Early and Modern Judaic Christianity

Early and Modern Judaic Christianity

By: Evangelos Dem. Kepenes (Junuary 7, 2026, 17:08)

Early Judaic Christianity

Judaic Christians were Judaizers who interpreted Jesus’ message through a narrow nationalist lens. Their central position was the imposition of circumcision and the strict observance of Mosaic Law as a prerequisite for salvation, not only for Jews but also for Gentile believers. Their chiliastic theories—the expectation of an earthly thousand-year kingdom—found parallel expression in certain forms of early Christianity, such as in Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Tertullian, demonstrating the early effort to infuse Jewish political expectations into the Church.

Modern Judaic Christianity: Christian Zionism
Today, these original notions have been revived through modern Zionist doctrines, which elevate the role of the “Jews” as regulators of global events. These ideas are supported by organizations such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, Evangelicals, and Pentecostals, and belong to the broader sphere of “Christian Zionism,” a movement primarily of American origin. They typically describe themselves as ‘Dispensationalists’ or ‘Pre-Millennialists’.

Central Theological Positions
Christian Zionists treat the Sacrificial Death and Resurrection of Jesus as a historical “parenthesis.” According to them, the true fulfillment of prophecies is not embodied in the person of Christ, but in the modern political state of Israel. They await an earthly repetition of biblical history, which includes:

• The rebuilding of the earthly Temple in lower Jerusalem, as a type of the heavenly one, with all the vessels of the old worship.
• The restoration of animal sacrifices and the service of mortal priests from the tribe of Levi, despite the absence of genealogies (Titus 3:9), thereby nullifying the teaching of the Epistle to the Hebrews concerning the one and eternal sacrifice of Christ and His everlasting priesthood (Heb. 10:12, 7:3).
• The reappearance of the historical Antichrist, the Millennial Kingdom upon the earth, and the “rematch” of a spiritual war between Christ and the Devil.

Christ is the End of the Law
While Scripture declares that “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4), these circles essentially proclaim that “the end of Christ is the Law and the political state of Israel.” They teach the existence of a special “Third Covenant” for the salvation of modern Jews, thereby abolishing the “knowledge of salvation” already given through John the Baptist: “to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins” (Luke 1:77).

Both early and modern Judaic Christianity converge in their excessive emphasis on the dead letter of the Law and nationalist expectations, thereby nullifying the life-giving Grace and the spiritual nature of the Kingdom of God in the person of Christ.

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