Spring 2012

The First Jews for Jesus

THE SOURCE: “Jews, Christians, and Judaeo-Christians” by Geza Vermes, in Standpoint, Dec. 2011.

Early Christianity took a while to gain a critical mass. Proclaiming the miracle of Jesus’s death and resurrection didn’t make Christ’s early followers Christians on the spot. These early converts were Jews, and into the second century AD some of them maintained a hybrid identity, obeying the laws of Moses but professing faith in Jesus.

What distinguished Jewish Christians from their Jewish counterparts? Few things on the surface, observes Geza Vermes, a professor emeritus of Jewish studies at Oxford University. They followed Jewish laws and customs and worshiped at temple. They even called themselves Jews.

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