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The Nazarenes (Hebrew: Netzarim, נצרים) were a group of early followers of Jesus of Nazareth who, like the Ebionites, were noteworthy for refusing to follow Christianity in its complete break with Judaism. The sect may have been started by James the Just, the brother of Jesus. Note that the terms "Nazarene" and "Nazirite", (in Hebrew: נזיר, nazir, referring to a Jew who took an ascetic vow described in Numbers 6:1–21), are not related and merely sound alike.

Derivation of Nazarene

According to the standard reference for Koine Greek, the Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament, Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich-Danker, University of Chicago Press, 2nd ed., 1979: Template:Polytonic/Nazoraios (plural: Nazoraioi) is translated into English as "Nazarene". It is predominantly a title of Jesus and found in Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of John, Acts of the Apostles and Gospel of Luke. In contrast, the Gospel of Mark uses Template:Polytonic/Nazarenos, which means "coming from Nazareth", as does Luke 4:34 (parallel of Mark 1:24) and Luke 24:19. Matthew 2:23 says that Jesus was called the Nazarene because he grew up in Nazareth. However, according to references cited by the BAGD Lexicon, "linguistically the transition from Template:Polytonic/Nazaret to Template:Polytonic/Nazoraios is difficult." BAGD suggests that Nazarene meant something else before it was connected with Nazareth; however it is no longer clear what that other meaning was.

In the NASB translation, Jesus is called the Nazarene in Matthew 2:23; Mark 10:47; 14:67; 16:6; Luke 24:19; John 18:5; 18:7; 19:19; Acts 2:22; 3:6; 4:10; 6:14; 22:8. According to Acts 24:1–9, Paul of Tarsus was apprehended and accused by the attorney of the Jerusalem High Priest Ananias and Pharisaic "Jews" of being "a ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes" after having been advised in Acts 21:23 to accompany four men having taken a Nazarite vow into the temple.

In all, the following derivations have been suggested:

• The place-name Nazara (which later became Nazareth), as in the Greek form Iesous Nazarenos. This is the traditional interpretation within mainstream Christianity, and it still seems the obvious interpretation to many modern Christians. Matthew 2:23 reads that "and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene"" (NIV) (Greek is Template:Polytonic/Nazoraios). Although identification of the prophecy concerned either in the canonical books of the Old Testament or in the midrash traditions has been the matter of recent debate, the phrasing again strongly suggests that the author of Matthew meant Nazarene to refer in some way to Nazara. However, among evidence against this interpretation is that although Origen knew of the gospel story of Nazareth, he had only the vaguest idea where it was, despite living only 30 miles away in Caesarea.

• The word neitzer meaning "branch" or "off-shoot" (as in Isaiah 11:1 נֵצֶר) and the following 3 verses tell of the seven qualities of Messiah which makes up the Branch. These seven qualities are symbolized in the seven branched menorah which represents the Malchut Elohim (Kingdom of God) or the Tree of Life. This also in turn refer to the claim that Jesus was a "descendant of David", or to the view that Jesus (or rather the teachings he or his followers advocated) were an offshoot from Judaism. Until the 20th century "neitzer" was the undisputed etymology behind Nazareth.

• The word nazur, meaning separate in Aramaic. The word is related to Nazir. There are a number of references to Nazirites/Nazarites in the Old Testament and New Testament. A Nazarite (נְזִיר) was a Jew who had taken special vows of dedication to the Lord whereby he abstained for a specified period of time from using alcohol and grape products, cutting his hair, and approaching corpses. At the end of the period he was required to immerse himself in water. Thus the baptism of Jesus Matthew 3:13–15 by his relative John the Baptist could have been done "to fulfil all righteousness" at the ending of a nazirite vow. However, following his baptism, the gospels give no reason to suppose Jesus took another Nazirite vow until The Last Supper, (see Mark 14:25). Matthew 2:23 says of Yeshua` (Jesus), "And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene." But had the prophets said 'Nazarene' or 'Nazarite'? It appears that they said ‘He shall be called a Nazarite’ because reference bibles state that the prophecy cited in Matt. 2:23 is in reference to Judges 13:5 concerning Samson the Nazarite, and there is no word translated ‘Nazarene’ or any reference to a city of 'Nazareth' in the Hebrew Scriptures. Luke 1:15 describes John the Baptist as a Nazarite from birth. James the Just was described as a Nazarite in Epiphanius' Panarion 29.4 . In Acts 21:23–26 Paul of Tarsus is advised to accompany four men having "a vow on them" (a Nazarite vow) to Herod's Temple and to purify himself in order that it might appear that he "walkest orderly". This event was the reason why in Acts 24:5–18 Paul was accused of being a "ringleader of the sect of the Nazarenes" (and further verifies that the term Nazarene was connected to the term Nazarite).

