But I will stay on at Ephesus until Shavuot,

Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole batch of dough? 7 Get rid of the old yeast, so that you may be a new unleavened batch—as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. 8 Therefore let us keep the Festival, not with the old bread leavened with malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

Is the command to celebrate Passover in 1 Corinthians in fact a command

Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what counts.

By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. Whoever says ‘I know Him’ but does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.

Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessnes

Sin is explicitly defined as violation of the Torah.

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.

Do not accept an accusation against an elder except on the evidence of two or three witnesses.
Deuteronomy 19.15

1This is the third time I am coming to you. “By the testimony of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.”
Deuteronomy 19.15

Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it

You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.

3 Let no one deceive you in any way, for the Day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the one destined to be destroyed. 4 He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he sits in the Temple of God, proclaiming himself that he is God.

5 Don’t you remember that when I was still with you I was telling you these things? 6 And you know what now holds back, for him to be revealed in his own time. 7 For the mystery of lawlessness is already operating; only there is one who holds back just now, until he is taken out of the way. 8 Then the lawless one will be revealed. The Lord Yeshua will slay him with the breath of His mouth and wipe him out with the appearance of His coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one is connected to the activity of satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, 10 and with every kind of wicked deception toward those who are perishing. They perish because they did not accept the love of the truth so as to be saved.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

If portions of the Torah are no longer applicable, they would not be useful for reproof, correction, or training.

Fetha Nagast (The Law of the Kings) 13-15th Century
Upholds clean/unclean of animals and people, mikveh, Shabbat and Sunday as different entities

Kebra Nagast - shows respect for Torah content outside of that which was upheld by the European Church

Ethiopic Didascalia - Edits to soften the anti-Jewish rhetoric present in the original

Ethiopic Orthodox to this day...

• Circumcision
• Avoid unclean foods
• Shabbat & Sunday both
• Niddah and avoiding of churches

But they passed on from Perga and came to Antioch of Pisidia. Entering the synagogue on the Shabbat, they sat down.

42As Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people kept begging them to speak these things to them the next Shabbat.

43When the synagogue meeting broke up, many of the Jewish people and God-fearing inquirers followed Paul and Barnabas, who were speaking with them and trying to persuade them to continue in the grace of God.

44The following Shabbat, almost the entire city came together to hear the word of the Lord.

13On Yom Shabbat, we went outside the gate to the river, where we expected a place of prayer to be. We sat down and began speaking with the women who had gathered.

2As was his custom, Paul went to the Jewish people; and for three Shabbatot, he debated the Scriptures with them.

18Paul, having stayed many more days, said farewell to the brothers and set sail to Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchrea Paul had his hair cut off, for he was keeping a vow.

4 And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks.

7 After leaving there, Paul went into the house of a man named Titius Justus, a God-fearer whose house was next door to the synagogue. 8 Crispus, the synagogue leader, put his faith in the Lord, along with his whole household. And many of the Corinthians, upon hearing, were believing and being immersed.

1When the day of Shavuot had come, they were all together in one place.

Day by day they continued with one mind, spending time at the Temple and breaking bread from house to house. They were sharing meals with gladness and sincerity of heart,

For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus so that he might not spend much time in Asia, because he was hurrying to be in Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Shavuot.

But we sailed from Philippi after the Days of Matzah. In five days we came to them in Troas, where we stayed for seven days.

When we arrived at Jerusalem, the brothers and sisters received us warmly. 18 The next day Paul and the rest of us went to see James, and all the elders were present. 19 Paul greeted them and reported in detail what God had done among the Gentiles through his ministry.

20 When they heard this, they praised God. Then they said to Paul: “You see, brother, how many thousands of Jews have believed, and all of them are zealous for the law. 21 They have been informed that you teach all the Jews who live among the Gentiles to turn away from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children or live according to our customs. 22 What shall we do? They will certainly hear that you have come, 23 so do what we tell you. There are four men with us who have made a vow. 24 Take these men, join in their purification rites and pay their expenses, so that they can have their heads shaved. Then everyone will know there is no truth in these reports about you, but that you yourself are living in obedience to the law. 25 As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.”

26 The next day Paul took the men and purified himself along with them. Then he went to the temple to give notice of the date when the days of purification would end and the offering would be made for each of them.

Paul acts explicitly to prove that he is not teaching anyone to turn away from the Torah, and to do so, he facilitates a sacrifice

Now when Paul perceived that one part were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, he cried out in the council, “Brothers, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees. It is with respect to the hope and the resurrection of the dead that I am on trial.”

Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous because even the Fast was already over, Paul advised them

The casual mention of "the Fast," tied to the time of year leading to a decision not to set out on a nautical voyage, and given Jewish parlance at the time, indicates that this "fast" is Yom Kippur.

After three days he called together the local leaders of the Jews, and when they had gathered, he said to them, "Brothers, though I had done nothing against our people or the customs of our fathers, yet I was delivered as a prisoner from Jerusalem into the hands of the Romans.

Now Peter and John were going up to the Temple at the ninth hour, the time of prayer.

Deuteronomy 12.28

375-380AD

• Books 1 to 6 are a free re-wording of the Didascalia Apostolorum, an earlier work of the same genre.
• Book 7 is partially based on the Didache. Chapters 33-45 of book 7 contain prayers similar to Jewish prayers used in synagogues.
• Book 8 is a more complex section composed as follows:
  • chapters 1-2 contain an extract of a lost treatise on the charismata
  • chapters 3-46 are based on the Apostolic Tradition, greatly expanded, along with other material
  • chapter 47 is known as the Canons of the Apostles and it had a wider circulation than the rest of the book.

Distinguishes between Shabbat and Sunday, prescribing different manner of worship for each and instructing keeping Shabbat
Book 7 contains numerous prayers obviously following the pattern of brachot
Canons forbid qartodecimanism, indicating that it was still practiced
Canons forbid clergy praying in synagogues, indicating that people did
Canons forbid clergy keeping any "Jewish" feast or fast, indicating that people did
Canons forbid "lighting lamps" in synagogues or providing oil therefore
Interestingly, refers to both "Jews" and "Gentiles" as distinct groups apart from the intended audience, indicating opinion that the Church was a third group.

The earlier Didascalia exhibits an attempt at logic, rejecting Deuteronomy. Of course, they don't reject all of it, and do reject plenty that's in earlier books, but the attempt at consistency is present in the idea of a "second legislation" added because of the golden calf. The Constitutions, in contrast, go all-in on antisemitism and charges of deicide.

Pesach Sheni endorsed in Book 5

Book 5 contains contradictory information but does indicate that Passover, with or without the biblically-necessary component of matzah, was kept for the biblical length of time at this point in history. The contradictions in the text arise regarding calculating the proper month for Nisan.

Argument against Quartodecimanism is essentially, "Not accepting Messiah, Jews can't know the truth about anything, so their calculation of the date must naturally be wrong."

Indication in book 6 that some Christians stringently tracked their status of taharah

Condemnation of "Jewish" washing and separation from unclean things, including dead bodies

Book 8 - condemnation of following "Jewish fables"

Still endorses thrice-daily prayer

Implies that the Torah cannot be read (maybe practiced?) outside Israel. Truly crazy.

The Torah remains valid and applicable to the modern day.
Torah overall described as eternal or ongoing
Specific commandments called eternal
Described as holy or good
Observance in the End Times
So-Called Ceremonial Commandments Repeated or Endorsed
Integral to the New Covenant
What would Jesus do?
Observance after Resurrection
Firsthand knowledge presumed
Disobedience deprecated or forbidden
Described as the standard defining sin
Observance in Patristics and Church History

Leviticus 23.9-14

Luke 2.21

363-364AD

Canons 16, 29, 49, 51 uphold Saturday as Shabbat, but commands work on it and rest on Sunday. First practical and authoritative that replaces Shabbat, but even at this juncture the day remained recognized, though not observed.

Usury still forbidden

Canon 37 - not lawful to feast with Jews

Canon 38 - Not lawful to get matzah from Jews

Canon 56 explicitly references a bemah

Arles (314)
Earliest known Western attempt for unified Easter date.

Nicaea (325)
Definitive condemnation of “Jewish Passover” date for Christians; “We desire dearest brethren, that one and the same day be observed everywhere.”

Antioch (341)
Threatens deposition for clergy who still celebrate with the Jews.

Laodicea (363–364)
Canon(s) about not Judaizing; widely assumed it reaffirmed the Nicene stance on Easter vs. Passover date.

Hippo & Carthage (late 4th–early 5th centuries)
African synods that repeatedly endorse Nicene canons, including the universal Easter date, to stop “divisions” from Quartodeciman practice.

10Thereupon King Darius issued the written decree.

11Now when Daniel learned that a written decree had been issued, he went into his house, where the windows in his upper room opened toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he knelt down, prayed and gave thanks before his God, just as he did before.

24As for the ten horns, out of this kingdom ten kings will arise. Another will arise after them, but he will be different from the previous ones; he will subdue three kings.

25He will speak words against the Most High, and will continually harass the kedoshim of the Most High, and will try to change the appointed times and law. The kedoshim will be handed over to him for a time, times and half a time.

Acts 3.1
Psalm 55.17-18
Daniel 6.10-11

Romans 7.7
Romans 7.12
Romans 7.14
Romans 7.16
Romans 7.22-25
2 Timothy 3.16-17
Romans 3.31
Romans 8.7
James 4.11

Romans 7.7
1 John 3.4
Daniel 7.24-25
2 Thessalonians 2.3-10
1 John 3.4
James 4.11
2 Peter 3.17
Matthew 7.22-23
Matthew 13.37-41
Matthew 24.9-12
Matthew 23.27-28
Romans 6.19
2 Corinthians 6.14
Titus 2.14
Hebrews 1.8-9
Romans 4.7
Hebrews 10.17

Take care and listen to all these words that I am commanding you, so that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the eyes of Adonai your God.

