born each generation with

5136-461: The Jewish diaspora which sought to establish a Hebraic-Jewish religious tradition within the culture and language of Hellenism . Hellenistic Judaism spread to Ptolemaic Egypt from the 3rd century BC, and became a notable religio licita after the Roman conquest of Greece , Anatolia , Syria , Judea , and Egypt , until its decline in the 3rd century parallel to the rise of Gnosticism and Early Christianity . According to Burton Mack and

5243-572: The Jewish followers of Jesus. According to theologian James D. G. Dunn , four types of early Christianity can be discerned: Jewish Christianity, Hellenistic Christianity, Apocalyptic Christianity , and early Catholicism . The first followers of Jesus were essentially all ethnically Jewish or Jewish proselytes . Jesus was Jewish , preached to the Jewish people, and called from them his first followers. According to McGrath, Jewish Christians, as faithful religious Jews, "regarded their movement as an affirmation of every aspect of contemporary Judaism, with

5350-520: The Jewish–Christian gospels is found in Schneemelcher 's New Testament Apocrypha ; Schneemelcher, following Hans Waitz , groups the extant sayings into three lost gospels: The Gospel of the Ebionites is the name given by modern scholars to a proposed lost gospel thought to lie behind fragments quoted by Epiphanius in his Panarion . Epiphanius quotes a fragment which states the gospel

5457-572: The Jews back into the Land of Israel , usher in an era of peace, build the Third Temple , father a male heir, re-institute the Sanhedrin , and so on. However, the word Mashiach is rarely used in Jewish literature from the 1st century BCE to the 1st-century CE. The Jewish tradition of the late or early post-Second Temple period alludes to two redeemers, one suffering and the second fulfilling

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5564-511: The Just , the brother of Jesus, and Peter were leaders. Paul was in contact with this community. Legitimised by Jesus' appearance , Peter was the first leader of the Jerusalem ekklēsia . He was soon eclipsed in this leadership by James the Just, "the Brother of the Lord," which may explain why the early texts contain scarce information about Peter. According to Lüdemann, in the discussions about

5671-453: The Messiah, as it says: 'of him shall the nations inquire' (ibid.); 'and his rest shall be glorious', meaning, he gives to them satisfaction, and tranquility, and they dwell in peace and quiet." The influential Jewish philosopher Maimonides discussed the messiah in his Mishneh Torah , his 14-volume compendium of Jewish law , in the section Hilkhot Melakhim Umilchamoteihem , chapters 11 & 12. According to Maimonides, Jesus of Nazareth

5778-488: The Messianic Age and that the Messiah himself would appear in 1530–1531. Orthodox Judaism maintains the 13 Principles of Faith as formulated by Maimonides in his introduction to Chapter Helek of the Mishna Torah. Each principle starts with the words Ani Maamin (I believe). Number 12 is the main principle relating to Mashiach . Orthodox Jews strictly believe in a Messiah, life after death, and restoration of

5885-438: The Messianic Age is not yet present, the total rejection of Jesus as either messiah or deity has never been a central issue for Judaism. Judaism has never accepted any of the claimed fulfillments of prophecy that Christianity attributes to Jesus . Judaism forbids the worship of a person as a form of idolatry , since the central belief of Judaism is the absolute unity and singularity of God . Jewish eschatology holds that

5992-464: The accounts of a historical Jesus who was crucified under the Roman prefect Pontius Pilate in the 1st-century Roman province of Judea , though there is no consensus on the reliability of the Gospels. His remaining disciples later believed that he was resurrected. Five portraits of the historical Jesus are supported by mainstream scholars, namely the apocalyptic prophet , the charismatic healer,

6099-581: The addition of one extra belief – that Jesus was the Messiah." Conversely, Margaret Barker argues that early Christianity has roots in pre- Babylonian exile Israelite religion . The Expositor's Greek Testament interprets John 4:23 as being critical of Judaism and Samaritanism . John Elliott also characterizes early Christianity as an 'Israelite sect' or a 'renewal movement within Israel', where followers were called 'Galileans', 'Nazarenes' or members of 'the Way' by

6206-438: The belief that Jesus was the Messiah, and had risen from death. According to Erhman, the gospels show a development from a "low Christology" towards a "high Christology". Yet, a "high Christology" seems to have been part of Christian traditions a few years after his death, and over a decade before the writing of the Pauline epistles, which are the oldest Christian writings. According to Martin Hengel, as summarized by Jeremy Bouma,