• The word nosri which means "one who keeps (guard over)" or "one who observes" the same name used by spiritual leaders (see for example Yeshu Ha-Notzri) of a pre-Christian gnostic sect which evolved into the Mandaean religion (as in Jeremiah 31:5-6 נֹצְרִים). This explanation had become popular among Protestants towards the end of the 20th century.

• The word nazara, "truth", another gnostic concept popularized through the Gospel of Philip: "The apostles that came before us called him Jesus Nazarene the Christ ..."Nazara" is the "Truth". Therefore 'Nazarenos' is "The One of the Truth" ..." (Gospel of Philip, 47)

Sect Affiliations

Modern Jewish scholarship may confirm some basic facts pertaining to the sect. The Nazarenes (as well as Jesus) may have been Pharisaic in affiliation with Beit Hillel, in opposition to Beit Shammai and its 18 Ordnances. Their leadership might have already become decimated by the mid-2nd century of the Common Era, and eradicated almost totally shortly after the Council of Nicea.

Patristic references to "Nazarenes"

After the word "Christian" had become established as the standard term for the followers of Jesus in Hellenistic and Roman cultural circles (the Book of Acts cites Antioch as the place where followers of Jesus were called Christians for the first time), there appear to have been one or more groups who continued or reverted to calling themselves by various names almost always rendered "Nazarene" in English. Some of the Church fathers refer to groups with such titles, but there is little further evidence of these groups' existence, beliefs or activities, after the onset of Islam.

Epiphanius (published 370), gave this description of the Nazarenes:

"But these sectarians... did not call themselves Christians--but "Nazarenes," ... However they are simply complete Jews. They use not o­nly the New Testament but the Old Testament as well, as the Jews do... They have no different ideas, but confess everything exactly as the Law proclaims it and in the Jewish fashion-- except for their belief in Messiah, if you please! For they acknowledge both the resurrection of the dead and the divine creation of all things, and declare that G-d is o­ne, and that his son is Jesus the Messiah. They are trained to a nicety in Hebrew. For among them the entire Law, the Prophets, and the... Writings... are read in Hebrew, as they surely are by the Jews. They are different from the Jews, and different from Christians, o­nly in the following. They disagree with Jews because they have come to faith in Messiah; but since they are still fettered by the Law--circumcision, the Sabbath, and the rest-- they are not in accord with Christians.... they are nothing but Jews.... They have the Good News according to Matthew in its entirety in Hebrew. For it is clear that they still preserve this, in the Hebrew alphabet, as it was originally written. (Epiphanius; Panarion 29)"

From Epiphanius' description, given in the Fourth Century when Nazarenes had already existed for several hundred years, it can be determined that the Nazarenes were very dependent upon the Jewish world and its traditions, and had a relatively "low" Christology in rejecting antinomianism, the Christian Trinity, and possibly the divinity of Jesus.

In the 4th century Jerome also refers to Nazarenes as those "...who accept Messiah in such a way that they do not cease to observe the old Law." In his Epistle 79, to Augustine, he said:

"What shall I say of the Ebionites who pretend to be Christians? To-day there still exists among the Jews in all the synagogues of the East a heresy which is called that of the Minæans, and which is still condemned by the Pharisees; are ordinarily called 'Nazarenes'; they believe that Christ, the son of God, was born of the Virgin Mary, and they hold him to be the one who suffered under Pontius Pilate and ascended to heaven, and in whom we also believe. But while they pretend to be both Jews and Christians, they are neither."

