The Very First Believers in Jesus were NOT Christians.
Christianity was not in existence yet — Christianity was a creation of St Paul. There were many names for these believers, but as Epiphanius writes:
“Ebionite was at first… a common name for all Christians” (Epiphanius Adv. Haer., xxix. 1).
The Ebionites were before Christianity
Origen, considered the most important of the church fathers, wrote
“The Jews who accept Christ are called Ebionites“ (c. Cels., II. 1).
“The Ebionites, who derive the appellation of “poor” from their very name, for “Ebion” means “poor” in Hebrew” (Origen, De Principiis 4.3.8)
According to history the Ebionites held to the following:
- They used only the Gospel of the Hebrews written by Matthew.
- They believed in One God, not the “Trinity”.
- They believed Jesus was the Messiah and true prophet mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:15.
- They did not believe Jesus was born of a virgin.
- They believed that Jesus was a natural born son of Joseph and Mary.
- They rejected all animal sacrifice.
- They believed that Jesus came to destroy animal sacrifices.
- They were strictly vegetarians.
- They rejected Paul’s writings and considered him to be a liar and apostate from the law.
- They held Jerusalem in great veneration.
- They believed in “holy poverty”.
- They were observant of the Law, but the spirit of the Law.
- They did not accept the Law of Moses in its entirety; certain sayings they rejected.
- They were conformed to the customs of the Jews
- They were justified according to the law, and saying that Jesus was justified by fulfilling the law
- They were Jews.
The Ebionites Rejected Paul’s Writings
How the early Jewish believers came to be called “Ebionite”. In the beginning the Jewish believers were called Ebionim and were not a sect. Ebionim means “poor men” (Epiphanius, l.c. xxx. 17; Minucius Felix Octavius, ch. 36). They regarded the poverty that they made of themselves, purposely so as to prepare themselves for the kingdom.
These were the first “Christians” in Jerusalem, who laid all their possessions at the feet of the Apostles.
They extracted this idea from the teachings of Jesus in which he said: “Blessed are the poor: for theirs is the kingdom of God”. (Mat 5:3)
And all that believed were together, and had all things common; (Acts 2:44)
And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. (Acts 2:45)
Neither was there any among them that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, (Acts 4:34)
And laid them down at the apostles’ feet: and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need. (Acts 4:35)
The Ebionites Shared All Their Possessions — had “all things in common”
Where the Ebionites got their beliefs from
Since they only used the Gospel of the Hebrews, it follows that it was from this gospel that they get their beliefs. However, we only have a few passages from the writings of Origen, from which we are able to confirm the once existence of this gospel.
Although the full gospel of the Hebrews has been lost (or destroyed or hidden), it is apparent that they got their beliefs from this gospel, and also because of the things that the church fathers have said of them.
The Gospel of the Nazirenes contains all of the doctrines that the Ebionites believed. Epiphanius said that their gospel was possibly identical to the Gospel of the Twelve which is another name for the Gospel of the Nazirenes.
Some church history of the Ebionites
The first believers were orthodox Jews of Palestine who continued to observe the Mosaic Law. The name “Christian” originated with St. Paul who came sometime later and brought doctrines that seriously inflamed the Jewish believers and brought serious contention against Paul.
By the third century, according to Eusebius (Church History III.27), there began to appear 2 distinct classes of Ebionites. One group rejected the virginal birth and the other accepted it, one rejected Jesus’ pre-existence and his divinity and the other accepted it, one group continued to observe the Sabbath and the other kept Sunday as a memorial of the Resurrection. However, the second class was fewer and less important than the former since the denial of the virgin birth was held by the majority of the Ebionites (Origen, Hom. in Luc., xvii).
They were adoptionists, the same as Arian, who was rejected by the Trinitarians of the Church at Rome, for his belief. Adoptionism was the doctrine originally held by the early church, contrary to popular Christian belief.
