Editing Judaizers (section)

==In the Early Church==
{{Main|Early Christianity|History of Christianity}}
{{See also|Biblical law in Christianity#History and background|Christianity in the 1st century|Circumcision controversy in early Christianity#Jewish background}}
The [[Council of Jerusalem]] is generally dated to 48 AD, roughly 15 to 25 years after the [[crucifixion of Jesus]], between [[Chronology of Jesus|26 and 36 AD]]. [[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] {{bibleverse-nb||Acts|15|NRSV}} and [[Epistle to the Galatians|Galatians]] {{bibleverse-nb||Galatians|2|NRSV}} both suggest that the meeting was called to debate whether male Gentiles who were converting to become followers of Jesus were required to become [[Religious male circumcision#Christianity|circumcised]]; the rite of circumcision was considered execrable and repulsive during the period of [[Hellenization]] of the [[Eastern Mediterranean]]<ref name="Hodges 2001">{{cite journal |last=Hodges |first=Frederick M. |year=2001 |title=The Ideal Prepuce in Ancient Greece and Rome: Male Genital Aesthetics and Their Relation to Lipodermos, Circumcision, Foreskin Restoration, and the Kynodesme |journal=[[Bulletin of the History of Medicine]] |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |volume=75 |issue=Fall 2001 |pages=375–405 |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/history/hodges2/ |format=PDF |pmid=11568485 |doi=10.1353/bhm.2001.0119 |s2cid=29580193 |access-date=3 January 2020|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Rubin 1980">{{cite journal |last1=Rubin |first1=Jody P. |title=Celsus' Decircumcision Operation: Medical and Historical Implications |journal=[[Urology (journal)|Urology]] |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |volume=16 |issue=1 |pages=121–124 |date=July 1980 |url=http://www.cirp.org/library/restoration/rubin/ |pmid=6994325 |doi=10.1016/0090-4295(80)90354-4 |access-date=3 January 2020 |archive-date=8 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200508063726/http://www.cirp.org/library/restoration/rubin/ |url-status=dead |url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref name="Fredriksen 2018a">{{cite book |last=Fredriksen |first=Paula |author-link=Paula Fredriksen |date=2018 |title=When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NW9yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA10 |location=[[London]] |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |pages=10–11 |isbn=978-0-300-19051-9}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/4391-circumcision#anchor4 |title=Circumcision: In Apocryphal and Rabbinical Literature |last1=Kohler |first1=Kaufmann |last2=Hirsch |first2=Emil G. |last3=Jacobs |first3=Joseph |last4=Friedenwald |first4=Aaron |last5=Broydé |first5=Isaac |author1-link=Kaufmann Kohler |author2-link=Emil G. Hirsch |author3-link=Joseph Jacobs |author5-link=Isaac Broydé |publisher=[[Kopelman Foundation]] |website=[[Jewish Encyclopedia]] |access-date=3 January 2020 |quote=Contact with Grecian life, especially at the games of the arena [which involved [[nudity]]], made this distinction obnoxious to the Hellenists, or antinationalists; and the consequence was their attempt to appear like the Greeks by [[epispasm]] ("making themselves foreskins"; I Macc. i. 15; Josephus, "Ant." xii. 5, § 1; Assumptio Mosis, viii.; I Cor. vii. 18; Tosef., Shab. xv. 9; Yeb. 72a, b; Yer. Peah i. 16b; Yeb. viii. 9a). All the more did the law-observing Jews defy the edict of [[Antiochus Epiphanes]] prohibiting circumcision (I Macc. i. 48, 60; ii. 46); and the Jewish women showed their loyalty to the Law, even at the risk of their lives, by themselves circumcising their sons.}}</ref> and was especially adversed in [[Classical civilization]] both from [[Ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]] and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]], which instead valued the [[foreskin]] positively.<ref name="Hodges 2001"/><ref name="Rubin 1980"/><ref name="Fredriksen 2018a"/><ref>{{cite book |title=Approaches to Ancient Judaism, New Series: Religious and Theological Studies |year=1993 |page=149 |author=Neusner, Jacob |author-link=Jacob Neusner |publisher=[[Scholars Press]] |quote=Circumcised [[barbarians]], along with any others who revealed the ''glans penis'', were the butt of ribald [[Roman jokes|humor]]. For [[Ancient Greek art|Greek art]] portrays the foreskin, often drawn in meticulous detail, as an emblem of male beauty; and children with congenitally short foreskins were sometimes subjected to a treatment, known as ''[[epispasm]]'', that was aimed at elongation.}}</ref>