A single witness shall not rise up against a person for any offense or sin that he commits. By the word of two or three witnesses is a case to be established.
Matthew 18.15-16
1 Timothy 5.19
2 Corinthians 13.1

“The secret things belong to Adonai our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever—in order to do all the words of this Torah.

“And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the decrees that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you.

Deuteronomy 4:2 explicitly states that the Torah cannot be altered. Most Christians believe that Jesus made portions of the Torah, which they classify as “ceremonial,” non-binding, but as Jesus was both fully man and fully God, and also sinless, He could not do this without violating this verse

26If only there were such a heart in them to fear Me and keep all My mitzvot always, so that it might go well with them and with their children forever!

Hear, Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Matthew 22.35-39
Mark 12.28-31

9“Know therefore that Adonai your God, He is God—the faithful God who keeps covenant kindness for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His mitzvot,

See that no one cause you to err from this way of the Teaching, since apart from God it teaches you. For if you are able to bear all the yoke of the Lord, you will be perfect; but if you are not able, what you are able that do. And concerning food, bear what you are able; but against that which is sacrificed to idols be exceedingly on your guard; for it is the service of dead gods.

But let not your fasts be with the hypocrites; Matthew 6:16 for they fast on the second and fifth day of the week; but fast on the fourth day and the Preparation (Friday). Neither pray as the hypocrites; but as the Lord commanded in His Gospel, thus pray: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us today our daily (needful) bread, and forgive us our debt as we also forgive our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one (or, evil); for Yours is the power and the glory forever. Thrice in the day thus pray.

200-250AD
Does not confuse Shabbat and Sunday
Discourages Torah observance generally, including...
"Second Legislation" (Deuteronomy) being a punishment (So...no Shema I suppose, despite Yeshua calling it the Greatest)
Instruction not to adopt Jewish fasts and feasts
Exalts the Torah, even so much as saying we are "under" it, but pulls the "moral / ceremonial" division via relegating everything in the "Second Legislation," not limited to Deuteronomy, but rather everything of which the author disapproves, to what would later be called "ceremonial" status
Maintains Saturday Shabbat. Condemns "idleness" in the manner of Israel, but nonetheless commands fasting and constant attention to scripture, so I'm not sure how they wouldn't be Shabbat-compliant, except for in the rabbinical additions/interpretations. Cites that Shabbat and Sunday are equal in value.
Maintains Jewish reckoning of days starting at evening
Argues against kashrut, festivals, etc, illustrating that they were still observed and needed, in the author's opinion, to be discouraged.

And thou shalt not destroy the hairs of thy beard, nor alter the natural form of thy face and change it to other than God created it, because that thou desirest to please men. But if thou do these things, thy soul shall be deprived of life, and thou shalt be rejected before the Lord God. As a man therefore who would please God, take heed thou do no such things; and avoid all those things which the Lord hateth.

"Ceremonial" law cited as literally binding

Zechariah 14.16-19
Isaiah 65.1-5
Isaiah 66.17
Daniel 7.24-25
Revelation 22.14

310-403
"Panarion," Commentary 374-377
Acknowledges "Ebionite tendencies" and condemns them

Condemns Nazoreans, who were orthodox in all matters but the keeping of the Torah, as "vile"
Panarion 29 and 30

Audions - Panarion 70 - Anthropomorphized God, but otherwise basically Messianic Gentiles - Condemned

Panarion 29.9 acknowledges that there was intermingling between Nazoreans and the Gentile Church

Panarion 26-27, any group who doesn't think Paul sets them free from the Torah is heretical. Cerinthians, Merinthians

Laments that "some in the Church" follow these practices, indicating a level of Torah observance among some otherwise normative Christians

A. Panarion 29.7–9 (Nazarenes)

• Epiphanius: “They have not given up the Law, but live according to the Law of Moses, for they live in all Jewish observances, but they confess Christ… They have the Good News according to Matthew thoroughly in Hebrew, for among them that is still preserved as it was originally written.”
• He insists that these Nazarenes are “neither fish nor fowl,” mixing old and new. They keep the Sabbath, circumcision, and other Jewish ways yet acknowledge Jesus. He deems it an “unfortunate confusion.”

B. Panarion 30.1–2 (Ebionites)

• Epiphanius: “They insist on circumcision and the sabbath and on the other things… for they say that Christ was a mere man… and therefore must keep the entire Law… They do not accept the apostle Paul, calling him an apostate from the Law.”
• He lumps in condemnation of any who would see these observances as necessary for salvation.

C. Panarion 70.9–11 (Audians)

• Epiphanius: “They celebrate Passover with the Jews, on the 14th day… calling themselves Christian but in reality adopting Jewish calendars… They disclaim the authority of the Church’s holy synods.”
• He complains that they cause confusion among simple believers who might follow their biblical-literal approach to the calendar.

“All things which it was the duty to do on the Sabbath, these we have transferred to the Lord’s Day… for it is more fittingly the day which belongs to the Lord…”

A question of no small importance arose at that time. For the parishes of all Asia, as from an older tradition, held that the fourteenth day of the moon, on which day the Jews were commanded to sacrifice the lamb, should be observed as the feast of the Saviour's passover. It was therefore necessary to end their fast on that day, whatever day of the week it should happen to be. But it was not the custom of the churches in the rest of the world to end it at this time, as they observed the practice which, from apostolic tradition, has prevailed to the present time, of terminating the fast on no other day than on that of the resurrection of our Saviour.

Chapter 24. The Disagreement in Asia.

1. But the bishops of Asia, led by Polycrates, decided to hold to the old custom handed down to them. He himself, in a letter which he addressed to Victor and the church of Rome, set forth in the following words the tradition which had come down to him:

2. We observe the exact day; neither adding, nor taking away. For in Asia also great lights have fallen asleep, which shall rise again on the day of the Lord's coming, when he shall come with glory from heaven, and shall seek out all the saints. Among these are Philip, one of the twelve apostles, who fell asleep in Hierapolis; and his two aged virgin daughters, and another daughter, who lived in the Holy Spirit and now rests at Ephesus; and, moreover, John, who was both a witness and a teacher, who reclined upon the bosom of the Lord, and, being a priest, wore the sacerdotal plate.

3. He fell asleep at Ephesus.

4. And Polycarp in Smyrna, who was a bishop and martyr; and Thraseas, bishop and martyr from Eumenia, who fell asleep in Smyrna.

5. Why need I mention the bishop and martyr Sagaris who fell asleep in Laodicea, or the blessed Papirius, or Melito, the Eunuch who lived altogether in the Holy Spirit, and who lies in Sardis, awaiting the episcopate from heaven, when he shall rise from the dead?

6. All these observed the fourteenth day of the Passover according to the Gospel deviating in no respect, but following the rule of faith. And I also, Polycrates, the least of you all, do according to the tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have closely followed. For seven of my relatives were bishops; and I am the eighth. And my relatives always observed the day when the people put away the leaven.

7. I, therefore, brethren, who have lived sixty-five years in the Lord, and have met with the brethren throughout the world, and have gone through every Holy Scripture, am not affrighted by terrifying words. For those greater than I have said 'We ought to obey God rather than man.'

8. He then writes of all the bishops who were present with him and thought as he did. His words are as follows:

I could mention the bishops who were present, whom I summoned at your desire; whose names, should I write them, would constitute a great multitude. And they, beholding my littleness, gave their consent to the letter, knowing that I did not bear my gray hairs in vain, but had always governed my life by the Lord Jesus.

9. Thereupon Victor, who presided over the church at Rome, immediately attempted to cut off from the common unity the parishes of all Asia, with the churches that agreed with them, as heterodox; and he wrote letters and declared all the brethren there wholly excommunicate.

10. But this did not please all the bishops. And they besought him to consider the things of peace, and of neighborly unity and love. Words of theirs are extant, sharply rebuking Victor.

11. Among them was Irenæus, who, sending letters in the name of the brethren in Gaul over whom he presided, maintained that the mystery of the resurrection of the Lord should be observed only on the Lord's day. He fittingly admonishes Victor that he should not cut off whole churches of God which observed the tradition of an ancient custom and after many other words he proceeds as follows:

12. For the controversy is not only concerning the day, but also concerning the very manner of the fast. For some think that they should fast one day, others two, yet others more; some, moreover, count their day as consisting of forty hours day and night.

13. And this variety in its observance has not originated in our time; but long before in that of our ancestors. It is likely that they did not hold to strict accuracy, and thus formed a custom for their posterity according to their own simplicity and peculiar mode. Yet all of these lived none the less in peace, and we also live in peace with one another; and the disagreement in regard to the fast confirms the agreement in the faith.

14. He adds to this the following account, which I may properly insert:

Among these were the presbyters before Soter, who presided over the church which you now rule. We mean Anicetus, and Pius, and Hyginus, and Telesphorus, and Xystus. They neither observed it themselves, nor did they permit those after them to do so. And yet though not observing it, they were none the less at peace with those who came to them from the parishes in which it was observed; although this observance was more opposed to those who did not observe it.

15. But none were ever cast out on account of this form; but the presbyters before you who did not observe it, sent the eucharist to those of other parishes who observed it.

16. And when the blessed Polycarp was at Rome in the time of Anicetus, and they disagreed a little about certain other things, they immediately made peace with one another, not caring to quarrel over this matter. For neither could Anicetus persuade Polycarp not to observe what he had always observed with John the disciple of our Lord, and the other apostles with whom he had associated; neither could Polycarp persuade Anicetus to observe it as he said that he ought to follow the customs of the presbyters that had preceded him.

17. But though matters were in this shape, they communed together, and Anicetus conceded the administration of the eucharist in the church to Polycarp, manifestly as a mark of respect. And they parted from each other in peace, both those who observed, and those who did not, maintaining the peace of the whole church.