Denial of the virgin birth was held by the majority of the Ebionites
Epiphanius made the distinction between the two groups. He referred to the “heretical” class as Ebionites and the class who held to the Catholic beliefs he called the Nazarenes.
This is most likely where the distinction came between the Ebionites and the Nazarenes. The reason was most likely to brand as heretics the Ebionites who weren’t in accord with the Catholic Church’s dogmas and not brand those who were in accord. But in the beginning all Jewish believers, including the Nazarenes, where known as Ebionites.
The Jews were not illiterate, contrary to popular opinion
The earliest believers were Jews, they spoke Aramaic and their written letters were Hebrew. Contrary to popular opinion, the majority of Jews were not ignorant. In fact, Jews were the most educated people in the world. The majority could read and write and the basis of their education process was memorization. This is probably the reason the gospels are so full of detail.
The disciples themselves wrote down the teachings of Jesus
We are told that the gospels were originally written in Greek many years later through word of mouth that was passed on to Greek Christians who didn’t even know Jesus personally. This can not possibly be true.
All logic tells you that the disciples, who were literate and had first-hand knowledge of some of the most important teachings in the world, would write it down as soon as they could in order not to forget important details, which would get lost over time. The disciples would have gotten together and combined their knowledge on a regular basis so as to preserve this information accurately for future generations.
This traditionally had always been a practice of the Jews for thousands of years. It only makes sense that the original gospels had to have been written down originally by the disciples themselves in their own tongue, Aramaic, and in Hebrew letters. The fact is that the Jews hated the Greeks and though they may have spoken it as a second language out of necessity, it was not taught where Hebrew children were instructed.
The gospels as written down by the disciples of Jesus
The two most important gospels which were written in Aramaic were the Gospel of the Hebrews, written by Matthew, and the Gospel of the Twelve or more commonly known as the Gospel of the Nazarenes. The Gospel of the Hebrews has been all but lost except for many fragments found in the writings by the church fathers.
However, the original manuscripts of the Gospel of the Nazarenes in its entirety were hidden in for safe-keeping (by Buddhist monks, we are told, in their monastery) from the greedy hands of the roman church who burned all the “heretical” writings that they could find.
Fortunately, this gospel has been retrieved and translated from the original Aramaic into the English language and has been published on the internet for the whole world to read (whether the copies you can find on-line are completely original — that is a different story. However, it seems to contain all or most of the original teachings of Jesus omitted in compiling the New Testament gospels).
Before their corruption the gospels contained the doctrines of Jesus as held by the Ebionites
The original Gospel of the Hebrews, written by Matthew (not to be confused with the canonical gospel “According of St Matthew”), the only gospel that was used by the earliest Jewish believers (who were known as the Ebionites), contained all the teachings of Jesus that caused them to believe the things they did.
Although Gospel of the Hebrews has been largely lost, the Gospel of the Nazarenes, which has been preserved until today has all or most of the same doctrines and even many of the sayings of Jesus that are quoted from the gospel of the Hebrews are contained in the Gospel of the Nazarenes. Moreover, the Gospel of the Nazarenes is probably more complete in that it was said to be compiled by the twelve disciples of Jesus and not only Matthew.
A new religion created not based on Jesus teachings: Christianity!
Thanks to St Paul and the roman orthodox church, Christianity throughout the centuries and until today is so much different than the early church that it is like a completely different religion. Paul practically created a new religion in many ways contradictory to what Jesus taught and the Roman Church corrupted the gospels even more and inserted their own dogmas contrary to what the Jesus and this disciples taught. This is the main thing that caused such fighting, contention and bickering in the first centuries after the departure of Jesus.
Unfortunately, the wrong side won out and the light of the truth was put out and great darkness, confusion and violence came upon the whole world largely as a result of the church of Rome’s desire to conquer, control and manipulate the minds of men through the religion they invented. As a result, millions of innocent people of many nations were persecuted, tortured and even murdered in the name of God and the Church.
(To be continued…)
Next: The Ebionites | Earliest Jewish Believers — Ebionites Part 2