Before [[Conversion of Paul the Apostle|Paul's conversion]], Christianity was part of [[Second Temple Judaism]]. Gentiles who wished to join the early Christian movement, which at the time comprised mostly [[Jewish Christianity|Jewish followers]], were expected to convert to Judaism, which likely meant [[Brit milah|submission to adult male circumcision for the uncircumcised]], following the dietary restrictions of [[kashrut]], and more. During the time period there were also "partial converts", such as [[Proselyte#In Judaism|gate proselytes]] and [[God-fearer]]s (i.e. Greco-Roman sympathizers which made an allegiance to Judaism but refused to convert and therefore retained their Gentile (non-Jewish) status), hence they were uncircumcised and it was not required for them to follow any of the commandments of the [[Law of Moses|Mosaic Law]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Goodman |first=Martin |author-link=Martin Goodman (historian) |chapter=Identity and Authority in Ancient Judaism |year=2007 |title=Judaism in the Roman World: Collected Essays |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YVI2a9jc4pMC&pg=PA30 |location=[[Leiden]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |series=Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity |volume=66 |pages=30–32 |doi=10.1163/ej.9789004153097.i-275.7 |isbn=978-90-04-15309-7 |issn=1871-6636 |lccn=2006049637 |s2cid=161369763}}</ref>

The inclusion of Gentiles into early Christianity posed a problem for the Jewish identity of some of the early Christians:<ref name="Bokenotter 2004">{{cite book |last=Bokenkotter |first=Thomas |year=2004 |title=A Concise History of the Catholic Church |edition=Revised and expanded |publisher=Doubleday |isbn=0-385-50584-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DISK1e7JXA8C |pages=19–21}}</ref><ref name="Hurtado 2005">{{cite book |last=Hurtado |first=Larry |author-link=Larry Hurtado |year=2005 |title=Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity |location=[[Grand Rapids, Michigan]] |publisher=[[Wm. B. Eerdmans]] |isbn=978-0-8028-3167-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k32wZRMxltUC |pages=162–165}}</ref><ref name="McGrath 2006">{{cite book |last=McGrath |first=Alister E. |author-link=Alister McGrath |year=2006 |title=Christianity: An Introduction |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |isbn=1-4051-0899-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v26doW8jIyYC |pages=174–175}}</ref> the new Gentile converts were not required to be circumcised nor to observe the Mosaic Law.<ref name="Bokenotter 2004"/> Circumcision in particular was regarded as a token of the membership of the [[Abrahamic covenant]], and the most traditionalist faction of Jewish Christians (i.e., converted [[Pharisees]]) insisted that Gentile converts had to be circumcised as well.<ref>{{bibleverse|Acts|15:1}}</ref><ref name="Bokenotter 2004"/><ref name="Hurtado 2005"/><ref name="McGrath 2006"/><ref name="Cross-Livingstone 2005">{{cite book |editor1-last=Cross |editor1-first=F. L. |editor1-link=F. L. Cross |editor2-last=Livingstone |editor2-first=E. A. |editor2-link=Elizabeth Livingstone |title=The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church |year=2005 |location=[[Oxford]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |edition=3rd Revised |doi=10.1093/acref/9780192802903.001.0001 |pages=1243–45 |isbn=978-0-19-280290-3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fUqcAQAAQBAJ}}</ref> Paul insisted that [[Faith in Christianity|faith]] in [[Jesus|Christ]] (see also [[New Perspective on Paul#Pistis Christou – 'faith in', or 'faithfulness of'|Faith or Faithfulness]]) was sufficient for [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]], therefore the Mosaic Law was not binding for the Gentiles.<ref name="Dunn 2007">{{cite book |editor-last1=Dunn |editor-first1=James D. G. |editor1-link=James Dunn (theologian) |date=2007 |chapter='Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, but...' |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hD8r9kotxQgC&pg=PA314 |title=The New Perspective on Paul: Collected Essays |series=Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament |volume=185 |location=[[Tübingen]] |publisher=[[Mohr Siebeck]] |pages=314–330 |isbn=978-3-16-149518-2 |access-date=30 November 2019}}</ref><ref name="Thiessen 2016">{{cite book |last1=Thiessen |first1=Matthew |date=2016 |chapter=Gentile Sons and Seed of Abraham |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e3dYCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA105 |title=Paul and the Gentile Problem |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=105–115 |isbn=978-0-19-027175-6 |access-date=30 November 2019}}</ref><ref name="Bisschops 2017">{{cite book |last1=Bisschops |first1=Ralph |date=January 2017 |chapter=Metaphor in Religious Transformation: 'Circumcision of the Heart' in Paul of Tarsus |chapter-url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/312589528 |chapter-format=PDF |editor1-last=Chilton |editor1-first=Paul |editor2-last=Kopytowska |editor2-first=Monika |title=Language, Religion and the Human Mind |volume=1 |location=[[New York City|New York]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=1–30 |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190636647.003.0012 |isbn=978-0-19-063664-7 |access-date=30 November 2019}}</ref><ref name="Fredriksen 2018b">{{cite book |last=Fredriksen |first=Paula |author-link=Paula Fredriksen |date=2018 |title=When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NW9yDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA157 |location=[[London]] |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |pages=157–160 |isbn=978-0-300-19051-9}}</ref>

