Primitive Apostolic Christianity

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Primitive Apostolic Christianity or Sabbatarianism is an effort to combine Old Testament Jewish Law with Christianity. It is a movement based on the belief that since the Apostles were Jewish proselytes to Christianity, they must have continued following Jewish Law as Christians. This movement is called Primitive since its followers believe their movement to reconstruct the earliest forms of Christianity. It is called Apostolic since its followers believe it to represent the form of Christianity that the twelve Apostles followed. It requires that Christians follow Jewish Law, such as keeping Jewish Sabbath, and thus can be considered a modern revival of the Judaizers of the Epistles and the Ebionites.

The terms "primitive" and "apostolic" are used differently by Sabbatarians than in orthodox Christianity such as Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity and many other denominations. These groups consider their practices primitive in that they are based on scholarship and research into the actual writings of the Church fathers and other historical documents. They call themselves "apostolic" in that they maintain a literal Apostolic Succession or historical lineage tracing back to the Apostles and the Great Commission. During the early phase of Christianity the Church was persecuted by Roman and Jewish authorities and survived underground. Thus written documents for the Church of the first century are sparse. To remedy this, the primitive church passed down its knowledge verbally and is reflected in the Church writings that appear prolifically in the second and third centuries. This body of literature forms a body of precedence called "tradition."

Sabbatarians, however, reject such tradition and literature and instead attempt to reconstruct (or invent say detractors) primitive church practices as they think they might have been at the times of the Apostles. To do this, they revive practices found in the Old Testament.

The label Primitive and Apostolic, in terms of Christianity, are used by such authors as Alan Knight, Primitive Christianity in Crisis, and Roderick Meredith, Restoring Apostolic Christianity, to describe Christians, who are sometimes called Jewish Christians (see Ebionites), although the term is not completely descriptive of all who follow Primitive Apostolic Christian doctrine.

Some Christian sects today view these "Primitive Apostolic teachings" and observances as the proper form of Christianity. The collection of non-biblical, pre-Nicene writings is called by some the Ante-Nicene Fathers. These groups often see the verses in Acts 15:19-21 as a directive from the first Council of Jerusalem, also called the Apostolic Decree, to observe the basic understanding of the Noahide Laws in order to be considered righteous Gentiles, and not be required to live completely as Torah-observant Jews. This settled a dispute among the first Christians, which began as a sect of first century Judaism, as to whether the new Gentile converts were required to become circumcised and live completely under the dictates of Judaism (Acts 15:5,24). The Noahide Law was based on the understanding that some ordinances were in effect at least since the time of Noah, and some had been given in the Garden of Eden to Adam and Eve, thus given to all mankind.

Judaism has continued to observe Gentiles, even when they become proselytes, as not being under the same scrutiny of the ordinances of Judaism. They may have a part in salvation and in the world to come just by observing the Noahide Law according to Maimonides, who was a Jewish scholar of the thirteenth century. There is much speculation, and some disagreement as to what is part of the Noahide Law, even among Jewish scholars (see Noahide Laws for more information on the Jewish perspective).

Some groups consider themselves unique in current observation of Primitive Apostolic Christianity. These include most Sabbatarian Church of God groups, and some Noahide Nazarenes. The doctrines vary slightly from each group, but usually include the teaching that Sabbath was one of the observances given to Adam and Eve, as well as the Sacred Calendar, in order to count the years, seasons, weeks and days. They claim that there is evidence that events such as Abraham's offering of his son Isaac, occurred at the time of the Passover, therefore High Sabbaths are included in the covenant that Noah is said to have observed. Also related is Quartodecimanism. Clean and unclean animals were also understood in the time of Noah, as can be seen in Genesis 7:2. These precepts are viewed to be included in the Noahide Law, and along with the Ten Commandments given to Moses, to be observed by true Christians. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is also specific regarding Antinomianism, which is the rejection of biblical teachings concerning observance of the Law. See also Expounding of the Law.