6313-537: The belief that he would soon return and fulfill the rest of Messianic prophecy such as the resurrection of the dead and the Last Judgment . 1 Corinthians 15:3-9 gives an early testimony, which was delivered to Paul, of the atonement of Jesus and the appearances of the risen Christ to "Cephas and the twelve", and to "James [...] and all the apostles", possibly reflecting a fusion of two early Christian groups: 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to

6420-420: The beliefs and traditions of first century Judaism. Critical scholars disagree on the historicity of many biblical narratives concerning the life of Jesus. Many such narratives have been classed as legendary or constructed from earlier traditions, such as the birth stories of Jesus. A mainstream historical view is that while the gospels include many legendary elements, these are religious elaborations added to

6527-417: The canonical gospels. There are good reasons for thinking that there must have been at least two Jewish–Christian gospels, since there are two differing accounts of the baptism and good evidence that some fragments were originally in Aramaic and others in Greek. Most modern scholars have concluded that there was one Jewish–Christian gospel in Aramaic/Hebrew and at least another one in Greek. Some have argued that

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6634-402: The circumcision". The Romans destroyed the Jewish leadership in Jerusalem in year 135 during the Bar Kokhba revolt , but it is traditionally believed the Jerusalem Christians waited out the Jewish–Roman wars in Pella in the Decapolis . The Pauline epistles incorporate creeds , or confessions of faith, of a belief in an exalted Christ that predate Paul, and give essential information on

6741-427: The coming of the Messiah through increased acts of kindness. Starting in the late 1960s, the Rebbe called for his followers to become involved in outreach activities with the purpose of bringing about the Jewish Messianic Age, which led to controversy surrounding the messianic beliefs of Chabad. Some Chabad Hasidim, called mashichists , "have not yet accepted the Rebbe's passing" and even after his death regard him as

6848-412: The coming of the Messiah will be associated with a specific series of events that have not yet occurred, including the return of Jews to their homeland and the rebuilding of the Temple, a Messianic Age of peace and understanding during which "the knowledge of God" fills the earth." And since Jews believe that none of these events occurred during the lifetime of Jesus (nor have they occurred afterwards), he

6955-618: The coming of the new age, but he was somehow supposed to bring it about." The "Lord's anointed" thus became the "savior and redeemer" and the focus of more intense expectations and doctrines." Messianic ideas developed both by new interpretations ( pesher , midrash ) of the Jewish scriptures but also by visionary revelations. Religious views on whether Hebrew Bible passages refer to a Messiah may vary among scholars of ancient Israel, looking at their meaning in their original contexts and among rabbinical scholars. The reading of messianic attestations in passages from Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel

7062-548: The contrary. He desires to purify them through their sufferings and they may hope for his help every day and for redemption by Him through the Messiah of the seed of David. According to the Talmud , the Midrash , and the Zohar , the "deadline" by which the Messiah must appear is 6000 years from creation (approximately the year 2240 in the Gregorian calendar , though calculations vary). Elaborating on this theme are early and late Jewish scholars, including Nahmanides , Isaac Abarbanel , Abraham ibn Ezra , Bahya ibn Paquda ,

7169-427: The dead was at hand. These specific beliefs were compatible with Second Temple Judaism. According to N.T. Wright , "there is substantial unanimity among the early Christian writers (first and second century) that Jesus had been bodily raised from the dead," "with (as the early Christians in their different ways affirmed) a 'transphysical' body, both the same and yet in some mysterious way transformed," reasoning that as

7276-453: The dead would be resurrected, and the Kingdom of Heaven would be established on earth. The Messiah might be a kingly "Son of David," or a more heavenly " son of man ", but "Messianism became increasingly eschatological, and eschatology was decisively influenced by apocalypticism", while "messianic expectations became increasingly focused on the figure of an individual savior." According to R. J. Zwi Werblowsky , "the Messiah no longer symbolized

7383-416: The dead." According to Ehrman, a central question in the research on Jesus and early Christianity is how a human came to be deified in a relatively short time. Jewish Christians like the Ebionites had an Adoptionist Christology and regarded Jesus as the Messiah while rejecting his divinity , while other strands of Christian thought regard Jesus to be a "fully divine figure", a "high Christology". How soon

7490-418: The early Jesus-movement) was not a departure from or a transcending of a supposedly monochrome Jewish messianism, but, instead, a distinctive expression within a variegated body of Jewish messianic hopes." According to Maimonides , Jesus was the most influential, and consequently the most damaging, of all false messiahs . However, since the traditional Jewish belief is that the messiah has not yet come and