===New Testament===
{{see also|Antinomianism|Circumcision controversy in early Christianity|Early Christianity|The Law of Christ|New Perspective on Paul|Paul the Apostle and Judaism|Religious male circumcision#Judaism}}

In the [[New Testament]], the Judaizers were a group of Jewish Christians who insisted that their co-religionists should follow the Mosaic Law and that Gentile converts to [[Christianity]] must first be circumcised (i.e. become Jewish through the ritual of a proselyte).<ref name="Oxford Dictionary"/><ref name="Dunn 1993"/><ref name="Thiessen 2014"/><ref name="Bokenotter 2004"/><ref name="Hurtado 2005"/><ref name="McGrath 2006"/><ref name="Cross-Livingstone 2005"/> Although such repressive and legalistic requirements may have made Christianity a much less appealing religious choice for the vast majority of Gentiles,<ref name="Klutz 2002"/><ref name="Hodges 2001"/><ref name="Rubin 1980"/><ref name="Fredriksen 2018a"/> the evidence afforded in Paul's [[Epistle to the Galatians]] exhibits that initially a significant number of the Galatian Gentile converts appeared disposed to adopt these restrictions; indeed, Paul strenuously labors throughout the letter to dissuade them from doing so (cf. {{Bibleverse|Galatians|4:21|NRSV}}, {{Bibleverse|Galatians|5:2-4|NRSV}}, {{Bibleverse|Galatians|5:6-12|NRSV}}, {{Bibleverse|Galatians|6:12-15|NRSV}}).<ref name="Oxford Dictionary"/><ref name="Dunn 1993"/><ref name="Thiessen 2014"/><ref name="Dunn 2007"/><ref name="Thiessen 2016"/><ref name="Bisschops 2017"/><ref name="Fredriksen 2018b"/>

Paul was severely critical of the Judaizers within the early church and harshly reprimanded them for their doctrines and behavior.<ref name="Oxford Dictionary"/><ref name="Dunn 1993"/><ref name="Thiessen 2014"/><ref name="Klutz 2002"/> Paul saw the Judaizers as being both dangerous to the spread of the [[Gospel]] and propagators of grievous [[Christian doctrine|doctrinal]] errors.<ref name="Oxford Dictionary"/><ref name="Dunn 1993"/><ref name="Thiessen 2014"/><ref name="Cross-Livingstone 2005"/><ref name="Dunn 2007"/><ref name="Thiessen 2016"/><ref name="Bisschops 2017"/><ref name="Fredriksen 2018b"/> Many of his letters included in the New Testament (the [[Pauline epistles]]) contain considerable material disputing the view of this faction and condemning its practitioners.<ref name="Oxford Dictionary"/><ref name="Dunn 1993"/><ref name="Thiessen 2014"/><ref name="Dunn 2007"/><ref name="Thiessen 2016"/><ref name="Bisschops 2017"/><ref name="Fredriksen 2018b"/> Paul publicly condemned [[Saint Peter|Peter]] for his seemingly ambivalent reaction to the Judaizers, embracing them publicly in places where their preaching was popular while holding the private opinion that their doctrines were erroneous (cf. {{Bibleverse|Philippians|3:2-3|NRSV}}, {{Bibleverse|1 Corinthians|7:17-21|NRSV}}, {{bibleverse|1|Corinthians|9:20–23|NRSV}}, {{Bibleverse|Romans|2:17-29|NRSV}}, {{Bibleverse|Romans|3:9-28|NRSV}}, {{Bibleverse|Romans|5:1-11|NRSV}}, {{Bibleverse|Titus|1:10-16|NRSV}}).<ref name="Dunn 1993"/>
[[File:Saint James the Just.jpg|thumb|right|[[James, brother of Jesus|James the Just]], whose judgment was adopted in the Apostolic Decree of {{bibleverse||Acts|15:19–29|NRSV}}, c. 78 AD: "we should write to them [Gentiles] to abstain only from things polluted by [[Idolatry and Christianity|idols]] and from [[Fornication#Christianity|fornication]] and from whatever has been strangled and from [[Taboo food and drink#Blood|blood]]..." ([[NRSV]])]]

