Ancient Jewish Communal Identities: Early Christians

Although scholars debate when and how Christianity became distinct from Judaism, it is clear that the historical context for understanding Jesus and the early movement of his followers is the Judaism of the late Second Temple period, with all its varieties of religious thought and practice, messianism, and apocalypticism. Like those of other charismatic leaders of the time, including John the Baptist, Jesus’ teachings concerned proper interpretation and practice of the Torah, the end times and final judgment, the afterlife, and resurrection. (As a point of contemporary comparison, consider also “Pharisees and Sadducees on Resurrection” and death and the next world).

Jesus’ earliest disciples were all Jews. The disappearance of his body from its tomb, the idea of his resurrection, and his subsequent appearance to his followers as recorded in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John further contributed to the belief that the end times were near. Like other ancient historical biographies, the Gospels are not disinterested historical accounts but rather interested accounts, the authors of which are evangelizing the “good news” of Jesus to their respective audiences within a century of the crucifixion. Their different audiences in slightly different historical periods account for many of their differences in perspective and their different portrayals of Jesus and his teachings.

Other Jewish teachers in the first century attracted groups of followers, and not necessarily always from the upper classes. Josephus names seven such figures, all of whom seem to have made strong claims about themselves. Normally, the Romans took a much dimmer view of such teachers and their disciples than they did of the established sects—such teachers were quickly caught and killed. In most cases, we have no idea what became of their followers, but those of Jesus of Nazareth constituted an enduring organization. For a brief time after the crucifixion, Jesus’ followers could be characterized as a Jewish sect, although very little is known about this period in the history of Christianity. Some Christian groups, such as that associated with Jesus’ brother James, executed ca. 62 CE, remained exclusively and piously Jewish, distinguished from other observant Jews only by their belief in the messianic and/or divine status of Jesus. 

Paul and the Gospels

The earliest texts of the New Testament canon are the letters of Paul (Saul of Tarsus), himself, Jewish, and a self-professed Pharisee and persecutor of the early church, later turned missionary to the gentiles, made it his life’s work to bring gentiles into the congregation (in Greek, ekklesia, “church”) of believers in Christ. After his famous vision of the risen Christ on the road to Damascus and out of his belief that his vision meant that the kingdom of God was imminent, Paul took it upon himself to introduce faith in Jesus and the messianic promise to the gentiles so that they too would gain entry into the kingdom.

Paul’s successful mission is one of the factors that led to the enormous spread of Christianity. It also gave rise to many questions regarding the place and the practice of gentiles in relation to Jewish practice and community. These questions are reflected in Paul’s letters to the Romans and Galatians and also in Jesus’ teachings as recorded in the Gospels.

At some point, Jewish Christian groups became a small minority and eventually were even deemed heretical. It is a rich and complex story, to which it is impossible to do justice here.