1. The basic doctrines of Judaism
The source of Christianity is Judaism. Let's start with a review of the formation of beliefs in Judaism.
The Fertile Crescent was once an environment of worship of gods, and the Israelites repeatedly believed in different gods and worshipped Yahweh intermittently.
It was not until the Babylonian captivity that Israel's national consciousness awakened. After returning home, the Jews began the Second Temple period.
During this period, Hebrew texts such as the Torah and the Prophets were compiled. A national belief based on the continuous blood genealogy of the Jews gradually took shape. From Adam and Eve to Noah, to Abraham and David, the history of the nation of Israel has been reshaped with religious overtones and theological interpretations.
From lightning and thunder, floods and famines, regime changes, and the fall of kingdoms, Yahweh was given the will of the god Yahweh. Thus, the monotheistic belief in Yahweh was truly strengthened. Yahweh believers believe that Yahweh made a permanent covenant with the ancestors of the Israelites that they alone would be God's chosen people. They were required to keep the contract, live according to strict Jewish law, and wait for the coming of the Messiah.
2. The internal factions of Judaism
Judaism, however, is not monolithic, but internally divided.
In the first century C.E., the main factions were the Sadducees, the priests and nobles who ruled the temple, the Pharisees, the intellectual class who urged the people to strictly obey the law, the Essenes, who were predominantly poor, and the Zeaphyns, who advocated armed revolt.
- Sadducees
The Sadducees were the most conservative, despising the oral law, rejecting further interpretations of the Torah, believing only in the Torah and disagreeing with theological concepts such as the immortality of the soul, the resurrection of the body, and heaven.
- Pharisee
The Pharisees, on the other hand, were deeply influenced by Zoroastrianism, embraced concepts such as the resurrection of the end times, heaven and hell, and compiled commentaries on the Pentateuch and the Talmud, an oral law. After the destruction of the temple, the Pharisees became the only remaining branch of Judaism, and it was they who established what would become the canon of the Hebrew Bible.
- Essenes
The Essenes were mainly poor, and they retreated to the wilderness to practice hard work. The Dead Sea Scrolls (the oldest current manuscript of the Hebrew Bible) were left behind by these people.
Dead Sea Scrolls
- Zearui people
The Zealots advocated a rebellion against the rule of the Jews in the Roman Empire and the expulsion of outsiders. They and their families all committed suicide at Masada Castle.
Ruins of Masada Castle
3. Doctrinal differences between Christianity and Judaism
If the differences between the above-mentioned factions can still be resolved in the contradictions among the people. Then, in the first century C.E., the Reformation of Jesus and his followers greatly shook the foundations of Judaism.
This is the eschatological revival that Jesus and his followers initiated. This eschatological revival had such a great impact on the teachings of Judaism that it was branded a heresy by orthodox Judaism, and later broke away from the parent body of Judaism and eventually became a worldwide universal religion - Christianity.
In the midst of the Jews' endless waiting for the Messiah, the eschatological revival initiated by Jesus and his followers brought the "gospel" to many people. These "gospels" also constitute a divergence from Jewish doctrine in the following ways:
1. Is it exclusive to Yawei?
At the First Council of Nicaea in 325 C.E., the theology of the Trinity was formalized. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are the same ontology, the same essence, and the same attribute. This also constitutes one of the major differences between Christianity and other monotheistic religions.
But in the first century C.E., when Christianity was born, the idea of the Trinity was not established. In the eyes of early followers of Jesus, Jesus was the Son of God, which was contrary to the basic understanding of Judaism and was considered blasphemy.
2. How can I become God's chosen people?
In the eyes of the Jews, they are the only chosen people of God, and they are superior to other peoples.
They have endured all kinds of suffering, obeyed the complicated laws, and yet were able to accept them with peace because they had been given a unique and superior position of natural choice before God.
Their ancestors had made covenants with God at different times, and Gentiles were not qualified to be God's chosen people.
However, Jesus believers believe that by believing in Jesus, Gentiles can also enter into the "Noah-Abraham-David," a blood genealogy unique to the nation of Israel, and become God's chosen people.
This is naturally the gospel of the Gentiles. This denationalization of Judaism has also given birth to a new universal religion.
3. Did Jesus make a new covenant?
The Jews believed that their ancestors had a permanent covenant with Yahweh, and that these covenants embodied the special relationship between God and the Jewish people.
Jesus believers, on the other hand, believe that Jesus, as the Son of God, came to the mortal world and renewed his covenant with God, that is, if you believe in Jesus, you can become God's chosen people.
4. Is it necessary to obey strict laws?
Judaism established strict laws, including circumcision, the Sabbath, the Kosher law, and many more.
It is said that Jesus hated the outward formalism of Jewish law and insisted on treating the sick on the Sabbath. But in Jesus' day, believers were also subject to basic Jewish law.
But in 50 C.E., Paul and James, Peter, and other church leaders discussed it and decided that Gentiles were not required to follow Jewish law.
Paul's theory can be summed up as "justification by faith." As long as you believe in Jesus in your heart, you can get rid of outward formalism. Paul's philosophy took Christianity completely out of the parent body of Judaism.