That Gentile Christians should obey the Law of Moses was the assumption of some Jewish Christians in the early church, as represented by the group of Pharisees who had converted to Christianity in {{bibleverse||Acts|15:5|NRSV}}. Paul opposed this position, concluding that Gentiles did not need to obey to the entire Law of Moses in order to become Christians.<ref name="Dunn 1993"/><ref name="Thiessen 2014"/><ref name="Cross-Livingstone 2005"/><ref name="Dunn 2007"/><ref name="Thiessen 2016"/><ref name="Bisschops 2017"/><ref name="Fredriksen 2018b"/> The conflict between Paul and his Judaizing opponents over this issue came to a head with the [[Council of Jerusalem]].<ref name="Dunn 1993"/><ref name="Thiessen 2014"/><ref name="Cross-Livingstone 2005"/><ref name="Dunn 2007"/><ref name="Thiessen 2016"/> According to the account given in [[Acts of the Apostles|Acts]] {{bibleverse-nb||Acts|15}}, it was determined by the [[Great Commission]] that Gentile converts to Christianity did not have to go through circumcision to be saved; but in addressing the second question as to whether or not they should obey the [[Torah]], [[James, brother of Jesus|James the Just, brother of Jesus]] encouraged the Gentiles to "abstain from [[Idolatry|things sacrificed to idols]], and from [[Taboo food and drink#Blood|blood]], and from things strangled, and from [[fornication]]" ({{bibleverse||Acts|15:19–29|NRSV}}).

Paul addresses this question in his [[Epistle to the Galatians]], in which he condemned those who insisted that circumcision had to be followed for justification as "false believers" ({{Bibleverse|Galatians|2:4|NRSV}}):

{{blockquote|But even Titus, who was with me, was not compelled to be circumcised, though he was a Greek. But because of false believers secretly brought in, who slipped in to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus, so that they might enslave us – we did not submit to them even for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might always remain with you. And from those who were supposed to be acknowledged leaders (what they actually were makes no difference to me; God shows no partiality) – those leaders contributed nothing to me. On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumcised, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumcised (for he who worked through Peter making him an apostle to the circumcised also worked through me in sending me to the Gentiles), and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. They asked only one thing, that we remember the poor, which was actually what I was eager to do. [...] We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners; yet we know that a person is justified not by the [[New Perspective on Paul#Works of the Law|works of the law]] but through faith in Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law.|{{bibleverse||Galatians|2:3–10|NRSV}}, {{bibleverse-nb||Galatians|2:15–16|NRSV}}}}

Paul warns the early Galatian church that gentile Christians who submit to circumcision will be alienated from Christ: "Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace." ({{bibleverse||Galatians|5:2–4|NRSV}}).

