Jewish Christianity was the actual Christianity because Jesus was thoroughly Jewish, kept the Torah, and never disciplined [editor: discipled?] the Gentiles. The earliest Christians were all Torah observant Jews and saw Jesus as their Messiah, nothing else. Jewish Christianity, which emphasized keeping the Torah (among other ideas), came into conflict with Greek and Latin Christianity, which discarded it, and Greek/Latin Christians prevailed in these conflicts. What’s your response to this?

All of the things you say about the history of Christianity are true and are important for us to note,  However, the conclusion seems to me to not be fully justified based on my understanding of the Bible.

What I mean is this.  As you say, Jesus was as Jewish as they come. Although he was willing to publicly challenge some of the legalistic and unbiblical extensions of the Law which the Pharisees had imposed, and although he did say that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath,” Jesus was an observant Jew, taking care to follow the Levitical laws with regard to purification, food, sacrifice and the keeping of the prescribed festivals.  You are also correct, as all of us know, that the first several thousand converts to the Christian religion were also practicing Jews.  We can assume that for the first few years—perhaps as many as five to eight years—the Church was composed only of members who observed the Law of Moses.

Even your next statement that Christians who observed Levitical law came into conflict with Greek and Latin Christianity is true in part, but it is a simplification.  First of all, many of the Jewish Christians were Greek-speakers and Greek by cultural orientation to a large extent.  The eventual battle between the Judaizing Christians and the Gentile Christians was not an Aramaic vs Greek thing.  It was a Jewish vs Gentile thing.

Your next comment is also sort of true, but an oversimplification, in my opinion.  Yes, it is true that eventually Gentile Christians overwhelmed Jewish Christians by sheer number.  But that is a very good thing, is it not?  The world at that time (and now) is more than 99% not Jewish.  Was that not the plan all along?  Was it not inevitable that Christians, who are certainly not required to follow Mosaic law (read all of Galatians and Colossians 2 for clear evidence of this), would inevitably overwhelm the much smaller portion of the Church who still observed Mosaic law?  The implication of your question seems to be that this was a bad thing.

Well, to some extent, I agree with you on that as well.  What I mean is this.  There is clear evidence that the early church began to show anti-Semitic tendencies as early as the second century.  The Epistle of Barnabas is one early church document which puts the Jews as a whole in a negative light that cannot possibly be justified by the New Testament.  This is a sad commentary on the early church, and the anti-Semitism got worse in later centuries, to the shame of the Christian Church.  In the process, there was an unfortunate backlash against Christians who wanted to maintain Jewish elements in how they “do” Christianity.  This, too, is very unfortunate.  So, I unfortunately have to agree with you that there was an unfortunate conflict between more Jewish elements in the Christian Church and Gentile elements, and that the Gentile (not Greek or Latin) culture did, as you say, prevail.

But let me get back to my main point, which is this.  God intended all along that salvation would come from the Jews, but that it would spread to all nations.  There is an unlimited number of passages throughout the Old Testament which proves this central fact.  I can mention. There is Isaiah 61:11 and Isaiah 49:6, as well as Psalm 86:9 and so many more which prophesy that through the Messiah all nations will be offered salvation.  Perhaps most importantly of all, there is Genesis 18:18. “All nations will be blessed through you (and through your descendant Jesus Christ).  The New Testament is replete with multiple statements that the gospel is for Jew and Gentile.  Jesus told us to go make disciples of all nations (which could also be translated as all cultures) in Matt 28:18.

So, in the end, although Christianity has deep roots in Judaism—roots which should not be severed—it is not a Jewish religion, and God never intended it to remain a Jewish religion.  It is a religion for all peoples, all languages, all cultures, and even all religious backgrounds.  It is a shame that the early church allowed anti-Semitism to enter itself, and it remains a healthy thing for Christians to embrace our Jewish roots—to celebrate Passover, Chanukuh, and perhaps even Sabbath, but I cannot agree that Christians ought to be required to keep Torah (as demonstrated by Colossians 2:13-19).  This is not a biblical teaching, and Paul made it clear that it is not a biblical teaching (read Galatians).

John Oakes