I. Introduction

An apt lead-in to this study would be a scholarly discussion of the Jewish Roman War of AD 66-70. The reader may wish to check the sources and is encouraged to read “War of the Jews” by Flavius Josephus, books three through seven, available online.

After the war a headquarters for Jewish learning was sanctioned by Rome, and through its standing labors came the reorganization and preservation of post-war Judaism. The Christian community was greatly affected by the labors and influence of this body. It is the purpose of this study to investigate those effects against the backdrop of the planting of the Christian Church in the latter part of the first century AD.

II. The Preservation of Judaism at Jamnia

Just before the aforementioned war, those Jews disillusioned with the prospects of revolt settled in Jamnia, a coastal city in Palestine approximately 40 km west and slightly north of Jerusalem (Fig. 1). Rome considered these Jews to be loyalists and protected them there against their countrymen, who considered them to be traitors. Jamnia at this time was well represented by Pharisaic Jews, as the greater part of the Sadducean leadership and priesthood remained in and around Jerusalem (the Essenes had long before withdrawn from mainline Judaism to a region near the Dead Sea). After the war, the Romans allowed the Jews to establish a new Sanhedrin at Jamnia, though without its traditional political leg; thus, the Sanhedrin became largely a religious entity by force of the Romans. We can rightly surmise that Judaism was sanctioned by the Roman government at this time. Under the leadership of the Rabbis ("Ph.D." in Torah religion; title came into use around AD 10), this body of Jews, sometimes referred to as the “Council at/of Jamnia,” embarked on the arduous task of committing to written form the substantial and detailed oral tradition of Judaism, the "Tradition of the Elders" as it is referred to by the Gospel writers (and condemned by our Lord Jesus Christ, Matthew 15:1-6, 23:1-8, 23:23). Following is how this oral tradition came about. Beginning with Ezra in the fifth-century BC, the Jewish religious teachers "expounded" the Torah and added their own interpretation of the Law in those areas they deemed curt or vague in relation to the times. This process continued with the Sopherim (Scribes) after Ezra and later with the Rabbis. (Concerning the latter, of note are Abtalion, Gamaliel, and Hillel). In this way was amassed an ever more detailed oral tradition designed to both hedge against violation of the Law and legally address the changing times, an oral tradition which these (Judaizing) teachers taught to their students, who would do the same (through inculcation, i.e., “misna” in the Hebrew). And so, with few exceptions, the Jewish oral tradition passed from one generation to the next uninterrupted. The fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, however, was not simply an imminent interruption of that transmission, it was an impending discontinuity, a chasm. Judaism was, literally, one or two generations removed from extinction: with the virtual elimination of the Sadducees, and the destruction of the city and temple—which together embodied the seat, symbol, and platform of Judaism wherein records, books, and religious materials of import were contained—and in no little part the very significant reduction of the Jewish population in the holocaust, Judaism faced a huge crisis of identity and survival after the war. With a sense of urgency, then, the Rabbis at Jamnia set out to reorganize and preserve Judaism. They first closed the Hebrew Canon (the books they excluded from the Hebrew Scriptures ultimately became the Old Testament Apocrypha; closing occurred c. AD 90). Then they systematized and recorded the oral traditions that had been passed down across the generations. Notable in this effort were the Rabbis Akiva, Meir, and Jehuda I, the latter becoming the prominent editor of the Mishnah. (The Mishnah was published early in the third-century AD.) Finally, they expanded their missionary base for the purpose of spreading Judaism throughout the Roman empire and preventing Jewish converts to Christianity (or other religions). On this front the early Christian missionaries met with stiff competition (“Early Christendom_table4” for a point-counterpoint comparison delineating each party's advantages and disadvantages in support of their proselytizing).

III. The Planting of The Christian Church

To discuss the planting of the Church it is necessary to include a period before the reorganization efforts at Jamnia, and the book of Acts is our best source for this history, which encompasses for our purposes the time from our Savior’s resurrection to the years just before the war (AD 33-early to mid-sixties). Paul is the preeminent missionary of the apostolic age. Acts tells us of the missionary work that began with Stephen's martyrdom (Acts 7:54ff) and spread to Judea and Samaria on the heels of (Jewish) persecution (Acts 8:1). After the account of Paul's conversion (AD 33/4, Acts 9:1ff), Acts gives us a view of the extent of the Church (Acts 9:31). This extent is a handy benchmark, for after Paul's conversion things changed. Initially, the Gospel message was preached to the Jews, but Acts points out that the Jews rejected the message, so Paul, following the lead of the Holy Spirit, turned to the Gentiles (the Hellenistic world, Acts 13:46-49). This turning is another significant benchmark. An important center for the spread of Christianity throughout the Hellenistic world was Antioch of Syria. At a very early date the Christian community of Antioch became the central point of all Christian interests in the East, and after the fall of Jerusalem particularly so. (Antioch was a sin-soaked wicked place, frothing with Grecian and Roman idolatry and immorality—perfectly fertile ground into which to sow the Gospel as Jehovah is ever so wont to do; the earliest Christian communities there were led by the likes of Peter, Paul, and Barnabas; the disciples were first called “Christians” there, Acts 11:20—24; called “the Way” heretofore Acts 9:1-2.) For a time after the ascension of our blessed Savior Jerusalem continued to be home for the apostles, and their presence coupled with their commission and intimate association with Jesus during His earthly ministry would impart a significant prominence to the Church there. We know from Acts that the apostles were commissioned to ‘witness in Jerusalem, Judea, and to the ends of the earth’ (Acts 1:8). Among the every earliest witnesses were the “upper room believers” who met continually for prayer in a home in Jerusalem (a group of about 120, Acts 1:12-14). The Christian Church was literally born when the Holy Spirit descended on this “First Harvest,” i.e., descended on these early believers while they were assembled; this happened on the Jewish feast of Pentecost, which comes seven weeks after the Passover and celebrates the first harvest of the wheat crop. (Ho, nary a tare in there, the finest wheat at every seat, thus the Church began, and thence sprang, never to look back, and that’s a fact…) Diaspora Jews swelled the city and witnessed the physical manifestation of the Gift of the Spirit (cf. sister Sychar and John 4:10) when they heard this pioneer band of Christians miraculously witnessing in their (Diaspora) native languages—languages in which they heretofore were not conversant (Acts 2:1-18). And of course, the amazed hearers in the Diaspora crowd accepted and retained the message of the Gospel and then upon returning home preached the same in their native lands and established Christian fellowship communities and/or churches there. Notice how it all began: the Church is here off the starting blocks with the Spirit’s Wind in Her sails going forward, thus sailing on down the centuries, awaiting the last convert to come on board before She docks and unloads Her precious Cargo at Heaven’s Harbor. Praised be the Captain of the Ship. Please catch this:

Jesus’ Resurrection + Holy Spirit Pentecost Experience = Cowering Apostlesà Fearless Missionary Giants,

on whose backs sprang forth Christendom, to the day. And please notice how, from the beginning, the Salvation of the whole world was in view by God, easily deduced by way of the multifarious languages gifts at Pentecost—one can hardly miss that.

The spread of the Gospel and the growing Church and Christian faith communities centered on Antioch and Jerusalem and Alexandria and Rome, as the first century wound down and going into the second, was an aggravation and a threat to the Jews over against the reorganization and missionary goals they set forth at Jamnia. Notwithstanding, their plans and labors would grievously come to naught. Unbeknownst to them at the time, the horror of AD 70 was only the first of the death blows to be delivered against them in this era, with the coup de grace coming by way of the failed Bar Kochba revolt in AD 135 during the reign of Hadrian (AD 117-138). After that dispersal of the Jewish nation, it would be 1800 years before Israel would once again realize statehood (1948). For our purposes in this section, given the considerable vacuum left by Judaism after AD 70, Christianity moved to center stage in the empire. Sadly though, with this shift came trials, for as the Jewish persecutions moderated due to the holocaust and the Jews' subsequent preoccupations at Jamnia, the Roman persecutions flip-flopped into place with on-again off-again ferocity for the next 243 years (AD 70-313, fall of Jerusalem through Edict of Milan, the latter jointly issued by Constantine I and his co-emperor Licinius). The Edict of Milan officially ended the persecution of Christians by Rome, though the material end would not come until Constantine defeated Licinius in AD 324. Constantine was the first Roman emperor who converted to Christianity; as such, the Church flourished during his reign (AD 306-337).

IV. Concluding Comments

Faced with extinction after the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, The Council at Jamnia was Judaism's concerted effort to preserve the Torah-based tradition that had developed since Ezra. Beginning with the closure of the Hebrew Canon around AD 90 and ending with the compilation of the Mishnah in AD 220 some 130 years later, this standing committee of religious scholars systematized and preserved the legalistic basis of Judaism. Furthermore, throughout this period they schooled Judaizing missionaries which became a competitive force to the spread of the early Christian Church and the Gospel it preached in the Name of Jesus. It is likely that their competition was significant even somewhat through the Age of Constantine, for Christians continued to be persecuted until AD 325, and they could not claim a (New Testament) Canon until AD 367 (“New Testament Canon”).

Some final observations interlaced with praise to our God. What a great God we do serve—consider the weight of prophecy fulfilled in the establishment of the Christian Church, in the face of incredible opposition and competition: a novel religion in the Ancient East, its Head murdered, its doctrine slandered, its initial identity confused, countless martyrs—beginning with Jesus' ministry, 287 years of very bloody persecution... Result? A Christian Church strong and burgeoning. Consider further that the planting of the Church began over 2000 years ago, and that it was promised 1800 years prior to that; that is 3800 years from faith to faith, from promise to preeminence. We know of no thread of sustained endeavor involving humans, intact, that can mirror this—but to truly gain a proper perspective regarding this, it must be said that we are not speaking of only a thread here, Christendom unfolding preserves the whole tapestry intact, all the more impressive.

The Christian Church today is not the consequence of human engineering or wits, like the Judaic scholarship at Jamnia for a contrasting example; nor human strength; neither is it "opportunistic chance" as some blind modernists might say. It is a mighty and awesome divine work that Jehovah God through Jesus Christ purposed long ago, broadcasting His intentions concerning it, and then accomplished them right in front of everybody’s nose whilst His broadcast rings in their ears tickling their senses. He Jesus is our Church Builder and is to be praised for this work; forevermore, for it is grace after all, amen? Yea, exceeding grace to be a part of it, to be able to say one belongs to it. Let us make haste to be a part of it Though our God be silent oftentimes, He is a Timeless Worker ever at work (“A Letter of Invitation”).

Thank You living Lord of the House that God Built, even Jesus Christ. Amen.