The ''Catholic Encyclopedia'' notes: "Paul, on the other hand, not only did not object to the observance of the Mosaic Law, as long as it did not interfere with the liberty of the Gentiles, but he conformed to its prescriptions when occasion required ({{bibleverse|1|Corinthians|9:20|NRSV}}). Thus he shortly after circumcised Timothy ({{bibleverse||Acts|16:1–3|NRSV}}), and he was in the very act of observing the Mosaic ritual when he was arrested at Jerusalem ({{bibleverse||Acts|21:26|NRSV}} sqq.)."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/08537a.htm|title=CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Judaizers|website=www.newadvent.org|access-date=2018-03-20}}</ref>

===Circumcision controversy===
[[File:Saint Paul, Rembrandt van Rijn (and Workshop?), c. 1657.jpg|thumb|left|[[Rembrandt]]: ''The Apostle Paul'', circa 1657 ([[National Gallery of Art]], [[Washington, D.C.]])]]

Paul, who called himself "Apostle to the Gentiles",<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Black |editor1-first=C. Clifton |editor2-last=Smith |editor2-first=D. Moody |editor3-last=Spivey |editor3-first=Robert A. |year=2019 |orig-date=1969 |title=Anatomy of the New Testament |chapter=Paul: Apostle to the Gentiles |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3MSHDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA187 |location=[[Minneapolis]] |publisher=[[Fortress Press]] |edition=8th |pages=187–226 |doi=10.2307/j.ctvcb5b9q.17 |isbn=978-1-5064-5711-6 |s2cid=242771713 |oclc=1082543536}}</ref><ref>{{bibleverse|Romans.11:13;1Timothy.2:7;2Timothy.1:11||9|Romans 11:13; 1 Timothy 2:7; 2 Timothy 1:11|multi=yes}}</ref> criticised the practice of circumcision, perhaps as an entrance into the [[New Covenant]] of Jesus. In the case of [[Saint Timothy|Timothy]], whose mother was a Jewish Christian but whose father was a Greek, Paul personally circumcised him "because of the Jews" that were in town.<ref>{{bibleverse|Acts|16:1–3}}</ref><ref name="McGarvey on Acts 16">[http://www.ccel.org/ccel/mcgarvey/acts.ch16.html McGarvey on Acts 16]: "Yet we see him in the case before us, circumcising Timothy with his own hand, and this 'on account of certain Jews who were in those quarters.'"</ref> Some believe that he appeared to praise its value in {{Bibleverse|Romans|3:1–2}}, yet later in Romans 2 we see his point. In {{Bibleverse|1cor|9:20–23||1&nbsp;Corinthians&nbsp;9:20–23}} he also disputes the value of circumcision. Paul made his case to the Christians at Rome<ref>{{bibleverse|Romans|2:25–29}}</ref> that circumcision no longer meant the physical, but a spiritual practice.<ref name="Dunn 2007"/><ref name="Thiessen 2016"/><ref name="Bisschops 2017"/><ref name="Fredriksen 2018b"/> He also wrote: "Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God's commands is what counts."<ref>{{bibleverse|1Cor|7:19||1&nbsp;Cor.&nbsp;7:19}}</ref>

Later Paul more explicitly denounced the practice,<ref name="Dunn 1993"/><ref name="Thiessen 2014"/> rejecting and condemning those Judaizers who promoted circumcision to Gentile Christians.<ref name="Hurtado 2005"/><ref name="Dunn 2007"/><ref name="Thiessen 2016"/><ref name="Bisschops 2017"/><ref name="Fredriksen 2018b"/> He accused them of turning from the Spirit to the flesh:<ref name="Dunn 2007"/><ref name="Thiessen 2016"/><ref name="Bisschops 2017"/><ref name="Fredriksen 2018b"/> "Are you so foolish, that, whereas you began in the Spirit, you would now be made perfect by the flesh?"<ref>{{bibleverse|Gal.|3:3}}</ref> Paul warned that the advocates of circumcision as a condition of salvation were "false brothers".<ref>{{bibleverse|Gal.|2:4}}</ref><ref name="Dunn 1993"/><ref name="Hurtado 2005"/> He accused the advocates of circumcision of wanting to make a good showing in the flesh,<ref>{{bibleverse|Gal|6:12}}</ref> and of glorying or boasting of the flesh.<ref>{{bibleverse|Gal.|3:13}}</ref><ref name="Hurtado 2005"/><ref name="Dunn 2007"/><ref name="Thiessen 2016"/><ref name="Bisschops 2017"/><ref name="Fredriksen 2018b"/> Paul instead stressed a message of [[Salvation in Christianity|salvation]] through [[Faith in Christianity|faith]] in [[Christ]] opposed to the submission under the Mosaic Law that constituted a [[New Covenant]] with God,<ref name="McGrath 2006"/><ref name="Dunn 2007"/><ref name="Thiessen 2016"/><ref name="Bisschops 2017"/><ref name="Fredriksen 2018b"/> which essentially provides a [[Justification (theology)#Paul|justification]] for Gentiles from the harsh edicts of the Law, a New Covenant that did not require circumcision<ref name="McGrath 2006"/><ref name="Dunn 2007"/><ref name="Thiessen 2016"/><ref name="Bisschops 2017"/><ref name="Fredriksen 2018b"/> (see also [[Justification by faith]], [[Antinomianism#Supporting Pauline passages|Pauline passages supporting antinomianism]], [[Abrogation of Old Covenant laws]]).

