Editing Judaizers (section)

===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>