Jerome apparently had some confusion as to the differences between Nazarenes and Ebionites, a different Jewish sect, and that the Nazarenes probably never positioned themselves as being Christians. His criticism of the Nazarenes is noticeably more direct and critical than that of Epiphanius.

Regarding their scriptures, Theodoret (died 457) says: 'The Nazuraioi are Jews who honour Christ as a righteous man, and use the Gospel According to Peter" (Haer. Fab. ii. c. 2). On the other hand Jerome (Of illustrious men 3) writes that the Nazuraioi of Beroea (modern Aleppo) in Syria gave him the opportunity to copy their Hebrew "Gospel of Matthew". He also writes (Commentary on Matthew 12:13) "There is a Gospel, which the Nazuraioi and Ebionites use, which I lately translated from the Hebrew tongue into Greek and which is called by many the authentic Gospel of Matthew".

The Roman Emperor Constantine at the Council of Nicea (325 C.E.), declared a formal and complete break from all Jewish practices and interaction with Jews or Judaism. He may have especially been targeting the Nazarenes with this statement, who professed a very high continuity with Judaism and may have had a "low" Christology.

"I renounce all customs, rites, legalisms, unleavened breads & sacrifices of lambs of the Hebrews, and all other feasts of the Hebrews, sacrifices, prayers, aspersions, purifications, sanctifications and propitiations and fasts, and new moons, and Sabbaths, and superstitions, and hymns and chants and observances and Synagogues, and the food and drink of the Hebrews; in one word, I renounce everything Jewish, every law, rite and custom and if afterwards I shall wish to deny and return to Jewish superstition, or shall be found eating with The Jews, or feasting with them, or secretly conversing and condemning the Christian religion instead of openly confuting them and condemning their vain faith, then let the trembling of Gehazi cleave to me, as well as the legal punishments to which I acknowledge myself liable. And may I be anathema in the world to come, and may my soul be set down with Satan and the devils."

The mere mention of the Nazarenes after the 4th Century appears very scarce, which points to the possibility that Constantine enforced his proclamation on pain of death.

Modern movements

Starting in the nineteenth century, a number of modern movements have revived the term "Nazarene", usually for one of two reasons:

1. Since they suppose the word was used of very early followers of Jesus, adopting it lays claim to, or stresses the importance of, a more primitive or authentic structure of belief.
2. Since the word was apparently used by the earliest Jewish sect of followers of Jesus of Nazareth, adopting it lays claim to an authentically Torah-based and Jewish structure of belief, typically rejecting modern Christianity as having been led astray from "normative" Judaism by Paul of Tarsus, or among those who accept Paul and his writings, by Ignatius and the Hellenized Greek and Romanized Latin speaking Church Fathers.

The best known of these is the Church of the Nazarene, which emphasizes Christian activism in the Arminian tradition of John Wesley, and which is accepted as normative by other mainstream Christian denominations. Various branches of the Apostolic Christian Church also use the term "Nazarene" or "Nazarean" in their name.

Notes

1. "Ancient Pottery".
2. "Jewish Encylopedia: Nazarenes Article".
3. http://www.chayas.com/state.doc Jewish position on Jesus' early Jewish followers
4. "What is Nazarene Judaism?".
5. "Jewish Encyclopedia: Jerome's Account".
6. "Council of Nicea".

See also

• Messianic Judaism
• Ebionites
• Judeo-Christian
• Christian Torah-submission
• Judaism

External links

General

• Catholic Encyclopedia: Nazarene
• Jewish Encyclopedia: Nazarenes
• Nazarenes in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica
• Gospel of the Nazarenes
• The modern-day Church of the Nazarene

• Judeo-Christian topics
• Jewish law and rituals
• Heresy