Mormons also consider themselves unique in current observation of Primitive Apostolic Christianity, but with current revelation given priority. That is, the "latter-day" saints' teachings are primary for understanding. They believe that Christianity lost its priesthood authority sometime before the First Council of Nicaea in 325, but that it was restored to Joseph Smith, founder of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The primitive observances are relegated to secondary status in observance of progressive revelation, much as mainstream Christianity is said-to-have changed the appointed times such as fourth commandment obedience.

See also

• Primitive Apostolic Christianity: What has been called 'Primitive Apostolic Christianity' or 'Sabbatarianism' is the result of an effort to understand and obey the will of God by following, as closely as possible, the doctrines and practices of the early, New Testament, church. The logic is that Modern "Christianity" has lost its way by adopting doctrines that were originally considered heretical because of their pagan, or otherwise non-biblical, origins. It has often been claimed by its detractors that Primitive Apostolic Christianity is an attempt to 'Judaize' Christianity by attempting to combine Christianity with "Jewish" law. This is a misunderstanding on several levels. First, the Law of God isn't "Jewish". The Ten Commandments were spoken by God directly to the children of Israel. Additionally, they were written by the very finger of God in stone. They are, in fact, the only part of Holy Scripture actually written by the hand of God. They were given to the children of Israel but they are intended for all of mankind.

The word 'Jew' was first used in the bible to refer to members of the tribe of Judah. There were twelve tribes of Israel originally. The tribe of Judah was the largest. Judah and Israel became separate nations after the reign of King Solomon. They were even recorded to have fought against one another on occasion. The tribe of Judah remained in the Middle East after the Assyrian captivity in which the ten, so called, lost tribes were carried off. Throughout the Old Testament the word Jew referred to members of the tribe of Judah. In the New Testament, the word Jew has several meanings, each must be seen in the context in which it is used. It often still refers to a member of the tribe of Judah but often also refers to anyone born in the land of Judah or any member of the religion that the tribe of Judah practiced.

The first covenant that God made with the nation of Israel involved the Decalogue, the Ten Commandments. It did NOT include the sacrificial and priesthood laws given to Moses. These latter laws and ordinances became known as the Mosiac law...for lack of a better term. The Mosiac law was added to the Ten Commandments because of the sin of the people. To refer to any of the Ten Commandments as 'Jewish' law is to misunderstand the scriptures. That includes Sabbath. Christ, himself, said Sabbath was made for man.

There aren't two religions in the scriptures...there is only one. The religion that God revealed to mankind was progressively revealed over the centuries. Latter prophets expounded on it. That religion was expounded on by Christ because it had gotten 'off track' over the centuries. That 'off track' religion became known as Judiasm because it was the religion practiced in the land of Judah. Christ attempted to correct the errors in it by His teachings.

What the early religious system in the Bible pointed to was Christ. The animal sacrifices, for example, all pointed to some aspect of Christ's sacrifice. After His life, death and resurrection those practices were no longer necessary. It was those laws, the Mosiac legal system, that were done away with Christ...not Gods law for mankind. Again, Gods law was never 'Jewish'. True Primitive Apostolic Christians don't advocate bringing back circumcision or any part of the Mosiac, sacrificial system with its priesthood and temple ordinances. They advocate Keeping God's Laws, including literal seventh-day Sabbath, because obedience to God's Law is what God expects of those who love Him; disobedience to God's Law is what defines sin.

• Judaizers
• Ebionites
• Arianism
• Seventh-day Sabbatarianism
• Restorationism
• Millerites
• Seventh-day Adventist Church
• Jehovah's Witnesses
• Herbert W. Armstrong
• Restorationist (Church of Christ-Elijah)
• Lord's Day Observance Society
• Messianic Judaism
• Judeo-Christian
• Shabbat
• Sabbath in Christianity
• Passover (Christian holiday)
• Great Apostasy
• Christian Torah-submission