18. Thus Irenæus, who truly was well named, became a peacemaker in this matter, exhorting and negotiating in this way in behalf of the peace of the churches. And he conferred by letter about this mooted question, not only with Victor, but also with most of the other rulers of the churches.

“This day is to be a memorial for you. You are to keep it as a feast to Adonai. Throughout your generations you are to keep it as an eternal ordinance.

15For seven days you are to eat matzot , but on the first day you must remove hametz from your houses, for whoever eats hametz from the first day until the seventh day, that soul will be cut off from Israel.

16The first day is to be a holy assembly for you as well as the seventh day. No manner of work is to be done on those days, except what is to be eaten by every person—that alone may be prepared by you.

17So you are to observe the Feast of Matzot, for on this very same day have I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you are to observe this day throughout your generations as an eternal ordinance.

18During the first month in the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, you are to eat matzot , until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month.

19For seven days no hametz is to be found in your houses, for whoever eats hametz, that soul will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an outsider or one who is born in the land.

20You are to eat no hametz; in all your houses you are to eat matzot .”

21Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, select lambs for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb.

22You are to take a bundle of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply it to the crossbeam and two doorposts with the blood from the basin. None of you may go out the door of his house until morning.

23Adonai will pass through to strike down the Egyptians, but when He sees the blood on the crossbeam and the two doorposts, Adonai will pass over that door, and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you down.

24Also you are to observe this event as an eternal ordinance, for you and your children.

13“Speak now to Bnei-Yisrael saying, ‘Surely you must keep My Shabbatot, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, so you may know that I am Adonai who sanctifies you.

24“‘For I will take you from the nations, gather you out of all the countries and bring you back to your own land.

25Then I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean from all your uncleanness and from all your idols.

26Moreover I will give you a new heart. I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the stony heart from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.

27I will put My Ruach within you. Then I will cause you to walk in My laws, so you will keep My rulings and do them.

28Then you will live in the land that I gave to your fathers. You will be My people and I will be your God.

My servant David will be king over them. They will all have One Shepherd. They will walk in My ordinances and observe My rulings and do them.

See all, chapters 40-48

1Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the Sanctuary looking east. It was shut.

2Adonai said to me: “This gate is to be shut. It must not be opened. No one may enter through it, for Adonai God of Israel has entered through it. So it is to be kept shut.

3Only the prince, since he is a prince, will sit there to eat bread before Adonai. He will enter by way of the porch of the gate and go out the same way.”

Levitical Priesthood

4Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the House. I looked, and behold, the glory of Adonai filled the House of Adonai. So I fell upon my face.

5Adonai said to me, “Son of man, set your heart, behold with your eyes and hear with your ears all that I say to you concerning all the ordinances of Adonai’s House and all its laws. Set your heart to the entrance of the House, with all exits of the Sanctuary.

6Say to the rebellious, to the house of Israel, thus says Adonai Elohim: ‘Enough of your abominations, house of Israel!

7You brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in My Sanctuary, to profane it—My House—when you offer My bread, the fat and the blood. They have broken My covenant, to add to all your abominations.

8You have not kept charge of My holy things, but you have set keepers of My service in My Sanctuary to please yourselves.’”

9Thus says Adonai Elohim: “No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, may enter My Sanctuary, not any foreigner who is among Bnei-Yisrael.

10For the Levites who went far from Me, when Israel went astray after their idols, will bear their iniquity.

11Yet they will be ministers in My Sanctuary, overseers of the gates of the House and ministering in the House. They will slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people. They will stand before them to minister to them.

12Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel, therefore I have lifted up My hand against them”—it is a declaration of Adonai. “They will bear their iniquity.

13They will not come near to Me, to minister to Me as kohanim, nor come near to any of My holy things, to the things that are most holy. They will bear their shame and their abominations, which they have committed.

14“Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the House, for all its service and for all that will be done in it.

15So the Levitical kohanim, the sons of Zadok who kept charge of My Sanctuary when Bnei-Yisrael wandered from Me, will draw near to Me to minister to Me. They will stand before Me to offer Me the fat and the blood”—it is declaration of Adonai.

16“They are ones who will enter My Sanctuary and draw near to My table to minister to Me. They will keep My charge.

17It will be that when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they will be clothed with linen garments. No wool will come on them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.

18They will have linen turbans upon their heads and linen underclothes upon their loins; they will not wear anything that causes sweat.

19Before they go out to the outer court—to the outer courtyard to the people—they must take off their garments in which they minister and leave them in the holy chambers. They will put on other garments, so they do not consecrate the people while in their garments.

20They must not shave their heads or let their locks grow long, but must carefully trim the hair of their heads.

21No kohen may drink wine before entering the inner court.

22None may take a widow or a divorced woman as his wife, for they must take virgins of the offspring of the house of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a kohen.

23“They will teach My people the difference between the holy and the common and explain to them the difference between the unclean and the clean.

24In a lawsuit, they will stand to judge, and judge in accordance with My ordinances. They will keep My laws and My statutes in all My moadim and keep My Shabbatot holy.

25They must not come near a dead person to defile themselves—only for a father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister who had no husband may they defile themselves.

26After he is cleansed, they will count seven days for him.

27On the day he goes into the Sanctuary, into the inner court to minister in the Sanctuary, he is to offer his sin offering.” It is a declaration of Adonai.

28“It will be an inheritance for them. I am their inheritance. Do not give them any possession in Israel for I am their possession.

29They will eat the grain offering, the sin offering and the guilt offering. Every devoted thing in Israel will be theirs.

30The first of all the firstfruits of everything and every offering of every kind from all your offerings will belong to the ­kohanim. You will also give the kohen the first of your dough, to make a blessing to rest on your house.

31The kohanim may not eat any carcass, whether bird or beast, that dies of itself or is torn.”

“In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, you will have the Passover, a feast of seven days when matzah will be eaten.

Thus says Adonai Elohim: “The gate of the inner court that faces the east will be shut for the six working days. On Yom Shabbat it will be opened and in the day of the New Moon it will be opened.

2The prince will enter by way of the porch of the gate from outside, and stand by the post of the gate. Then the kohanim will prepare his burnt offering and his fellowship offerings. He will worship at the threshold of the gate, and then go out. The gate will not be shut until the evening.

3The people of the land will worship at the door of that gate before Adonai on Shabbatot and New Moons.

When the people of the land come before Adonai at the moadim, whoever enters by way of the north gate to worship will exit by way of the south gate. Whoever enters by way of the south gate must exit by way of north gate. He should not return by the way of the gate where he came in, since he must exit straight ahead.

Luke 2.39

1 Corinthians 5.6-8
1 Corinthians 16.8
Matthew 24.20

Leviticus 3.17

Jews and Gentiles are considered as equals in every way in God's economy, including rights and responsibilities.
Isaiah 56.1-7
Zechariah 8.23
Gentiles in Synagogues

John 10.22-24

8 But regarding the Son He says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
    and a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your Kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
    therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your companions.

The Ruach ha-Kodesh also testifies to us—for after saying,

16“This is the covenant that I will cut with them: ‘After those days,’ says Adonai, ‘I will put My Torah upon their hearts, and upon their minds I will write it,’” then He says,

I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.

LXX Jeremiah 31

Lest anyone argue that these are two separate things and not emphatic repetition, see 1 John 3.4

For finding fault with them, He says, “Behold, days are coming, says Adonai, when I will inaugurate a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

9It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not remain in My covenant, and I did not care for them, says Adonai.

10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Adonai. I will put My Torah into their mind, and upon their hearts I will write it. And I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
Jeremiah 31.31-34

Leviticus 17.7

135-140AD

Chapter 8. Caution against false doctrines

Be not deceived with strange doctrines, nor with old fables, which are unprofitable. For if we still live according to the Jewish law, we acknowledge that we have not received grace. For the divinest prophets lived according to Christ Jesus. On this account also they were persecuted, being inspired by His grace to fully convince the unbelieving that there is one God, who has manifested Himself by Jesus Christ His Son, who is His eternal Word, not proceeding forth from silence, and who in all things pleased Him that sent Him.

Chapter 9. Let us live with Christ

If, therefore, those who were brought up in the ancient order of things have come to the possession of a new hope, no longer observing the Sabbath, but living in the observance of the Lord's Day, on which also our life has sprung up again by Him and by His death — whom some deny, by which mystery we have obtained faith, and therefore endure, that we may be found the disciples of Jesus Christ, our only Master — how shall we be able to live apart from Him, whose disciples the prophets themselves in the Spirit did wait for Him as their Teacher? And therefore He whom they rightly waited for, having come, raised them from the dead. Matthew 27:52

Chapter 10. Beware of Judaizing

Let us not, therefore, be insensible to His kindness. For were He to reward us according to our works, we should cease to be. Therefore, having become His disciples, let us learn to live according to the principles of Christianity. For whosoever is called by any other name besides this, is not of God. Lay aside, therefore, the evil, the old, the sour leaven, and be changed into the new leaven, which is Jesus Christ. Be salted in Him, lest any one among you should be corrupted, since by your savour you shall be convicted. It is absurd to profess Christ Jesus, and to Judaize. For Christianity did not embrace Judaism, but Judaism Christianity, that so every tongue which believes might be gathered together to God.

Chapter 11. I write these things to warn you

These things [I address to you], my beloved, not that I know any of you to be in such a state; [addicted to the error of Judaizing] but, as less than any of you, I desire to guard you beforehand, that you fall not upon the hooks of vain doctrine, but that you attain to full assurance in regard to the birth, and passion, and resurrection which took place in the time of the government of Pontius Pilate, being truly and certainly accomplished by Jesus Christ, who is our hope, 1 Timothy 1:1 from which may no one of you ever be turned aside.

