Question: "Who were the Judaizers?"
Answer: There have always been those who balk at the idea of God’s salvation being offered freely to those who believe. They reason that such a grand gift as forgiveness from such a holy God must require some kind of payment from us. We thank God for His grace, but we understand that He expects us to somehow earn that grace—in other words, there must be something that we can do to pay off the debt we owe to God.
In the early church, those who taught a combination of God’s grace and human effort were called “Judaizers.” The word Judaizer comes from a Greek verb meaning “to live according to Jewish customs.” The word appears in Galatians 2:14 where Paul describes how he confronted Peter for forcing Gentile Christians to “Judaize.”
A Judaizer taught that, in order for a Christian to truly be right with God, he must conform to the Mosaic Law. Circumcision, especially, was promoted as necessary for salvation. Gentiles had to become Jewish proselytes first, and then they could come to Christ.
The doctrine of the Judaizers was a mixture of grace (through Christ) and works (through the keeping of the Law). This false doctrine was dealt with in Acts 15 and strongly condemned in the book of Galatians.
At the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, a group of Judaizers opposed Paul and Barnabas. Some men who belonged to the party of the Pharisees insisted that Gentiles could not be saved unless they were first circumcised and obeyed the Law of Moses.
Paul made the case that, in Christ, there was no longer any distinction between Jew and Gentile, for God had purified the hearts of the Gentiles by faith (Acts 15:8–9). He said it plainly in Galatians 2:16: “A man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified.”
To add anything to the work that Christ did for salvation is to negate God’s grace. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, not by returning to the Law. “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing” (Galatians 2:21).
There are many groups today with beliefs/practices very similar to the Judaizers of the New Testament. The two most prominent would be the Hebrew Roots Movement and the Roman Catholic Church. The teachings of the Hebrew Roots Movement are virtually identical to those of the Judaizers whom Paul rebuked in Galatians. A primary focus of the Hebrew Roots Movement is to put followers of Christ back under the bondage of the Old Testament Law.
The Roman Catholic Church teaches a doctrine similar to that of the Judaizers of the New Testament in this way: its doctrine is a mixture of law and grace. At the Council of Trent in the 16th century, the Catholic Church explicitly denied the idea of salvation by faith alone.
Catholics have always held that certain sacraments are necessary for salvation. The issues for the 1st-century Judaizers were circumcision and Sabbath-keeping. The issues for modern-day Catholics are baptism, confession, etc. The works considered necessary may have changed, but both Judaizers and Catholics attempt to merit God’s grace through the performance of ritualistic acts.
First Timothy 4:3 says that, in later times, false teachers will “forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.” This sounds suspiciously close to some of the teachings of Roman Catholicism, which requires priests to be celibate (“forbidding to marry”) and proclaims some food to be off-limits during Lent (“abstaining from certain foods”).
The Judaizers upheld the Mosaic Law as necessary for salvation; Catholics uphold man-made tradition as necessary; both view Christ’s death as being insufficient without the active and continued cooperation of the one being saved.
The Bible is clear that the attempt to add human works to God’s grace overlooks the very meaning of grace, which is “undeserved blessing.” As Paul says, “If by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace” (Romans 11:6). Praise the Lord, “Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).
https://gotquestions.org/Judaizers.html
Judaizer.
A seldom used word in scripture. But often used by many unlearned people to try and make YHWH'S life instruction of Torah, which was lived and taught by the not only the Apostles but also Messiah himself, into something burdensome or even sinful! This is not only blasphemous but plainly foolish.
No serious berean believes this heresy. Let us see what mainstream-non HRM commentary says:
"Judaizers
Those who adopted Jewish religious practices or sought to influence others to do so. The Greek verb*ioudaizo*[Ioudai?zw] ("to judaize") appears only once in The Septuagint (*Esther8:17*) and once in the New Testament (*Gal 2:14*). In The Septuagint this verb is used in relation to the Gentiles in Persia who adopted Jewish [cultural] practices in order to avoid the consequences of Esther's decree (*Esther 8:13*), which permitted Jews to avenge the wrongs committed against them. The Septuagint not only uses*ioudaizo[Ioudai?zw]to translate the Hebrew*mityahadim*("to become a Jew"), but adds that these Gentiles were circumcised.
