Here is the real truth about Justin Martyr (100-165 A.D.)
"The Christians are the true Israeli race." "Tribulation was justly imposed on you for you have murdered the
Just One."
The Church Father Justin Martyr also claimed that the term, the seed of Jacob, in the Bible, when properly
understood, now referred to the Gentile Christians, not to the Jews. This is a very important point because
it signals the beginning of a shift in understanding of the early Church of biblical passages, especially relating
to Israel. What Justin is saying is that now the Gentile Church replaces Israel. This teaching of the spiritualization
of Genesis 25:23, a departure from its literal meaning. He taught that the Gentiles in the Church were now the
true Israeli race; and that the Gentile believers in Jesus were now the seed of Jacob, and the Jews were not
the seed of Jacob. This is the beginning of Replacement Theology. So Replacement Theology actually began
millennia ago and is not a recent development.
Tertullian (155-240 A.D.)
Tertullian of Carthage in North Africa, in the western branch of the Church, wrote some very strong Anti-Semitic
statements against the Jews. Meanwhile in the eastern branch of the Church, there was a very strong anti-Semitic
spirit that was developing against the Jewish people. Christians were call Jews "Christ killers." The Premillennial
view of the Scriptures was believed by the early Jewish Church and Judaism for centuries. Because the Premillennial
view of the Messiah setting up the earthly Messianic Kingdom was taught and believed by Jews, the Church
stigmatized Premillennial teaching as "Jewish" and therefore "heretical." Thus, one irrational anti-Semitic sentiment
spawned even more irrational thinking. As a result, Eastern Church leaders looked at Premillennial as heretical,
renouncing the literal, biblical teaching of the Second Coming of Jesus in the End Times.
Origen (185-254 A.D.)
Origen was a brilliant man who at the age of 18 was made the president of the Alexandrian School of Theology
in Egypt. Origen opposed Premillennialism, calling it a Jewish dream. He developed a whole new way of
interpreting the Scriptures called the Allegorical Method of Interpretation. This he inherited from Philo, who
was born in Alexandria, Egypt (25 B.C.- 50 A.D.)
Origen was a Hellenized Jewish philosopher who used philosophical allegory to attempt to fuse and harmonize
Greek philosophy with Jewish philosophy. In this method, instead of giving the Scriptures a literal meaning,
one can simply spiritualize them, making them mirror whatever meaning is desired for the person's purpose.
According to this approach, when the Bible says "Israel" it does not necessarily mean literal Israel. but could
be interpreted as meaning the Church. The following quote expresses well the idea of allegorical interpretation:
According to Origen, the understanding of Scripture is "the art of arts" and "the science." The words of Scripture
are its body, or the visible element, that hides its spirit, or its invisible element. The spirit is the treasure hidden
in a field: hidden behind every word, every letter and even behind every iota used in the written Word of God.
Thus "everything in the Scripture is mystery," [Bolding my emphasis]
The teaching of mysteries is similar to the Agnostic heresies of ancient times, in which people believed that
knowledge came from reflection, and that knowledge was hidden from most. In error, they proposed the belief
that Jesus was a man who became God by gaining knowledge, which is the theme of many heresies through
the centuries. The Bible teaches that the Gospel message is clear and open to all.
John Chrysostom (347-407 A.D.
Known as the Patriarch of Constantinople, Chrysostom's legacy of anti-Semitism reflected the strongest attacks
on Jews and Judaism by the Church Fathers. His teachings are found in his writings, the Homilies of Chrysostom,
a collection of Antioch sermons. Ironically, he is considered to be among the most beloved and admired in
Church history. His name translates in Greek as "St. John, the Golden Mouthed." His discourses were prompted
by the fact that many Christians were meeting on friendly terms with Jews, visiting Jewish homes, and attending
their synagogues, which he viciously attacked. Understand the tremendous impact that Chrysostom had on the
future generations of priests for centuries to come.
The following are statements made by Chrysostom:
The Synagogue was...a criminal assembly of Jews...a place of meeting for the assassins of Christ.
Jews are the most worthless of all men. They are perfidious murders of Christ.
The Jews sacrifice their children to Satan...they are worse than wild beasts.
The Jews have fallen into a condition lower than the vilest animal.
The synagogue is a brothel, a den of scoundrels, the temple of demons devoted to idolatrous cults.
I hate the Jews because they violate the Law. I hate the synagogue because it has the Law and the Prophets.
It is the duty of all Christians to hate the Jews.
Chrysostom further said that the Jews had become a degenerate race (sounding like Hitler and the Nazis)
because of their "odious assassination of Christ for which there is no expiation possible, no indulgence,
no pardon, and for which they will always be a people without a nation, enduring a servitude without end.
At the hands of the Gentile Church, which was becoming increasingly ant-Semitic, the organized Church was
moving away from its Jewish roots and heritage toward a total and complete Gentile viewpoint. Jewish believers
in Messiah were not accepted by the Church were not accepted by the Church because Jewish believers
understandably wanted to keep their Jewish culture and ethnic heritage. Jewish believers in Messiah were not
accepted by the unbelieving Jewish population because they believed in the "Christian" Messiah, Jesus Christ.
Hence, the Jewish Church was not embraced by the Church nor was it embraced by the Jewish community.
The net result was the death of the Jewish Church because of their perspective of the Jewish background of
Scripture. To the Church, anything -- and I mean anything -- that had a Jewish connection was viewed by the
Gentile Church as Jewish, thus heretical! Next are just a few examples of the rejection of the Jewish background
of Passover, by three Church councils.
Council of Caesarea: 196 A.D.
The resurrection of Yeshua (Jesus) would be celebrated on a Sunday each year during the Feast of Eshtar,
a celebration of the pagan goddess of Egypt. So the resurrection of Jesus was to be celebrated on a pagan,
heathen holiday, not to be connected in any way with the Jewish Passover and the biblical Feast of First Fruits.
Council of Nicea: 325 A.D.
This council declared that Yeshua's resurrection was to be observed on Easter Sunday with no attachment
to the Jewish Passover.
Council of Antioch 341 A.D.
The Council of Antioch decreed that anyone attempting to celebrate the Passover on the 14th of Nissan was
to be excommunicated. Here is the unbiblical extreme that the Church Fathers forced upon the Church.
The Jewish Church disappeared after the Church Fathers laid the groundwork for centuries of Anti-Semitism
in the organized Church.. Because of all the anti-Jewish believers in Jesus, the Jewish Church of believers
was pushed out of existence because they did not want to lose their Jewishness, their ethnicity. It does not
mean that there were no Jewish people coming to the Faith, but it does mean that all Jewish believers had
to give up their Jewishness. Despite persecution, there has always been a believing Jewish remnant down
through history.
Shabbat Shalom (שַׁבָּת שָׁלוֹם)
audience, Mark was writing to a Roman audience and Luke was writing to a Greek audience.
