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Soon after the Jewish apostles died, leadership of the Church was transferred to people who had no great respect for Jews or Judaism. Rather than seeing Jewish people as erring brethren to whom they were indebted for the gifts of Scripture, the Messiah and Old Testament saints, the Jewish people were looked upon as reprobates hated by God. Sentiment expressed against some Jewish leaders by Jewish followers of Yeshua was used by later non-Jewish leaders as an indictment of all Jewish people. The Epistle of Barnabas, from the end of the first century, reflects this negative attitude and applies it to Jewish practices as well. As H. L. Ellison put it, “Already the so-called Epistle of Barnabas, which may go back to the last decade of the first century, uses such language about Jews, Judaism and the Law, as to make any effective contact between the two sides virtually impossible. As soon as it had the power, the Gentile Church did its utmost to defeat God’s purpose. It persecuted and bullied, thereby automatically putting itself in the wrong. It spread the vilest calumnies about the Jews" (Ellison, H. L., The Mystery of Israel, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1966, 82ff).
Many writers did not display an accurate understanding of the very things they criticized, including the nature of the Old Testament revelation. Ignatius of Antioch, in the same period, was clear in indicating the uselessness of all Jewish things. Justin Martyr, one of the famed leaders of the early second century, spoke of Jewish people and practice in condescending terms. In his dialogue with Trypho, he expressed dismay over the fact that Jewish followers of Yeshua still maintained their cultural identity and practice. He accepted the possibility of their salvation, but could not understand Jewish practice as a way of expressing their faith. Justin believed that fulfillment by Yeshua eliminated Jewish things. These and other antisemites like them never desired adherence to this "Pattern of Worship" and influenced negatively many others to depart from it.
Two significant historical events, the 1st (66–70 CE) and 2nd (133–135 CE) Jewish revolts against Rome, changed the balance between the number of Jewish and Gentile believers in the body of Messiah. Moreover, other factors converged to cause the Gentile believers to separate themselves from their Hebraic roots and the synagogue. These events included:
Few Christians have ever read the Epistle of Barnabas and do not know of its importance today. The Epistle of Barnabas (130-138 CE, probably in Alexandria) is valuable because it contains the first explicit mention of Sunday observance by the Christians. The writer who assumes the identity of Barnabas is acute in his attacks on almost all "Jewish" practices. The purpose of his epistle was to provide a basis for the total rejection of Judaism as a religious practice and to provide a theological basis for Christians to forsake "Jewish" practices and take on their new role as the true Israel. He condemned Christians who continued certain Torah observances by stating, "take heed to yourselves and be not like some, piling up your sins and saying that the covenant is theirs as well as ours. It is ours, but they lost it completely just after Moses received it . . ." (Epistle of Barnabas 4:6-9).
Answer for yourself: Did you catch that? Is declared sin for the Gentile believer to see that Jews and Gentiles share much of the same Covenants of God. Here we have the seedbed of Replacement Religion as Israel is being stripped of her "calling to the Gentile world" by this antisemitic writer masquerading as Paul's traveling friend Barnabas. Much could be said about this epistle but for now understand that it is singularly responsible for increasing intolerance to those Christians who desired to practice Scriptural commands which were modeled by the Jewish believers.
Many in the Church assume that practices such as Sunday worship and Easter celebration, etc., have existed since the book of Acts. Furthermore, many think the Biblical Holy Days were never a valid form of Christian worship. However, when we examine Church history we find a totally different picture. As we go back in time, approaching the era when the early Christian believers separated themselves from the Messianic believers, we discover that the earliest Christian assemblies worshipped on the Sabbath and kept the Biblical Holy Days. Numerous Christian and non-Christian historians of the ante and post-Nicene period have left us with a plethora of information concerning the practices and beliefs of the early Christian assemblies. It is a fact that the early Christian Gentile Churches not only continued to meet on the Sabbath but observed the Biblical Feasts and Festivals. Besides this we can see the Gentile being incorporated into the "Pattern of Worship" given to King David and handed down through Solomon and we can see that this same "Pattern of Worship" existed in first century both inside and outside Israel and was reflective of the synagogues in Asia Minor as well.
Answer for yourself: Were you aware that there even exists a "Pattern for Worship" given by God to mankind? Do you think that your Gentile Church even knows of this today? Are the Jewish people the only ones following this "Pattern of Worship" in the world today? Do you want to know of this "Pattern for Worship" given to David and follow it today as did the Gentiles and Jews of past centuries? Can God be happy that we have diverted from this "Pattern" and come up with our own "Replacement" worship?
Answer for yourself: What was this "Pattern of Worship" that was followed by the Jews and taught as well to the non-Jewish God-fearers who were coming to God and attending the synagogues of the first century both in side and outside Israel?
Answer for yourself: Can it be shown that this same "Pattern of Worship" was followed by the early Gentile Church up and until the edict of Constantine which abolished it in the middle 4th century?
Answer for yourself: Do we as Christians follow this "Pattern of Worship" today in Catholicism and Protestantism?
Answer for yourself: And if not then is possible to recover this "Pattern of Worship" today in our Christian Churches?
These are important questions that deserve our strongest attention and it is to these answers that we now seek through the study of the articles on this website. Let us begin our serious study into the non-Jewish believer in God (God-fearer) and see if we can find adherence to a Divine "Pattern of Worship" both in the Old and New Testaments. The results might surprise you and cause you to rethink what you are being taught today in your Christian Churches. The bottom line you will see is that we as non-Jews have inherited an antisemitic Replacement Religion instead of "the faith once given to the saints" (Jude 1:3).
Jude 1:3 3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for "the" faith which was once delivered unto the saints. (KJV)
We have already looked at the word "the" and plumed its importance. As a quick refresher the use of the "definite article" (the) refers to the uniqueness of the item addressed. It stands out among all the rest as "uncommon" and not "secular". There is nothing like it to be compared. This is all the more important as we consider that Biblical Judaism is "the" faith which was once for time given by God to mankind. Of course we find these many, but not all of these same religious tenants within Biblical Judaism spread throughout world religions to various degrees but for our purposes here we need only focus on Biblical Judaism as the example of all examples to be followed for not only the Jew but the non-Jew as well.
Strong's Concordance teaches us something about our responsibility regarding this "Pattern of Worship" as it relates to the Greek word "earnestly contend":
75 agonizomai (ag-o-nid'-zom-ahee); from 73; to struggle, literally (to compete for a prize), figuratively (to contend with an adversary), or genitive case (to endeavor to accomplish something): KJV-- fight, labor fervently, strive.
Recovering this "Pattern of Worship" is not easy. God knew of the attempts coming to destroy it by men opposed to Him and His will for mankind so we are told in the strongest terms that we must "struggle and fight with our adversaries fervently" in order to keep, maintain, and restore this "Pattern of Worship" which was ONCE given and delivered to the Saints. Notice as well the word "once".
Thayer's Greek Lexicon states:
530 hapax- 1) once, one time 2) once for all
It sure appears to me that this unique faith which is set apart by the definite article "the" (Biblical Judaism which has a place for the non-Jew within it) is also noted to be given by God once and for all to all mankind (a mixed multitude of Jews and non-Jews at Sinai) and Israel, as God's Holy Nation and Royal Priesthood, is the mediator of this "Pattern of Worship" for all mankind.
Bennoah1@airmail.net