His attitude towards circumcision varies between his outright hostility to what he calls "mutilation" in {{Bibleverse|Philippians|3:2–3}} to praise in {{Bibleverse|Romans|3:1–2}}. However, such apparent discrepancies have led to a degree of skepticism about the [[Historical reliability of the Acts of the Apostles|reliability of Acts]].<ref>For example, see [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01117a.htm Catholic Encyclopedia (1907–1914): Acts of the Apostles: Objections Against the Authenticity]</ref> [[Ferdinand Christian Baur|Baur]], Schwanbeck, [[Wilhelm Martin Leberecht de Wette|De Wette]], Davidson, Mayerhoff, [[Friedrich Daniel Ernst Schleiermacher|Schleiermacher]], [[Friedrich Bleek|Bleek]], Krenkel, and others have opposed the authenticity of the Acts; an objection is drawn from the discrepancy between {{Bibleverse|Acts|9:19–28}} and {{Bibleverse|Gal.|1:17–19}}. Some believe that Paul wrote the entire [[Epistle to the Galatians]] attacking circumcision, saying in chapter five: "Behold, I Paul say unto you, if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing."<ref>{{bibleverse|Gal.|5:2}}</ref>

The division between the Jews who followed the Mosaic Law and were circumcised and the Gentiles who were uncircumcised was highlighted in his Epistle to the Galatians:
{{Blockquote|On the contrary, when they saw that I had been entrusted with the ''gospel for the uncircumcised'', just as Peter had been entrusted with the ''gospel for the circumcised'' (for he who worked through Peter making him an ''apostle to the circumcised'' also worked through me in sending me to the ''Gentiles''), and when James and [[Aramaic of Jesus#Cephas (Κηφᾶς)|Cephas]] and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave to Barnabas and me the [[right hand of fellowship]], agreeing that we should go to the ''Gentiles'' and they to the ''circumcised''.|{{Bibleverse|Galatians|2:7–9|NRSV}}}}

===Extra-biblical sources===
"Judaizer" occurs once in [[Josephus|Josephus']] ''[[The Wars of the Jews|Jewish War]]'' 2.18.2, referring to the [[First Jewish–Roman War]] (66–73), written around 75:
{{blockquote|...when the Syrians thought they had ruined the Jews, they had the Judaizers in suspicion also ([[William Whiston|Whiston]] Translation).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://earlychristianwritings.com/text/josephus/war-2.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050428062710/http://earlychristianwritings.com/text/josephus/war-2.htm|url-status=dead|title=Flavius Josephus. The Wars Of The Jews. Book II, chapter 8.14|archive-date=April 28, 2005}}</ref><ref>[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=J.+BJ+2.461&fromdoc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0148 "Flavius Josephus, The Wars of the Jews", William Whiston, A.M., Ed., John E. Beardsley. 1895. Book II, Whiston Section 461]. ''Tufts.edu'', Tufts University.</ref>}}

It occurs once in the [[Apostolic Fathers]] collection, in [[Ignatius of Antioch|Ignatius's]] letter to the Magnesians 10:3 written around 100:
{{blockquote|It is absurd to profess Christ Jesus, and to Judaize. For Christianity did not embrace Judaism, but Judaism Christianity, that so every tongue which believeth might be gathered together to God. (Roberts-Donaldson Translation).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/ignatius-magnesians-roberts.html |title=St. Ignatius of Antioch to the Magnesians (Roberts-Donaldson translation) |publisher=Earlychristianwritings.com |date=2006-02-02 |access-date=2011-09-16}}</ref>}} Judaizing teachers are strongly condemned in the [[Epistle of Barnabas]]. (Although it did not become part of the [[Development of the Christian Biblical canon|Christian Biblical canon]], it was widely circulated among Christians in the first two centuries and is part of the [[Apostolic Fathers]].) Whereas Paul acknowledged that the Law of Moses and its observance were good when used correctly ("the law is good, if one uses it lawfully", {{bibleverse|1|Tim|1:8}}), the Epistle of Barnabas condemns most Jewish practices, claiming that Jews had grossly misunderstood and misapplied the Law of Moses.