Jeremiah 31.31-34
Ezekiel 36.24-28
Ezekiel 37.24
1 John 2.3-4
1 John 5.2-3
2 John 1.6
Hebrews 8.8-10
Hebrews 10.15-16
John 14.15
1 Corinthians 7.19
Romans 3.31

Proximity to the synagogue in Acts 18.7-8, run by a leader of that synagogue, suggests continued continuity with the synagogue, Judaism, and Jewish practice

Reference to Shavuot in 1 Corinthians 16.8 indicates that the community was familiar and engaged with the calendar, and celebrated Passover so as to be able to count to Shavuot. Without such engagement, this reference is meaningless to them. Without observance of Passover, the date is impossible to calculate

Observance in Patristics and Church History

In the last days

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
    as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
    and all nations will stream to it.

3 Many peoples will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
    so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
    the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
    Micah 4.1-2

Thus says Adonai: “Preserve justice, do righteousness. For My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.

2Blessed is the one who does this, the son of man who takes hold of it, who keeps from profaning Shabbat, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.

3Do not let a son of a foreigner who has joined himself to Adonai say, ‘Adonai will surely exclude me from His people.” Nor let the eunuch say, ‘Behold, I am a dry tree.’”

4For thus says Adonai, “To the eunuchs who keep My Shabbatot, who choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant:

5I will give to them in My House and within My walls a memorial and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that will not be cut off.

6Also the foreigners who join themselves to Adonai, to minister to Him, and to love the Name of Adonai, and to be His servants— all who keep from profaning Shabbat, and hold fast to My covenant—

7these I will bring to My holy mountain, and let them rejoice in My House of Prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar. For My House will be called a House of Prayer for all nations.”

I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me;
    I was found by those who did not seek me.
To a nation that did not call on my name,
    I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’
2 All day long I have held out my hands
    to an obstinate people,
who walk in ways not good,
    pursuing their own imaginations—
3 a people who continually provoke me
    to my very face,
offering sacrifices in gardens
    and burning incense on altars of brick;
4 who sit among the graves
    and spend their nights keeping secret vigil;
who eat the flesh of pigs,
    and whose pots hold broth of impure meat;
5 who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me,
    for I am too sacred for you!’
Such people are smoke in my nostrils,
    a fire that keeps burning all day.

Like its parallel in Isaiah 66.17, this portrays eating pig as part of a larger context, but as one of several things that Hashem regards as negative.

“Those who consecrate and purify themselves to go into the gardens, following one who is among those who eat the flesh of pigs, rats and other unclean things—they will meet their end together with the one they follow,” declares the Lord.

While this does present eating pigs in the context of greater pagan activity, it most certainly portrays the dietary habit as profoundly negative.

From new moon to new moon,
    and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
declares the Lord.

The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge

“The days are coming,” declares the Lord,
    “when I will make a new covenant
with the people of Israel
    and with the people of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
    I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
    to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
    though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel
    after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
    and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
    and they will be my people.
34 No longer will they teach their neighbor,
    or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
    from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”

14“Behold, days are coming” —it is a declaration of Adonai— “when I will fulfill the good word I spoke concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah.

15In those days and at that time, I will cause a Branch of Righteousness to spring up for David, and He will execute justice and righteousness in the land.

16In those days will Judah be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the Name by which He will be called: Adonai our Righteousness.”

17For thus says Adonai: “For David, there will not be cut off a man sitting on the throne of the house of Israel,

18nor will the Levitical kohanim ever lack a man before Me to offer burnt offering, to burn grain offerings and to make sacrifices continually.”

19And the word of Adonai came to Jeremiah, saying,

20thus says Adonai: “If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that day and night would not be at in their appointed time,

21only then may My covenant be broken with My servant David, that he would not have a son to reign on his throne, and the Levitical kohanim would not be My ministers.

22As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, nor the sand of the sea measured, so I will multiply the offspring of David My servant, and the Levites who minister to Me.”

23The word of Adonai came to Jeremiah, saying:

24“Have you not noticed what this people have spoken, saying: ‘The two families which Adonai did choose, He has rejected them’? Thus they despise My people—no longer a nation before them.”

25Thus says Adonai: “If I have not made My covenant of day and night firm, and the fixed patterns ordering the heavens and earth,

26only then would I reject the offspring of Jacob, and of My servant David so that I would not take from his offspring rulers over the offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For I will restore them from their exile, and have compassion on them.”

342-420AD
Commentary on Galatians - 386

“Just as the Galatians were seduced by the false apostles to be justified by works of the law, so even now some are eager to make us Jews under the pretext of a stricter religion.”

Gal 2:4–5)

“That Titus was not compelled to be circumcised… reveals how Paul strove to preserve gospel liberty. For if circumcision were observed, that old yoke might be placed on all believers, and we would be Christians in name, but in truth Jews.”

Gal 2:14):

“Paul publicly rebuked Peter so that the scandal of Judaizing might not confuse the Gentile believers. … If Peter, the pillar of the Church, seemed to prefer legal observances, others would think the Law necessary for salvation, and the grace of Christ would be rendered void.”

Gal 4:10):

“Why do you, who were set free by Christ, turn again to the bondage of the Law, counting days and new moons and Sabbaths? … The apostle calls these ‘weak elements’ because they profit nothing for salvation, but bind you once more to shadows and figures.”

Gal 5:2):

“He who thinks justification arises from the Law sets aside the cross. …Christ shall profit you nothing if you rely on those ancient rites… you prefer the shadow to the sun, the letter to the spirit.”

al 2:14 (PL 26, col. 343)

“Those who now compel believers to adopt the Sabbath or circumcision, or to keep the Jewish feasts, are the successors of those false brethren who sneaked in. They cause confusion and trouble the Church.”

5:12 (“I wish those who trouble you would emasculate themselves!”) – PL 26, col. 407–408

Jerome paraphrases Paul’s outburst:
“Paul, in righteous anger, would have these Judaizing agitators cut themselves off entirely, as they impose the knife on others. If they love the knife so much, let them go further in their folly!”

Gal 3:13 (Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law) – PL 26, col. 365:

“They remain under the curse who cling to the letter that kills, not seeing that Christ is the end of the Law. … The unbelieving Jews persist in shadows, refusing the truth.”

Then came Hanukkah; it was winter in Jerusalem.

23Yeshua was walking in the Temple around Solomon’s Colonnade.

24Then the Judean leaders surrounded Him, saying, “How long will You hold us in suspense? If You are the Messiah, tell us outright!”

Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods”’ 35 If he called them ‘gods,’ to whom the word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside

“If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.

If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

The Jewish feast of Passover was near, so Yeshua went up to Jerusalem.

Now the Jewish Feast of Tabernacles was near.

3Therefore His brothers said to Him, “Leave here and go to Judea, so Your disciples also may see the works You are doing.

4No one who wants to be well known does everything in secret. If You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world!”

5For not even His brothers were trusting in Him.

6Therefore Yeshua said to them, “My time has not yet come, but your time is always at hand.

7The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify that its works are evil.

8You go on up to the Feast. I’m not going to this feast, because My time hasn’t yet fully come.”

9After saying these things, He stayed in the Galilee.

10But after His brothers went to the Feast, He also went, not openly but secretly.

347-407AD

Based in Antioch
Ranted against...

• Practicing the Torah outside Israel (makes no sense whatsoever)
• Attending synagogues
• Observing biblical holidays
• Yom Kippur (referenced by date)
• Buying matzah for Passover from Jews
  • Raises the question of whether they all still celebrated Passover with matzah, but demanded it be made within the Christian community
• Lighting lamps (shabbat/yom tov candles) for biblical holidays and/or Hanukkah

Explicitly states that Shabbat is abrogated, contradicting Yeshua

Entire series of sermons, Adversus Judaeos, spanning months raving about all of this, indicated that Christians, in Antioch, were doing all of these things in 386-387AD and were so committed to it that Chrysostom felt the need to address it in a massive way.

1) Homily I

1. Homily I, Section 1

   “What excuse can you have? When you ought to be intent upon prayer, you run off to their synagogues; for if they are diseased, how do you not become yet more ill by associating with them?”

2. Homily I, Section 4

   “What are you doing, Christian, in the synagogue? Tell me! Are you learning anything from the Jews? … Is not the synagogue a place of impiety?”

3. Homily I, Section 5

   “Some of you pay more respect to the synagogues than to the church… This is the reason why we fast, that we may lament… But you run off to the synagogue to join in festivals of the Jews…”

(Here, Chrysostom scolds Christians for mingling with Jewish celebrations and for seeking blessings from Jewish rituals.)

2) Homily II

1. Homily II, Section 1

   “Many were rushing to the Feast of Trumpets, and I addressed you at length, forbidding you to go among them… But I see again that many are returning to the same wickedness.”

2. Homily II, Section 3

   “Do you not shudder to do the same things that they do? … You keep the fasts with them, and yet you call yourself a Christian?”

3. Homily II, Section 4

   “They (the Jews) sacrifice their children to the devil… I do not say this lightly; many among them, in the mania of their feasts, commit impieties… And yet you run to them, sharing in their festivals?”

(Chrysostom’s rhetoric is notoriously harsh—he claims the Jews do “impious” things and warns Christians not to join their “Feast of Trumpets” or fasts.)

3) Homily III

1. Homily III, Section 1

   “There are those who say: ‘We do these things for no evil purpose, but to see the grandeur of their solemnities, to watch their festivals…’ But do you not know you are bringing ruin upon your own soul by such sight-seeing?”

2. Homily III, Section 4

   “You run to the synagogue, you reverence the place itself, you think you’ll receive some blessing? This is more shameful than any crime… The synagogue is not a holy place but a dwelling of demons.”

(He again insists that a Christian “spectating” or “participating” in Jewish rites is spiritually poisonous.)

4) Homily IV

1. Homily IV, Section 2

   “They celebrate the fast (Yom Kippur) and the feast of Tabernacles… You dare to keep them? … For Christ has set us free from every yoke of the Law, and you degrade yourself by returning to those shadows.”

