What we know as Christianity was developed after Jesus’ departure to the heavens. The changes were gradual, over many generations, and are still occurring. So, with these changes, is what we know as Christianity still following what Jesus of Nazareth did and taught?
It may come as much of a surprise to you, as it did to me, that the word “Christianity” does not appear anywhere in the text of Bible. In fact, the word Christianity wasn’t *created* until nearly a millennium after the Bible was created, and the Bible was not created until more than two centuries after the last manuscript that became part of the Bible was written. The earliest Christian writings known to us were written approximately 70 years after Jesus’ departure from earth.
The Merriam Webster dictionary defines Christianity this way:
1: the religion derived from Jesus Christ, based on the Bible as sacred scripture, and professed by Eastern, Roman Catholic, and Protestant bodies
2: conformity to the Christian religion
3: the practice of Christianity
The word “Christ,” on which the word Christianity is based, is a translation of the Hebrew word “Messiah,” which means “anointed” or “anointed one.” It is a term used to describe something or someone upon which or whom oil has been poured, to demonstrate and to “seal” in observers’ minds that it has or they have been set apart for service to God.
Jewish sages/theologians use the term to describe one man whom Israel’s scripture called the Tanakh (Christians call it the Old Testament) foretold would be sent by God to lead Israel to a better relationship with God and to rule the world from Jerusalem. This man would become “anointed” as the king of Israel. Although Kings, Priests, and the instruments used in Temple worship were all anointed, the term “the messiah” came to be understood exclusively as the man who would return Israel and the world to an honorable relationship with God.
The word “Christians,” meaning “little Messiahs,” was a term used to mock or make fun of the disciples of Jesus who believed Jesus of Nazareth was the “Messiah,” because even though Jesus had not been anointed King (Rome still ruled) and Jesus was dead (thus evidently ending his chances of ever fulfilling all of the prophecies required to be accepted as “the Messiah”) they still believed him to be The Messiah. Following such a person seemed ridiculous to them.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, the term Christian was not used by anyone. After his ministry and during the time when the Bible says Jesus was executed, resurrected, and ascended into the heavens, nobody was recorded to have used the term. Even during the development and creation of his Apostles’ ministry, the term was not used. It was not until theologian (turned prosecutor, turned convert, and eventually apostle/emissary) Paul’s ministry to the gentiles began that the term “Christian” was first used in Antioch – a gentile area (Acts 11:26).
The movement that was born out of those who followed Jesus was also known as “the way” (Acts 22:4, Acts 24:22). Paul said he prosecuted “this Way” and the Governor Felix knew about “this Way.” Paul said he followed “the Way,” which the authorities considered a sect of Judaism, saying that he believed in following “the law and the prophets” (Acts 24:14). His attempt at persuasion was meant to dispel their concerns that “the Way” was in opposition to scripture. Scripture for Judaism, at that time, only consisted of the Tanakh, which includes the first five books of what is commonly today called the Old Testament, the writings ascribed to the prophets, and what is called “the writings,” which includes Psalms, Ecclesiastes, etc.
It is easy to deduce that the term “the way” may have come from one of Jesus’ sayings, recorded in the book of John, where Jesus is recorded to have proclaimed himself to be “the way, the truth, and the life,” and said, “no one comes to the Father (God) but by [Him.]” The passage is generally accepted to mean that to be in God’s favor, one must live the way Jesus lived and taught, because his Way was the true way to life with God.
“The Way” was Jesus’ way – a sect of Judaism. Jesus grew up Jewish and followed Jewish customs. He said, the Law and the the prophets would not “pass away” until all is fulfilled (Matthew 5:18) and until heaven and earth passes away. He taught his disciples likewise.
They too were Jewish men, who grew up Jewish, and followed Jewish customs. Jesus went as far as to say to one gentile that he only came to “the lost sheep of the household of Israel” (Matthew 15:24). He called them lost in the sense that they were wayward – even perishing, not that they could not be found. So his teachings were from a Jewish perspective, exclusively to Jewish people, about Jewish topics. Jesus’ “way” was a Jewish way and all of his chosen students/disciples, who were Jewish, were taught to live this way. They still went to the synagogue regularly, which was a custom and not a law from God. They still honored the seventh-day Sabbath. They still celebrated the holy-days as given by God. They did not eat unclean meats and they did not engage in activities that were pagan in any way.
What made this Way different than the rest of Judaism was that Jesus taught his disciples to honor “the Law and the Prophets” even when doing so contradicted the teachings and traditions of their spiritual leaders. Jesus chided some of these leaders, saying they had “a fine way” of replacing the instructions of God with their own instructions. This dispute was no small matter because their spiritual leaders (Pharisees/rabbis, scribes, etc), had the understanding that their own teachings carried the weight of and sometimes superseded scripture. They believed they carried on the tradition of being like Moses – able to interpret and expand on God’s instructions, and to determine new laws that were binding upon all who believed in the God of Israel. According to the Bible, Jesus admonished his followers to “do as they teach but not as they do” because they “sat in Moses’ seat.”
It made sense that Moses and subsequent leaders helped to interpret instructions when the people had questions about them. For an example, the prohibition against working on the Sabbath; even with the comparatively lengthy instructions that God Himself provided, people still were not clear and asked for further explanation. For an example, what exactly constituted “work” and was therefore forbidden on the Sabbath? How far can someone walk before it is considered laborious/work? Rabbis provided answers for these and other questions.
Jesus followed the Laws/instructions given by God and the words of the Prophets, through whom God provided information and instructions. He followed traditions and instructions of the Rabbis unless they contradicted God’s instructions. It was such opposition to these contradictions that put him and his movement at odds with the religious establishment.
Following the Way means to follow the ways of Jesus. Jesus’ Way was to follow the Laws, commandments, and instructions given by God and the Prophets and only follow the traditions and instructions of others if they do not contradict God’s instructions. It is followers of this Way that became known as Christians, and from which the religion of the Christians became known as Christianity.
But traditional Christianity teaches that the Law of God and laws of Moses no longer applied after Jesus’s death. They took teachings attributed to Paul as saying that if they tried to follow the laws, they were nullifying the saving grace provided by the sacrifice of Jesus’s death.
This understanding is not what Jesus taught. It is not the Way. So where did it come from?
Just my opinion... 