7597-421: The earthly Jesus was regarded to be the incarnation of God is a matter of scholarly debate. Philippians 2 : 5–11 contains the Christ hymn, which portrays Jesus as an incarnated and subsequently exalted heavenly being: 5 Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: 6 who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, taking

7704-487: The end of the Hasmonean dynasty. According to James C. VanderKam, the apocalyptic genre shows a negative attitude towards the foreign powers which ruled Judea. Rejection of these powers was not the only cause of the development of the apocalyptic genre. VanderKam states, "the vast majority of Second Temple texts have no reference to a messianic leader of the endtime." The Animal Apocalypse of Enoch 1:85-90 (c. 160 BCE)

7811-492: The faith of the early Jerusalem Church around James, brother of Jesus . This group venerated the risen Christ, who had appeared to several persons, as in Philippians 2 :6–11, the Christ hymn, which portrays Jesus as an incarnated and subsequently exalted heavenly being. Early Christians regarded Jesus to be the Messiah, the promised king who would restore the Jewish kingdom and independence. Jewish messianism has its root in

7918-565: The first century BCE, in the Qumran texts, the Psalms of Solomon , and the Similitudes of Enoch , "both foreign and native rulers are castigated and hopes are placed on a Messiah (or Messiahs) who will end the present evil age of injustice. After the First Jewish–Roman War (66-70 CE), texts like 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra reflect the despair of the time. The images and status of the messiah in

8025-563: The first half of the 2nd century for use by Nazarenes in the neighborhood of Beroea near Aleppo in Syria. The sources for the Jewish–Christian gospels are the early church fathers of the late 2nd to the early 5th centuries – Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Eusebius, Didymus the Blind, Epiphanius and Jerome. Not all of them were aware that there were different Jewish Christian communities with varying theologies, or that some of them (or at least one)

8132-627: The five early church historians are not quoting the same work. As none of the works survive to this day, attempts have been made to reconstruct them from the references in the Church Fathers . The majority of scholars believe that there existed one gospel in Aramaic/Hebrew and at least two in Greek, although a minority argue that there were only two, in Aramaic/Hebrew and in Greek. In the standard edition of Schneemelcher , he creates three different Jewish–Christian gospels by dividing up

8239-472: The form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; 8 and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient [even] unto death, yea, the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore also God highly exalted him, and gave unto him the name which is above every name; 10 that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven and [things] on earth and [things] under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ

8346-620: The formation of the Zealots and Sicarii during the Census of Quirinius (6 AD), although full-scale open revolt did not occur until the First Jewish–Roman War in 66 AD. According to the New Testament, people reported that they encountered Jesus after his crucifixion . They believed that he had been resurrected (belief in the resurrection of the dead in the Messianic Age was a core Pharisaic doctrine), and his resurrection provided

8453-497: The gospel narratives, and on the meaning of his teachings. Scholars often draw a distinction between the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith , and two different accounts can be found in this regard. Traditional scholarship on the subject stood on traditional theology. It emphasized Paul , and de-emphasized James and the Jewish grounding of early belief in Jesus. Modern scholarship sees Jesus and his Jewish followers as grounded in

8560-435: The historicity of the resurrection. According to Geza Vermes , the concept of resurrection formed "the initial stage of the belief in his exaltation", which is "the apogee of the triumphant Christ". The focal concern of the early communities is the expected return of Jesus, and the entry of the believers into the kingdom of God with a transformed body. Proponents of the vision theory argue that cognitive dissonance influenced

8667-601: The humility-exaltation contrast to be the main theme. This belief in the incarnated and exalted Christ was part of Christian tradition a few years after his death and over a decade before the writing of the Pauline epistles. According to Burton L. Mack the early Christian communities started with "Jesus movements", new religious movements centering on a human teacher called Jesus. A number of these "Jesus movements" can be discerned in early Christian writings. According to Mack, within these Jesus-movements developed within 25 years

8774-426: The imminent end-time. The concepts of immortality and resurrection , with rewards for the righteous and punishment for the wicked, have roots much deeper than Daniel, but the first clear statement is found in the final chapter of that book: "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to everlasting shame and contempt." Without this belief, Christianity , in which

8881-449: The inspiration for resurrection belief. According to Bart Ehrman , the resurrection appearances were a denial response to his disciples' sudden disillusionment following Jesus' death. According to Ehrman, some of his followers claimed to have seen him alive again, resulting in a multitude of stories which convinced others that Jesus had risen from death and was exalted to Heaven. According to Paula Fredriksen , Jesus's impact on his followers