2. Homily IV, Section 5

   “The Jewish Passover is no Passover, nor is it a festival. For what is celebrated once a year we celebrate continuously. When you run there, you betray the grace you have received.”

(He denounces Christian involvement in Jewish High Holy Days—Tabernacles, Yom Kippur, Passover—and calls them “shadows.”)

5) Homily V

1. Homily V, Section 2

   “Why do you bow before the synagogue? Do you not know that the demons dwell there, and not God? The synagogue is a place of slaughter, a cave of brigands… The cross and the Church are our glory!”

2. Homily V, Section 3

   “They say they worship the God of all—but if they truly worshiped Him, they would also accept Christ. Since they do not, it is plain they worship the devil.”

(Chrysostom intensifies his anti-Jewish rhetoric, labeling synagogues as demonic and accusing Christians who attend them of apostasy.)

6) Homily VI

1. Homily VI, Section 5

   “Some among you, who keep the feast of the unleavened bread with them, say, ‘We just buy unleavened loaves from the Jews…’ But in so doing, you commit a great sin: for what fellowship has light with darkness?”

2. Homily VI, Section 7

   “Let no one go to the synagogue for any reason, not on feast days, not on Sabbaths, not at any time… If you need bread, buy it from the market, not from their festival shops.”

7) Homily VII

1. Homily VII, Section 2

   “You run to them for blessings? But they are beggars, cast out from the Father’s house…How will they bless you who are under the wrath of God?”

2. Homily VII, Section 4

   “These people have no share in Christ; they are the ones who shouted ‘Crucify Him!’… Cease going to them if you would not be cast out from Christ’s kingdom.”

(He condemns Christians who think receiving “blessings” from a rabbi or synagogue is beneficial, insisting Jews themselves are “under wrath.”)

8) Homily VIII

1. Homily VIII, Section 3

   “Let us keep ourselves from the bloodguilt of the Jews; for though you do not kill Christ, you share in their crime when you join them in their fasts and feasts.”

2. Homily VIII, Section 5

   “You cannot worship God and join with those who resist Him. You cannot share the table of the Lord and the table of the Jews. Let there be a clear boundary, so that you do not slip into ruin.”

(This final homily sums up Chrysostom’s repeated theme: visiting synagogues or sharing Jewish rituals implicates Christians in the guilt of crucifixion, in his eyes.)

Simply a bigot.

1) Insults Labeling Synagogues as Demonic or Wicked

Homily I, Section 2

“The synagogue is not only a brothel and a theater, it is also a den of robbers and a lodging for wild beasts. No one would say that these are the words of someone who is merely abusive… [But] since they behave with greater treachery than any criminal… we must call the synagogue a brothel, a place of shameful love, a domicile of the devil…”

• Analysis:
  • Chrysostom calls the synagogue multiple slurs in a single breath—“brothel,” “theater,” “den of robbers,” “lodging for wild beasts,” “domicile of the devil.” This is raw bigotry, not just theological critique.

Homily III, Section 4

“Do you reverence this place (the synagogue)? Why, the demons dwell in that place, not God. Never call a synagogue holy; it is a hellish place, a place of wickedness.”

2) Depicting Jews as “Killers of Christ,” “Devil-Servants”

Homily VI, Section 6

“They (the Jews) gave themselves up to the devil… They do not serve God but their own bellies; their prayers are an abomination… And you, Christian, go to them seeking blessings?”

• Analysis:
  • Chrysostom equates Jews with “those who gave themselves to the devil,” further fueling the medieval stereotype that Jews are in league with demonic forces.

Homily IV, Section 7

“Jews are the most miserable of all men: from that time forth they have been destitute of any hope… once they killed Christ, they lost their homeland, and they lost God’s protection.”

• Analysis:
  • The notion that Jews are “the most miserable of all men” and “destitute” is a loaded statement implying God’s total abandonment of them.

3) Accusations of Immorality or Bestiality

Homily II, Section 4

“They sacrifice their children to the devil… They are possessed by the mania of their feasts… they do not differ from goats and irrational animals. They carry out monstrous rites…”

• Analysis:
  • He repeats an ancient libel: child sacrifice. By likening them to “goats” or “irrational animals,” it’s pure defamatory hyperbole.

(This false accusation about “child sacrifice” is reminiscent of blood libels later found in medieval Europe.)

4) Calling Jews “Christ-Killers” and Depraved

Homily I, Section 6

“The Jews say they too worship God… but they crucified the Lord; how can they worship Him whom they have murdered? …They are Christ-killers, and you share their table?”

• Analysis:
  • Chrysostom’s rhetoric that Jews are “Christ-killers” was tragically repeated for centuries, fueling persecution.

Homily V, Section 2

“They killed the Son of your Master… Do not align yourselves with these murderers.”

• Analysis:
  • This line directly demonizes all Jews collectively for the crucifixion, a theological stance that was later used to justify violence and discrimination against Jewish communities.

5) Charges of Idolatry and Sorcery

Homily II, Section 5

“They worship the devil, for the Talmudic fables are full of magic and sorcery… their feast days are idolatrous and worthy of condemnation.”

• Analysis:
  • Chrysostom lumps Jewish traditions as “Talmudic fables” (though the Talmud as we know it was still forming in this era) and calls them “sorcery.”

(In fact, Talmud references in Chrysostom are anachronistic; more accurately, he lumps oral Jewish traditions into “magic,” a standard polemical charge.)

6) Direct Calls for Ostracism and Hostility

Homily I, Section 5

“I say this, if you fail to restrain yourselves from going to them (the Jews), I shall drive you off from the church. I shall not allow the Lord’s flock to be infected with your disease.”

• Analysis:
  • He not only insults Jews but threatens to excommunicate any Christian who associates with them.

Homily VIII, Section 5

“Drive them far from you, do not partake in their feasts… for if you do, you are guilty of the same crimes. Let there be a clear boundary between us and them.”

• Analysis:
  • He insists on total separation, painting Jews as morally and spiritually contagious.

Conclusion & Significance

1. Open Bigotry:
   • These quotes go beyond theological differences, launching hateful invective at Jews collectively—labeling them demon-worshipers, criminals, “Christ-killers,” etc.
2. Influence on Medieval Anti-Judaism:
   • Chrysostom’s polemics were widely cited in subsequent centuries to justify discrimination and violence, thus forging a tragic link between patristic rhetoric and medieval anti-Jewish sentiment.
3. Historical Context:
   • Delivered in Antioch (c. 386–387) when many Christians were attending Jewish synagogues/festivals. Chrysostom’s extreme approach aimed to sever these interfaith bonds, ironically confirming how integrated some communities were.
4. Modern Reception:
   • Modern scholarship condemns these passages as extreme examples of anti-Jewish bigotry within the early Church tradition. They remain a stark reminder of how theological controversy can bleed into ethno-religious hatred.

Dialog with Trypho - 155-160AD

47.1 Justin addresses Trypho: “There are some who say they believe in Christ and yet choose to observe the same things that you do… They think they will be saved if they keep the Law—I do not agree, but I do not reject them if they desire to keep those customs…”

48.4 “If they wish to observe such institutions as were given by Moses… and yet choose to place their hope in Christ… we can associate with them in every way, as I have said. But if they try to force them on us, we cannot submit.”

19.2 Justin explains that many Mosaic rites (circumcision, sacrifices, purity rules) were “imposed because of the hardness of the people’s hearts,” not as eternal precepts for all.

20“We do not trust in circumcision of the flesh, but in the circumcision of the heart… We keep a new law, the law of Christ.”

46.1 Justin contrasts moral commands (love God, love neighbor) with “ceremonial sabbaths,” describing the latter as shadows. Yet, he notes, “some among us” choose to rest or abstain from certain work on those days.

47 1. - ustin lumps Sabbath with circumcision and dietary rules, saying some Christians do them, but he doesn’t find it necessary for all.

“It is to be a statute to you forever, that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you are to afflict your souls, and do no kind of work—both the native-born and the outsider dwelling among you.

30For on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. From all your sins you will be clean before Adonai.

31It is a Shabbat of solemn rest to you, and you are to afflict your souls. It is a statute forever.

They are no longer to offer their sacrifices to the goat-demons after which they play the prostitute. This will be a statute forever to them throughout their generations.

17 “‘Do not hate a fellow Israelite in your heart. Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in their guilt.

18 “‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.

19 “‘Keep my decrees.

“‘Do not mate different kinds of animals.

“‘Do not plant your field with two kinds of seed.

“‘Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material.

Matthew 22.35-39
Mark 12.28-31
Luke 10.25-28

“Then you are to count from the morrow after the Shabbat, from the day that you brought the omer of the wave offering, seven complete Shabbatot.

16Until the morrow after the seventh Shabbat you are to count fifty days, and then present a new grain offering to Adonai.

17You are to bring out of your houses two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They are to be baked with hametz as firstfruits to Adonai.

18You are to present, along with the bread, seven one-year-old lambs without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They will become a burnt offering to Adonai, with their meal offering, and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to Adonai.

19Also you are to offer one male goat for a sin offering and a pair of year-old male lambs for a sacrifice of fellowship offerings.

20The kohen is to wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before Adonai, with the two lambs. They should be holy to Adonai for the kohen.

21You are to make a proclamation on the same day that there is to be a holy convocation, and you shall do no regular work. This is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

26Adonai spoke to Moses, saying:

27“However, the tenth day of this seventh month is Yom Kippur, a holy convocation to you, so you are to afflict yourselves. You are to bring an offering made by fire to Adonai.

28You are not to do any kind of work on that set day, for it is Yom Kippur, to make atonement for you before Adonai your God.

29For anyone who does not deny himself on that day must be cut off from his people.

30Anyone who does any kind of work on that day, that person I will destroy from among his people.

31You shall do no kind of work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

32It is to be a Shabbat of solemn rest for you, and you are to humble your souls. On the ninth day of the month in the evening—from evening until evening—you are to keep your Shabbat.”