At present, the consensus of mainstream scholars is:
Jesus and his disciples did not want to start a new religion, which they saw as an eschatological revival against the Jews. The 12 disciples represent the 12 tribes of the Jews.
Paul dismantled the walls of the law between Gentiles and Jews, and rejected many outward manifestations of Jewish doctrine and became a religion that turned against the faith of the heart.
Paul was executed by the Romans in front of the temple between 64 and 67 C.E. When he was alive, his sphere of influence was limited. As Paul's letters spread, the number of Gentile believers grew. As a result, this eschatological revival within the Jews went out into the world and became a universal religion with great influence.
克劳德‧维农(Claude Vignon)绘《圣保罗像》
5. Heaven in the next life or heaven in this world?
What the Jews have been waiting for is the kingdom of heaven on this earth, the coming of the Messiah to help them establish a Jewish-centered kingdom. In this country, wolves and lambs share litters, children play with vipers, and everything is beautiful and harmonious.
The story told by the Preacher of Jesus is a story about the kingdom of heaven in the afterlife. The story goes like this: All living people are guilty, and when they die, sinful people are put into the lake of hell and fire. Yahweh sent his son Jesus down to earth, suffered so much, and was finally crucified in order to redeem the world. As long as you believe in Jesus, you can avoid going to hell, gain eternal life, and be with God forever.
6. Is Jesus the Messiah?
If we compare the life of Jesus in the New Testament with the Messianic prophecies in Isaiah, then there are many similarities between Jesus and the Messiah.
For example, the book of Isaiah says that the Messiah will be born as a virgin, and Jesus was born without Mary having sex with her husband.
The book of Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would preach in Galilee, which is also consistent with Jesus' account of his ministry in Galilee.
The book of Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be the heir to the throne of David, and the followers of Jesus claimed that Jesus was David's descendant.
The book of Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would suffer and die for the sins of mankind. They believe that Jesus' crucifixion and death is consistent with such prophecy.
The book of Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would be resurrected, and Jesus was resurrected after the crucifixion.
The book of Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would perform miracles and heal the sick, as Jesus demonstrated during his ministry.
However, the Jewish rabbis believed that the final interpretation was in their hands, and they believed that the New Testament of Christ deliberately falsified many facts to suit the prophesied character of the Messiah. Moreover, they could not accept a crucified heretic as the Messiah.
7. Do people have original sin?
The concept of original sin is a new concept introduced by this group of eschatological revival movements. Neither Judaism nor Islam has such a concept.
Judaism does not believe that man is born with original sin. They believe that they did not live according to God's law, and that if they made mistakes, they could be washed away by means such as sacrifices.
Christians, on the other hand, believe that Jesus came to earth as the Son of God, as a perfect and sinless moral person, who suffered and was crucified in order to redeem mankind. It's all about atonement for the sins of humanity.
The concept of original sin made Christianity subject to many of the constraints of the present world in its later development. Christians often appealed to the afterlife, rather than the present life, which led to a long and dark Middle Ages in Europe.
In the late Middle Ages, the Holy See authorized clergy to travel around Europe to sell indulgences in order to raise funds. The theoretical basis for this type of corruption is original sin. It can be seen that the concept of original sin has had a profound influence on Christianity.
8. What kind of relationship between man and God?
The god created by the Jews is a god that people will look away from, and a god who is both gracious and powerful, and often "carrots and sticks". Sometimes it is a flood, sometimes it is the Promised Land, sometimes it protects its people, sometimes it thunders.
While fearing God, the Jews were also thankful to God. Because God chose them individually and made a permanent covenant with their ancestors, they only had to live according to God's law.
And the God created by Christianity is a God who is kind and friendly. As the Son of God, Jesus went down to the mortal world to suffer and redeem mankind and show the world that God loves the world. Therefore, the most important commandment for Christians is to love God with all your heart and with all your heart.
summary
Through the above doctrinal comparison, it is not difficult to find that Christianity can get out of the circle with sufficient underlying logic.
This eschatological revival theory, by comparing the prophecies of the Messiah in Isaiah, fully affirms Jesus' identity as the Messiah and infinitely elevates Jesus' status.
Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth to preach the gospel to the world. The gospel is that Gentiles can enter the blood genealogy of the nation of Israel and become God's chosen people by believing in Jesus.
Jesus renewed the content of the covenant, the new covenant. In the framework of the New Testament, new concepts such as original sin, redemption, and the end of heaven are reintroduced.
Jesus, as the Son of God, was perfectly sinless and came to earth to suffer and finally be crucified, in order to redeem mankind from original sin.
By believing in Jesus, human beings will eventually enter the Kingdom of Heaven after death, attaining eternal life and being with God. Otherwise, the guilty will be placed in the lake of fire in hell.
This new type of friendly relationship between man and God makes believers more willing to believe. Thus loving God with all your heart and with all your heart and with all your heart and mind became Jesus' most important commandment, along with the other commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.
Paul used the theology of justification by faith to break down the barriers that prevented Gentiles from adopting Christianity and to dispel the complex laws of Judaism. Inner faith is far more important than outward manifestation. As a result, Christianity began to truly transition from the Nazareth tribe of Judaism to a world religion, and also laid a solid mass foundation for Christianity to become the state religion of Rome in the fourth century AD.