8988-426: The letters of Paul already contain a fully developed Christology, shortly after the death of Jesus, including references to his pre-existence. According to Hengel, the Gospel of John shows a development which builds on this early high Christology, fusing it with Jewish wisdom traditions , in which Wisdom was personified and descended into the world. While this "Logos Christology" is recognizable for Greek metaphysics, it

9095-443: The lines ( halyard , downhaul and sheets ) are cut loose, while all ships are broken asunder, and none of them remain excepting the banner of the son of David, as it says: 'who shall stand as an ensign for the peoples'. Likewise, when the banner of the son of David shall arise, all the languages belonging to the nations shall be made useless, and their customs shall be rendered null and void. The nations, at that time, will learn from

9202-405: The native inhabitants of 1st century Judea. Jewish Christians were the original members of the Jewish movement that later became Christianity . In the earliest stage the community was made up of all those Jews who believed that Jesus was the Jewish messiah . As Christianity grew and developed, Jewish Christians became only one strand of the early Christian community , characterised by combining

9309-399: The other prophets, but has also denied the Torah and Moses, our Rabbi." The roots of Jewish eschatology are to be found in the pre-exile prophets, including Isaiah and Jeremiah , and the exile prophets Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah . The main tenets of Jewish eschatology are the following, in no particular order, elaborated in the books of Isaiah , Jeremiah and Ezekiel : Early in

9416-539: The potential to become Messiah, if the Jewish people warrant his coming; this candidate is known as the Tzadik Ha-Dor , meaning Tzaddik of the Generation . However, fewer are likely to name a candidate. Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson , the last Rebbe of Chabad-Lubavitch , declared often that the Messiah is very close, urging all to pray for the coming of the Messiah and to do everything possible to hasten

9523-405: The references in the church fathers. Schneemelcher uses the following working names for the three proposed gospels: The reconstructed texts of the gospels are usually categorized under New Testament apocrypha . The relationship between the Jewish–Christian gospels and a hypothetical original Hebrew Gospel remains a speculation. The Jewish–Christian gospels are known through quotations in

9630-470: The reformer Moses Mendelssohn , have sympathetically argued that the historical Jesus may have been closer to Judaism than either the Gospels or traditional Jewish accounts would indicate. The Talmud extensively discusses the coming of the Messiah (Sanhedrin 98a–99a, et al.) and describes a period of freedom and peace, which will be the time of ultimate goodness for the Jews. Tractate Sanhedrin contains

9737-420: The resurrection of Jesus. The New Testament accounts do not describe the resurrection itself, but rather accounts of appearances of Jesus. Jesus is described as the " firstborn from the dead ", prōtotokos , the first to be raised from the dead, thereby acquiring the "special status of the firstborn as the preeminent son and heir". Scholars debate on the historicity of specific details of these narratives such as

9844-422: The resurrection of the flesh was, as we have seen, not unknown to certain parts of Judaism in antiquity", but Paul rejected the idea of bodily resurrection, and it also can't be found within the strands of Jewish thought in which he was formed. According to Porter, Hayes and Tombs, the Jewish tradition emphasizes a continued spiritual existence rather than a bodily resurrection. Nevertheless, the origin of this idea

9951-516: The scriptures; 4 and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures; 5 and that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve; 6 then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep; 7 then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to the [child] untimely born, he appeared to me also. The later canonical gospels provide more detailed narratives about

10058-516: The total number was three (Bauer, Vielhauer and Strecker, Klijn), others that there were only two (Schlarb and Luhrmann). Jewish messianism The Messiah in Judaism ( Hebrew : מָשִׁיחַ , romanized :  māšīaḥ ) is a savior and liberator figure in Jewish eschatology who is believed to be the future redeemer of the Jews . The concept of messianism originated in Judaism , and in

10165-567: The traditional messianic role, namely ben Yosef and ben David. Messiah unqualified refers to ben David. Belief in the future advent of the Messiah was first recorded in the Talmud and later codified in halakha by Maimonides in the Mishneh Torah as one of the fundamental requisites of the Jewish faith, concerning which has written: "Anyone who does not believe in him, or who does not wait for his arrival, has not merely denied