In Galatians 2:14 it means to "live like Jews" (RSV, neb, NASB, Phillips),"follow Jewish customs" (NIV), or "live by the Jewish [oral as differentiated from biblical] law"(Barclay). The context for this reference is the episode in Antioch when Paul condemns Peter's withdrawal from table fellowship with Gentile Christians. Peter's actions are viewed by Paul as a serious compromise of the gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone, lending support to the position that sought to impose Jewish ceremonial/oral law on The Gentiles. Thus, Paul interprets Peter's withdrawal in terms of its effect in compelling Gentile Christians to live like Jews."
Seems plain. Or as History's Myth Busters puts it:
"The Jewish Talmud teaches a system of morality that is contrary to the Old and New Testaments.* This includes the same Egyptian mystery religion that was practiced by the apostate Jews of the captivity (Ezekiel 8:16)* and the Pharisees after the Restoration.* The Book of Revelation describes apostate Judaism as “…the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified” (Rev. 11:8).
Jesus condemned the Pharisees for substituting their traditions for the law of God (Mk 7:9).** A largely unknown aspect of that tradition is the occult practice of*Kabbalah, that has experienced* a strong resurgence in recent centuries.
This philosophy, described as “the soul of Judaism” lies at the heart of occult practice stretching back to antiquity.* It involves worship of the sun and the Dog Star or Eastern Star, Sirius, that God revealed to Ezekiel in vision:**“Then He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house.* And behold at the entrance to the temple of the Lord…were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun”(Ezekiel. 8:16)."
As if this wasn't plain enough, let us look at the definition of the word translated as Judaizer in Galatians 2 :14
G2450
Original:*Ἰουδαΐ́ζω
Transliteration:*Ioudaizō
Phonetic:*ee-oo-dah-id'-zo
Thayer Definition:
to adopt Jewish customs and rites, imitate the Jews, Judaise one who observes the ritual spoken laws of the Jews
Origin: from*G2453
TDNT entry: 08:56,4
Part(s) of speech: Verb
Strong's Definition: From*G2453; to*become a Judaean, that is, " judaize" : - live as the Jews customarily do.
Messiah spoke out against these people who added these thousands of laws to his people. Most know the hand washing event of Mattthew 15.
Matthew 15:Matthew 15
*1**Then came to Yahushua scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
*2**Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
*3**But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of Elohim by your tradition?
*4**For Elohim commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
*5**But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
*6**And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of*יהוה*of none effect by your tradition.
*7**Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,
*8**This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
*9**But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
*10**And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
*11**Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
*12**Then came his disciples, and said unto him, Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?
*13**But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.
*14**Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
*15**Then answered Kepha and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
*16**And Yahushua said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
*17**Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
*18**But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
*19**For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
*20**These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
This verse is directed at those Judaizers. Those teaching Talmud. I have many people try to use this verse to try and say this is Yahshua negating Torah. The Hand washing ritual is not Torah but Talmud. The yoke unable to be bourne. This also is not him teaching unclean meats are ok. Silly that.
Judaizers taught things particular to the Jewish people. That one part of Israel. Not the Torah of YHWH.
They taught Talmud laws.
No matter how badly those of the ear tickler set want the Torah of YHWH to be wrong. No serious student of either HRM or mainstream Christianity teach that Judaizers were pushing Torah. Nor do any well established seminaries.
I attended and graduated a very old seminary (mainstream not HRM) and Judaizers were taught as Talmud pushers not Torah pushers.
That comes from people who have not looked into it and are trying push an agenda of demonizing Torah.
