Since leaving Catholicism in the 1500’s, the Protestants have come a long way towards restoring the Christian variation of the original Nazarene faith. Some people therefore argue that if the Protestants simply keep reforming, they will eventually return to the original apostolic faith (keeping the customs and traditions the Apostles commanded the Gentiles to keep). However, there is a problem with this scenario.

As beneficial a transformation as the Protestant Reformation has been, the reason Protestantism is unlikely ever to recreate the original apostolic faith is not just because Christianity does not really descend from the Nazarene Israelite faith: It is also because Christianity is based upon the Hellenic principle; and Hellenism and Hebraism are ultimately polar opposites.

 

Nazarene Israel was created when the Messiah of Daniel Nine came to earth, and certain Israelites were given divine revelation of who He was. Having accepted and realized their Messiah, these blessed individuals rejected any Talmudic tradition that conflicted with the Torah of Moshe (but kept all other Talmudic traditions), and behold! They had become Nazarene Israelites, keeping the Torah and the Hebrew traditions.

The Hellenism of Mark 9:38 was created when other believers in the Messiah decided to cast out demons in Yeshua’s Name, but did not walk according to the Torah or the Hebrew customs. In other words, while they believed in Yeshua, they did not follow the Messiah, or walk as Messiah walked.

While the Nazarene Israelite faith was created when the Messiah was revealed to certain devout Israelites, Catholic Christianity was created as a political response in the fourth century CE.

Roman Emperor Constantine was revered as the demigod of his empire, but found himself losing power over his people as they continued to convert to Hellenic Christianity. In order to bolster his power and authority among his own people, he took the Mithraic sun-worship that called him a demigod and dressed it in the trappings of the Hellenic Christianity of that day. By simply re-naming the Mithraic customs, traditions and holidays in honor of ‘Christ,’ he was not only able to preserve his position as demigod, but he was also able to keep his same familiar sun-centered calendar, his same sun-centered days of worship, and the same Luciferic style of service. 

Even while some of the more avant-garde Protestant denominations have rid themselves of some of the more obvious pagan elements of Catholicism, they still fail to re-create the original apostolic faith, because the worship style is still based upon Emperor Constantine’s Mithraism.

Attempting to re-create the original apostolic faith by ridding Protestantism of its paganism is like attempting to clean up a toxic waste dump enough to turn it into a nursery: No matter how much you clean it up, it is never really going to be acceptable, and one has to wonder why anyone would even want to try.

 

Rather than attempt to detoxify Christianity, a much more logical, practical and direct solution is just to do as the Apostles did. Start with Pharisaic (Orthodox) Judaism, accept Yeshua as the Messiah, discard any rabbinic custom or tradition that conflicts with Torah, and behold! You will have become not a Nazarene Christian, but a Nazarene Israelite.

Because the Apostles were raised as Jews of the First Century, after they had accepted Yeshua as the Messiah, they still practiced a worship that was fundamentally Israeli (or Hebrew) in nature. This is why Epiphanius was able to write:

 

 

 

Epiphanius said that the Nazarene faith did not differ “in any essential thing” from the Pharisaic (Orthodox) one, except that the Nazarenes believed in Messiah. In contrast, the Hellenic Christian variations of the faith do differ from the Pharisaic (Orthodox) faith in many ways that Epiphanius would have considered “essential.”

How exactly are the Nazarene and the Christian faiths different? Precisely this: The Hellenic Christian variations of the faith are all based upon Mithraic customs and doctrines, rather than practicing “the customs and doctrines prescribed by Jewish Law,” as Epiphanius said (above).

The Apostles were attempting to teach the returning Gentiles to keep the Hebraic customs and doctrines (wherever they did not conflict with the Torah). The purpose of this was so that the returning Gentiles would learn to follow the Israelite Messiah, rather than the Christian ‘Christ.’ While this may seem like a nonsensical distinction to the Western Gentile mind, to the Hebrew, it makes all the difference.

So how are we to figure out what the customs and doctrines of the original Nazarene faith were, some seventeen hundred years after the faith was rubbed out by the Church of Rome? The only way we can do this is to do as the Apostles did.

The Apostles were just devout religious Jews who came to believe on their Messiah. After they had rejected those traditions that conflict with the Torah, they continued to practice the rest of the Hebraic culture (and even taught it to the returning Gentiles).

Thankfully, the Jews are a highly traditional people, and most of the customs and doctrines they practice today are identical to those they practiced in the First Century. Therefore, in order to reconstruct the original Nazarene Israelite faith, all we must do is (first) to make the decision to leave the Mithraic customs and doctrines of Christianity behind. Then (second) we come back to the Hebrew culture that the Pharisees (the Orthodox Jews) have maintained in Ephraim’s absence for thousands of years. Finally, we accept that Yeshua is the prophesied Messiah (and the Son of the Living Elohim), throw off those few customs and traditions that conflict with the Torah, and behold! We too will have become Nazarene Israelites.

 

But why is Hebrew culture so important?

The word ‘Hebrew’ means ‘crossed over.’ In the historic sense, this ‘crossing over’ refers to when Avram (later Avraham) left his home and his father’s house, and crossed over the River Euphrates, to sojourn at YHWH’s Word. In a metaphoric and spiritual sense, it also refers to how Avraham ‘crossed over’ from seeking after the things of the material world, to follow after the things of the Spirit. Thus, the word ‘Hebrew’ also essentially means ‘transcendent;’ and the term Hebrew refers to ‘one transcends their focus on material world, in favor of following YHWH.’

YHWH gave the Children of Israel His Torah to help them learn to transcend the things of this material world. It would be a slow process, but eventually YHWH would discipline a people who could be in the world, and yet not of it; who could be tempted by the things of the flesh, and yet choose the things of the Spirit.

Many Christians have been taught that the whole point of being spiritual is ‘just to be nice,’ and to ‘love your neighbor’ in some generalized, non-specific sense. However, while YHWH certainly does want His people to be loving and kind, Torah is far more than just simple ‘niceness;’ and so is Torah culture.

The Israelite faith is more Eastern than Western, just as the Land of Israel lies in the Middle East (and not in the Mid-West). In the Eastern spiritual traditions, then, transcending the material world implies a certain amount of abstention (or denial) of the things of the flesh. While this concept is not spelled out in the Word, this concept underlies several fundamental key passages, both in the New Covenant, and in the Old.

 

 

 

While certain persons in Scripture had wealth (e.g., Avraham, King Solomon and Job) material things are not highly prized, in Scripture. Rather, the things of the material world are described as being ‘unclean,’ in comparison with the things of the Spirit.

That a spirit-filled believer can just take a shower and still be ritually unclean is a difficult concept for many to accept, even on the intellectual level. At the emotional level, we want to think of ourselves as wonderful, beautiful creatures; especially after having accepted Yeshua as our Messiah and Savior.

However, despite what we mortal human beings might like to believe about ourselves, the Torah does stipulate that certain persons, places or things will defile anyone, rendering them ritually unclean. This is simply because these things have to do with the (impure) material realm.

 

We will spend more time talking about why the things of the material world are so inherently unclean in the upcoming study Nazarene Scripture Commentary.  However, for the time being, if we can simply accept that the spiritual realm which Elohim inhabits is inherently superior to the material realm (which man inhabits), it can make it much easier for us to understand why the Torah places so much emphasis on ritual defilements, and the actions which are necessary to restore us to a ritually pure state.

And, if we can understand what it takes for us humans to purify ourselves enough to commune with the Most High Elohim, it will also make it much easier for us to understand why the Orthodox Jews have maintained their peculiar customs and traditions for so long; and what we can safely learn from them.