The Judaiser: Age Old Heresy--New Age Following

The Judaizers were one of the earliest, most widespread, and most dangerous attack against the Gospel of Christ. This group insisted that to be truly justified, Gentiles (non-Jewish people) needed to observe certain Old Covenant (Old Testament) rituals, festivals, and Mosaic Laws--namely at the time, the most emphasized was the rite of circumcision, which was the physical sign for the Jews in the Old Testament as God’s chosen people.

The letter of Galatians is the Apostle Paul’s answer to this Gospel heresy. Paul starts his reply to the Judaizers in chapter three by pronouncing a divine curse on their false gospel. This same false teaching is also seen in Acts, in the book of Hebrews, and in various other New Testament Epistles. As you can see this false doctrine is seen as quite an error and one of the first examples of false doctrine that rose up from within the New Testament church.

The Judaizer’s doctrine, at first glance, seems to be a subtle error which hardly seems worth the fight. However, that subtle error undermines the very principle of justification through faith in Jesus Christ. Here is the break down of the Judaizer doctrine of salvation compared to the Gospel’s doctrine of salvation through Christ:

The Judaizer says that a man must--first--repent and believe in Christ AND--secondly--observe certain Jewish-Mosaic Laws the best he can over his lifetime, and then he will be justified by God.

The Gospel of Christ says that a man must--first--repent and believe in Christ AND THEN he is justified before God, at which he will immediately, through the Holy Spirit of Christ, proceed to keep the Law of God--Love God and love you neighbor.

Did you catch the difference? I think it is clear that the Judaizer believes that merely repenting and believing in Christ is only one-half of justification of sin, which the second-half is based on your works afterwards through observing certain Jewish-Mosaic laws--salvation to them is a two step 50/50 process. Now, the Gospel of Christ gives no other means besides repenting and believing in Christ by which to gain justification of sin--simply repent and believe and your sins are justified through the Blood of Christ and your salvation is sealed forever in Him. These verses from Paul clearly speak to justification by faith alone:

Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (9) not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”(NASB)

Titus 3:5-6, “He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, (6) whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,” (NASB)

Indeed, the false teachings of the Judaizers are breaking new ground today; this age-old heresy is growing like a disease within Christianity in this modern age and it needs to be stopped. I have come across various sects within the modern-day Judaizer movement, who continue to twist the Gospel of Christ in each their own way; but no matter what their various twists are, they all break down the same--believe in Christ AND observe Jewish-Mosaic Law to be justified by God. However, out of all these sects there is one group who has recognized various biblical contradictions to the--by definition--Judaiser doctrine; therefore, they have placed a new spin on this old false teaching in order to mask its falsies to make it perceive more as Gospel teaching.

Now, granted; they are not so blatant to deny one’s salvation for not following Jewish Law as the true Judaizer; but nevertheless, the distortion of the Gospel is still there and should never be tolerated.

They state that justification for a one’s sin is only by the repenting and believing in Christ (sounds like the Gospel), but the purpose for following the Jewish Laws (here comes the deceit), such as observing only the Jewish-Sabbath Day (Saturday), not eating pork, and/or not properly proclaiming the Hebrew names “Yahweh” (God) and “Yeshua” (Jesus) the person will then avoid “grieving the Spirit,” and in return, reap blessings and favor from God. Although this group, at first, seems to be more in line with what the Gospel of Christ says; however, their error is the suggestion and the criticism towards other Christians that not following Jewish Laws is somehow displeasing to God. Nice try, but there is still no biblical backing for this group, and their Judaiser roots of heresy are still present: it’s all nothing more than just pure manipulation of Scripture candy-coated to further deceive.

The problem with the Judaizer--old or new--is not merely that they disagree with the Gospel of Christ, but that their disagreement involves such a vital point. The Gospel of Christ hinges on the very position that the Judaizer denies, which is, that sinners are justified solely on the basis of what Christ has already done on our behalf, and not in any way because of anything we must do for Him.

Galatians 3:8, “The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘ALL THE NATIONS WILL BE BLESSED IN YOU.’”

Galatians 3:11, “Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, ‘THE RIGHTEOUS MAN SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.’”

Gaining God's favor was never achieved by the Law of Moses, it was only a means for which one could recognize sin; faith has always been the means of gaining favor with God. Abraham was blessed because of his faith not because he followed the law and David was blessed because of his faith not because he followed the law. Hebrews chapter eleven gives us many other examples of those who by faith gained God’s favor.

The way the apostle Paul dealt with these Judaizers then is the only right way to respond to any false teacher who corrupt and compromise essential elements of the Gospel of Christ now--they must be exposed for what they are, and their doctrine must be refuted. Paul was very clear in his letter to the Galatia church that only faith in Christ was the way for salvation and that living by Christ's Spirit was the only means for righteous living--never by observing any laws.

Those principle elements were true then and are still true today.

Galatians 2:19-21, “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. (20) I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. (21) I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly."

Galatians 3:5-6, “So then, does He who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? (6) Even so Abraham BELIEVED GOD, AND IT WAS RECKONED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.”