10272-421: The unprecedented belief that Jesus was a physically resurrected corpse; at most, he would be perceived as an exalted martyr standing at the right hand of God. According to Johan Leman, the resurrection must be understood as a sense of presence of Jesus even after his death, especially during the ritual meals which were continued after his death. His early followers regarded him as a righteous man and prophet, who

10379-485: The various texts are quite different, but the apocalyptic messiahs are only somewhat more exalted than the leaders portrayed in the non-apocalyptic texts. Charleswoth notes that messianic concepts are found in the Old Testament pseudepigrapha , which include a large number of Apocalypses. The Book of Daniel (mid-2nd c. BCE) was quoted and referenced by both Jews and Christians in the 1st century CE as predicting

10486-588: The way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." According to Acts 11:26 , the term "Christian" ( Greek : Χριστιανός ) was first used in reference to Jesus's disciples in the city of Antioch , meaning "followers of Christ", by the non-Jewish inhabitants of Antioch. The earliest recorded use of the term "Christianity" (Greek: Χριστιανισμός ) was by Ignatius of Antioch , around 100 AD. The term "Jewish Christian" appears in modern historical texts contrasting Christians of Jewish origin with gentile Christians, both in discussion of

10593-424: The word of the Lord from Jerusalem. ... We do not know when the Messiah will come, nor whether he will be a charismatic human figure or is a symbol of the redemption of humankind from the evils of the world. Through the doctrine of a messianic figure, Judaism teaches us that every individual human being must live as if he or she, individually, has the responsibility to bring about the messianic age. Beyond that, we echo

10700-487: The words of Maimonides based on the prophet Habakkuk (2:3) that though he may tarry, yet do we wait for him each day. Reform Judaism and Reconstructionist Judaism generally do not accept the idea that there will be a Messiah. Some believe that there may be some sort of Messianic Age (the World to Come ) in the sense of an utopia , which all Jews are obligated to work towards (thus the tradition of Tikkun olam ). In 1999,

10807-558: The works of the early Church Fathers Clement of Alexandria , Origen , Eusebius , Epiphanius , Jerome and probably Didymus the Blind . These all assumed that only one Jewish Christian gospel existed, although in various versions and languages, which they attributed to well-known sects such as the Ebionites and Nazarenes . The majority of critical scholars have rejected this view and identify at least two and possibly three separate Jewish–Christian gospels. The standard collection of

10914-551: The world community we dream of an age when warfare will be abolished, when justice and compassion will be the axioms of interpersonal and international relationships and when, in Isaiah's words (11:9) "...the land shall be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." For our people, we dream of the ingathering of all Jews to Zion where we can again be masters of our destiny and express our distinctive genius in every area of our national life.... We affirm Isaiah's prophecy (2:3) that "...Torah shall come forth from Zion,

11021-453: Was Aramaic -speaking while others knew only Greek; as a result they frequently confused one gospel with another, and all with a supposed Hebrew version of the Gospel of Matthew . This confusion has created uncertainty for modern scholars. There is agreement that the fragments cannot be traced back to a Hebrew/Aramaic version or revision of Matthew's gospel, as most of them have no parallel in

11128-426: Was a Jewish apocalyptic proclamation with a seriously Christian twist." Jewish%E2%80%93Christian gospels The Jewish–Christian Gospels were gospels of a Jewish Christian character quoted by Clement of Alexandria , Origen , Eusebius , Epiphanius , Jerome and probably Didymus the Blind . All five call the gospel they know the " Gospel of the Hebrews ", but most modern scholars have concluded that

11235-480: Was believed to manifest as an angel, human being or a Davidic king, which led some 1st century Palestinians to believe that Jesus was the Son of God, Messiah and Lord. The Book of Acts reports that the early followers continued daily Temple attendance and traditional Jewish home prayer. Other passages in the New Testament gospels reflect a similar observance of traditional Jewish piety such as fasting , reverence for

11342-461: Was so great that they could not accept the failure implicit in his death. According to Fredriksen, before his death Jesus created amongst his believers such certainty that the Kingdom of God and the resurrection of the dead was at hand, that with few exceptions (John 20: 24–29) when they saw him shortly after his execution, they had no doubt that he had been resurrected, and the general resurrection of

11449-463: Was therefore resurrected and exalted. In time, Messianistic, Isaiahic , apocalyptic and eschatological expectations were blended in the experience and understanding of Jesus, who came to be expected to return to earth. A point of debate is how Christians came to believe in a bodily resurrection, which was "a comparatively recent development within Judaism." According to Dag Øistein Endsjø, "The notion of

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