Relevant

Parable of the Good Samaritan:

Jesus' Message on the Salvation of the Early Apostolic Church which Rejected Paul's Writings. 

[YouTube Reading by volunteer Dan B. / Audio.]

We explain in Ebionites - the First Apostolic Church -- Rejected Paul's Writings -- that Irenaeus in 180 AD and Eusebius around 324 AD both report the Ebionites -- the earliest Jewish Christians at Jerusalem -- rejected the writings of Paul to be read by the church. They determined Paul was an "apostate." An apostate is one who teaches against the necessity to follow the Ten Commandments -- the Law as of the issuance of the  condemnation of apostates in Deut 13:1-5.

Why did they feel compelled to this decision?

Yahweh commanded in Deuteronomy 13:1-5 that apostates are to be rejected even if they have "signs and wonders" and have a "prophecy that comes to pass." Jesus quotes this passage in Matthew 7:21-23 as valid, and used the term "anomia" (translated in English  typically as "lawlessness") to refer to the Greek synonymn for apostasy. See our article on Jesus Quotes Deutonomy 13:1-5.

Should we be concerned that the earliest apostolic church somehow lost their salvation by this decision to reject Paul if we assume it were a mistake? (It was not.)

No.

For there is a clear message by Jesus to tell us that such a result will never apply. This is Jesus' message in the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-27. Ironically, it comes only from Luke, yet undermines the need to accept Paul's writings, as we shall discuss.

Did Jesus plan this parable to encourage us when we saw the obvious implications that Jesus said the Samaritans were  acceptable to God despite their unorthodox position on canon?  

Please prayerfully consider Jesus' purpose in light of the following facts.

The Samaritans were a northern sect in Israel that only accepted the Torah. This means they accepted only the books of Genesis, Exodus, Deuteronomy, Leviticus and Numbers. The Samaritans rejected all the Prophets.  John Haralson Hayes in his book Introduction to the Bible (1971) at page 22 explains the Samaritans only accepted the Torah as inspired and to be revered. They rejected the Prophets section entirely.

This refusal to add anything to the Law resulted in the Samaritans being excoriated and determined by the Jewish religious establishment as cursed and lost. 

However, in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus implied their position on what they excluded from canon was not a problem for their salvation.

In other words, all they needed and accepted was the Law. Jesus implies the good Samaritan is saved. In that era, that was the shocking aspect of the Parable. Jesus was teaching directly against the pompous attitude of religious authorities who hated the Samaritans because they rejected the Prophets section of the Bible.

Jesus' point is that the Levite who accepts the Law and the Prophets but who disobeys the command in the Law given Moses to love thy neighbor is lost. The Levite errs in his passing by the injured person on the highway.

Thereby, Jesus taught righteousness in God's eyes does not depend upon accepting anything in canon other than the Law.

What did that mean?

The Prophets may help but in the end, the Levite who accepts the Prophets section of writings who disobeys the Law section is lost, but the Samaritan who rejects the Prophets section but obeys the Law section is saved. That was Jesus' very witty yet obvious point if you know why Jewish religious authorities looked down upon the Samaritans at that time.

So what should be the application of this parable to how Christians must respect the Ebionites who accepted Jesus as The Prophet of Deuteronomy 18? They rejected Paul's writings but they still followed the Law as Jesus commanded. That included the command to "listen" to every word of The Prophet of Deuteronomy 18 - Jesus  - when he would be revealed, as Peter taught applied to Jesus in Acts 3:20-23 (KJV). 

This is no small issue, and is obviously extremely important to God. For God clearly preserved the writings of the early Ebion and their conflict with Paul in the Dead Sea Scrolls, as the top expert on them has revealed -- Professor Eisenman. We only do not know this because our pastors and churches have no interest to tell us of this miraculous aspect of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The scrolls about the Ebion among the DSS should revive our respect for the Ebionites, and their reasons for rejecting Paul. 

First, Professor Eisenman -- a non-Christian  and top Dead Sea Scroll scholar -- reconfirmed from the Dead Sea Scrolls that the group known as the Ebionites were the Jerusalem church under James, the brother of Jesus. Second, Eisenman suprisingly found in two of the Dead Sea Scrolls a clear reference to a confrontation between  (1) the Ebion led by James the Just; and (2) Paul.  James'  nickname of the Just One -- the Zaddik -- appears in the text. The Zaddik confronts someone who is called the Spouter of lies who teaches faith alone citing Habakkuk, and works are valueless for salvation. The group led by the Zaddik is called the Ebion. Eisenman says this defies coincidence to imagine this is anything but a mirror reflection between what we see in the Christian canon and what is found in the DSS.

See Jesus' Words Only, chapter twelve.

Eisenman concludes the Ebion of James' Apostolic Church at Jerusalem were confronting Paul over Paul's teaching of faith alone. They had good reasons. Eisenman uses those texts to give us a deeper explanation why the Ebion rejected Paul. This also allows us to hear the other side of the discussion that is so often lacking in our modern churches.

The emergence of the Ebion's voice unexpectedly after 1900 years of suppression is apparently the major reason why the religious establishment of our era worked to suppress the release of the Dead Sea Scrolls between the late 1940s until Eisenman in the 1990s bravely brought them to light. He did so without a clear legal right to do so unless one agrees rebelling against church-academic suppression of truth is justified.  Eisenman knew the DSS represented an unparalled historical work that church-scholars had no right to control. He risked his career and financial well-being so we would know the story of the Ebion. Eisenman is not a Christian, but has a Jewish heritage. He deserves our greatest thanks.

Accordingly, Jesus' answer to the question about this early decision in the apostolic church is clear:  there is no loss of the Ebionites' salvation for their rejecting Paul even if they were wrong. (They were not, and we can see now they were honorable and acted against Paul's writings with proper Biblical justification.) 

The real risk is for anyone who follows Paul. For Paul clearly negates the Law in Romans 7 and Galatians 4 and 5. Paul attempts to replace the true gospel of mercy. The Law's path to mercy is by loving God and obeying His commandments as set forth clearly in Exodus 20:6. Jesus materially quotes this passage in Matthew 19. Yet, Paul insists instead that God will grant salvation to you if you merely believe Jesus died, was buried and resurrected (1 Cor. 15:1-4). Every church today seemingly proclaims that Paul says such belief in the events of our Savior's life is what saves you. They proclaim implicitly that it is irrelevant to your salvation if you pass by an injured stranger on the side of a road. You should help him, but  being too busy with attending church they say is ok salvation-wise. God help them! Nothing Jesus says ever seems to get through their thick skulls.

Conclusion

So who is in true danger over rejecting or accepting Paul?

Jesus is clear in the Parable of the Good Samaritan: it is the ones accepting Paul and his misleading teachings who are in danger.

The Ebionites are unaffected by excluding Paul from the true canon.

END.