Who were, or are the "God-fearers" in Christianity and Judaism?

Shortly, the God-fearers were pagans who strongly sympathized with Judaism.
en.wikipedia.org...

Much of the debates and acts in the New Testament after the Gospels concerned the God-fearers.

God-fearers accepted Judaic beliefs, but they didn't keep the dietary laws (hence Jews and their Christian sub-cult refused to eat with them at first), and the men were not circumcised (a very painful and risky operation for men in those days).

Few texts are really clear on the God-fearers and their monotheistic yearnings.
However, most academia now accepts that they existed, and that Jewish synagogues were not always unanimous on their position.

As semi-Jews they were seen as lucrative at times (instead of physical circumcision St Paul advised them to fund "the poor" in Jerusalem), and Jews also fell into pagan ways by associating with such semi-converts.

Before the clear division of Christians and Jews it seemed they played a crucial role in discussions.

Jewish purists accepted them as God-fearers, but the Christian sect of course suddenly accepted them as full members of the religion.

This meant a major loss of income for non-Christian Judaic groups with large God-fearing congregations, and quite some bitterness.

The split caused much debate, and some scholars argue that the author of Revelations actually refers to St Paul as the "Synagogue of Satan", and that there are dual contradictory streams of teachings on the God-fearers in the Bible.

Today there are some groups who once again attempt to merge Christianity and Judaism, from Messianic Jews and the Jews for Jesus, to preachers like Michael J. Rood.

What category are these new believers?
If they be Jews, do Zionist Christians have a right to return to Israel?
Are they cults to destroy Judaism?

Would it not be more correct to call them latter-day "God-fearers"?

My OP is more in the spirit of inquiry, rather than the imposition of a certain view, and as such I found the following very interesting:

Noachides or Godfearers?

All are welcome according to this teaching,

Another view by Asher Mezar.

Why be a Noachide?
Here the message is: rather become a full Jewish convert than a "second-class" citizen in the kingdom.

Christians are not trying to be Jews . Some Jews are not trying to be Jews . There are some Old Testament Jews around that are devout and abide by the Law . The last I read there was a court action to disavow 40,000 Jewish Converts and make sure they could not move to Israel . It became a rule that you had to be of Jewish ancestry and not a Messianic ( Christian )Jew to return to Israel .
Christians follow the word of Christ and the Grace and Mercy that his sacrifice brought to all that call on his name . The Jews were offered this Grace and Mercy first but the plan of God was to offer the Gospel to of Christ to the Gentile . The Jews were blinded in part to Christ Jesus for our sakes as the Jew would not pass the word of Jesus to us just as they would not reveal the Law to us . A Gentile in those days were like subhumans to them and had no part with their God .
The Jews are Christians enemies for the Gospel of Christ sake . The ACLU is a Jewish funded and ran anti christian organization . In the 7th grade in the state of California the study, actual practice of Islam and dress as well as forming a jihad is mandatory if you want to pass that grade . This was on Paul Harvey 10 years ago . The ACLU had no problem with it . But try to pray in Jesus name or wear a cross .
There is no love lost by the Jew for the Christian , but most still support Israel .

reply to post by halfoldman

Would it not be more correct to call them latter-day "God-fearers"?

Just confused individuals who the modern so-called state Of Israel is not about to allow into the land controlled by the Zionist regime. That land is reserved for a certain type of people and everyone else has to stay out, and they are busy enough getting rid of the Christians who were already there before their scheme went into affect back in '48.

Another Paul is the "synogogue of Satan" threads. You wanna know who the synogogue of Satan are, look up what the hebrew letters Sheen, Tau and Nun mean (STN).

Here's a hint. Steal, kill and destroy.

reply to post by halfoldman

What category are these new believers?
If they be Jews, do Zionist Christians have a right to return to Israel?
Are they cults to destroy Judaism?

Would it not be more correct to call them latter-day "God-fearers"?

Personally, I lump all of the believers that:
1) The Torah character known as YHWH, or YHVH, or Yahweh, or Jehovah, or Jah is God.
2) The above mentioned Torah character is the only real god.
3) That this "only god" is the creator of all things.
4) This "creator" deserves and demands worship and obedience.
5) This worship and obedience demanding character has provided the format for worship and obedience.
6) The "format of worship and obedience" is found in the Torah.
as Yahwists (that's my name for them)

Yahwists comprise the majority of modern Christians, some few Muslims, and Jews who aren't atheists or group identity(Jewishness) worshipers.

The term "God-fearer" seems to be less technically accurate today than Yahwist in my opinion, since one particular god is being feared, not a generic deity, but a very specific deity.

On whether or not Yahwism threatens to destroy Judaism, I'd have to say: No, the object for destruction is Pauline Christianity, which teaches, "A righteousness from God, apart from the Torah" (Romans 3:21)

The video clip you provided is from an Israeli based group known as World Fellowship of Followers of the Way.

