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The Ebionites and the Nazarenes PDF Print E-mail
The original followers of Jesus weren't the so-called Church of Christ or the Roman Catholic Church.  They were two entirely different groups, the first was the Ebionites, aka the Poor Ones, and the second was the Nazarenes.  The Nazarenes are not to be confused with the modern day Christian Church that calls themselves the Church of the Nazarene.

The Ebionites

The Ebionites believed Jesus was the messiah, but more so in the Jewish since rather than the Christian sense.

The Ebionites believed Jesus was just a man and therefore not divine.

The Ebionites accepted the Hebrew Bible, and chapters 2-28 of the Gospel of Matthew, which they had an Hebrew copy of.  This is commonly referred to as the Gospel of the Ebionites.

The Ebionites rejected all other New Testament era writings.

The Ebionites rejected the virgin birth story.

The Ebionites believed James was the true successor of Jesus.

The Ebionites believed Jesus was a strict vegetarian, therefore they would not eat any meat what so ever.

The Ebionites thought the animal sacrificial system was barbaric.

The Ebionites believed the Torah remained fully in effect minus animal sacrifices, which they believed Jesus done away with when he died on the cross.

The Ebionites only accepted converts to their movement if you were born Jewish or if you when through an official conversion.

The Ebionites followed a more pure or original message of Jesus.

The Ebionites rejected Paul as an apostate from the Torah.

After looking up Paul's ancestry, the Ebionites found out that Paul was a Greek, and a descendant of Herod the Great.

The Ebionites said that Paul got angry and started to write against the Torah, after he failed to become a Pharisee.

The Ebionites wrote down the incident between Paul and James, where Paul breaks both of James' legs.  According to the Ebionites, when Paul saw James teaching obedience to the Torah, he got very angry and shoved James down a flight of stairs, breaking both of his legs.  The Ebionites said they had to pray for James all night long, but he eventually recovered.

Note: A picture of the very spot were this incident occurred is available is Robert Eisamen's book: The New Testament Code: The Cup of the Lord, The Damascus Covenant, and the Blood of Christ.

Not much else is known about the Ebionites, most of the information about them was destroyed by the Pauline Church when it took power in Rome under the reign of Emperor Constantine in the year 325 C.E.

The Nazrenes

The Nazarenes believed Jesus was the messiah, but more so in the Jewish since rather than the Christian sense.

The Nazarenes believed Jesus was just a man and therefore not divine.

The Nazarenes accepted the Hebrew Bible, and an Hebrew version of the Gospel of Matthew, which lacked the genealogy at the beginning of chapter one.

The Nazarenes rejected all other New Testament era writings.

The Nazarenes accepted the virgin birth story.

The Nazarenes believed James was the true successor of Jesus.

The Nazarenes believed all 613 commandments in the Torah remained fully in effect, including all sacrificial laws.

The Nazarenes only accepted converts to their movement if you were born Jewish or if you when through an official conversion.

The Nazarenes followed a more pure or original message of Jesus.

The Nazarenes rejected Paul as an apostate from the Torah.

The Nazarenes at the direct order of James the Just sent messengers around to counter Paul's teachings every time he would come to one of their villages or towns.

This is about all we know about the Nazarenes, any other information about them has long since been destroyed by the Roman controlled Pauline Church.

Conclusion
 
As you can see there are many similarities and differences between these two groups, but neither one of them bare any resemblance what so ever to the modern day Christian Churches that claim to be the original church of Jesus.  In all actuality the historical Jesus never really had any church at all.  He just had plans to overthrow Rome and lead his people to freedom, just like the other Jewish men that came both before and after him. (Daniel 11:14) This is the reason why Jesus was labeled as a political threat and crucified by the Romans.
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