[[Justin Martyr]] (about 140) distinguishes two kinds of Jewish Christians: those who observe the Law of Moses but do not require its observance of others—with these he would hold [[Eucharist|communion]]—and those who believe the Mosaic law to be obligatory on all, whom he considers heretics (''[[Dialogue with Trypho]]'' 47).

The [[Council of Laodicea]] of around 365 decreed 59 laws, #29:
{{blockquote|Christians must not judaize by resting on the Sabbath, but must work on that day, rather honouring the Lord's Day; and, if they can, resting then as Christians. But if any shall be found to be judaizers, let them be anathema from Christ. (Percival Translation).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf214.viii.vii.iii.xxxiv.html |title=NPNF2-14. The Seven Ecumenical Councils &#124; Christian Classics Ethereal Library |publisher=CCEL.org |date=2005-06-01 |access-date=2011-09-16}}</ref>}}

According to [[Eusebius]]' ''History of the Church'' 4.5.3-4: the first 15 [[Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem#Bishops of Jerusalem|Bishops of Jerusalem]] were "of the circumcision", although this in all likelihood is simply stating that they were Jewish Christians (as opposed to Gentile Christians), and that they observed [[Circumcision in the Bible|biblical circumcision]] and thus likely the rest of Torah as well.<ref>McGrath, Alister E. ''Christianity: An Introduction.'' Blackwell Publishing (2006). {{ISBN|1-4051-0899-1}}, page 174.</ref>

The eight homilies ''[[Adversus Judaeos]]'' ("against the Jews") of [[John Chrysostom]] (347&ndash;407) deal with the relationship between Christians, Jews and Judaizers.

The influence of the Judaizers in the church diminished significantly after the [[destruction of Jerusalem]], when the Jewish-Christian community at Jerusalem was dispersed by the Romans during the First Jewish–Roman War. The Romans also dispersed the Jewish leadership in [[Jerusalem in Christianity|Jerusalem]] in 135 during the [[Bar Kokhba Revolt]]. Traditionally it is believed the [[Early centers of Christianity#Jerusalem|Jerusalem Christians]] waited out the [[Jewish–Roman wars]] in [[Pella, Jordan|Pella]] in the [[Decapolis]]. These setbacks, however, did not necessarily mean an end to Jewish Christianity, any more than [[Valerian (emperor)|Valerian's]] Massacre of 258, (when he killed all Christian bishops, presbyters, and deacons, including [[Pope Sixtus II]] and [[Antipope Novatian]] and [[Cyprian of Carthage]]), meant an end to [[Early centers of Christianity#Rome|Roman Christianity]].

[[File:20050921circoncisionB.jpg|thumb|right|150px|[[Circumcision of Christ|Circumcision of Jesus]], sculpture in the [[Cathedral of Chartres]]]]
The Latin verb {{Lang|la|iudaizare}} is used once in the [[Vulgate]] where the Greek verb ''ioudaizein'' occurs at Galatians 2:14. [[Augustine]] in his ''Commentary on Galatians'', describes Paul's opposition in Galatia as those ''qui gentes cogebant iudaizare'' – "who thought to make the Gentiles live in accordance with Jewish customs."<ref>Eric Plumer ''Augustine's Commentary on Galatians: Introduction, Text, Translation, and Notes'' p124 footnote "5 Literally, 'who were compelling Gentiles to Judaize (Latin: ''iudaizare'')'—in other words, '...&nbsp;to live in accordance with Jewish customs'. In the Latin Bible the term occurs only at Gal. 2: 14, where it virtually transliterates the Greek ''ioudaizein''"</ref>

Christian groups following Jewish practices never completely vanished, although they had been designated as [[heresy|heretical]] by the [[Christianity in the 5th century|5th century]].