Neither Yavne nor Antioch

Recovering Nazarean Judaism

Joel Heller

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781666734485, 9781666790375
• eBook ISBN: 9781666790382
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Jewish Theology

When Rome flattened Judea in the late first and early second centuries of the Common Era, Rabbinic Judaism regrouped and reorganized at the Academy in Yavne, Greek-speaking, gentile proto-orthodox Christianity headquartered in Antioch, Syria, and the Nazareans, the original, Jewish and "God-fearer, " Hebraically minded "Followers of the Way, " escaped to Pella.Rejected by both the rabbis and the bishops, the Nazareans have often had to go underground, but they have never gone extinct. They have resurfaced from time to time throughout the succeeding two millennia.Now, at the beginning of the Third Great Awakening, in what some believe will be the last Reformation before the Second Coming, the Nazarean movement is experiencing a renaissance. Neither Yavne nor Antioch: Recovering Nazarean Judaism celebrates that new birth.

Appendix 1

Baptism Formulae

The trinitarian-sounding baptism formula in Matthew 28:19, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” has been questioned by textual critics. While this version is well attested in the Greek manuscripts, any time a baptism is mentioned in Acts the formula is never used. Rather, they baptize “in the name of the Lord.”

Here is a list of verses where the Apostles mention baptism:

•Acts 2:38 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”

•Acts 8:12 “But when they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.”

•Acts 8:16 “For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

•Acts 10:48 “And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days.”

•Acts 19:5 “When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”

•Acts 22:16 “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”

•Romans 6:3 “Know you not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?”

•1 Corinthians 1:13 “Is Christ divided? was Paul crucified for you? or were you baptized in the name of Paul?”

•Galatians 3:27 “For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”

Appendix 2

Why most Jews do not consider claims for Jesus as Messiah.

First of all, most Jews will never consider a claim of Messiahship for one in whose name they have suffered oppression for many centuries. After pogroms, forced conversions, and less than second class status in Christendom one asks, how could a Jewish Messiah hate Jews so much? Simply, he would not.

Martin Luther suggested being nice to Jews. Maybe then they would be more likely to convert. Jewish cultural memory was longer than his experiment. When Jews continued to decline to convert, Luther reverted to even more vicious antisemitism than before. German Lutherans carried anti-Semitic baggage with them when they broke with the Roman Catholic Church.

This legacy eventually culminated in the Holocaust. Hitler was no Christian, but from a Jewish perspective, all European Gentiles were at least nominally Christian. The terms Christian and Gentile were essentially interchangeable in the European Jewish community.

Next, as we have seen above, Nicene Christianity misrepresents the Maggid of Nazareth. Christians side with his enemies when they accuse him of claiming to be God. There is variety in Jewish expectation about the Messiah. There is unanimity in the expectation that he will be a human and not divine. Most Jews rightly consider worshipping a man as though he were God to be idolatry.

Finally, but not exhaustively, Christians overstate their claim. It is claimed that Jesus fulfilled over 300 explicit messianic prophecies.1 Having fulfilled these prophecies, he must be the Messiah. The problem is that most of these “prophecies” are neither explicit nor as obvious as claimed. They were not even obvious to disciples who knew Yeshua personally. Let us look at the conversation on the Road to Emmaus:

And, behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass, that, while they communed together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them. But their eyes were holden that they should not know him.

And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad?

And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days?

And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:

And how the chief p...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Preface
• Introduction
• Methodology
• Misunderstood Teachings
• Human History
• The Cousins
• Lost Sheep
• The Nazareans
• Moses’ Seat
• Takanot Violated
• Nazarean Lifestyle
• Christian Drift
• Departures from Apostles’ Doctrine
• Re-Examining Misconstrued Passages in Light of Hebrew Reasoning
• Reformations
• Conclusion
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Appendix 3
• Appendix 4
• Appendix 5
• Appendix 6
• Appendix 7
• Bibliography