Talmidaism is a loose grouping of sects (such as the Ebionites), who follow the Torah, practice biblical Israelite customs and traditions, accept Jesus as a Jewish prophet, but reject the authority of Paul of Tarsus and the New Testament, the Christian Trinity and the divinity of Jesus. We see ourselves as the spiritual descendants of the early (so-called) 'Jewish Christians' of the first and second centuries.
Who we are

The popularity of claiming Jesus as Jewish prophet and rejecting Paul as the Apostle to Gentiles is gaining by leaps and bounds.

reply to post by pthena

Thanks for a very interesting and informative post.

It seems that the Jewish group (Talmidaism) accepts Jesus as a prophet, but they see Paul as a complete apostate.

So it seems that the God-fearers were a diverse people, who ultimately followed different teachings.

Other views on Paul are even more dismissive, and directly link him to Antisemitism and the holocaust.

Although there are many clips and diverse dislikes of Paul, I think this view sums up the "anti-Paul" sentiments:



Despite what the misreading of some suggests, Paul himself was never the main focus of the thread, but rather the varied nature and identity of the God-fearers, and hybrid Jewish beliefs, and I think you gave your views very succinctly on this issue.

reply to post by halfoldman

Although there are many clips and diverse dislikes of Paul, I think this view sums up the "anti-Paul" sentiments:

Anyone who thinks it is nonsense to claim that there are anti-christian "cults" should take a look at this video (embedded in the post above).
It starts with appealing to your sense of superiority over "regular" Christians who do not know the "real" names of Jesus and God, then inserting the idea that the Greek language is somehow inherently pagan and therefore "evil", then rejecting the New Testament altogether since it was written in Greek, with the idea of having you incrementally renouncing the fundamentals of Christianity, until you are left with nothing and willing to accept what they offer as the "original". Which is of course not true since Christianity is older than what today is called Judaism. What existed before Christianity was the temple cult, based on the worship of a god who lived on a specific hill in Jerusalem and who required constant sacrifice.

reply to post by jmdewey60

Thanks for that opinion, which also ends with a good point.

If the "you" in your post refers to me personally however, then this is mistaken and I said quite clearly that the clip sums up a certain position.

It's quite apparent that Hebrew names and claims of Jewish inheritance are bandied about between various positions nowadays, and this can be very confusing.

Hence this thread, and the encouragement for people to sum up and post their opinions and insights.

reply to post by halfoldman

If the "you" in your post refers to me personally however, then this is mistaken and I said quite clearly that the clip sums up a certain position.

My post had nothing to do with you other than pointing out the video you linked up.
How it looks to me is that what this video is expressing is what the more harmless seeming cults are leading Christians towards.
There can be lots of cults, with one just slightly more extreme than the other, that a person could follow sequentially, as they go one step further down the road to total apostasy.

reply to post by halfoldman

So it seems that the God-fearers were a diverse people, who ultimately followed different teachings.

I'd say so. My impression of the 1st Century Hellenized and under Roman rule world is that there was a general popular dissatisfaction with status quo explanations for the way things were and what they ought to be.

I accept most of what Rabbi Asher Meza stated in the second video you linked to as fact. Specifically, that in previous times Torah Yahwists did not hesitate to accept converts into full Jewish status. See the story of Esther for instance, wherein very many subjects of the Persian Empire became Jews once Jews seemed to be favored.

It seems a logical step to me to conclude that many Jews from all over the World had no blood link to tribe of Judah, nor any particular attachment to the geography of Palestine. The links to descent or geography are purely religious rather than historical. And the Diaspora Jews didn't feel any particular yearning to go live in some land that they didn't have any historical attachment to.

Any theoretical one and only God of the World would need no specific holy temple, or city or holy land, Any pretender to such a one and only status who does require these things is a liar and unworthy of my devotion. That's my general conclusion.

In the fight between Christians and Jews and various hybrids I see only people fighting over who has greater access to or appreciation from a deity who doesn't deserve that great of a struggle.

Thanks again.

I used to find in my youth that when people said they were "Jewish" or "Christian" this was very straight-forward.

Now it seems so much more confusing, because people will claim one heritage and then also say they're "Christian" and also somehow "Jewish", but the reasons for this can vary widely.

I suppose in the post-modern age identities are fluid, and the access to so much information (although not always accurate) has further facilitated such multiple identities.

Perhaps some limited renewal in paganism (as in the first-Century AD) has made it easier for smaller groups to be heard, or for the increasing admission of "minor differences" within faiths, because they have a new cultural "other" to oppose.

reply to post by pthena

Any pretender to such a one and only status who does require these things is a liar and unworthy of my devotion.

In the Battle Star Galactica remake series, there is a conflict between the two faiths, The Many, and The One. There was a scene made where one of the priestesses of the "Many" variety described such a character as the source of a Satan type personality.
Not too surprisingly, maybe, it was deleted and never aired.

reply to post by halfoldman

I ran across this Wikipedia article on Hypsistarians

worshippers of the Hypsistos (Greek: Ὕψιστος, the "Most High" God), is a term appearing in documents dated about 200 BC to about AD 400, referring to various groups mostly in Asia Minor (Cappadocia, Bithynia and Pontus) and on the South Russian coasts of what is today known as the Black Sea.
Some modern scholars identify the group, or groups, with God fearers, that is uncircumcised semi-proselytes to, and sympathizers with, Hellenistic Judaism.

To know God's names for worship.