“So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you are to keep the Feast of Adonai for seven days. The first day is to be a Shabbat rest, and the eighth day will also be a Shabbat rest.

40On the first day you are to take choice fruit of trees, branches of palm trees, boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and rejoice before Adonai your God for seven days.

41You are to celebrate it as a festival to Adonai for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations—you are to celebrate it in the seventh month.

Adonai spoke to Moses saying:

10“Speak to Bnei-Yisrael and tell them: When you have come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you are to bring the omer of the firstfruits of your harvest to the kohen.

11He is to wave the omer before Adonai, to be accepted for you. On the morrow after the Shabbat, the kohen is to wave it.

12On the day when you wave the omer you are to offer a male lamb without blemish, one year old, as a burnt offering to Adonai.

13The grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil—an offering made by fire to Adonai for a soothing aroma. Its drink offering with it shall be a quarter of a gallon of wine.

14You are not to eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until this same day—until you have brought the offering of your God. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

17“It is to be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings, that you must eat neither fat nor blood.”

And testing Him, one of them, a lawyer, asked,

36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Torah?”

37And He said to him, “‘You shall love Adonai your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’

38This is the first and greatest commandment.

39And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
Deuteronomy 6.4-5
Leviticus 19.17-19

While Jesus was speaking, a Pharisee asked Him to dine with him, so He went in and reclined at table. The Pharisee was astonished to see that He did not first wash before dinner

The astonishment of those with Yeshua implies that He did usually observe this custom. He was widely known, and had He routinely ignored this tradition, that too would have been widely-known and not cause for astonishment. The context indicates that He abstained from the practice in this individual case in order to add force to a specific point which He intended to teach. See also Mark 7.1-5

10Now Yeshua was teaching in one of the synagogues on Shabbat.

“The Torah and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since then, the Good News of the kingdom of God is being proclaimed, and everyone tries forcing his way in.

17But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for a single serif of the Torah to fail.

When eight days had passed for His brit-milah, He was named Yeshua, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.

And when the days of their purification were fulfilled, according to the Torah of Moses, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present to Adonai.

23As it is written in the Torah of Adonai, “Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to Adonai.”
Numbers 18.15-16

When Joseph and Miriam had completed everything according to the Torah of Adonai, they returned to the Galilee, to their own city of Natzeret.

Now His parents were going every year to Jerusalem for the Passover feast.

42When He became twelve years old, they were going up according to festival custom.

43As they headed home after completing the days, the boy Yeshua remained in Jerusalem, but His parents didn’t know.

And He came to Natzeret, where He had been raised. As was His custom, He went into the synagogue on Shabbat, and He got up to read.

Yeshua came down to Capernaum, a town in the Galilee. He was teaching them on Shabbat,

On a different Shabbat, Yeshua entered the synagogue and was teaching

“But for you who revere My Name, the sun of righteousness will rise, with healing in its wings. Then you will go forth and skip about like calves from the stall.

“Remember the Torah of Moses My servant, whom I commanded at Horeb—statutes and ordinances for all Israel. “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of Adonai.

Third verse from the end of the Old Testament by the Christian ordering is an exhortation to remember the Torah. This is 2-3 pages in modern Bibles before Yeshua's "Do not think that I came to abolish..."

And they went into Capernaum. Right away, on Shabbat, He entered the synagogue and began to teach.

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

29 “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
Matthew 22.35-39
Luke 10.25-28
Deuteronomy 6.4-5
Leviticus 19.17-19

When she heard about Yeshua, she came through the crowd from behind and touched His garment.

28For she kept saying, “If I touch even His clothes, I shall be healed.”
Matthew 9.20
Malachi 3.20

And wherever He entered villages, towns, or countryside, people were placing the sick in the marketplaces and begging Him to let them touch even the tzitzit of His garment—and all who touched it were being healed.
Malachi 3.20

1Now the Pharisees and some of the Torah scholars who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Yeshua.

2And they saw that some of His disciples were eating bread with unclean hands, that is, not washed.

3(For the Pharisees and all Jewish people do not eat unless they wash their hands up to the elbow, keeping the tradition of the elders.

4And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they perform a ritual washing. There are many other traditions they have received and hold, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels.)

5The Pharisees and Torah scholars questioned Yeshua, “Why don’t Your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders? Why do they eat bread with unwashed hands?”

This heavily implies that Yeshua observed netilat yadayim. Had He not, the question certainly would have been, "why do you eat with unwashed hands," not "why do your disciples" do so.

37 He answered, “The one sowing the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world. And the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the weeds are the sons of the evil one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Therefore just as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who practice lawlessness.

“Now if your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault while you’re with him alone. If he listens to you, you have won your brother.

16But if he does not listen, take with you one or two more, so that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand.’
Deuteronomy 19.15

One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question:  “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Mark 12.28-31
Luke 10.25-28
Deuteronomy 6.4-5
Leviticus 19.17-19
Luke 10.25-28

Then Yeshua spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying, “The Torah scholars and Pharisees sit on the seat of Moses. So whatever they tell you, do and observe. But don’t do what they do; for what they say, they do not do.

“Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, hypocrites! You tithe mint and dill and cumin, yet you have neglected the weightier matters of Torah—justice and mercy and faithfulness. It is necessary to do these things without neglecting the others.

27 “Woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. 28 In the same way, you appear righteous to men on the outside, but are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath.

9 “Then they will hand you over to persecution and will kill you. You will be hated by all the nations because of My name. 10 And then many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one other. 11 Many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold.

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

This stands in opposition to any statement that certain aspects of the Torah remain, while certain are "fulfilled" and no longer need to be observed.

22Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in Your name, and drive out demons in Your name, and perform many miracles in Your name?’

23Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Get away from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’”

Just then a woman, losing blood for twelve years, came from behind and touched the tzitzit of His garment.
Mark 5.27-28
Malachi 3.20

Despite detesting those portions of the Torah which they identified as Jewish by appeal to stereotype, emperors and other sovereigns well into the medieval period accepted numerous less-stereotypical elements of the Torah as binding legislation

Alfred the Great Domesday Book - 800s England - Punishment for murder, theft, care for the downtrodden
Direct integration of Exodus 20-23 into English Law

Visigothic Code - King Chindasuinth and Recceswinth - 600s Spain
Property protections
Boundary stones

Charlemagne - 700s-800s HRE
Routinely cites biblical, Torahic authority

• Blasphemy
• Sexual sins
• Penal codes
• Care for the downtrodden

Church Canon Law

• Usury
• False weights and measures
• Sexual sins

Church Penitentials

• Theodore of Tarsus, Bede 600s - 800
• Explicitly cite Deuteronomy for both defining sins and the associated punishments/curses

Aquinas - 1200s

• Summa Theologiae I–II, Q. 98–105
• War
• Property
• Restitution

Church Canon Lawyers

• Gratian, et al, 1100s-1200s
• Routinely cite and explicitly reference "divine law" for numerous non-stereotypical mitzvot

Boundary stone moving still considered both a sin and a crime in the medieval period
Limited warfare and the mitzvah forbidding removing fruit trees
Ban on usury
Mitzvah of parapets cited for the category of "preventing foreseeable harm / negligence" - Explicitly called out as biblical authority in local Italian laws
Distinction between manslaughter and murder
Animal welfare
Gleaning
Forbidding cross-dressing, especially in respect to festivals where it would otherwise be common

So as much as their predecessors raged against the Torah, the "second legislation" or all things "Jewish," medieval authorities considered the text authoritative inasmuch as they agreed a priori with what it instructed

11 Now comes the mystery of the passover, even as it stands written in the law, just as it has been read aloud only moments ago....

22 If you listen to the narration of this extraordinary event you will be astonished. For these things befell the Egyptians: a long night, and darkness which was touchable, and death which touched, and an angel who oppressed, and Hades which devoured their firstborn.

82 But you were found not really to be Israel, for you did not see God, you did not recognize the Lord, you did not know, O Israel, that this one was the firstborn of God, the one who was begotten before the morning star, the one who caused the light to shine forth, the one who made bright the day, the one who parted the darkness, the one who established the primordial starting point, the one who suspended the earth, the one who quenched the abyss, the one who stretched out the firmament, the one who formed the universe,

83 the one who set in motion the stars of heaven, the one who caused those luminaries to shine, the one who made the angels in heaven, the one who established their thrones in that place, the one who by himself fashioned man upon the earth. This was the one who chose you, the one who guided you from Adam to Noah, from Noah to Abraham, from Abraham to Isaac and Jacob and the Twelve Patriarchs.

84 This was the one who guided you into Egypt, and guarded you, and himself kept you well supplied there. This was the one who lighted your route with a column of fire, and provided shade for you by means of a cloud, the one who divided the Red Sea, and led you across it, and scattered your enemy abroad.

85 This is the one who provided you with manna from heaven, the one who gave you water to drink from a rock, the one who established your laws in Horeb, the one who gave you an inheritance in the land, the one who sent out his prophets to you, the one who raised up your kings.

86 This is the one who came to you, the one who healed your suffering ones and who resurrected your dead.
--Dayeinu?

79 and vinegar, and gall, and a sword, and affliction, and all as though it were for a blood-stained robber. For you brought to him scourges for his body, and the thorns for his head. And you bound those beautiful hands of his, which had formed you from the earth. And that beautiful mouth of his, which had nourished you with life, you filled with gall. And you killed your Lord at the time of the great feast.

92 But you, quite to the contrary, voted against your Lord, whom indeed the nations worshipped, and the uncircumcised admired, and the foreigners glorified, over whom Pilate washed his hands. But as for you�you killed this one at the time of the great feast.

93 Therefore, the feast of unleavened bread has become bitter to you just as it was written

The great feast, not your great feast. Bitter "to you" specifically. As much as he hates Jews and rejects 3/4 of the Bible, he maintains the observance of Passover for the timing of the Resurrection.

