Abstract
M.A.
Christianity was not born in a vacuum, but it completely owes its historical
genesis on or from Jewish religion. The Apostolic, Primitive church was initially
composed of Jewish believers who had seen in and understood Jesus of
Nazareth as the anticipated Messiah predicted by the Old Testament prophets
and writers. The current and lamentable truth is, Jewish Religion and
Christianity are now two different and separate religions. Jesus Christ, His
disciples, and Paul remained Jews as far as the Jewish culture is concerned.
It is difficult to separate the sacred and secular in the Jewish economy because
Jewish culture and religion are intertwined. In this culture, ploughing is as sacred
as worshipping. The only apparent shift in his (Paul) paradigm was in
interpreting and explaining the Old Testament prophecies and ceremonial system
in the light of the Jesus Christ event at the Cross. His evaluation of that "event"
and the Person of Jesus of Nazareth became the point of conflict with Judaisers
and Judaism that would set a stage for separation between Christianity and
Jewish Religion. The Christian Church exists in the post-Cross era. This Church
is faced with, among other issues and tasks, challenges of sifting and
demarcating between God's injunctions and Jewish Customs.