Applicability of Torah
Gentile Equality
All Torah is Moral Torah

In the last days

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established
    as the highest of the mountains;
it will be exalted above the hills,
    and peoples will stream to it.

2 Many nations will come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
    to the temple of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
    so that we may walk in his paths.”
The law will go out from Zion,
    the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
    Isaiah 2.2-3

Acts 21.17-26
Acts 18.18

Mark 7.1-5
Luke 11.37-38

37Adonai spoke to Moses saying,

38“Speak to Bnei-Yisrael. Say to them that they are to make for themselves tzitzit on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and they are to put a blue cord on each tzitzit.

39It will be your own tzitzit—so whenever you look at them, you will remember all the mitzvot of Adonai and do them and not go spying out after your own hearts and your own eyes, prostituting yourselves.

40This way you will remember and obey all My mitzvot and you will be holy to your God.

By implication, if the reminder to do "all My mitzvot" is eternal, then "all My mitzvot" are also eternal.

The first offspring of the womb from all flesh, whether human or animal, offered to Adonai, is yours. However, you are to redeem the firstborn of man and the firstborn of unclean animals.

16When they are a month old, you are to redeem them at the redemption price of five shekels of silver by the Sanctuary shekel, or 20 gerahs.
Luke 2.22

John 15.10

Temple
Davening
Sacrifice
Shavuot
Passover and Matzot
Yom Kippur
Shabbat
Nazir Vow
Post-Havdalah Gathering
Paul Considered Himself an Observant Pharisee

Polycrates to Victor - Passover reckoned by the calendar, chametz avoided - Recorded in Eusebius Ecclesiastical History 5.24, letter C 190AD

Didache 6 - Bear as much as you are able, including food
Didache 8 - Day designations centered around Shabbat, observance of Shacharit, Mincha, and Maariv times

Ignatius to the Magnesians - Rants against Judaizing

Justin Martyr

Eusebius Ecclesiastical History 5.23.1

Eusebius Commentary Psalm 92

Melito Peri Pascha - 120-180AD Despite being hideously antisemitic, inventing the Decide charge, and conceiving of himself as disregarding the Torah entirely, Melito nonetheless ties observance of the Resurrection to Passover very explicitly and seems to include literal reading of the Exodus account in his observance

Didascalia Apostolorum

Councils that Condemned Quartodecimanism repeatedly, indicating that despite the condemnations, people didn't listen and condemnation needed to be repeated

Apostolic Constitutions

John Chrysostom

Council of Laodicea

Epiphanius of Salamis

Jerome

Socrates Scholasticus Ecclesiastical History

Sozomen

Theodoret of Cyrrhus

From Polycrates and Asia Minor churches to the many Christians John Chrysostom lambasted in Antioch, we find mainstream congregations maintaining Passover on the 14th of Nisan, removing leaven, observing Jewish fasts, resting on the Sabbath, or refraining from unclean foods.

Repeated councils (Laodicea, Nicaea) and major church fathers (Chrysostom, Jerome) rebuke these practices, indicating they were common enough to pose an ongoing “problem.”

-The Didache, Didascalia, & Apostolic Constitutions Provide direct pastoral instructions for believers still living in a Torah-shaped context, and document gradual departure from that context, bridging the gap between the apostolic age and the later patristic era.

Diary of the Pilgrimage of Egeria - Records the Church in Jerusalem structuring Christian liturgical events around the biblical calendar

Abbysinian Tradition

Earliest liturgy still in use - Divine Liturgy of St. John - clearly based on synagogue services - imports and adapts G'vurah, K'dushah, Kaddish, etc.

Medieval Legal Codes

Timeline of Discarding Mitzvot

Zechariah 14.16-19
Isaiah 2.2-3
Isaiah 66.17
Isaiah 65.1-5
Isaiah 66.23
Micah 4.1-2
Revelation 18.2
Revelation 14.12
Revelation 12.17
Revelation 22.14
Isaiah 56.1-7
Ezekiel 36.24-28
Ezekiel 37.24
Daniel 7.24-25
Matthew 24.20
2 Thessalonians 2.3-10
2 Peter 3.17
Jeremiah 33.14-26
Ezekiel 44
Malachi 3.22-23
Zechariah 8.23
Ezekiel 45.21
Ezekiel 46.1-3
Ezekiel 46.9
Zechariah 8.18-19

Exodus 12.14-24
1 Corinthians 5.6-8
Luke 2.41-43
John 2.13
Acts 20.6
Acts 20.16
See also all descriptions of the Last Supper

Acts 23.6
Acts 28.17

190AD

This author comes in as an appendix to the stories of Polycarp and Irenaeus and good Anicetus, and his writings also bear upon the contrast presented by the less creditable history of Victor. If, as I suppose, the appearance of our Lord to St. John on "the Lord's day" was on the Paschal Sunday, it may at first seem surprising that this Apostle can be claimed by Polycrates in behalf of the Eastern custom to keep Easter, with the Jews, on the fourteenth day of the moon. But to the Jews the Apostles became "as Jews" in all things tolerable, so long as the Temple stood, and while the bishops of Jerusalem were labouring to identify the Paschal Lamb with their Passover. The long survival of St. John among Jewish Christians led them to prolong this usage, no doubt, as sanctioned by his example. He foreknew it would quietly pass away. The wise and truly Christian spirit of Irenaeus prepared the way for the ultimate unanimity of the Church in a matter which lies at the base of "the Christian Sabbath," and of our own observance of the first day of the week as a weekly Easter. Those who in our own times have revived the observance of the Jewish Sabbath, show us how much may be said on their side, and elucidate the tenacity of the Easterns in resisting the abolition of the Mosaic ordinance as to the Paschal, although they agreed to keep it "not with the old leaven."

Our author belonged to a family in which he was the eighth Christian bishop; and he presided over the church of Ephesus, in which the traditions of St. John were yet fresh in men's minds at the date of his birth. He had doubtless known Polycarp, and Irenaeus also. He seems to have presided over a synod of Asiatic bishops (a.d. 196) which came together to consider this matter of the Paschal feast. It is surely noteworthy that nobody doubted that it was kept by a Christian and Apostolic ordinance. So St. Paul argues from its Christian observance, in his rebuke of the Corinthians. They were keeping it "unleavened" ceremonially, and he urges a spiritual unleavening as more important. The Christian hallowing of Pentecost connects with the Paschal argument. The Christian Sabbath hinges on these points.

From His Epistle to Victor and the Roman Church Concerning the Day of Keeping the Passover.

As for us, then, we scrupulously observe the exact day, neither adding nor taking away. For in Asia great luminaries have gone to their rest, who shall rise again in the day of the coming of the Lord, when He cometh with glory from heaven and shall raise again all the saints. I speak of Philip, one of the twelve apostles, who is laid to rest at Hierapolis; and his two daughters, who arrived at old age unmarried; his other daughter also, who passed her life under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and reposes at Ephesus; John, moreover, who reclined on the Lord's bosom, and who became a priest wearing the mitre, and a witness and a teacher-he rests at Ephesus. Then there is Polycarp, both bishop and martyr at Smyrna; and Thraseas from Eumenia, both bishop and martyr, who rests at Smyrna. Why should I speak of Sagaris, bishop and martyr, who rests at Laodicea? of the blessed Papirius, moreover? and of Melito the eunuch, who performed all his actions under the influence of the Holy Spirit, and lies at Sardis, awaiting the visitation from heaven, when he shall rise again from the dead? These all kept the passover on the fourteenth. day of the month, in accordance with the Gospel, without ever deviating from it, but keeping to the rule of faith.

Moreover I also, Polycrates, who am the least of you all, in accordance with the tradition of my relatives, some of whom I have succeeded-seven of my relatives were bishops, and I am the eighth, and my relatives always observed the day when the people put away the leaven -I myself, brethren, I say, who am sixty-five years old in the Lord, and have fallen in with the brethren in all parts of the world, and have read through all Holy Scripture, am not frightened at the things which are said to terrify us. For those who are greater than I have said, "We ought to obey God rather than men." ...

I might also have made mention of the bishops associated with me, whom it was your own desire to have called together by me, and I called them together: whose names, if I were to write them down, would amount to a great number. These bishops, on coming to see me, unworthy as I am, signified their united approval of the letter, knowing that I wore these grey hairs not in vain, but have always regulated my conduct in obedience to the Lord Jesus.

Now on the first day of the week, we gathered to break bread. Paul was talking with them, intending to leave the next day, so he prolonged his speech till midnight.

The works of His hands are truth and justice. All His precepts are trustworthy—
they are upheld forever and ever, made in truth and uprightness.

44 I will keep your law continually, forever and ever.
152 Long ago I learned from your statutes that you established them to last forever.
142 Your justice is righteousness forever, and Your Torah is truth.
144 Your testimonies are righteous forever —make me understand, so I may live.
152 Long have I known from Your testimonies that You have founded them forever.
160 All your words are true; all your righteous laws are eternal.

As for me, I will call on God, and Adonai will save me.
Evening, morning and noon, I complain and moan, then He hears my voice.

Luke 2.22
Numbers 18.15-16

Then the dragon was enraged at the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring—those who keep God’s commands and hold fast their testimony about Jesus.

This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.

With a mighty voice he shouted:

“‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’
She has become a dwelling for demons
and a haunt for every impure spirit,
    a haunt for every unclean bird,
    a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal.

Christians often say that all animals can be eaten as food, and all can be considered clean, but John clearly does not agree.

Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter the city by the gates

Note that this is a minority textual variant. In terms of actual manuscript age, it is not the oldest. However, it is more broadly attested than the alternative in Patristic writings earlier than either of the manuscript traditions of which we have copies.

13For it is not the hearers of Torah who are righteous before God; rather, it is the doers of Torah who will be justified.

14For when Gentiles, who do not have the Torah, do by nature the things of the Torah, they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the Torah.

15They show that the work of the Torah is written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts switching between accusing or defending them

Do we then nullify the law through faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered.

Lest anyone say that these are two separate things and not emphatic repetition, see 1 John 3.4

I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you yielded your body parts as slaves to uncleanness and lawlessness, leading to more lawlessness, so now yield your body parts as slaves to righteousness, resulting in holiness.

So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.

For we know that the Torah is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold to sin.

But if I do what I do not want to do, then I agree with the Torah—that it is good.

For I delight in the Torah of God with respect to the inner man,

23but I see a different law in my body parts, battling against the law of my mind and bringing me into bondage under the law of sin which is in my body parts.

24Miserable man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

25Thanks be to God—it is through Messiah Yeshua our Lord! So then, with my mind I myself serve the Torah of God; but with my flesh, I serve the law of sin.

What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin.

What is and is not sin is known by the Torah.

For the mindset of the flesh is hostile toward God, for it does not submit itself to the law of God—for it cannot.

Acts 21.17-26

Exodus 31.13
Matthew 24.20
Luke 4.16
Mark 12.21
Luke 4.31
Luke 6.6
Luke 13.10
Acts 13.14
Acts 13.42-44
Acts 16.13
Acts 17.2
Acts 18.4

Leviticus 23.15-21
Acts 20.16
1 Corinthians 16.8
Acts 2.1

Yeshua on the Greatest Commandment
Torah's Standards for Witnesses
Passover and Matzot
Shabbat
Matthew 23.23

439AD

Book 5, Ch 22
“Even now, there are those in certain quarters who keep the feast along with the Jews… They do not all follow the Nicene ruling. Indeed, in some localities the day of Passover is still computed as the Jews do, leading to confusion and repeated quarrels.”

Book 6, Ch 11-13

Socrates mentions further synods convened to quell Easter controversies, underscoring how “Judaizing” in the sense of adopting the Jewish Passover date remained an issue.

Does not condemn

States that Christians in Asia Minor attended Jewish festivals or adopted "old" customs

440s

Book 7, Ch 18-19
“Certain in the East clung to the day of the fourteenth moon, should it fall on a weekday, celebrating the Pascha with the Jews… Others insisted on only a Sunday… Emperors and bishops strove for uniformity, but the old usage could not be easily eradicated.”

Passover and Matzot
Shabbat
Food
Yom Kippur
Idolatry
Bikkurim
Shavuot
Sukkot
Tsitsit

Leviticus 23.39-41
John 7.2-10

Acts 2.46
Acts 21.17-26

Compendium of Heretical Fables

393-460

See Book 3, Ch 4

• • “They derive their name from Ebion, meaning ‘poor’ in Hebrew… He taught that believers must keep the whole Mosaic Law.”
• They maintain Sabbath and the rites of Judaism, “while confessing Christ in word, yet rejecting the fullness of His revelation.”
• “They practice circumcision, the kosher distinction of foods, and the rituals of the Jewish feasts, supposing they cannot be saved apart from them.”
• Theodoret criticizes them for “submitting again to the yoke that Christ removed.”
• “They accept only certain Gospels—often the ‘Gospel of the Hebrews’—while rejecting Paul, whom they call ‘the apostate from the Law.’”
• This is standard patristic condemnation: any group that denies Paul’s epistles or “grace over law” teaching is heretical in Theodoret’s eyes.
• Some of these Jewish‐Christian groups teach Christ was anointed as an ordinary man; some accept the virginal birth but still degrade His divinity. Theodoret lumps them all under the broader condemnation of “Ebionite”/“Nazarenes.”

2nd–3rd c.:
Quartodeciman Controversy
Jerusalem Council Decree as Introductory Minimum ignored by 150
Kashrut discouraged beyond Jerusalem Decree outside of Levant and Asia Minor

4th–5th c.:
Nicaea (325): Mandates universal Easter on a Sunday

Sabbath vs. Sunday: By the time of Constantine, Sunday is the official day of rest for the empire

Holidays opposed by Catholic leaders (Chrysostom, etc)

Siddur Content modified to fit Catholic context, forms the structure of service for Catholics, Episcopalians, Anglicans, Methodists to this day

6th–8th c.:
Sunday Laws: In many Christian kingdoms, not working on Sunday is seen as a moral and legal obligation.

9th–10th c.:
King Alfred’s Code, Carolingian Capitularies: Merge Old Testament moral/civil laws with Christian ethics (e.g., “Don’t remove boundary stones,” gleaning principles).
Various mitzvot of this nature generally abstracted into "principles" by Church leaders

11th–13th c.:
Scholastic Theology (e.g., Anselm, Aquinas) formalizes the threefold division of law (moral–ceremonial–judicial). Many Mosaic commands on sexual ethics, honesty in commerce, remain firmly moral.

Marriage & Divorce: The Church upholds an extremely strict no-remarriage stance (divorce only for adultery in rare scenarios, debated)

Sunday Shabbat is a moral and legal imperative

16th c. (Luther, Calvin, etc.):
Sunday Sabbath: upheld entirely, forbidding both work and recreation/entertainment.

Marriage & Divorce: Slight relaxing of reasons for divorce, but still seen as moral sin and legally restricted

Sexual Morality: All mainstream Reformers treat biblical sexual prohibitions (adultery, homosexuality, incest, cross-dressing from Deut 22:5, etc.) as moral and binding.

17th–18th c.:
Usury now permissible as long as it is "reasonable" and not "excessive." Prior to this era, seen as binding part of the "moral law"

1800s

Shabbat secularized, weekend emerges. Sunday rest still considered binding by Church leaders, but begins to see pushback due to industrialization

Divorce secularized, but remains rare, and churches both Protestant and Catholic continue to condemn it.

1900-1959
Sunday Sabbath Still commanded by churches and the devout, increasing societal pushback

Divorce more common, but still condemned in churches

Sexual Ethics remain in place in churches, marginally less prevalent in Western society, but still enforced - eg, extramarital sex, adultery, homosexuality, crossdressing Up to about the 1950s–60s, these biblical rules are generally preached as “moral law,” not “ceremonial.”

1960-1979

No Fault Divorce Protestants begin to accept divorce, classifying Yeshua's words as an ideal rather than a command.
Sabbath: Sunday commerce grows common. Many Protestants treat “no work on Sunday” as optional or archaic. They start calling it “ceremonial or cultural,” referencing Romans 14:5 (“one man esteems one day, another another day…”). They push worship on Sundays (they would cease to exist if they didn't) but not a refrain from work outside of attending worship srevices
Sexual Revolution Conservative churches still condemn sexual immorality. Liberal/mainline denominations, however, start rewriting official statements, allowing more leniency (e.g., remarriage after divorce, acceptance of premarital cohabitation in some contexts).
Mitzvot outside of holidays, food often completely forgotten by lay leaders, who by this point consider "The Law" to be an entity independent from the Bible and consisting of only these matters

1980-1999

Sunday Observance: In most Western Protestant churches, Sunday is no longer strictly a “day of rest.” The old “Sabbath logic” is called “Old Testament,” “for Israel.”

Divorce: Full acceptance grows. By the 1990s–2000s, many Evangelical pastors re-marry divorced persons without stigma.

Sexual Behavior:
Homosexuality becomes a dividing line. Mainline churches start “relegating” verses in Leviticus 18, Romans 1, etc., to “ancient cultural norms.”
Cross-Dressing (Deut 22:5) is rarely enforced outside fundamentalist circles. Some call it a “ceremonial,” “cultural,” or “patriarchal context” rule. In more liberal denominations (e.g., certain Methodist, Episcopalian, Lutheran bodies), these biblical sexual regulations are labeled non-binding or “conditional,” reflecting historical context.

2010-May 2025

Sex & Gender: Mainline denominations (eg, United Methodists) recategorize extramerital sex, adultery, homosexuality, and any enforcement or even definition of gender as "ceremonial."
Divorce & Remarriage: Entirely normalized except in the most conservative circles
Sabbath: "Ceremonial" - "Romans 14 preference"

Overall pattern is the subjugation of the Scriptures to local culture, freely labeling anything that is not in line with majority culture as "ceremonial."

He gave Himself for us so that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and so that He might purify for Himself a chosen people, zealous for good deeds.

Deuteronomy 4.1-2
Matthew 5.17-20
Romans 7.7
2 Timothy 3.16-17
Psalm 119 Excerpts
John 10.35-36
Deuteronomy 5.26
Deuteronomy 7.9
Deuteronomy 12.28
Deuteronomy 29.28
Psalm 111.7-8
Malachi 3.22-23
Luke 16.16-17
Romans 3.31
Romans 2.13-15
Matthew 23.1-3

Matthew 18.15-16
1 Timothy 5.19
2 Corinthians 13.1
Deuteronomy 19.15

Numbers 15.37-40
Mark 5.27-28
Mark 6.56
Matthew 9.20

Circumcision
Redemption of the Firstborn
Family Birth Purification
Obeyed the Torah
Passover and Matzot
Sukkot
Hanukkah
Shabbat
Tsitsit
Netilat Yadayim

Matthew 22.35-39
Mark 12.28-31
Luke 10.25-28
Deuteronomy 6.4-5

Leviticus 16.29-31
Leviticus 23.26-32
Acts 27.9

Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, and to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. 17 If any of the peoples of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord Almighty, they will have no rain. 18 If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles. 19 This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.

Again the word of Adonai-Tzva’ot came saying:

19 “Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, “The fast of the fourth, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh and the fast of the tenth month will become joy, gladness and cheerful moadim. Therefore, love truth and shalom!’

Thus says Adonai-Tzva’ot, “In those days it will come to pass that ten men from every language of the nations will grasp the corner of the garment of a Jew saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”

The language here is not "grab at the clothes of a Jewish person" but "take up" (eg, as their own) Jewish clothing - the tallit